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.