25 Days to Better Drawings: Texture Study #3
Lesson Description
Lesson fourteen of the 25 Days to Better Drawings Course continues the exploration of texture by shifting attention to a very different surface quality—smooth, reflective metal. In this session, students create a highly realistic drawing of a metal bolt using graphite pencils and white charcoal on gray drawing paper. This combination of tools and surface allows for a full value range, helping learners capture the shiny highlights, sharp edges, and subtle gradients that define metallic objects. Building on techniques from previous lessons, this study encourages careful observation, control of pressure, and an understanding of how light interacts with reflective surfaces.
Understanding the Characteristics of Metal Texture
The lesson begins with a discussion of what makes metal distinct from the textures studied so far. Unlike wood or brick, metal is not defined by roughness or organic irregularities. Rather, its defining qualities are smoothness, reflectivity, and sharp tonal contrast. Light behaves differently on metal, producing bright highlights, dramatic reflections, and deep shadows that shift quickly across the surface. Instead of gradual, subtle transitions, metal often features crisp edges between light and dark areas.
Students learn that capturing metal convincingly requires more than simply shading smoothly; it demands an understanding of light direction, surface angles, and value relationships. The instructor emphasizes that metal objects rarely reveal texture through small marks. Instead, texture emerges through the interplay of clean shapes of value—large areas of light, dark, and midtone, arranged like pieces of a puzzle. This section encourages learners to observe these shapes closely and resist the urge to overwork or overblend.
Preparing the Drawing: Setting Up the Composition
With the characteristics of metal understood, students begin planning their drawing of a metal bolt. The lesson demonstrates how to lightly sketch the basic shapes using graphite, focusing on accurate proportions, precise angles, and clean construction lines. Because bolts contain circular openings, cylindrical threads, and angular planes, they offer an excellent opportunity to apply knowledge from earlier lessons about basic forms and ellipses.
The instructor walks students through breaking the bolt into simpler shapes—a cylinder for the shaft, stacked ellipses for the threading, and a polygonal form for the head. Accuracy in this stage is essential, as the reflective surface of metal exaggerates errors in symmetry or proportion. The gray drawing paper provides a neutral midtone foundation, ensuring that both graphite and white charcoal will stand out as shading progresses.
Developing Values: Using Graphite and White Charcoal
Once the drawing is established, students begin developing values using graphite pencils. The lesson explains how to build up darker tones gradually, paying close attention to clean edges and smooth transitions. Matt demonstrates how to map out the major value shapes first, identifying where the darkest shadows fall and where the brightest highlights will eventually be placed with white charcoal.
This step emphasizes the importance of contrast when drawing metal. Students practice creating sharp edges where necessary while keeping certain transitions smooth and controlled. Harder graphite pencils may be used for lighter areas, while softer pencils deepen the darkest shadows. The metal surface begins to emerge as strong value shapes interact across the form of the bolt.
Adding Highlights: The Power of White Charcoal
With graphite shadows in place, the lesson moves on to using white charcoal to elevate the drawing further. On gray paper, white charcoal provides luminous highlights that perfectly mimic the polished gleam of metal. Students learn how to apply white charcoal selectively and cleanly, avoiding excessive blending to maintain crispness.
Matt demonstrates how to enhance edges, accent reflective areas, and refine the brightest points where light strikes the bolt directly. Subtle applications can also be used to transition between midtones and highlights, preserving the smooth yet dramatic quality characteristic of metallic surfaces. This stage reveals how combining graphite and white charcoal results in a full, rich value range unattainable by graphite alone.
Refining Details and Enhancing Realism
In the final phase of the lesson, students refine their drawing by adjusting contrasts, sharpening edges, and carefully developing the intricate details of the bolt’s threading and surface reflections. Matt shows how to create the illusion of depth within the grooves of the threads, using shadow placement and edge clarity to emphasize the bolt’s dimensionality.
Students also learn how to enhance the subtle reflective qualities of metal, including small bounced highlights and tonal variations influenced by surrounding objects. These finishing touches bring the bolt to life, giving it weight, solidity, and a realistic metallic sheen. By the end of the lesson, learners gain confidence in using both graphite and white charcoal to communicate smooth, reflective textures with precision and finesse.
