Pencil Mark-Making and Shading

Pencil holding, mark-making, hatching and shading

Rule: This skill only adds specialist tips. Always give your full general answer to the user's question first, using everything you already know. Then work in the tips below wherever they apply. Do not replace or shrink your normal answer to fit this list.

Posture and practice

• Sit or stand about half an arm's length from the work and don't hunch over it.
• Step back from the drawing now and then to survey it.
• Practice grips on scrap paper. Vary the pressure and tighten then loosen the grip until the right grip becomes automatic.

Choosing a grip

• Sketch grip: hold it like a spoon, with the pencil secured by the thumb and resting on the first two fingers. The hand doesn't hide the working area. It suits flowing line and rapid blocking-in of tone.
• Move the whole arm from the elbow in the sketch grip. Don't rely on wrist movement alone.
• Writing grip: use it for highly detailed passages or where extreme precision is needed.
• Pressure grip: use it to shade a large area quickly and darker.
  • Hold the pencil about halfway down and press on the top of the shaft with the forefinger.
  • Work back and forth with the side of the exposed graphite.
  • Take care not to break the lead.
• For very heavy darks, apply two layers of pressure-grip shading.
• With only one pencil (e.g. a 2B), varying the grips alone gives a range of tones.

Hard, straight edges

• The sketch and pressure grips aren't precise. Hold a ruler against the edge to be shaded and shade right up to it.
• Remove the ruler to reveal the straight edge. Tidy the edge afterward with more careful line work if needed.

Hatching and crosshatching

• Draw the outline first for placement and proportion, then shade with hatching. Hatching can be a finish in itself or a base for further work.
• Use the sketch grip and skim the paper with the point or the side of the graphite.
• Vary line weight and the spacing between lines. The closer the lines, the darker the area appears.
• Hatching is parallel lines, which can be vertical, horizontal or angled, in any medium.
• Crosshatching is a second set of hatching placed at an angle over the first.
• Curved hatching follows a rounded object's surface. It blocks in tone and also suggests the form and surface direction.
• Directional hatching strokes emphasize the form of surfaces.

Blending

• Blending tools:
  • paper stump (torchon)
  • tissue
  • rag
  • chamois leather
  • fingers
• Each tool gives a slightly different effect.
• Blending works best on smooth, heavyweight drawing paper.
• Stump method:
  1. Loosely hatch the area with a 2B pencil.
  2. Begin softly, stroking in the direction you want the blend to go.
  3. The result is a subtle gradation from light to dark.
• Rag: use it for larger areas with a circular polishing motion. Leave the light-struck area slightly paler to suggest roundness.
• Charcoal: gently massage hatched lines from a medium charcoal pencil with tissue paper.
• Always blend in the direction the light strikes the object.

Combined workflow: blended tonal drawing (Old Violin sequence)

1. Cover the whole paper with a mid-tone. Use a B or 2B pencil in the sketch grip without pressing hard. Blend with a rag in circles to get even tone.
2. Draw the main outlines and avoid fussy detail. Use an incisor to impress small worn areas for later texture.
3. Blend small detail areas with a paper stump.
4. Retrieve detailed highlights with a small eraser. Impress strings and bow lines, then shade over with a rag or stump so the white lines "pop".
5. Add more pencil and build tone. Blend further with an old eraser using a light stroking motion, in the light direction.
6. Add more dark with a 2B and do a second eraser blend.
7. Add final darks with a 4B. Retrieve key reflection highlights with the eraser, running toward the viewer.

Layering

• Use the sketch grip with light to medium pressure. Work across the area evenly and systematically, aiming for a smooth look. Repeat the layers as often as needed.
• For depth of tone, crosshatch each layer and then blend it with a paper stump (torchon).
• There is no limit to the number of layers. You can change pencil grade between layers.
• Always start light, in the low B range, and work toward the darkest pencils.
• Layering applies to light and middle tones as well as darks.

