A feeling that's bothered me for a while is that no matter how hard I try I find it almost impossible to create truly smooth shading. I'm sure that my technique is lacking in many ways but, also, I'm becoming increasingly aware of the tricks of the trade which professional artists take for granted; simply ways of achieving a desired effect without heedless effort. So that's why I'm happy to reach Chapter 5 in my guide since it's all about Expanding Value Technique: Wash, Pen, Pencil and that's what I want to learn. First things first though and this means creating a sampler like this:
The idea of this, as usual, is to provide an introduction to the different results possible with this medium and the ways in which these can be achieved. So it's not a particularly artistic activity but it has value for the beginner. Most usefully, for me, are the examples demonstrating how pencil marks of different intensity and a dark wash interact; one adds detail while the other softens and smooths away the background:
What's immediately obvious from my sampler is that I really struggled to achieve more than the lightest shade with my wash. Partly I blame the instructions, as they suggest using lots of water, but I did get better at taking paint directly from the block after a while. Perhaps the most useful lesson here though is that pencil lines can be used to direct and guide a wash while the latter can add a real subtlety and lightness of tone that's hard to achieve in other ways. Worth persevering with then.