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com 10 Dec 2019

PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Drawing Your Way
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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

This PDF drawing resource is written and created for Drawing Your Way by
Charlotte Brown of Lotti Brown Designs and Drawing Your Way.
LottiBrownDesigns.com is where I share my own art plus inspiration and resources
to encourage and teach you to draw with confidence and creativity.
My own art is created from pen drawings which I scan into the computer and
import into Adobe Illustrator to create the final artwork digitally. I love to draw
flowers, nature, wildlife and animals.
Drawing Your Way is my online library of drawing courses and resources which
teach you drawing skills with the freedom to do creativity your own way.

Drawing Your Way

Learn to draw with the freedom to do creativity your own way
Not just how to draw… but how to be an artist, too!

Because art should be fun…

Because art should be personal…

Because art should be creative…

Because art isn’t about fancy techniques…

Because your way of drawing is just as good as anyone else’s...!

© 2019 Charlotte Brown of LottiBrownDesigns.com and DrawingYourWay.com. All

rights reserved.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

In this PDF we’ll cover:

• Pencil drawing techniques

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Essential Pencil Drawing Techniques

Learn pencil drawing techniques and ideas to improve your drawing skills…
The graphite pencil is our basic drawing tool, so it’s well worth learning how to
draw well with pencil.
Whether you prefer to just draw with pencil for sketches and rough outlines, or if
you love to create your finished artwork completely in pencil, there are different
pencil drawing techniques that can help you.

Choose Your Pencil

First, make sure that you’ve got the right pencil for the job!
Pencils come in a wide selection of grades, ranging from very hard (9H) to very
soft (9B).
There is more about understanding pencil grades in my ‘Get Ready for Drawing’
PDF here…
Pencils H, HB, and B sit right in the middle of the scale.
They are reasonably good for anything from writing, drawing outlines and light
shading.
The harder pencils:
• give a lighter grey colour on your page
• are great for light sketches and outlines, fine lines, and precise technical
drawings
Don’t press too hard with them, else you’ll scour your page surface.
• Use a hard eraser with hard pencils
• Use smooth papers with hard pencils
The softer pencils:
• give a much darker grey colour
• give a thicker, softer line
They’re best for softer, sketchier drawings with lots of shading.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

• Use a soft, kneadable eraser with soft pencils

• Use textured papers with soft pencils

A selection of soft B-grade pencils

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

When we first start to learn pencil drawing techniques, we tend to pick up one
pencil and draw our whole drawing through with that same pencil.
Actually, it’s far more effective and you get a more attractive and interesting
drawing if you get used to using a range of different pencils within the one
drawing.
If you want to roughly sketch in outlines before you start your drawing ‘proper’,
it’s a good idea to use a really light, hard pencil, such as H or 2H.
Press really lightly, though, so that you don’t press into the surface of your paper
and mark it. It should be easy to erase if you press very softly, too.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

The main outlines of your drawing could be done in a softer pencil, such as a B
or 2B. This should have a nice soft feel to it, physically, as the pencil runs across
the surface of the paper - to make your drawing feel pleasant to do.
And it will give you a good strong outline for your drawing that you can work
further with.
Also look out for special ‘sketching’ pencils which tend to have a softer
consistency than the usual drawing or ‘graphic’ pencils. They feel softer to use
and move nicely over your paper. Try Derwent Sketching Pencils for this.
Keep your pencil nicely sharpened for nice sharp lines and even shading – and
particularly to avoid scratching your paper with the wooden casing of the pencil as
the nib blunts.

Pencil Drawing Techniques

Once you’ve got the outlines in place, this is when your selection of pencil and
your pencil drawing techniques are most important.
How you hold your pencil is important:
• A tight grip, close to the point, gives a tight, controlled drawing line. This is
best for accurate, technical-style drawing and fine detail.
• A looser grip, much further back on your pencil, gives a looser, sketchier
drawing line that’s great for larger drawings and personal, expressive
drawing styles.
If you drew everything with the same pencil, it’s likely that the whole drawing
would appear in the same (or very, very similar) tones of grey.
This can be a bit flat and bland to look at and doesn’t make for an interesting or
dynamic drawing.
One way we can get around this is by choosing our mark-making techniques very
carefully so that the marks we make with our pencil are close together (for darker
areas) or further apart (for lighter areas).
This is a similar technique to how artists draw with pens, so it’s definitely possible
to get a nice range of tones (lights and darks) within the one drawing using a
pencil in this same way.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

But one of the big advantages of choosing to draw with a pencil (rather than a
pen) is that you get to play with shading techniques.

While using the point of any pencil will give you a firm, fine line, by using the
pencil more on its side, you can make nice shaded areas for your drawing.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

• The lighter (harder) pencils (H-grade) give light-grey shading.

• The darker (softer) pencils (B-grade) give a darker, softer and more textured
shading.

Looking at light and dark in your drawing, and creating light and dark areas with
your shading, is really important for an interesting and accurate drawing. You can
find out more about that here…
You can experiment with how you shade, as well, using the pencil in a more
upright position and creating neat, smooth shading with small strokes, close
together, all in the same direction…
Or looser shading with the pencil almost flat (horizontal) and larger strokes for
looser, expressive, and atmospheric drawing styles.
You can even take your pencil drawing techniques further and smudge and smooth
your shading with your finger, a cotton-wool ball, or a special blending stump to
get softer, smokier effects for your drawing.
The darker (softer) B-grade pencils are best suited for this pencil drawing
technique as they smudge and smear more easily…
Be warned when you’re drawing using soft B-grade pencils – and use a piece of
scrap paper or paper towel to protect your drawing from the smudging of your
hand on the page.
• You can also try to work from the top-left corner of your drawing,
downwards and outward, if you’re right-handed…
• Or from the top-right corner if you’re left-handed
• This will avoid your hand smudging over the top of the bit of your drawing
that you’ve just done (no-one wants that)!

