This is my first worksheet that I am uploading! With this worksheet students will practice shading and creating tones.

If this is your first time using drawing pencils pay attention to the numbers and letters on your pencils. This represents how soft or hard each pencil is. Your HB pencil is the same as your regular number 2 pencil (you can use this instead). The B pencils are the soft pencils. The H pencils are the hard ones. This worksheet does not have value scales with the H pencils but you can do the same exercises and you will see the difference. Usually H pencils will give you lighter grays than the B pencils. The B pencils give you darker tones because the graphite is not as compact as in the H pencils (more graphite ends up on your paper). The higher the number the darker it will be. These letters and numbers are just a guide. There is not specific industry standard so two pencils of equal letter and number but different brands may be different in terms of softness/hardness. For this reason it's best to have the same brand for all pencils or just try them before you start your drawing to see how they feel. By the way, F pencils are the same as the H pencils. I read somewhere that the "F" stands for "fine point" which means it will stay sharp for a long time.

I personally like to use the H pencils just for the line work. Some people use them to make very light grays. I prefer to use the blending stump for my lightest grays. The H pencils are very clean (they won't smudge too much) so they are perfect for the line work when preciseness is required. Just remember not to press too hard. If you press too hard you will actually create an indentation on your paper and you won't be able to erase it.

For a printable version go to http://marlenellanes.com/valuescale1blog.pdf