Yeah you went in the wrong order. If you lay down hard graphite first like H, it will dig into the paper and ruin the tooth. But if you start with 9B and let it work it's way into the tooth of the paper by layering ALOT, then go over it with H. It would work better that way. I don't like to use a really soft pencil like 9B because of the excessive shine. The darkest I use is 3B because it's dark but the glare is minimized.

On a different note, you did a great job on this drawing despite what you think about the background. I think it's an awesome concept too, great work!!

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[Pencil Drawings]

[My Drawing Forum]

"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there's footprints on the moon!"

Excellent - I'm looking forward to trying large black areas again, armed with fresh knowledge.

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Sigs are for sissies.

You've done a great job on this, Steve! Brian already gave you good info, so I won't rehash that. But you certainly did a good job on the contrast! This is awesome!

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April A. Meyette

Website: [link]

Thanks April - I'm already looking forward to my next 'dark work', to try and get things better

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Sigs are for sissies.

love the concept. good stuff

"Any advice on getting that flat, deep, smooth black?"

The way I prefer to do it is as you did it: harder to softer. My trick is to use the smoothest paper possible, because with too much tooth, you'll always have a bunch of white showing through. Start without hardly any tooth at all (Bristol 400 smooth or 500 hot press,) and your graphite will fill right in from the start. Also, use a blending stump really hard on all layers but the last to really dig the graphite down into the paper without damaging it. Hope that helps!

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kristen

shut up voices, or i'll poke you with a q-tip again

very nice. one thing I notice is that you draw out your subjects well. the proportions are always good and there arent' any small mistakes that make the subjects look wierd or flat.
For the dark parts of the picture you were saying you can't get a flat black easily. If you start with a hard pencil you will find it's a two edged sword. It will cover all of the grain of the paper giving you a smooth result, but by doing that, it pretty much blocks the softer lead from having a place to grab on when you draw over top. Pressing hard will make your paper wave or shine, and putting it over an area of hard lead might make a grainy result.
Those were the nightmares I dealt with when I was doing graphite haha.
You might start with a medium lead like HB or B depending on how heavy or lighthanded you are. Hatch out patches from the darkest area of the shadow outward and when you reach the edge of the shadow try to follow the contour of the surrounding anatomy so it blends well and looks more 3d.
Don't worry about getting to black straight away. Work a bit lighter. If you get it only half as dark as it should be on the first go, you're on the right track.
Hatch over the work again to get it a little darker and repeat that with with softer leads as is your taste until you get the shade you want. This method allows even dark black shadows to breathe a little. They look dark but still have variances of tone in them which looks a little more depthy. it's subtle.
As a final touch, if you find the shade to be grainy, you can take a hard lead like a 2 or 4h and go over the whole shadow lightly to blend any little light spots.
I could have suggested a blending stump, but I never use one. I have seen people do great things with stumps, but it is my preference to go without. Once you use those there is no going back. They smooth out all the character of pencil marks and destroy the grain of a paper so you can't easily go over a spot a second time.

I hope that's helpful.

Thanks: the concept was all :anatomystock: I'm just trying to slavishly copy it He has some really nice anatomy stock in his gallery - really well lit IMHO.

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Sigs are for sissies.

Thanks - I really like this because it conflicts with the advice above. Although it sounds confusing, I think conflicting advice is great, because it shows a different perspective and different possibilities. I can't wait to try out more black!

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Sigs are for sissies.