If realistic drawing is your goal, this video will help you make sure you don't make this mistake that is ruining your attempts. BTW, I recognize this issue in my students because it was my problem for years. Regardless of what many people say if you want to get better at realistic drawing, the answer isn't to start practicing more. That actually could be the mistake that is holding you back. The answer is to start practicing BETTER.
Many people believe the theory of 10,000 hours: "If you work at something long enough, hard enough, you'll become a master."
Basically it's the old saying "Practice makes perfect".
I think this statement has done much more harm than good for people that want to become excellent at any endeavor. The saying should be:
"Practice makes habits". And if you practice bad habits over and over, you are going to be bad at whatever you're trying to get good at. If you practice a bad golf swing, you get really good at a bad swing.
Another way to change up this saying would be:
"Only perfect practice makes perfect."
Here's a particular way that many pencil artists are committing "bad" practice:
One of the biggest issue beginning students have is they spend hours anguishing over tiny details without first considering the major values that will make their drawing look three dimensional.
Without the correct values, adding more detail to a drawing will not make it look more realistic.
Artists need to learn to recognize the key elements that will make their subject look 3d on a 2d surface. This is mainly the way the light is hitting the contours of the subject and the range of values that give it volume and dimension.
There are some pencil artists out there that tell people to limit the number, or the range of pencils they use. To me this is like telling someone to create a realistic painting and then take away half of the colors they need to make it look realistic.
More contrast = more dimension. If you go shopping for a new television, the best ones are all advertising a high contrast ratio. The contrast ratio is the difference between the brightest image a TV can create and the darkest. This is the most important characteristic that creates the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface. You'll notice that my work has extremely dark areas and the highlights are limited to a few select areas. I use a full range of values.
So what these artists are missing is first step of "seeing". If you just sit down and begin your drawing without first recognizing those key elements, you're not "seeing" as and artist, and your drawings won't look very realistic or three dimensional.
If you're still having a problem understanding this concept, read some of my answers in the comment section and if you want me to try to clarify more... just ask.
For more of my tutorials please visit my website at:
www.jdhillberrytutorials.com