Blending and Shading

I've been wanting to share this little exercise in blending and shading with sketch pencils.  Unfortunately, the urge struck me when I had only 5B sketch pencils on hand.  With blending and shading, it is still possible to do really well with just one lead size.  It's just a matter of more pressure here, less pressure there, and I find this a good way to practice blending and shading.

This image is by Sureya on Deviant Art.  I love coloring Sureya's images.  They are interesting and always have lots of swirls and curls.  Perfect for practicing blending and shading combos.  This is Andria (or li dong hua...).  

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While this exercise is very relaxing, it takes a lot of time.  Knowing when to stop depends solely on you.  Try this exercise, though.  You'd be really surprised what you learn about colors by using just black and white.  Then why not stop by Sureya's and see what fun image you'd like to color.   http://sureya.deviantart.com/ 

As always --

Thanks for stopping by!