How to shade in pencil drawings to make them look realistic?

You can use different levels of hardness for your pencils. Many times they are sold in sets of different types so you can buy a few different kinds and experiment. To a certain extent it depends on what type of drawing you want to do. Is it very detailed? Do you want crisp edges? Then use a harder pencil.

Do you like blending and smudging with your fingers to get your shading? Then use softer pencils.

An HB pencil is a good medium hardness and works well for many things.

The paper you use also affects how the pencil appears. Paper with more “tooth” and texture will take the lead differently.

You can use crosshatching to shade as well.
You can use stumps (see number 8 in the photo) to blend.

If you want realism you need to understand light source as well so you do your shading and highlighting correctly. This is essential to making things appear 3D.

I love drawing with pencil! It’s the way I learned to draw. My favorite pencil is the Tombow 3B It is my Mercedes of pencils. I love it!!!
I also recommend getting a kneaded eraser

@Earthgirl: Not being an artist, I love the seminar on the shadows and highlights.

gailcalled I love the tutorials you can find on the internet! I had 2 or 3 books on how to draw when I was a kid and all their pages were very well thumbed! I also used to try to draw the pictures in my fairy tale books when I was about 11 years old. My best picture was of Sleeping Beauty. I copied it freehand out of my picture book.I know it was by a famous artist but I don’t’ remember his name. If I find it I will post the link. She is sleeping with a little Cavalier King Charles spaniel. I love that kind of dog to this day!

I have this set of pencils that I use for drawing. I am very much a blender, so to shade I use the softer pencils and smudge accordingly.

You can bring out highlights after blending by using the eraser as a drawing tool

@Earthgir was your Sleeping Beauty illustrated by Arthur Rackham? Another Rackam illustration, with the dog

@Earthgirl – thanks for the art lessons, that is great information!

And AshlynM remember that what is closest to you is always the lightest.

anartist I love Arthur Rackahm but that’s not the illustration. I will have to look it up tonight. I think the artist is French and I think his name starts with an L.. It’s not Edmund Du Loc eitheri whom I also love. The picture was only on colored paper in black. It was not full color. It’s a closeup and she is lying with her arm around the dog.

anartist Here it is!!! The second picture is the Sleeping Beauty I drew from. It is by Adrienne Segur.

But in my book there was no Prince in the picture like you see here and no background filler. Also, as I have said above it was a tonal drawing like the one above it on the weblink. It looked like blue ink, not full color. Even then, I loved the detail of her dress! It’s funny but I remember bringing my sketchbook to school so I could show my friends. I still have that sketchbook. I used to write “copied freehand” underneath the drawing and write the date. I wanted to be honest that it wasn’t my original drawing. I was just practicing to see how close I could get. It was a good exercise for me that taught me to observe and copy proportions and shading.I did pretty damn good for 11 years old. If I can find the notebook I will scan it so you can see.

@Earthgirl thanks for the link!
Now when do we get to see your drawing?

anartist It may take some digging in my basement and attic. I will see if I can find the notebook and show you! :)