Man, I finally got around to tackling my Hernando de Soto drawing project yesterday. You know, the old explorer guy? Wanted to make it really pop off the page, not look like some flat history textbook sketch. Totally started from scratch right at my cluttered kitchen table.
First thing, I dumped out my pencils – the whole sad little collection of HB, 2B, and that one random 6B I found. Grabbed a fresh sheet of decent paper, the slightly textured kind. Found the clearest reference pic I could online – this dude had serious facial hair going on, lots of folds in his clothes.
My First Attempt Was… Meh.
Jumped right in, scribbling away like usual. Sketching the outline felt okay, basic head shape, shoulders. But then I started trying to shade. Ugh. Used my trusty HB pencil, pressing kinda light. Big mistake. The whole thing looked super washed out. Like pale, dusty, and boring. You could barely tell where his face ended and the background began. The details in his fancy explorer collar? Gone. Vanished. Totally frustrated me.
Then I remembered seeing something about contrast. Figured, what the heck, gotta try something different before I crumple this up.
What Actually Worked (And It Was Simple!)
Gave up on the HB for anything but the faintest sketch lines. Seriously, banished it. Picked up the 6B pencil. Hoo boy, game changer.
- Pushed down harder, way harder: Not snapping-pencil-lead hard, but definitely leaving a mark. Used that thick, soft graphite only for the darkest shadows – deep eye sockets, under the cheekbones, the heavy folds of his coat, the space under his hat brim.
- Left big patches WHITE: Before, I’d smudge a little gray everywhere. Nope. Kept areas where light would hit super clean – his forehead, cheek highlights, the top shoulder of his coat. Crisp white paper.
- Made the background actually do something: My first try had just… air behind him. Boring. For the second attempt, I grabbed my trusty HB again but used it differently. Made quick, light strokes all going in one direction around his figure. Didn’t try to be fancy, just filled it in loosely. Immediately made him look like he was standing in something, not floating in space. And because my background strokes were so light, the dark clothing edges stood out sharp.
It sounds stupidly simple, right? Push harder with the soft pencil, leave big bright spots clean, and scribble a basic background? But holy cow, the difference was night and day. Suddenly you could see the texture in his beard. You could tell his fancy lace collar was different from his coat because one was darker than the other. The whole thing looked dimensional. Like it had weight. Didn’t need fancy paper or expensive tools. Just needed to crank up the blacks, protect the whites, and give him a bit of context. Took my drawing from kindergarten level to something I wouldn’t be embarrassed to actually show folks!
