For a laugh I tried some shading using just the mechanical pencil and this is what happened.
I have enhanced these pictures in Picassa by improving the contrast so that they are easier to see on the web, and I don't have a problem with this. I don't think it is cheating and it has the pleasant by-product of making my pictures look better than they actually are.
I enjoyed all this cross hatching and little line drawing. I think I get the idea, it's lots of little lines in the general direction of the face. Eventually it builds up to look less 2D. It's not easy and I think you have to be super subtle. I am not yet, so I drew this weirdo...
But I do like this lady below. She's not finished yet, but I just freaked out that I would ruin her if I kept drawing, so I scanned her to save her forever!
She looks a bit like my friend Lou from college.
