The reason I've changed the order of the steps in my process since I last posted has a lot to do with the materials I use. My darks are graphite and can easily be erased or adjusted. My whites on the other hand are (as of this post) still being done in white colored pencil, which is not easily edited or adjusted. Because of this I have moved the highlights to the last step in my process to allow for more control of the end product as well as to be able to avoid those weird gray areas caused by trying to shade or adjust areas where I had already put the white.
For shading I use a mechanical pencil, a wood-less graphite pencil, a blending stump, a white stick eraser and a kneaded eraser.
Shading Tips:
- Take your time and observe your subject well. Don't guess around and then compare what you've done to your subject, look at it carefully before you start making marks.
- Start light. Yes we have two kinds of erasers to use, but it is easier to slowly build up to the dark you want than it is to erase it down and then smooth it out. Even the kneaded eraser will leave kind of blotchy marks when you use it that you have to smooth back out with the blending stump.
- Wipe your blending stump on a piece of scrap paper before each use, you don't want a nice dark smudgy line appearing when you just wanted to subtly blend some very light shading.
- Having said that, some times I just use whatever graphite is already on the stump to do smoother or fuzzy shaded areas and skip the initial laying of graphite from the pencils. For many medium or light areas, this is more than enough 'pigment'.
If anyone ever leaves a question or comment I'd be happy to answer it, but for now, those were just the things that jumped out at me while I was working this time.
