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Elegy (stage five)
Here I worked on the clothing. I'd been contemplating adding a subtle design of some sort to the vest, but I was still not sure at this point. I was afraid it might make the drawing too busy. So I left it for now and moved on. I'd come back to that idea later, when more of the drawing is done.
Now... a few words on shading. "OK, I understand what you do," many people say to me, "but how do you do it?" I'm afraid there is no precise formula for what you must do. You have to learn to a) know exactly what you want it to look like; b) control your hand and your pressure; and c) have lots of patience.
A few rules to remember...
- Watch your pressure. The harder you press the darker the line, it's as simple as that. You can always make your shadows darker as the drawing progresses, but making them too dark early on can spoil your drawing.
- Don't scribble. Take enough time to blend all the different shades of gray. Don't take just one shade and use it all over the place, instead apply a few different shades in subtle layers. If you want your shading to look smooth you must apply the pencil strokes so close to each other that you can't tell them apart.
- Don't rush it. Patience is your best friend when it comes to shading. This section of Elegy alone took me somewhere between 8 and 10 hours (I don't usually time myself, but each of my pencil drawings takes anywhere from 8 to 30 hours to complete).
- Do use some sort of reference material. Don't listen to purists. Those who claim they have never copied anything are either liars or fools.
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