Pencil

Materials:

• Pencils
• Paper
• Eraser
• Pencil sharpener

Pencils are useful as a starting point to make under drawings before you begin a painting or as finished pieces in their own right. They have great flexibility of mark from broad generalized gestures to fine descriptive detailing. The broad range varies from hard leads (H – 8H the higher the number the harder the lead) to soft (B – 8B the higher number being the softest). The harder leads make a paler and more grey mark, while softer leads make broader, blacker marks. In order to build up a detailed tonal drawing it is a good idea to use a combination of hard and soft pencils, going from light to dark using the harder H pencils to make the initial outlines and moving onto softer B pencils to build up areas of shade.

Techniques using pencil to make a self-portrait

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