Learn to do shading – LearnDrawing

Drawing is a technique of sketching images on the surface with the help of ink, graphite, or charcoal among others. Follow these simple tips for improving your drawing skills.

Keep it simple: Start sketching with natural forms like flowers and plants.

Mind your Hs & Bs: For better drawing try using paper of 80 gsm and 125 gsm weight. The use of pencils can range from light marking (2H) pencils to dark marking (8B) pencils.

Go lightly: Try to sketch with a light, hard pencil. Avoid pressing too hard so that you can easily erase errors. Try to relax your hands and breathing as you sketch. Try to give a light outline to your drawing.

Throw some shade: Try to practice hatching and cross-hatching techniques in your drawing. Hatching is shading using closely spaced lines. Cross-hatching is shading using layers of hatching at different angles.

Step on the scale: Look at the object you are drawing, close one eye, and hold your pencil while drawing to make correct dimensions.

Practice and practice: To get better, practice drawing basic geometric shapes every day.

Keep the tips in mind and improve your drawing skills.

Shading is used in drawing for depicting different levels of darkness. Applying more densely with a darker shade for darker areas and less densely with a lighter shade for lighter areas is the basic idea.

However, there are some details that you should know. For instance, Shading has five elements. The five elements of shading are:

Cast shadow: It is the darkest part of your drawing because in this part light is completely blocked. Draw this area as black as possible.

Shadow edge: This shading is also known as turning shadow. This area corresponds to a dark grey tone.

Halftone: This is the true color of your object. This area of a drawing is not affected by light.

Reflected light: This shading element is lighter compared to other shadows. But this will still be seen on the darker side of the object. The reflected light is always seen on the edges, rims, or lip of an object.

Full light: This is the area that receives the most light and the tones fade gently into the white of the paper.

Tag: Learn to do shading

6 Tips to Improve your Drawing Skills

Shading and 5 Elements of Shading