LAYER and BURNISH with graphite pencil

[@chriss3025]

This video is genius! Cant believe you dont have thousands of subscribers.

[@drawwithmike]

Oh, well... I'm not really YT material. I mean, I'm more interested in teaching than pleasing folk :) And I work slowly, so you're not going to get a video a week out of me. That said, I've got a long list of subjects to work through - as well as making regular videos for my DrawWithMike.net folk. Thanks again, Chris. Your comment makes all the work very worthwhile. I forgot to mention that you might find this useful too: DRAWING DARK VALUES kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4uToKSvp9dgfdk

[@kaptainkermo]

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou so much Mike for teaching this! Especially the short segment from 5:12! Wow - being self taught I struggled with reaching dark values, and had no idea running an HB over 6B can produce a darker tone (in short, hard over soft)! This changed the whole way I look at values, and the sequence of pencil selection. Amazing! Thankyou!

[@drawwithmike]

Repeat after me: "Always HARD over SOFT". 😉 Because if you apply a hard grade first, you will fill the tooth with clay. Then there's insufficient tooth remaining to scrape off the softer grade, and result is often patchy, at best. And when you created your lovely strong darks, watch kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKTKqKiIiNCVgLM and see how a matt fixative can darken them even more.

[@heatherturpin6402]

Mike, I purchased your book "Drawing from Line to Life" in 2009 after a 15 year break from learning graphite drawing in high school. It was always my favorite medium, but I was not finding a way to move to the next level. Your book TRANSFORMED my drawing techniques and use of tools. My poor book is much-loved and notated now, but I still reference it frequently while working on commissions. I was so excited to see your videos on KZbin. I finally know what your voice sounds like, and can see you in action. I live in the US, so hopping over for a class in the UK is not feasible, though it is a dream of mine. Thank you for sharing your talent and dedication to graphite over the years. I'm a fan for life. Heather from North Carolina, USA

[@drawwithmike]

I'm so pleased you're enjoying your book, Heather, and finding it useful. At the time that I wrote it, I had 25+ years of experience uselessly stored in my head, so I dumped everything I knew into the book. I intended to write a second book, but the videos do a much better job. They won't all be here on KZbin. When I've time, I make a video just for KZbin, but most are the "Intro" videos, and there are usually at least two other videos fully covering that subject. But they're only available to members at www.DrawWithMike.net. Or you can purchase them from my website. DWM isn't free, because it keeps the spammers and time-wasters away, but it is cheap - as are the videos. And it has its own Support Forum, where I can personally help you. I held a workshop in North Carolina (Hickory in 2013) and I'm so sorry I missed you! Will I be back? I don't know. Jenny and I found the travelling was beginning to become tiring. I'm not ruling it out, but DWM was partly created, so you could come to me instead - without travelling :)

[@ponchocolate3902]

Gracias, Mike !!!!!!!!

[@lw8882]

This is an amazing tutorial thank you so much. I was trying to burnish without using a burnishing pencil and came across this technique by accident. Your video was the result of the keywords and bam here I am. Perfect amount of information and guidance to experiment with the technique and build on what I was learning. Thank you so much!

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks! I'm just trying to help, but you made my day :) Rule of thumb: use a grade two grades harder to burnish. Works for me. But at the B end of the scale, burnish anything softer than 2B with a 2B, regardless of how far down the scale it is.

[@anthonysbliss]

What a treasure. Hard to find! Unique n prescious...

[@drawwithmike]

Thank you! You got my day off to a lovely start :)

[@anthonysbliss]

@@drawwithmike i ve been searching the very right solution to my flat and dirty drawing which i really put the best of my patience and my knowledge. Just other tips and tricks those shortcut stuff could never correct it. I feel so devastasted when i feel like all my endeavor is in vain when i want Drawing to be my career. Now i saw the light from this experienced and generous mentor! Nothing can hold me back now! I m gonna support u in my every possible extent even though my economy is poor currently. When i m rich and my country Myanmar is freed again from junta, i m gonna be your top fan and supporter, i promise.🥰

[@drawwithmike]

@@anthonysbliss Well, a promise is a promise :) But, in the meantime, I sense that you really do enjoy drawing and would welcome some assistance, so email me at [e-mail], because I have an idea in mind that can help you.

