critique of pencil work please...

[jeffpaetzold]

i know quite a few professional illustrators and 2 of them told me the same thing when it came pencil drawing
they said don't even bother with all the fancy drawing pencils and different hardnesses, just use bic mechanical pencils, they're the best

[561design]

Yeah once you select your drawing medium, just stick to it. You don't need a ton of pencils. Once you learn to control your line weight etc, that's how you lay down your different shades. You want to remember that these drawings are typically used to convey a message. So just focus on doing it cleanly and fast. In college I used the Prismacolor blue and red pencils and that was it. Now I just use a cheap-o ball point pen. Once you get your fundamentals of drawing down it won't matter what you use. Just use it enough to understand what it can do.

[inkmunky]

just remember not to smear it too much, then it will look like crap no matter what...

[inipi67]

I got the Prisma's because I was wanting to do up some of my more old school style drawings up into flash sheets....I kinda' dig the old stuff,lol....I was told by a friend that tat's up north, to use tracing paper, makes the color pencils blend better .....I tried it on one design, seems to work pretty good...pressure is the key I think. Yeah, as far as only using the #2 pencil....thats kinda' what I picked up somewhere....Use one pencil and learn to graduate the shading....I first started shading with the cross hatch method as I used to draw out of comics....Conan and s&!t......when I was a kid. I still seem to struggle with the shading , as I used to find that I would keep f@#kin' with it till I messed it up.....so I'm still weary of going to far lol. A demon of mine lol.

[561design]

Yeah don't focus too much on getting shading "realistic". That usually makes the drawing look muddy. When it comes to shading just get the area done enough to suggest that it's a darker area. Remember you wanna save time as you're drawing. You can accomplish that with just line work.

[conorblue]

Originally Posted by inipi67

I was told by a friend that tat's up north, to use tracing paper, makes the color pencils blend better.

i have done this on vellum, that works real nice, then put a layer of white on the back side of the paper.

[SlickSquid]

Originally Posted by 561design

DO NOT draw with your wrist. Draw from your shoulder. The best way to learn this is drawing on a tall table standing up. Once you get that stuff down then move into drawing objects. If you have any questions just post it up an I'll help you out.

^^
I've Never heard of that before...can I ask as to why?
I've been drawing since I was able to hold a pencil....I use certain movements with my wrist or my arm for certain things I do when I draw but i've never heard do it just from your shoulders? I'd love to hear it..

Sorry to thread jack

As for feed back on the o.g. piece
Not too bad man...I would work more on your depth of shading and line weight as well but yo some cool work you got there so far

Oh and what ya'll know about them Bic and mechanical pencils to draw with!! They make the bet lines don't they?! haha

Back when I was in high school I only used 2 to 3pencils....A real wood pencil for my dark shading, them fake wood pencils (You know the ones that SUCKED to play pencil pop with) for my soft shading and Mechanical pencils were for the details...I found this out drawing in text books and notebooks over the years instead of studying!