If you're goal is to create more contrast and realism in your pencil drawings, this tutorial will help you achieve that. To really make you drawings "pop" and stand out from the crowd you need to have a wide range of values and the darkest values you produce should not contain any graphite shine.

UPDATE: February 2023 I still have a few seats left for my upcoming realistic Portrait Workshop. Go to https://www.jdhillberrytutorials.com/... for all the details.

Along with the pencils I use, this short drawing tutorial will show you the reason your current drawings are lacking realism and punch.

Most pencil artists begin with using just graphite. But graphite, by it's very nature is incapable of producing extremely dark shading and when you try, it becomes very reflective. Graphite pencil's limited value range, combined with this distracting effectiveness can kill the realism you are trying to achieve. If you are attempting to put in extremely dark values, you are probably trying to represent an absence of light. The last thing you would want to do is have graphite shining in those areas that can look as bright as some of the highlights.

The dark pencils (with no graphite shine) demonstrated in this drawing video are available from my website here:
http://www.jdhillberry.com/drawing_ki...

More of my realistic drawings and tutorials can also be found on my web site here: http://www.jdhillberrytutorials.com .

If you are interested in more of these tutorials please up on my email list to be notified of upcoming Free Drawing Videos, Live Drawing Workshops and Full Length Pencil Drawing Tutorials from the link below:
http://eepurl.com/eAsn

Thanks again for your interest in my work!
JD Hillberry