| der to do this practice exercise, you will need to have | | | | crescent shape. This starts right at the top part of the |
| a photo of a shaded ball. | | | | ball, above the cast shadow. It ends at the bottom of |
| One of the most important keys to being able to | | | | your ball close to the left edge of the cast shadow. |
| master realistic drawings, portraits and illustrations is | | | | Shape your shadow by shading it in and make several |
| shading. Lot’s of people skip over this important | | | | passes over that area until it gets darker and darker. |
| exercise only to find out later that their work is not | | | | Make sure that your shading is not going to get too |
| going quite right. Don’t be one of those people. | | | | dark. Squint your eyes at your drawing and make a |
| Make sure you practice the simple exercises enough, | | | | comparison to your photo. Darken the right part of |
| until you can do this in your sleep. | | | | your ball into a little lighter value than the shadow area |
| The first thing that you’ll learn as concerns | | | | that you shaded. Be careful to leave the reflected |
| shading is to shade a ball. The first thing you do is | | | | highlight at the bottom portion of the ball. |
| draw a circle. You can use an overhand grip with light | | | | In order to make your shading look realistic, |
| pressure on your pencil. Be sure it’s a 2 B | | | | you’ll want to add some subtle shadows. |
| pencil. Tip your pencil up on its point a bit so that you | | | | Squinting your eyes at the photo and your drawing is |
| can be sure that it is a thin line. | | | | going to give you a whole new perspective. Refine |
| By using an overhand grip you can draw the circle | | | | your shading over the entire ball by keeping your eyes |
| relatively quickly. Your ball may not be perfect, but | | | | on the photo. Take only a quick glance here or there |
| that’s ok. Next, you’ll want to draw a | | | | at your drawing if you have to. Compare one to the |
| shadow of the ball next to it. Then, you lower the angle | | | | other by squinting periodically. Use light layers to |
| of your pencil so that the full side of your lead is on the | | | | gradually darken the shading so that it will match with |
| paper. Make sure you use an overhand grip. Then, | | | | your photo. |
| lightly shade your entire ball. Make sure you are using | | | | Observe the shadow of the ball and how it is darker |
| short, back and forth matching motions when you do | | | | than the ball. Now you’ll want to add cast |
| this. They need to be in the same direction with very | | | | shadow. This shadow is also darker at the bottom and |
| light pressure on the pencil that you are using. | | | | is lighter than your ball near the top. Tip your pencil on |
| Your hatches should be half an inch to ¾ of an | | | | its point so that you’ll be able to hatch in the |
| inch long. You’ll need to make at least 3 to 4 | | | | small area of the shadow under your ball. Then |
| passes across your ball to fill it up. After you’re | | | | you’ll lower the angle again. As you finish up, tip |
| done with that, define the main highlight at the top left | | | | your pencil on its point and go ahead and darken the |
| of your ball. Shade that area around that with a slightly | | | | right edge of your ball. G |
| darker value. | | | | Your drawing of the ball and the shading exercise |
| The edge of the highlight is not distinct and a little | | | | won’t take very long. By doing this exercise |
| fuzzy. So you want to make sure that your hatching | | | | over and over again you will be able to do shading |
| surrounding this area is going to have a soft look. Then | | | | with no problem and make your drawings more and |
| shade the rest of the ball again. | | | | more realistic. Take your time with this exercise. Once |
| Now stand back and look at it so far. Look at the | | | | you master it, you’ll be able to move on to |
| most obvious shadow on the ball and take note of the | | | | more complex shading techniques. |