Start with a linear layin, in this case it’s just a circle and some ellipses for the cast shadow and terminator
Separate light from shadow with a flat value
Model the core shadow and reflected light
Render the halftones
Add the highlight
Deepen the occlusion shadow
Fade the penumbra
And make your final adjustments

The most important aspect of this exercise is getting your value relationships correct. If your edges are rough, and your spheres look like they're sculpted from clay or play-doh, that's totally fine!

Level 2

You’ll be doing timed studies. This will force you to internalize the process and improve efficiency.

Untimed - You give yourself as much time as you need to get it right. One slow, fully rendered, realistic sphere, with careful edges and clean values.
25 minutes - This is still plenty of time. You'll have several minutes to spend on refining each element.
10 minutes - You’re gonna start feeling rushed. You don’t have the time to labor over any details. You have only a minute or 2 to quickly indicate the correct values of each element.
5 minutes - This is hard. Don’t try to make your drawing look polished. Simplify everything and get that quick impression working. Repeat these until you internalize the process and get faster.

Reducing time forces you to prioritize. Taking 5 minutes instead of an hour to shade a sphere means cutting 57 minutes of something. You have to identify the critical 5% of effort creating the illusion of depth. You can carry that knowledge over to your longer drawings and spend more of your effort on those critical things.

Timed studies also build mark-making efficiency and better draftsmanship. You don't have time to overwork your lines and smudge things around. With no time to overwork your lines, you have to practice putting down a few strokes that indicate your intention.

Submit Your Drawings

After you’re done, upload your completed sphere drawings below. And try to reflect on it. What did you struggle with, what worked, what didn't. This helps me provide better feedback and allows you to practice more deliberately.

Level 2, write down what you prioritized, what you removed, if your approach changed at all between the studies, and anything you learned about efficient rendering.

Deadline - submit by April 18, 2025 for a chance to be in the critique video!

@fjjjjk

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Really struggle with the light part.

Rachel Dawn Owens

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20h

It gets easier with practice. Keep practicing subtle values. Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

You Ji An

•

Reattempted the sphere shading. 1 longer time and 1 shorter time.

hobodios

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10d

Here's my level 1 (I'll do level 2 later) I didn't realize we had a reference image until just now lol I'm not sure if I made the light family too light or idk but there's something wrong. Anyway feedback is highly appreciated as always!

@lauralana

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17d

Next time I won't blend as much and let more of my line work show. Also, I made the occlusion shadow a little too deep and it's misshapen a bit. I think it should be a little closer in value to the cast shadow.

Cubee

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21d

Fun exercise ! Kind of meditative. My paper is very rough. I should definitely try with a smoother paper. My spheres still look more like potatoes than balls. Any comments/advices always welcome 😉

@deadsm

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23d

Here are my balls. As I got more time, I added more complexity to the layering and lighting process. The biggest thing that helps is a layer below my drawing that solidifies objects with tone instead of just exposing the paper/canvas underneath.

You Ji An

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1mo

Shading sphere following untimed demo, any feedback welcomed :) Had a few questions while doing this - Not sure how we determine where to place terminator or the curvature of the terminator - Not too sure why we outline the whole sphere with a darker outline at the end

You Ji An

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1mo

Didn't realise we had reference images to draw from until I saw the critique video...

Krisztina Eperjesi

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1mo

Please find my attempts below. I struggled with the cast shadow the most. First couple attempts are not perfect, but after the demo I saw what should be improved. And I tried to improve them at the 6th attempt.

@julia52

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1mo

Here are my attempts they took around 6 min each

Melanie Scearce

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1mo

I really like the directional shading on the top ball. Your terminator is just a bit high, it should start at the center line and wrap around the contour.

Thieum

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1mo

My attempts at shading spheres. I started by really taking my time. Then I tried to speed up by taking inspiration from the demos and trying a more spontaneous technique: using more of the tip of the pencil for line work and less of the side of the lead. However, I haven't really managed to keep to the 5 minutes yet and I must have gone a bit overboard. Then I trained with some pictures from Lane's Primitive Forms Reference Pack

Melanie Scearce

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1mo

Really great work. I love how you designed and grouped the shadow shapes in those arrangements.

Lau Dabo

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1mo

wow! this is really good!

@brimarie

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1mo

Wow, great pictures - they all look very vivid and 3D!

@aakerhus

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1mo

First try for this project. I have shaded the sphere earlier, but it has been a while. I was initially aiming for no use of finger smudging, but the shadow along the terminator became too dark and then the thought of smudging it lighter become too tempting, and from then on out I just depended a lot of smudging. Will try to not smudge as much (or preferably not at all on my next attempt) Derwent medium charcoal on 170g paper.

Luis Ángel Ruiz de Gopegui Rando

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1mo

Well, here's my sphere after seeing the demonstrations. It's good to do a second attempt after seeing the demonstrations and critiques, because that way you can correct mistakes. This time I drew it with charcoal and took a lot more time, but I find it totally unpleasant... I prefer graphite. It's a matter of taste...

Luis Ángel Ruiz de Gopegui Rando

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1mo

Hello! Here I've drawn my spheres. My impressions: I found the timings comfortable, but I don't know if I should have taken my spheres to a more advanced level. The type of paper used has a lot to do with it. Maybe I didn't clearly highlight the highlight. It's hard to distinguish it from the light midtones. Anyway, I enjoyed the experience. The first sphere and the 25-minute sphere were more or less equal in timing. I didn't want to make a super-realistic sphere either. I'm completely open to your suggestions. Best regards!

Lenserd martell

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1mo

Drawing shadows on the ground is harder than I thought.

Lane Campbell

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1mo

My attempt, I definitely feel like I can do better, especially with the core shadow and the cast shadow, but im not quite sure how to do it. I'll reattempt after watching the critiques

Lane Campbell

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1mo

Second attempt, I'm going to keep trying it later on, if i do one i really like i might post it, if you see anything i could change or do better at do let me know, thanks

Caroline

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1mo

Level 1. I found shading the halftones tricky. But overall I'm pretty happy. I will try level 2 as well.

onigi *pronunce [on-ie-gee]*

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2mo

The level 1 assignment again after watching the critique video. I feel I spent too much time finishing this project, as it took me 70 minutes.😅 The light side looks awkward, but I failed to fix it.

Elie Eid

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2mo

Melanie Scearce

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2mo

Spent a couple hours shading some spheres. It was surprisingly fun, although I think this assignment would be good to space out over a couple of days. By the 5 minute sphere I felt like I could shade a sphere with my eyes closed. The untimed drawing ended up being around 55 minutes. The spheres got progressively smaller from there 😂 I had a difficult time separating the core shadow value from the occlusion shadow value enough.

Jyayasi (*Jay-o-she*)

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2mo

All of them look perfect! Reducing the size helped you achieve a similar finish in the 5 min one as the others.

Sita Rabeling

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2mo

Started yesterday with the first image to get into the project and worked on the others today. I still have to find the right paper for graphite and then hope to get more contrast in the drawing. Will need to practice more for this assignment.