Working with values

I think that if you want to be able to make a pencil drawing using a photograph as reference, you will need to use a value scale. 

A value scale is a scale filled with shades of gray or unfilled to show the value or shade of each pencil in a range of values from black to white, being the paper the white

It is used to find the values of a particular area of a black and white image, drawing or photograph, by overlaying it and finding areas of similar value through the holes.

How to make a graphite pencil value scale

To have an idea of which pencil to use for a given area of a black and white picture, one thing you can use is a value scale. What i call a value scale is a template printed on card. This template has separate locations to be filled with graphite from the different values you have from 9H all the way to 9B. Then when you have all squares filled with each different pencil you will have a variation of shades of gray or values from black (9B) to almost white (9H), and white is represented by the paper itself. If you make a hole on each value square, now you can compare the values on the original black and white picture with the values on your scale, and when the values match you will know which pencil to use.

 

You should try to apply the same pressure on the pencil when filling the value spaces of each pencil so the result is the most consistent possible. You can cross-hatching it first drawing horizontal lines and then drawing vertical lines over the horizontal ones. Try to fill each space the same way.

 

You can also use a computer generated scale of pure values for you to compare the reference image,

any area no your drawing or to calibrate the values of your pencils.

Always remember that different pencil manufacturers always have different value range for their pencils, so a 4B from one manufacturer probably is different from the 4B pencil of another manufacturer.

I have included a file with empty template value scales I use, i made them in Inkscape, an open source vector drawing application.


click here for the    Value Template


Enjoy drawing.

Pencils Part 1

 All you need to draw is a piece of paper and a pencil  But there are pencils and pencils. So we will talk about one of the main tools of drawing: the pencil. More specifically graphite wood pencils.

My first set of drawing pencils.

 I love these Mars Lumograph Pencils. The original content of the tin box was 8B 7B 6B 6B 5B 4B 4B 3B 2B 2B B HB F H 2H 3H 4H 5H 6H, but i have replaced the extra 2B and 4B pencils with an extra 7B and 8B, so i have 2 6B, 2 7B and 2 8B. As you can probably see, i have used mainly pencils from the 6B to H range. These pencils are very smooth, easy to sharpen and to erase and have a very good value range from 6H to 8B.

Lumograph value range

This is how the value range of the Lumograph series of drawing pencils looks. It starts on 6H the lightest one and goes to 8B the darkest one. The HB stands in the middle and is the normal pencil, the one you will find everywhere.

Normally different pencil manufacturers have different ranges of value available spawning from 9H to 9B. I have heard there is also 10H, but I never saw one.

Pencils are made of graphite and clay, The more clay the pencil has the lightest the mark it leaves on the paper.  They range from the (H)  Hard ones, which have more clay than graphite,to the (B) Black ones which have less clay and much more graphite. 

The hard pencils range from H to 9H. The 9H is so hard that I think I will only need to sharpen it only once, and it seems it will never wear off.

The black and soft pencils range from B to 9B. Usually the lead diameter tends to grow with the higher B value cause they are softer and have tendency to break easily. These ones leave the blackest mark in the paper that graphite can do.

The full value range of graphite pencils

 

... when someone gave me a little A5 pen tablet, about an year ago, I thought that my digitall graphics skills would just explode, as it is easier to draw with a tablet than with a mouse. I did some digital drawings, and decided to give it a try with real life media. So I got a pencil and a piece of paper and gaved it a go. The result amazed me cause i was not aware i could even draw! I made a decision to start learning how to draw. This was last year, and i have spent some of my free time drawing and practice drawing, learning about it, learning about the tools, about paper. I always thought that digital is always better than the analog, but I see how a simple pencil can do wonders that require a lot of investment in hardware and software to be able to produce an approximation.Even the best tablets can't even get near to all that is possible to do with a pencil.

And, of course, i have fallen in love with pencils :)


enjoy drawing