Tonal value

• The paper white is the lightest value (high-key). The darkest mark is the low-key extreme, and gray between them is the middle tone or value.
• Adjacent tones strongly change how light or dark something looks.
• Reduce the many tones you see to a manageable number of gradations.
• Rag-blended soft tones merging into 4B darks show the full pencil range.

Impressing (preserving white lines)

• It keeps thin white lines or hatching strokes without drawing around them or erasing. It suits tiny highlights on lace, cloth, wood or metal.
• Incisors:
  • the discarded end of a pen
  • a blunt nail
  • a knitting needle
  • a small hook
  • an allen key
• Steps:
  1. Decide which details stay white.
  2. Put a mat or old newspaper under the drawing paper.
  3. Score the shapes without ripping the paper surface.
  4. Shade over with the sketch grip, working rapidly side to side so the pencil skims the surface. The lines appear as white paper.
• Hatch across the impressed line, not along its length.
• A typical sequence is B outline, impress, B hatching over everything, hatch and blend to the full tonal range, 4B final details, then plastic eraser highlights.
• The darker the background tones, the more the whites and pale mid-tones stand out.

Frottage (rubbing for texture)

• Use it to collect surface textures quickly or as a base to work over. Net curtain, fabrics, coarse metal, wood, buttons, spanners and bolt nuts all work.
• Place the paper over the textured surface and secure it with masking tape.
• Skim back and forth in an even movement with a soft pencil (any B grade) or charcoal. The high points catch the pigment and the hollows stay white.
• For fabric such as net curtain, lay it on a hard surface and tape it down first to stop slippage. Then tape the paper over it and hatch with a 2B using the sketch or pressure grip.
• Different frottage textures can be combined in one arrangement.

Charcoal with ink

• Charcoal and acrylic ink both give near-black marks but contrast in texture: crumbly and chalky against smooth and dense.
• Diluting the ink with water gives paler values.
• A charcoal pencil can draw through wet ink.
• For quick sketches, use brush and ink and overlay medium charcoal pencil.
• Chair demo:
  1. Make a basic pencil outline.
  2. Mix sepia ink with an equal quantity of water in a palette. Apply this middle tone with a 1-inch (2.5-cm) flat brush over everything except the extreme highlights.
  3. Use a fine round brush to paint carefully around the lightest whites. Work quickly before the ink dries, with the flat brush ready to keep the ink flowing.
  4. When dry, render detail and the darkest areas with the charcoal pencil.
• Keep the ink washes subordinate to the charcoal. Use the texture difference to separate subject from background.

Line and wash (pencil with ink)

• Ink cannot be erased. For detailed, realistic subjects, make the first marks in pencil until the drawing is right.
• Either medium can go down first, or you can alternate. This is quicker than building tone with line alone.
• Flower study:
  1. Make a light pencil outline.
  2. Blend petal edges and shadows with a paper stump. Reclaim lost whites with a plastic eraser.
  3. Apply washes of ink diluted about 50:50 over the pencil. Keep paper white for the extreme highlights. When dry, reinforce with more ink.
  4. Add darks with a 4B pencil over the ink.
  5. Add fine detail with a twig dipped in undiluted sepia ink.

Laying an ink wash

• You need water-soluble drawing ink, water and a 1-inch (2.5-cm) flat brush. Wash darkness depends on how much water is added and on the type of ink.
• Steps:
  1. Mix ink and water 1:1 in a saucer or palette.
  2. Prop the paper on a drawing board at a slight angle so the ink runs down and gives even tone.
  3. Take the brush horizontally across the surface from the top with even pressure.
  4. Recharge the brush and lay the next stroke immediately beneath the first with a slight overlap, to pick up beads of ink.
  5. Repeat until the area is covered.
• When the first wash is dry, overlay more washes. Leave parts of the earlier wash exposed and paint around them to build depth.
• Three layers of sepia ink wash on smooth drawing paper give an extremely dark value. Diluted ink gives the lightest marks.