Well, there’s no better way of taking your arts and crafts skills than learning how to create shading. It’s perhaps one of the things that can differentiate between an amateur piece of drawing and a complete artwork. Shading allows you to add shadows to your work thereby bringing depth to your subject. The pencil is an important tool that’s used by both beginners and experienced artists to create amazing results in their drawings. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can experiment and try out these shading techniques and explore different artistic expressions.

Crosshatching

This technique is achieved by layering numerous sets of parallel lines on top of each other. The darkest areas of pencil value are created by laying and building up more lines. Well, it’s not uncommon for artists to lose patience with this technique and to speed up over time. In most cases, you’ll see some difference between the last few lines and the first ones. The last lines tend to look messier compared to the first ones.

So, you want to exercise some patience with this shading technique. Simply enjoy the process of creating layers upon layers! As long as you maintain the same pencil pressure and spacing when drawing the lines, it becomes a snap to control the pencil values.

Smooth Shading

Whenever you’re shading in a hurry, you tend to apply a back-and-forth motion that often results in striping. You can’t achieve a smooth finish with this type of shading. Smooth shading usually involves slowly applying a random circular motion while avoiding any patterns. Layering becomes easier since the shading process is slower. Smooth shading is allows for the building up of pencil values thereby resulting in wonderful results.

Textured Shading

When it comes to textured shading, strokes and individual lines are allowed to build up in a manner that gives a textured look with a variety of tones. In most cases, the type of pencil shading to use will depend on the subject matter. This shading technique often applies when drawing foliage and trees. Usually, you’ll have to vary the lightness and darkness around the subject matter using layering and pencil pressure. The technique creates a visual separation within a given drawing.

Smudging

Well, smudging often involves shading with the help of other tools like paper stumps, your fingers, or dry bristles from a brush. Be careful when using your fingers as it can get messy. Unlike smooth shading where the pencil usually skips the lowest areas of the paper, smudging tends to push graphite into all the areas of the paper including the lower pits. You may have to use other shading techniques when smudging. Since it involves pushing the pencil around all the parts of the paper, one is able to accomplish smudging much faster.

The technique you decide to use to create values is your choice. The most important thing is to ensure you get the value relationships right in your drawing. Try exploring the different shading techniques and see for yourself what you can come up with. Have an open mind with all the techniques.