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Now that we have learned about coloring, it is time to discuss shading. Shading is very important in art. It makes your drawing stand out and appear realistic. If you do it correctly.
How do you shade?
By pressing hard at first with your pencil and gradually lightening your pressure, you will create a gradient (a transition from light to dark). You should color in the shape of your object to make it look more clean and smooth. By using the flat side of your pencil and keeping the pencil sharp, you can put down an even and light wash of color. This will help if you are doing a base coat. By going over the same spot still using the side of the pencil, this will make layers making the shade darker and darker with every layer. To make it have a smooth transition from the dark shadow to the white highlight. You can make a gradient to smooth it out.
Layers
It is important to color in light layers and build up when shading. If you press down as hard as you can the first time or you paint the darkest color first, you risk messing up and the drawing and it will be shiny. (If you are using graphite) You can't really shade if you put the darkest color down first, so you do it in layers so you can get a smooth transition. Gradients and shading are very important in realism. In real life, everything has little nicks and dents. Real life is three dimensional and there are no harsh lines in real life. When you are drawing a face realistically, you don't want to outline everything with bold lines. You want it to look smooth. For example, if you are doing a face, don't outline the facial features. That makes it look two dimensional.
Light Sources
In a drawing, it is very important to have a light source or sources. You can have a light source coming from any direction. I personally like to have it in the top right corner. Just personal preference. I will change my shading if I have a specific light source. The shadows on an object will fall on the opposite side of the light source. A light source is the source of the light or where the light is coming from. If the light source is behind the object, the outside edge will be light and the things toward the middle are shaded. With the pairing of shading and light sources and smooth transitions, it can really make the image pop. When drawing realistic round things, blur the edges or make the edges less harsh. This will make the image look curved. Also, shade and color in the direction of the object. If doing a sphere, curve the shadows.
Casting Shadows
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Where there is a light source, there is a shadow. The shadow falls on the opposite side of the light source. It is like a mirror image of the object. When doing spheres, the shadow is lengthened. The shadow goes from a circle to an oval. The light can't get to that spot because the object is blocking it.
