This hatching technique adds and subtracts from a middle value. It’s a good technique for value studies. A value study is a drawing made with attention to lighting and not much else. You concentrate on the shadow and highlight patterns.
The resulting drawing can have a dreamy, or out of focus, quality. It’s an excellent way to train your eye to notice how the light falls on form and texture. When all is said and done, all we really do is draw the effect of light, so study light and your drawing will improve.
I like to start a value study with the “middle” value so I can lift out highlights and hatch in shadows.
Sometimes I use a value scale to find the lightest highlights and darkest shadows, and then decide on a value between those extremes. Sometimes I just squint my eyes to see an averaged value and use that.
For this drawing, I made hatches with different pencils to see which one made the best middle value. The hatch on the left was made with an HB pencil, and the other with a 2B.
I decided the HB pencil hatch was best. I made the hatch with the side of the pencil and light pressure.
First Shape and Hatching
I measured the length and width of the cone with my pencil, transferred those measurements to the paper, and then hatched the main pine cone shape with the side of the HB pencil.
Since this was an opened cone, I used a kneaded eraser that I’d pinched into a point to remove ‘notches’ from both edges to represent the opened scales. I placed them at ‘about’ the right points with ‘about’ the right spacing, but didn’t try to be exact.
I used the kneaded eraser because I wanted the notches to have soft edges. The stick eraser would have made very sharp-edged erasure marks.
Erased Highlights In Cone’s Body
Using a kneaded eraser’s tip that I’d shaped into a small round ball, I ‘tapped’ out the highlight shapes. If you drag an eraser across graphite, it’ll smear the texture.
Again, I was not very precise, but I tried to match the placement, pattern, and scale size. (The scales were in rows, with the largest scales in the middle, and the smaller scales at both ends.)
Adding Detail To The Value Study – At this point, I decided to add more detail to the drawing, making it slightly more than a value study. The beauty of beginning any drawing with a value study is that you have already built a realistic three-dimensional base to add the details to.
Added Scale Gradations And A Cast Shadow
I used the flattened point of the 2B pencil to gradate the scales. The value pattern of each scale was basically the same. There was a ‘sharp’ highlight line on the tip that gradated into darker shadow as it angled back into the cone. I repeated that pattern on each scale, although they were all different sizes and shapes.
I added the cast shadow underneath the cone with the side of a 2H pencil.
The flattened point gave me finer control than the side of the pencil, and it still matched the texture. To make a flat tip, rub the pencil back and forth across scrap paper a few times.
Refined Shadows and Highlights
To make the scale edges look sharper, or more defined, I used a writing grip on the 2B pencil to draw a line around each tip. Then I blended that line into the shadow area next to it so it wouldn’t stand out as an ‘outline.’
To lighten the tips of the scales, I placed a kneaded eraser, pinched into a rounded wedge shape, on the tip of each one and gently pulled it into the shaded part of the scale. That movement lightened the highlight back into the shadowed area.
Next I cut the stick eraser into a wedge with a knife, and did the same thing with it. That lightened the highlight, in a gradual way, a little more than the kneaded eraser did. After each couple of scales, I cleaned the eraser by either rubbing it on scrap paper or by cutting it again.
Finally, I noticed that the left side of the cone was in shadow, so I darkened it slightly with light over-all hatching made with the side of a 2H pencil.
Sometimes you have to erase in layers to get the effect you want.
The kneaded eraser followed by the stick eraser might seem like the long way to get to a result, but graphite is slick, and it can ‘clog’ erasers quickly. Firstly, I used the kneaded eraser to remove some graphite, so I wouldn’t have to clean the stick eraser quite so much. Secondly, the stick eraser used on top of that much graphite would have created a smeary mess.
I’m happy with the way I was able to preserve the scale’s texture, and the gently gradated highlights made the tips “stand up” in a three-dimensional way, so you can’t argue with success, even if you can complain about how slow it is. :)
I’m a Blick affiliate. They’ve been my art store for over thirty years, and I get a bit of money when you buy from my links, so if you do that, thanks! In any case, these are the brands I use and recommend.
Here are the supplies you need for this lesson:
Pencils
Derwent Graphic Pencil – Hardness 2B
Derwent Graphic Pencil – Hardness HB
Derwent Graphic Pencil – Hardness 2H
(If one is out of stock, get the next softer grade.)
Paper
Canson Classic Cream Drawing Pad or
Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper Pad
Erasers
Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser
Tombow MONO Knock Stick Eraser
Sharpener
KUM Long Point Sharpener