Oh I'm not actually supposed to be focusing on clarity - it just makes things take longer. 
I get carried away sometimes though.
Hmm? I didn't necessarily mean 'reproducing the source image accurately'. You can get clarity by simplifying line and tone too.
That said, I only used two pencils on one piece if I remember correctly. I think I used my H or 2H for the lines and then went over those lines and did my shading in one of my heavier Bs (I marked the sketch as being 2H + 3B or whatever) and it made quite a massive difference. It's a lot easier to draw the lines with the harder pencils and obviously shading with blacks is the best for that sweet contrast.
Ah. That's pretty much what I was going for; many of your drawings remind me of my old drawings, which had some kind of 'coarse' characteristic which betrayed that they were done all with one grade. Working with a harder pencil (2h) helped pinpoint and eliminate the construction/design problems that led to that.
Well, thanks for reminding me about using different pencil grades on the same image, Ai. xD
Yeah, that has a good line quality + solidity, though the light is very diffuse (common problem with studio photos, they don't show form clearly due to excessive number of fill lights).
"H LSB"? I guess I should be reading that "H & 5B"?
Have you tried charcoal? It's commonly regarded as good for tone studies AFAIK, and my own experiences certainly back that up (very fast and 'solid feeling').
Your newer post reminds me of
this page from Bridgman.
EDIT: fixed quoting mess up
« Last Edit: January 03, 2016, 02:14:53 am by Ai »
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If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.
