I’ve been surprised at how hard it is to draw deer. I thought they’d be more like horses, but they’re their own thing with huge eyes and ears, delicate legs, and narrow faces.

I used all three versions of Blackwing pencils for these. So far, my favorite sketching pencil is the Pearl, which has a medium hardness. A close second is the regular, inky dark Blackwing, but I use them all and they’ve become my favorite drawing pencils.

I’m trying not to spend more than about 20 minutes on these, but the other day I wondered what it’d be like to do an entire drawing in graphite instead of only using it only in sketches. I’d certainly have to learn how to draw backgrounds.