Resources: • 1.2.R6 Drawing on the Magic of Indenting

• 1.2.R7 Using Hard Grades to Resist Soft Grades

Supplies: smooth drawing paper, various grades of pencils, sharpening tool

Highlight Dark Hair with

Graphite Resist Indent curved lines with a graphite pencil to show the shiny texture of strands of realistic hair

Level: BeginnerFlesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 6.5Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 67.9Drawspace Curriculum 1.2.A12 - 4 Pages and 7 Illustrations

ArtSpeak!

Indenting: (also called impressing and incising) The process of applying pressure to a soft surface with a pointed blunt object to create indents, impressions, patterns and/or textures.Grade: The softness or hardness of the mixture used in the manufacture of drawing mediums.Graphite resist: The process of using a hard grade of pencil as an indenting tool to render gray lines.

Graphite pencils are made with a mixture of graphite and clay. Graphite is very soft and black and makes dark marks. Clay is hard and makes light marks. B grades of pencils have more graphite than H grades, and therefore make darker marks.

As an Aside

Tip!

Always place your drawing paper on a smooth, hard surface before you use indenting techniques. The results will not be as good if the pencil pressure causes the paper to sink.

Caution!

Never leave visible joins in strands of hair or fur! To prevent this problem, always taper the ends of all shading lines (as shown in Figure 1 on the next page).

1. Place your smooth drawing paper on a smooth, hard surface.

2. Use a sharpened hard grade of pencil (the harder the better) to draw a set of curved lines (Figure 1).

ISBN: 978-1-77193-109-0Copyright © 2016 Mike Sibley (www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form

or by any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators’ license from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 2

Apply sufficient pressure to indent the paper.

Also, make sure that the ends of your lines are tapered so the highlights on the hair will look realistic.

3. Sharpen a 4B pencil to a chisel point to produce a flat face (Figure 2).

4. Use the flat face of the 4B point to shade in the direction of the hard grade (Figure 3).

Graphite-indented lines are usually too narrow to be accidentally filled in by the high graphite content of soft grades.

Note that the ends of all the strokes are tapered.

5. Continue shading with the 4B until the graphite-indented lines are surrounded by hair.

As you can see in Figure 4, the gorgeous highlights have mysteriously appeared.

6. Use a 6B grade to increase the overall contrast (Figure 5).

Don’t forget to darken the gaps between the first set of indented lines (Figure 1).

ISBN: 978-1-77193-109-0Copyright © 2016 Mike Sibley (www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form

or by any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators’ license from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

2 1.2.A12: Highlight Dark Hair with Graphite Resist

The solid white paper between these lines has readily accepted the 6B, so the indents now appear to be stray hairs running through dark shading.

Tip!

This technique also works beautifully for creating highlights on long fur. To create highlights on short fur, draw with shorter lines.

Challenge!

Closely examine the dark sections of hair in a realistic drawing of goats (Figures 6 and 7). Identify a few of the many highlights that were created with the technique used in this activity.

Figure 6

Figure 5

Figure 7

ISBN: 978-1-77193-109-0Copyright © 2016 Mike Sibley (www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form

or by any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators’ license from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

31.2.A12: Highlight Dark Hair with Graphite Resist

Enjoy!

Cheers……….

Drawing from Line to Lifeby Mike Sibley

• Foreword by renowned artist David Shepherd• Over 280 pages of pencil drawing tips, tutorials,

demonstrations and much more...• More than 625 illustrations• Tools, techniques, methods• Step-by-step instructions• For the Novice and Advanced student• From pure line drawing through to near-reality

Based on Mike’s experience of over 30 years as a professional artist and graphite pencil specialist.

www.SibleyFineArt.com/pencil-drawing-book.htm

If you’re a graphite artist or an artist who wants to learn more about how to construct a drawing, a book like this is a jewel. This is the book I have been waiting for... a book where a life-long artist performs a magical brain-dump into a format where you can reference it your whole life. So, if you were on the fence about this book think about it this way: this book can help you perfect your craft for a lifetime and amounts to a night out to a restaurant and a few drinks. Now ask yourself, which is going to stay with you after you wake up the next day?

>Rich Adams<

ISBN: 978-1-77193-109-0Copyright © 2016 Mike Sibley (www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form

or by any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators’ license from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

4 1.2.A12: Highlight Dark Hair with Graphite Resist