Edgy, or Tips on Pencils

May 13th

I heard Jesseca pounding stakes into the spot where the Oak was transplanted so that it will have re-enforcement to stand until it takes root and the soil around it repacks.  I never know when to go out and offer help...gardening is one of her passions, so it's often her alone-time.  I sit here drawing, it's the same thing.  I wouldn't want anyone to help me draw even if there was something for them to do.

(Oh, I guess it was the birch tree she was planting instead.)

I just snapped the lead on the .3mm pencil I was using.  That happens a lot, this stuff is so thin and brittle.  You'd say it's a pecil that's all point - I always say it's all point.  That's not true though.  Think of a wooden dowel.  If it's just been sawn it may have a crisp edge to the ends.  Sand them down and the're a little rounded.  .3mm isn't very large but if you look at it under a microscope you'll see that it has volume.  That end may be harsh or it may be soft.  When I'm using it for smooth shading I want it soft.  Best yet if I can keep the tip from leaving the surface of the paper at all.  That's the trick to leaving an unbroken field instead of scribbly marks.  If the tip isn't a little rounded your shading is going to be darker than you want.  Practicing how much pressure you use is another factor, but I want to warn you about the harshness of the tip itself.  Like I said, I just broke the one I was using.  A couple of clicks on the pencil and it feeds me more, but now it's got that crisp edge to it now.  If I am shading and go from using a worn tip to a freshly broken one in the middle of a field I'm going to have a noticeable difference that will have to be corrected before I can continue.  It will have to be erased and redrawn.  Worse than just producing dark lines, it may dig a physical scar in the surface of the page.  Those are hard to hide - hard to erase, harder  or impossible to fill with the correct tone once you've erased.  What you need is a bit of scrap paper handy.  Do a short scribble on it to knock that edge back off the tip, or use the new tip elsewhere where there's a spot you really do want a crisp line.   If you can see minute details (and why else would you be  using a mech with such a fine point?), you'll notice the tipe broke at an angle.  rotate the pencil so the the flat of the diagonal is parallel to the paper.

Erasers:  you'll want to take the cap off the clicky end of the pencil so that you can use the eraser.  ALWAYS put the cap right back on after, IMMEDIATELY, because using that eraser is a habit you'll perform without even looking.  You'll remove the cap only to discover the cap was already off and you've just taken out the eraser.  Oops, too late, all that lead has just spilled out of your pencil.  Some of your lead fillers/pellets have snapped, more are likely to as you go on a treasure hunt to find them all.  Have several erasers of your choice next to you, like those pink erasers.  You can use them to dab at shaded fields to sorta 'ghost' them a touch.  It will be inconsistent but lends a nice watercolory feel.  You can go with that or touch up it up with pencil to even it out a bit, but it's good to do if your shaded patch has a border that's more defined than you want it to be or you've gone just a tad too dark.

Also, you'll need clean erasers of that kind to clean up the negative space as you go and when you finish.  I've been using a barrier (practice safe drawing, kids) between my hand and the page, on areas where I did the  lightest work with hard leads, and still it has smeared the paper a but and left it kinda sooty or smoggy.  Now it looks pristine again and the image really pops.

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Well...umff.  I dunno.  20 hours, I'm getting the work in but that's not the same as getting it done.  My work is off today.  Smooth but not smooth enough, light but not light enough.  Working the pellegrino, and so far the shading just looks ugly to me.   The shades on paper are not becoming cloth that hangs on a body, just marks on paper.  Maybe I'll feel it better after I've been away from it some hours.  Feel I've nearly made a hash of that side.  I've ghosted it with an eraser, and I've used my fingertip to smear it a little, as much as I dare.  That's a trick I used to use a lot, these days I try to avoid it.  Not telling you not to, though, use every tool you can and see what works.  Just make sure your fingertips are clean as you don't want oil, pencil residue, or anything else dirtying the paper.  The 'anything else' might introduce a color stain that'll never come out!

At first glance you wouldn't notice that I'd added anything.  Well, that's better than having a glaring error.  I did knock the tone just a little more, just now, so I'm a little more okay with it.  It makes me wonder whether I shouldn't have omitted some of the shading.  That's one of the editing choices one makes.  Hmm.  There's some more to go, they will probably give the flow that's needed...or...there';s one fold I could remove, taking a risk on how that will affect the others.  Okay, leaving that side too blank would cause an imbalance toward the image's other side, with nothing to counter the sleeve and elbow.  Plus it's still light enough that it doesn't distract, even looks nearly blank until you look right at it.  As cloth goes it is unquestionably white and clean.

Better study the photo again, I  suspect the tones under the chin may need deepening to match those under the nose and nasolabial folds.  Chis doesn't look fully dimensional to me the way it is.  Uh-huh, which should probably mean to do that whether the photo indicates it or not - the drawing demands it. Put the finished image ahead of the reference.  I should have added a highlight to the left eye even though there isn't one in the photo.

Yeah, I don't think I'll take a picture of it tonight.  I hate to chalk that up as a day's work but that's where it is, been at it for some hours on and off.  Quarter after four, and I'll try to put it away for awhile.  The seas are in turmoil under the surface.

Look at that smile on his face!  I almost feel as if he's encouraging me.  Alas it's not enough to settle my current feelings.