Tips on Drawing

Fourth Sketch Step: Darkening
After you have finished all your detailing in the 4H graphite, it's time to move on. In this step, you'll want to use your HB graphite along with that blade or flint. Before you do anything, check over the image to make sure there are no visible flaws. Its even a good idea to turn the paper over and see what the image looks like reversed, then you can see if the proportions are right. If there is nothing wrong with the image then its okay to proceed. You'll want to get the tip of your graphite as sharp and small as possible (which means if you aren't careful, you'll break the tip several times.) Click Here to see how to get the graphite very sharp without breaking it.

Ok, now if your tip is ready, then you are ready to get on with this step. Basically the only thing you are doing is darkening the lines from the 4H graphite, but these new lines will be much thinner so you image will have a gray mess left over. We won't worry about that until the next step though. Keep in mind, you'll have to sharpen the tip several times, rather you break it or not. When the tip doesn't stick in to paper and tends to feel like it's going to slide, it's time to sharpen again. I usually sharpen about once every 5 minutes (give or take.)

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