Blending Tools

There are many different ways to blend graphite when shading your portraits.  In this tutorial I will go over some of the common tools used when blending graphite. The best place to use those tools, and what not to do.

Let’s go over some of the tools and their uses.

The most common tools used are blending sticks and tortillon. They look very similar and essentially work in the same manner, but there are a few differences that will help you in different areas of your drawings.

The blending sticks are denser and come in a variety of sizes. The tips are shorter and can be more blunt on the ends. Blending sticks have points at both ends. They tend to pick up more graphite allowing you to blend much further and faster. These are great for blending larger areas around the face, under the chin and the cheeks and forehead. As shown in the image below (left).

The image on the right shows areas where you would be more likely to use a tortillon. Areas around the highlights of the cheeks, forehead, and the bridge of the nose. The tortillon is essentially a rolled up piece of paper that has a point on one end and is open on the other. Like the blending sticks they come in different sizes.

Tortillons have longer tips and come to much sharper points. These are good for getting those smaller details. It also works well for smaller areas where you have to make transitions from darker areas to white.

Using the blending stick and tortillon 

The blending stick and tortillon are used the same way just for different areas. Starting out with your pencil, lightly shade in the area you want to blend. Don’t shade all the way up to your highlight.
Take the bending stick or tortillon and start to go over the area that you want the darkest, move in tight circular motions.

As you move to the lighter areas make wider circular motions. Use less pressure as you get closer to your highlights. The image below shows the difference between the blending stick and the tortillon.

You can also use a sweeping motion going back and forth along the shadow you want to follow. This works well around the higher contrast areas.

Other artist use graphite powder to brush on as a base. This is a very good technique and gives you a very smooth and light blend, but for me it's time consuming and I don't use it very often. An alternative that I will use for a softer transition is a tissue. This will pick up a light amount of graphite if done very lightly it gives a similar effect.

One tool you should never use is your finger. The problem with this is your fingers have natural oils that will stick to the paper and the graphite will stick to the oils like glue. It will collect, clump up and leaving dark specks. When you use an eraser over these areas it will make it worse. The image below shows how this will look on your paper.

Whatever technique you use remember to start out with a light base and you can always build to a darker value. It’s easier to put it on than it is to take it off!

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