[@gast4215]

I didn't know that you were making youtube videos, so it was a really big surprise to see your name popping up in the videos YT suggests. I'm happy to have found them! Thank you so much for them (and your drawings!).

[@drawwithmike]

I'm making video for DrawWithMike (about 50 so far) and occasionally post one of them here. And I've made a few specifically for KZbin, but DWM takes most of my time. I'll have another one for you soon, after I've worked on the next DWM video.

[@zxcvbnm6669]

What an awesome video

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks! That makes all the work very worthwhile.

[@lvbailey1]

Thank You❣️

[@garyburczak4167]

I look forward to that.

[@jotnarymir1393]

This helped me out so much. Best tutorial ive seen on graphite. Can these techniques be used when using graphite powder?

[@drawwithmike]

With graphite powder? I'd love to say Yes... but I don't know. Graphite powder is the one application method I've never used. I did experiment with it many years ago, but I found it to be too uncontrollable. I'm glad you found the video useful - there are more... some here, and all of them at DrawWithMike.net

[@melanieopperman6688]

Thank you Mike for another masterclass. I had another eureka moment this time in getting the order of layering right. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with artists who love to draw.

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks, Melanie! On the Conqueror paper that I use (which has very little tooth) hard over soft is a necessity. I can't comment on other papers, but hard over soft is virtually guaranteed to succeed. Soft over hard can work, but you're taking a chance with that. I'll have another video for you by next weekend. Or, of course, you could join me at DrawWithMike.net and watch all of them... but it's not free. It's not expensive, either. :) Just £6 ($8 USD) a month. But that does keep the spam at bay. DWM has a Support Forum, too, and I had to manually remove 240,000 spam accounts from my previous (free) forum, and I sincerely don't want to have to do that again!

[@melanieopperman6688]

@@drawwithmike Thanks Mike that is something to consider.

[@garyburczak4167]

Great content.

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks, Gary. I'm taking a short break but should have more for you soon.

[@TmHudsonArt]

Great vid again Mike.....I need to learn how to make mine more informative like this...

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks, Toni-Marie... but you don't! You need to carry on making your beautiful artwork and marvellous videos. They're full of valuable teaching. I rarely draw now (my eyesight isn't what it was) so, outside of teaching, I have all my time available to be creative making videos 😊

[@viajedeldragonresplandeciente]

Another interesting and useful video. 😉 Thank you so much Mike! 😊 Greetings from México :D

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks! I'll have another one for you over the weekend.

[@rachelenano4680]

❤

[@FreeThinker2311]

Great video, thank you for taking the time to make it. Being an American, I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box. I don't understand the difference between layering and burnishing. It looked like you did the same thing for both. Could someone please explain (in simple terms) the main difference between the two for me? Thanks!

[@drawwithmike]

Hmm.... I thought the same. What's the difference? And I wrote the script 😊 Technically, there is no difference. They are both layers of a hard grade over a softer grade. But I decided to go with the two descriptions because the INTENTION is different. I use LAYERING when the intention is to create a dark value with the smoothness of a hard grade. 2B under 2H, for example. So the result is a smooth 2H, but darker than a 2H usually produces. And BURNISHING when I mean the layering is specifically done to increase contrast and polish the result by breaking up the soft grade with the hard grade and filling the holes in the tooth. The holes that visually dilute the soft grade's value. And award yourself top marks for being sharp. I've been expecting someone to ask your question ever since I made that video - and you're the first, so far 😊

[@FreeThinker2311]

@@drawwithmike Thank you for explaining the difference. And thank you for taking the time to make these videos, they have really helped me.

[@tylerglenn7811]

This is genuinely unique content! Thank you for sharing your expertise. 🥲

[@drawwithmike]

Thanks, Tyler. I'll have another video for you very soon, as I'm tied up with writing the next one.