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Drawing to show the really soft, textured shading you can get when using the
softer b-pencils (4b-9b). This is smudged using the blending stumps you can see in
the picture - just rub over your pencil drawing with the point of the stump, quite
hard. You can also use the tips of the pencil to get dark hard outlines (…best
drawn in after you smudge!)

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

If you like the softer, smudgier techniques, you can experiment with graphite
sticks and blocks, and graphite powder. Graphite is the same substance that is in
the lead of pencils (not lead at all these days).
You can make your own graphite powder by (carefully) taking a knife to a graphite
block and scraping gently away to create a powder.
This can be sprinkled and/or smeared and smudged onto your paper with a finger
or cotton wall ball.

Special and Unusual Pencil Drawing Techniques

Adding Water

Perhaps one of the most exciting pencil drawing techniques is to use water.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Water can be used as:

• Added to graphite powder to make a soft-grey wash that gives a beautifully
smooth, watercolour effect to your drawing (use a brush to apply).
o Add more or less powder to your water (or water to your powder) to
create a lighter or darker tone of grey for your wash.
• Used over the top of shaded areas, with a brush, to create a wash effect
(not all pencils are water-soluble although pure graphite is, so check before
you try this effect or buy a pencil with the intention of trying this).
• Special water-soluble sketching pencils designed to be used with water in a
variety of ways. You can often use these:
o On wet surfaces
o Dry and then add water with a brush

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Try Derwent’s Sketching Pencils if you like the look of this effect…

Extra Dark

Derwent’s Onyx pencils are the blackest pencil tone (even darker than the darkest
B-grade pencil, 9B) so are great for really dark shaded areas. They also have a fine
drawing point so are brilliant for fine/dark detailed line drawings too – in a way
that the softer 8/9B pencils aren’t.

Adding Colour

Coloured pencils

Coloured pencils are a beautiful way to add colour to your pencil drawing.
These can be used dry (as standard) with the same drawing and shading
techniques as a normal pencil - or as a special water-soluble coloured pencil for a
watercolour-type effect, as you prefer.
I have a separate PDF all about drawing with coloured pencils if you like this idea –
check out all my Drawing Resources here…

Tinted pencils

Also look out for a new personal favourite of mine – tinted graphite pencils.
These are in-between a normal graphite pencil and a coloured pencil – a bit of
grey and a bit of colour - so they’d be perfect for adding a bit of colour to a
mainly grey pencil drawing…

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

DRAWING WITH TINTED GRAPHITE PENCILS (COLOUR TINT BY SPECTRUM NOIR)

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

If you add water, the colour comes more to the fore with a soft, ‘painted’
watercolour-like effect…

Adding water to the tinted graphite pencil drawing gives a painted water-colour
effect and brighter colours
Try Derwent’s ‘Graphitint’ or Spectrum Noir’s ‘Colour Tint’ pencils.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Sepia Tones

If you’d like to add subtle sepia tones to your drawing (tones of brown), look out
for special conte-type drawing pencils which come in a range of
black/white/brown/tan/sepia tones.
These are very popular to add a soft warmth to pencil drawings (like the old-
fashioned sepia photos or historic ‘sanguine’ (red chalk) drawings.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Traditional ‘three colours’ drawing methods used black, sepia (brown/red chalk),
and white for dark, mid and light tones (often on a mid-toned buff or grey
paper)…
These sepia-toned conte drawing pencils help you to achieve this warm effect in
your drawing that’s perfect for drawings where the grey tones of pure graphite
seem a little cold or harsh – such as portraits of people or animals, and
landscapes. The sepia effect is much warmer and more welcoming, softer, or
attractive.

The pencils are soft to use and are best for shading effects and expressive styles
(rather than fine detail).
Try Derwent Drawing Pencils if you like this idea.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Personal Drawing Style

The way that you choose to use these pencil drawing techniques will make up your
own personal drawing style.
Please remember that there is no official or ‘proper’ way of using these pencil
drawing techniques…
So if there’s something that feels good to you and you like the end result, then
use it, experiment some more with it – and make that technique your own!
If you’re struggling to find your own personal style with your drawing, try
holding your pencil further back and more loosely in your hand, to make a more
relaxed and sketchy drawing.
Also look at how you make your mark.
Your mark-making can be a very individual and personal way of distinguishing your
drawings as yours in your own personal style.
Art isn’t about making perfect drawings (that would be a technical drawing) but
about putting your own personal expression in…
Try:
• opening up to your creative side
• connecting with your emotions when you draw
• finding what’s meaningful to you
• making it personal and walking your own path on your artistic journey
• experimenting with what you like and working things out in your sketchbook

Go to the main Drawing Resources page for all the drawing topics.
You might also enjoy my full online drawing course, the ‘Start Drawing Your
Way Essential Drawing Skills Course’.

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PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

Want more help with your drawing?

If you've enjoyed the free drawing resources in this PDF but want more drawing
help and practical drawing exercises to develop the skills, techniques and
creativity you need, please join me for my Essential Drawing Skills course.

If this sounds good, find out all about it here...

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