How to Draw 5 - Drawing and Creating Shadows

Adding shadows to your drawings will give them depth and give your art the finishing touch. When using shadows you need to be able to identify the light source and use values to achieve both the light and the shadow to give your drawing a three dimensional effect. Values are the different shades of grey between white and black. To achieve these varies shades there are a few techniques you can use; hatching and crosshatching. Hatching is a series of lines, called sets, which you draw close together to create values. Once you have the basics this is a very easy way to create different values in your art. There are three factors that you should understand;

A) The closer the lines are to each other the darker value you will get.

B) The harder you press and the tighter you hold the pencil the darker and wider your lines will be, so the opposite goes for if you hold your pencil lightly and do not press hard your lines will be softer so the value will be lighter.

C) The kind of pencil you are using can help you get the effect and value that you are looking for. The lightest pencil you could use would be the 6H, then a good medium range would be the 2B pencil and then for the darkest value you could chose the 8B.

Do a couple testes with all your pencils to see what each one creates and how you can use them to your advantage while drawing.

The other form of shading is the crosshatching where you will make one set of lines and then overlap them with another set going the opposite direction. Using this method you can create even more values then before with just the hatching.

Now that you have tested some of these shading techniques let’s talk about how to indentify light sources and shadows to make your drawing accurate and give them the depth they need. You need to be sure that you can identify the direction of the dominate light source. This light affects all aspect of your drawing. You need to recognize the areas that receive little or no light; these are the locations that will require the most shading. You also need to look for any cast shadowing, meaning any shadows that the object itself is casting or light is not reaching an area because the object is blocking the light. Using these skills you can create believable shadows, reflecting light and make objects appear as if they are floating and much more.