Lesson Materials
Graphite drawing pencils: H and 2B, gray drawing paper, blending stump, and a white charcoal pencil. In this drawing exercise, we create a drawing of a bolt with graphite and white charcoal.
Lesson Resources
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Founder of The Virtual Instructor, artist and teacher. Matt makes learning art easy to understand and enjoyable.
Are there only 14 lesson in this 25 day course? I can’t open any more videos past “Day 14.”
Hi Jerry,
This course is in development and modules are released as they are developed. New modules will be released in two days. The first 14 days were released on April 1, 2018.
cheese
I’m curious… is it possible to capture the details in texture using just one pencil and varying the pressure? Or will the tooth of the paper make it harder to do so?
What brand of white charcoal pencil do you use? I live in Australia and can’t find one anywhere.
I completed the drawing and it looks reflective. Thanks
Matt my charcoal white pencil won’t go down very well, it’s like the surface is slippery and I’m not getting a lovely bright white like you do 😢
Beth I got mine on wish but any art/craft shop should have them, have you been to spotlight?
Hi Diane,
When using white charcoal and graphite together, you have be careful not to put too much graphite on the surface before applying the white charcoal.The white charcoal will not cover or go over the graphite very well. Do you think this is what is happening here?
hi Matt, Thank you for being so patient. I admire the way you teach and I am really engaged and motivated to see the lessons.
You’re right about the white charcoal, on not applying too much graphite at first coz it happens to me. However, I still feel that the charcoal i bought was of cheap quality that’s why there is no strong contrast and also the white looks ashy. Do you have any preference or recommendation on white charcoal?
Again I am grateful I found your online classes. Thank you Matt.
Hi Nell-E,
Thanks for your comments! Yes, I prefer General’s white charcoal in both stick and pencil form. I hope this helps.
I have the same issue, using different graphite pencils and different white charcoal pencils all I’m getting are smooth/smeared gray marks.
Of all the module projects so far, this has proved to be the toughest challenge for me. Getting the inner inner rings of the bolt to look more or less round was hard. Still I’m learning more new things with each module. Thank you, Matt.
Great I really enjoyed that one I love how the light pops out when using the white charcoal pencil as always Matt your tutorials are amazing! Really starting to build up a really good sketch book to refer to !
Many thanks Jan
I was wondering (also in the previous exercises) why my drawings on gray paper have much less contrast than yours. Now it finally clicked in place, that I need softer pencils than you use. 2B instead of H and 4B instead of 2B did the trick!
Hi Matt,
I bought Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil and it does not seemed to be able to cover any of the graphite at all. Is there a difference between white charcoal pencil and tinted white charcoal pencil?
Thanks
Sorry I think the reason is partly due to me using white paper. But I am still keen if they are different. Thanks.
one of the hard factor i find with lessons is what pencil is best to use, i know you tell us matt, but if i went to a place to draw i think i would need a lot of pencils in my bag.do we have a course explaining what each pencil is best used for?
Really have enjoyed all these texture lessons. In this last lesson, I learned that I need to be a bit more careful in reserving the highlights so that the charcoal is more easily applied to the paper and not over any graphite. I’ve always been enamoured with black and white drawings on toned paper and now have an approach to implement as I go forward. Thanks, Matt.
I forgot to mention that I did reinforce the strong highlights with a white gel pen over the white charcoaland that really made them pop.
I appreciated the comments about the white charcoal on graphite not sticking. I’m practicing a softer touch. I try to do each exercise twice to get better results. Am enjoying this series.
Hi Matt,
I am very much enjoying and learning so much in this wonderful course. Your obvious grasp of the concepts and simple explanations, especially the running commentary during your demonstrations are very helpful.
Now I don’t want to sound like a know it all or anything like that, but I feel it’s my duty to inform you, that the object that we are drawing… is not a bolt. The object is a nut. A bolt threads into a nut.
I’m a trades guy, so I couldn’t let it slide.
Keep up the great work and I look forward to the continued journey of understanding and enlightenment!
Sincerely and with Respect,
John
Hi John,
Yes! You are wise to point out my error. I do know the difference between a nut and bolt. But since I am a nut, I sometimes make errors that are pretty obvious! 🙂
Touche!