Light, Shadow, and Shading

Draw a simple circle on a piece of paper. It looks flat, like a coin. Now look at a real ball or orange. It looks round and solid — you can tell it curves away from you. How does an artist make a flat circle on paper look like a solid ball? The secret is shading. Before we learn more, have a think: where is the brightest part of a ball when light shines on it?

Shading is the technique of adding dark and light tones to a drawing. It tricks your eye into thinking a flat shape is solid and three-dimensional — meaning it has depth, like a real object. Every object has a light source — the place where light is coming from, such as a window or a lamp. The side of the object facing the light is bright. The side turning away from the light is darker. That dark area is called a shadow. Between the brightest part and the darkest part there is a gradual change. That smooth change from light to dark is what shading creates. Here are three main ways to shade with a pencil: 1. Hatching — draw lots of parallel lines close together. The closer the lines, the darker the area looks. 2. Cross-hatching — draw a second set of lines crossing over the first set. This makes the area even darker. 3. Blending — press lightly for light areas, press harder for dark areas, and move the pencil in small circles to make the change smooth. Worked Example: Imagine a sphere (a ball shape) with light coming from the top-left. The top-left of the sphere would be very light — you might leave that area almost white. As you move across to the bottom-right, you press harder and add more pencil marks to make it gradually darker. The darkest patch is at the bottom-right edge. This makes the circle look like a real ball.