Hi there all!

New guy here, new to the forums and still pretty new to drawing as well. I have Ms. Hoddinott's book "Drawing for Dummies" and also found this site as an even better source of instruction. My question is about shading techniques (hence the title), and I'm just wondering, basically, what they are? I have a funny feeling this is a deeper question than I realize and than can be answered in a short response, so please don't slam me too hard.

From the book, and the lessons here, it seems the techniques presented are basically hatching, crosshatching, "squirkles," and then some sections on blending. So, questions:

1. Does this about sum up the extent of shading methods, or are there others I should care about?
2. What's the best way to apply these shading methods (hatching, cross..., and squirkles)? Are these all to be done with the tip of a sharp pencil, or side of the pencil, etc.?

I may have other questions I don't even know of yet, so I'll just kick it off with these. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. This drawing thing is awesome, and I'm just having so much fun!

hi,
I'm still learning too, so there are other members that will surely explain better than I, anyway here goes.

you should choose the shading tecnique depending on what you are shading and how you want it shaded.
for example, for my portraits I normaly use hatching and blending. But you can use others too. some people don't blend.
it depends on how you want the texture to look. You can also use squirkles for skin texture, or really curly hair.
So I guess you will have to try them out and see wich is better for what, and what works better for your drawings.

I hope I didn't get you even more confused.

Hatching can take a variety of forms depending on the medium and the effect you want to achieve.

Hatching and crosshatching is traditional and an effective method of shading and takes some practice. You need a very sharp pencil to do clean sharp lines if you want fine shading. 'Squirkling' is another form of scumbling - a circular technique that adds texture to your value. This can be blended if you want to give a softer appearance.

Shading using circulism is another method involving light layers of small circles applied to the paper and rarely needs the use of an eraser.

Blending is a whole topic on its own virtually. There are two schools of thought - one to blend to diffuse and soften lines, the other to use your graphite to define the values.
Personally, I usually only blend in areas such as sky or sea when I want an even value over a larger space. Otherwise I use my pencil to create the values without blending. I advise students not to blend, as its easy to overblend and never completely understand what you can achieve with your pencil alone.