How I Drew my Pencil Sharpener with Pencils

Before I started drawing, I gathered the necessary tools: an HB pencil, a 2B pencil, a 4B pencil, an 8B pencil, a regular eraser, a pencil-tip eraser, a firm drawing board, and some plain copy paper. I’m going to draw the sharpener that’s right in front of me on my desk—I didn’t sketch this from imagination. I’ll be viewing the sharpener slightly from above, at an angle that allows me to see its front, side, and top surfaces.

First, I drew the basic shape of the sharpener using the HB pencil, without adding any details or shading. The HB pencil is of medium hardness, so it’s easy to erase if I make a mistake. You shouldn’t press too hard—just lightly sketch the first contours. Don’t focus on details or shadows at this stage, because the basic shape of the object is fundamental and will affect the rest of your drawing. Make sure that your initial outline is accurate. Also, check that your HB pencil isn’t too sharp—a slightly dulled tip works better for rough sketches.

Next, I added the first details but still didn’t begin shading, continuing to use the HB pencil. These details will change as the drawing progresses, so they don’t have to be perfect right away.

After that, using a well-sharpened 2B pencil, I drew the first shadows by shading with the side of the pencil. The 2B pencil is classified as soft, which means it leaves a darker mark than harder pencils and is harder to erase. An especially sharp 2B tip helps with shading because it gives you a larger drawing surface. As you can see, the light is coming from the right side (actually from the window in my room), so the right face of the sharpener will be the brightest. Never start shading with very dark tones, because it’s difficult to correct later. At the beginning, your shadows should be lighter.

Then, using the 2B, 4B, and 8B pencils, I intensified the shadows on the drawing. I used the 8B pencil for the darkest areas and the 2B pencil for the lightest. The 4B pencil is softer than the 2B, and the 8B is the softest in the set, which means it leaves the darkest mark. In my opinion, you should only switch to pencils softer than 2B after you’ve laid down your preliminary shading.

At the very end, I added details using the 2B and 4B pencils. I used a pencil-shaped eraser to create highlights. Notice that the top surface of the sharpener is slightly brighter on the right side—the side where the light is coming from. This trick helps suggest the direction of the light.

Yes, I know—my pencil sharpener looks like an old camera 😊.