Pencil Tutorial

What I use:

- Faber-Castell Graphite Pencils (5h to 8b)

- Faber-Castell dust-free eraser
- Kneaded eraser
- Tortillons (and a nail file to clean them)
- Smooth paper, about 170g/m2
- References (2000px or higher are the best)

Number one question asked:

How do you get the black so black

Its easy: 8b Pencil ☺

Use it in layers, use it with little preassure, but try
not to harm the paper. The sharper the pencil, the easier
it is. In the end the black should have some kind of
reflecting/mirrowing effect. If you don’t like that
effect use coal *urg*
But beware:
Pencil over coal: ☺
Coal over pencil: L
Ah, what I need to say…

I. I`m a verry very bad teacher/explainer (cant even tell

what happened in a movie without confusing people), but
I`ll try my best... and if I get lost on the way and only
talk about kapaboom and pink sheeps...OK, I`m doing it
already, just tell me if I`m confusing you and you have
questions ^^`

II. And the Pictures drawn for this tutorial arent

intended to be the best looking, just showing the
thecnique.

III. If you have any tips to improve the tutorial, tell

me, but be nice ^^

IV: This tutorial shows only how I do things, my way,

there are of course other(and I guess better) ways to do
so, but well... you are free to disagree with ne, just be
polite ^^
Order people order! Lets start with... General Tips

- Composition: Watch it! You don’t want a portrait

like that:
I`m not perfect on this either, but its important to
think about composition before you start your
drawing. I`m sure you all have heard of this concept
called “Rule of the Third” which came from the
golden rule but is easier... ^^ You divide the
picture edges into thirds and the object at one of
the four intersections.

There are more concepts for composition... if you

are interested in this, read a book ;)
Also think about which section of your reference you
wanna draw. Like that:
- Format: The Format of your drawing is important for
its expression as well

: more dynamic and strong and mostly used when

doing portraits

: more calm and heavy

: neutral

- Contrast: Since we don’t have colours to work with,

we need contrasts to make our picute more
interesting (like a b&w photographer)
There are several forms of contrasts. Most important
to me light and shadow. Beginners are often afraid
of going very dark (I was as well) because, its just
harder to erase and correct mistakes, but hey: No
Risk, No Fun! ^^
When I find a nice reference on the net, its often
in colour. I use Photoshop, put the picture into
greyscale and adjust brightness, contrast etc. until
I think its fine. Photoshop can make life a lot
easier ^^
But there are also other contrasts, like textures
and forms.

- Details: Agree or don’t but details are important,

they make your drawing unique. Observe your
reference/object closely.
OH! So much text… oO shall we draw?!
The eye:
1. The sketch – I used a HB
pencil. Already at this point
I try to bring in as much
details as possible
2. Fill in the darks, 8b
Pencil
3. Adding shadows with H
Pencil, also around the iris,
theres a small area of H
shadow to take away some
contrast.
4. Blended the H shadows with
tortillon. Added more shadow
with H and B pencil; plus 8B
where I already had 8B,
making it stronger. For the
eyebrows, strokes with H, B
and some 8B (pencil needs to
be very sharp!)
5. Added shadows in the eye
with 5h. Also go over
everyting that isnt supposed
to stay white with 5h,
basically to blend everything
a bit.
6. More shadows and
detailsadded with H, b, 2b,
8b, and done. You could still
add some highlights with an
eraser ☺
Hm, what´s next... some you`ve done before. Then
texture I guess add more dots lines,
circles with H Pencil.

3. Blend everyting
slightly, tortillon
The reference, very
needs to be very clean
detailed! Observe it,
and use by following the
see the little dots and
flow of the pencil... (I
lines and ...
hope I`m not to
confusing) H and B
Pencil again, for more
details and shadows.

1. draw them ^^ (H
Pencil)

4. Blending again a
little with tortillon,
adding more shadows with
h and then 5h for more
blending and shadows.

That’s how it works for

me.
2. Use B bencil to add
more darknes to the base
Heres another example how it looks close up (with a
little more effort put into ;P ) :

If you don’t want that “too old” look, blend more and
don’t go too dark ^^

Basically everything works like that, mouth,

nose...and what have you... its all shadows and light
^^

I hope this tutorial was able to help someone,

somehow… Oo Feedback would be nice, to improve it ^^
Also tell me if I didn’t explain sth. that you wanted
me to explain ☺