TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Graphite pencil artwork requires few supplies, and fortunately they are fairly inexpensive. Choose professional pencils and paper, rather than student-grade materials; they will last longer and ensure a higher-quality presentation.

Pencils

Pencils are labeled based on their lead texture. Hard leads (H) are light in value and great for fine, detailed work, but they are more difficult to erase. Soft leads (B) are darker and wonderful for blending and shading, but they smudge easily. Medium leads, such as HB and F, are somewhere in the middle. Select a range of pencils between HB and 6B for variety. You can purchase wood-encased pencils or mechanical pencils with lead refills.

Wooden Pencil The most common type of pencil is wood-encased graphite. These thin rods — most often round or hexagonal when cut crosswise — are inexpensive, easy to control and sharpen, and readily available to artists.

Flat Carpenter's Pencil Some artists prefer using a flat carpenter's pencil, which has a rectangular body and lead. The thick lead allows you to easily customize its shape to create both thick and thin lines.

Mechanical Pencil Mechanical pencils are plastic or metal barrels that hold individual leads. Some artists prefer the consistent feel of mechanical pencils to that of wooden pencils; the weight and length do not change over time, unlike wooden pencils that wear down with use.

Woodless Graphite Pencil These tools are shaped like wooden pencils but are made up entirely of graphite lead. The large cone of graphite allows artists to use either the broad side for shading large areas or the tip for finer strokes and details.

Graphite Stick Available in a full range of hardnesses, these long, rectangular bars of graphite are great tools for sketching (using the end) and blocking in large areas of tone (using the broad side).

Paper

Paper has a tooth, or texture, that holds graphite. Papers with more tooth have a rougher texture and hold more graphite, which allows you to create darker values. Smoother paper has less tooth and holds less graphite, but it allows you to create much finer detail. Plan ahead when beginning a new piece, and select paper that lends itself to the textures in your drawing subject.

Blending Tools

There are several tools you can use to blend graphite for a smooth look. The most popular blenders are blending stumps, tortillons, and chamois cloths. Never use your finger to blend — it can leave oils on your paper, which will show after applying graphite.

Stumps Stumps are tightly rolled paper with points on both ends. They come in various sizes and are used to blend large and small areas of graphite, depending on the size of the stump. You can also use stumps dipped in graphite shavings for drawing or shading.

Tortillons Tortillons are rolled more loosely than a stump. They are hollow and have one pointed end. Tortillons also come in various sizes and can be used to blend smaller areas of graphite.

Facial Tissue Wrap tissue around your finger or roll it into a point to blend when drawing very smooth surfaces. Make sure you use plain facial tissue, without added moisturizer.

Chamois Chamois are great for blending areas into a soft tone. These cloths can be used for large areas or folded into a point for smaller areas. When the chamois becomes embedded with graphite, simply throw it into the washer or wash by hand. Keep one with graphite on it to create large areas of light shading. To create darker areas of shading, add graphite shavings to the chamois.

Erasers

Erasers serve two purposes: to eliminate unwanted graphite and to "draw" within existing graphite. There are many different types of erasers available.

Kneaded This versatile eraser can be molded into a fine point, a knife-edge, or a larger flat or rounded surface. It removes graphite gently from the paper but not as well as vinyl or plastic erasers.

Block Eraser A plastic block eraser is fairly soft, removes graphite well, and is very easy on your paper. Use it primarily for erasing large areas, but it also works quite well for doing a final cleanup of a finished drawing.

Stick Eraser Also called "pencil erasers," these handy tools hold a cylindrical eraser inside. You can use them to erase areas where a larger eraser will not work. Using a utility razor blade, you can trim the tip at an angle or cut a fine point to create thin white lines in graphite. It's like drawing with your eraser!

COLOR PALETTE

Below are the main colors used for the projects in this book. Keep in mind that the names of the colors may vary among brands; also, sometimes two pencils that have the same name are different hues.

STROKES

Each line you make in a colored pencil drawing is important — and the direction, width, and texture of the line you draw will all contribute to the effects you create. Practice making different strokes, as shown in the examples below. Apply light, medium, and heavy pressure; use the side and then the point of your pencil; and experiment with long, sweeping strokes as well as short, precise ones.

Pressure With light pressure, the color is almost transparent. Medium pressure creates a good foundation for layering, and heavy pressure flattens the paper texture, making the color appear almost solid.

Strokes and Texture You can indicate a number of different textures by creating patterns of dots and dashes on the paper. To create even, dense dots, try twisting the point of your pencil on the paper.

LAYERING AND BLENDING

Because colored pencils are translucent, artists use a transparent layering process to either build up color or create new hues. This layering process creates a much richer hue than you could ever achieve if you were using just one pure color. To deepen a color, layer more of the same over it. If you want to blend your strokes together, you can use a stiff bristle brush.

Layering with Hatch Strokes Here yellow, orange, red, and blue were layered on top of one another with crosshatching (laying one set of hatched lines over another but stroking in a different direction) to demonstrate one way of creating a new color. When crosshatching, work from light to dark to avoid getting a muddy mix.

PROJECT ONE

ROOSTER

From its Tuscan red face and wattle to its feathers of peacock green, indigo blue, and dark purple, this rooster represents a variety of shades on the color wheel. When drawing the feathers, don't draw them individually; instead, show how they are grouped.

Begin by loosely sketching the rooster's body, using a circle for the head and an oval for the tail.

Notice how the top tail feathers extend over the rest of the tail.

Refine and detail the face and head, keeping a guideline along the top of the comb to help line up the edges properly. Also draw a line...