How to Shade a Drawing in 3 Steps

The number one thing artists want to develop in their drawing is realistic shading, but it can be elusive for many reasons. No matter how advanced you become, the secret remains: Keep it simple (especially at the beginning) and prioritize form over detail. Following the 3 steps below will help you see and emphasize the most important aspects of shading.

Step 1: Separate Light and Shadow

The first and most important part of shading is separating light and shadow. This means you are identifying what surfaces are facing the light source and receiving direct light, and which surfaces are facing away from the light source or being blocked from receiving light by another form.

By beginning with this simple separation, you're setting the stage for form! We're defining the surface as broadly facing one way or the other before getting into the nuances.

For your first layer, keep it simple and shade all the shadow one even value, and leave the light area blank.

*Note: It's important to understand the difference between shading and shadow. Shading is simply using graphite, charcoal, or something else to change the value of the paper. Shadow is the absence of direct light. So, you can have shading on both the shadow and the light side!

Step 2: Look for Darker Areas Within the Shadow

By looking for darker areas in the shadow, you can define the differences between a form or core shadow, a cast shadow, and a reflected light, all in one step. This gives a ton of information about the surfaces within the shadow and how forms are turning. Having a well defined shadow on its own can create a solid looking drawing.

Step 3: Add Half-Tones

Half-tones define the surface on the light side, and show how quickly or gradually the surface is turning.

The thing with half-tones is that they're lighter than the shadow (so don't shade too dark here!) and they're always in a delicate transition. This means you want to move a little more slowly and carefully with the half-tone and try to feather the edges as you go. It's better to have the half-tone be too subtle than too harsh, since a too dark or abrupt half-tone can make something look mushy, dirty, or like it has stripes instead of round forms.

A Final Note

While it's tempting to try to get all the details and nuances in your drawing, they're usually diminishing the sense of realism, especially when the foundation of the above concepts isn't solid. It's better to see how well and how far you can take the above 3 principles rather than adding detail too soon.

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