 Why hello there, I'm Sandy Allnach. Welcome to my YouTube channel where today I will be creating a nest in graphite pencil and this is a detailed drawing using a whole bunch of techniques, but primarily negative drawing in order to create all the shapes So I'm gonna talk through how I have done that So for today's project the sketchbook that I'm using is one I found on Etsy and you know me in hexagon shapes I decided to try this one out So I handmade sketchbook with kind of a mixed media paper drawing paper ish And I wanted to see how it would work with graphite and graphite is a reflective medium Therefore, I am going to have some reflection throughout this video. And that's just what you get with graphite, unfortunately But I wanted to see how this was going to work with just pencil And I wanted to create a nest. I want to fill this whole sketchbook with round objects So that's kind of the plan that I have for it things that will fit nicely into a hexagon So here I'm using some powdered graphite that I used a nail file to create And then one of these pastel blenders that has just a really soft spongy thing on the end And spread it around so I could at least have the motion of the whole nest first And then started going in with some blending solution Now there's all different kinds of blending solutions. You can use gamsole Here i'm using some windsor and newton sands odor And there's just a whole bunch of different kinds But you can use pretty much any of them. They work about the same There's probably some subtle differences, but I ran out of gamsole So I've been using the windsor and newton for a while now and enjoying it quite a bit I'm using the wet and dry blending together in this drawing so Sometimes I ended up with an area that I wanted to have really light soft color or mid-tone soft colors Or sometimes I went over an area where I had done some really strong shadow work and Then erased out of it and then colored over top of that with more graphite So I just kept layering back and forth sometimes I would wait to use the electric eraser until I got to A point where I had enough pigment on the page Other times I was waiting for the liquid to dry because You can get a little bit more erasing done when the Paper is dry than when it's wet sometimes when you use the liquid blenders The blending solutions It fixes the graphite so firmly to the paper. This is the same with with colored pencil too But it if it fixes it so firmly to the paper that you can't erase much of it And that's just a thing to be aware of But it's a thing to practice because depending on the paper you're using The pressure that you're using with the pencils the amount of pigment All that stuff is going to matter But for something like a nest The negative drawing is super important because you can't just like outline one of the sticks and then have it look like a stick So I ended up like taking sections and trying to create some differences within those sections So I I thought of one of those opening areas As maybe a moon shape and then within the moon shape I had to break that shape into other shapes And they didn't all go just spinning the same direction because that's not how birds build nest they Kind of tucks sticks in every which way to try to get the nest to stay still and to hang together And when they're woven that way is the only way that the nest is going to work Otherwise if they were all parallel to each other going around in a spiral The nest would just crumble There has to be some crisscrossing but here i'm even just taking the Blending solution and pushing some of the sticks back that I just erased Because I've erased them which means there's less pigment there But then when I start going over top of it and darkening Then it pushes some of the sticks down below the eggs and that sort of thing is kind of back and forth between them And that's kind of a good way to create that kind of depth when you're doing a drawing like this But this same kind of technique can be used for all different kinds of subjects not just for things like nests with little twigs Whenever you've got any kind of a shape that's layered in front of another shape, you know, whether Just drawing hair hair will do the same kind of thing But hair will go in the same direction Instead of being all crisscrossy. Well, I guess depending on if you have bed hair in the morning I don't really know maybe that's Maybe that's a better Better comparison to a nest so Anyway, um Wanted to let you know that I might be out of pocket right now. I'm not really sure I Did a couple of voiceovers This evening well this evening. It's like three o'clock in the morning. I'm doing voiceovers right now Um because I might have to make a quick trip And so I'm recording a couple of them. I don't know which one will come up first in my youtube feed But in case this one comes up first For you My mom has been ill and I may need to go and make a quick visit home And see her. Um, she's it's looking pretty rough right now. She's uh Really not doing great. She was doing great just a couple days ago when I talked to her but Uh, you know how these things go can't take good health for granted because you know can change in a heartbeat So, um, yeah, if I am not around right now um Then uh, if you have purchased anything that requires me to do anything like if if you bought some fine art And you're waiting for me to ship it to you That could be a little delayed Just because of family stuff going on But as soon as I return home that will all get taken care of so I feel free to shop the The sale in my fine art shop is going on till the end of march So you can keep shopping there This piece will not be in it because i'm going to leave it in the sketchbook And i'm going to be looking for other round things to draw in it So if you have some ideas On what I should add to this sketchbook. Please do let me know Because I want to I like doing themed sketchbooks so that they kind of feel like they hang together and I thought That would be a nice thing to to do in a sketchbook like this with such a unique shape And if you want this sketchbook, it was pricey I have to say Um a little more than I expected I would pay for it, but It's a hexagon And I love hexagons. So there's that Um What else did I want to say there was something else I wanted to talk to you guys about in this video? Oh I know This video is probably going live before Easter. So I want to wish you a very happy Easter To one and all I hope you do something wonderful celebrate the The new growth the new birth the new life if you are a believer in jesus and The resurrection is certainly something to celebrate and if you are just someone who loves spring I hope you're getting great spring weather We've had a weird spring here. It has sometimes been Really nice and then other times been like atrociously bad And I can't seem to figure out. Does it think it's spring yet? Or are we still just going to keep fighting this? I don't know It seems like day to day. We never know there was one day recently when They said we were supposed to have rain all day. So I was planning on doing inside stuff because it was supposed to rain all day and Within hours it was gorgeous out and I was so excited and I went out to sketch and then it started raining So that's spring in where I live in the Seattle area. That's just how it rolls because Because mother nature does not do anything consistently around here I did see somebody posting something with snow in massachusetts just a couple days ago So at least we aren't having snow. I guess I can be grateful for that But I am grateful for easter And for all that that means and I hope you all have a wonderful easter as well Because it is it's a good time of year So anyway, I will put links in the doobly-doo to the sketchbook to my favorite graphite pencils these graph wood pencils To the eraser that you saw the electric eraser which gives everybody all kinds of thrills and then like the Sale over on my fine art website because you know, there might be something there that you need you never know So mother's day is coming. Maybe there's like a flower painting or something that mom would like so Yeah, my mom would approve if you went and bought something for your mom from me I'll see you guys later. Happy easter. Take care. Bye