1000 days of My journey of traditional art. DAY 2 How to shape the pencil?

Alright guys, it's William Jiamin, and in this video, I'm going to show you how I sharpen my pencil. Normally, when you're drawing, you would think to use a pencil sharpener, like this one here. It's really convenient and efficient. You just insert your pencil, rotate it, and once you feel no resistance, you take it out and you have a nicely sharpened pencil.

But sometimes, you might find that the tip is too sharp and the charcoal part in the center, the black area, is not fully exposed. Recently, I've started drawing traditionally and learning from great traditional artists. They taught me a technique that I want to share with you all.

A good way to solve this problem is to use a simple box cutter. You don't need a large blade, just a small one. If you have too much blade exposed, you might hurt yourself or break the knife parts, as they're quite fragile. So, be careful with the amount of blade you expose.

Now, the way I hold the knife is similar to how I hold a pencil. Don't push on the sharp area, as it can't handle much pressure. Instead, push in this direction. Also, be mindful of your index finger, as you don't want to accidentally cut it. Move it to a safe position, like this, and then you can start cutting.

My intention here is to remove the wooden area and expose the charcoal part. So, I'll just make a few cuts like this. A little bit of exposure is enough, but I don't want to go too crazy and break the whole charcoal center. There we go, that should do it. If you accidentally cut more than intended, don't worry about it. You can simply get rid of that excess.

If you feel it's not even, you can hold the pencil at a 90° angle and remove some of the excess. Now, remember last time I showed you how to draw in this way, to get a more subtle line. Well, this method works well because you have more of the pencil core exposed.

However, since it's quite long without the wooden protection, it can be a bit difficult to apply a lot of pressure. It might break. So, my suggestion is to have two pencils. One for general shaping and ghosting, and another for drawing in the tripod position and adding all the details. Sometimes, when you want to achieve darker colors, you need to apply more pressure. In that case, it's best to use a separate pencil.

That's what I learned today. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time. Bye!