Graphite Pencil Art | “Bell Pepper”

*Credit of photo goes to Instacart.*

I’ve successfully relocated to Maine and the climate up here had me feeling very nauseous for a few days. I did try to nurse my body and get some rest as much as I could, but I made a goal that I wanted to complete at least three to four drawings while I stayed in the northern state. This drawing I started on my father’s 54^th birthday and despite my sickness, I was determined to finish it.

The subject for this artwork was a bell pepper (didn’t matter what color it was since I’m using graphite) and similar to the pumpkin from way earlier, sketching out the shape of the vegetable was difficult due to me wanting both sides of it even and not one bigger than the other. After two tries and tons of erasing, I got the shape down to what I wanted.

For the shading and details, I used my 2B, 3B and 5B pencils. I started with the stem of the pepper and did my best to distinguish between the darker areas and highlighted areas. As I got the form of the stem in focus, I erased some of the lines of the outline so the stem could look a little more realistic.

I then set to work on filling in the body of the pepper. I went with each section at a time using my 2B pencil, filing in the form of the pepper and building it up with layers. Cotton swabs were used to help blend everything evenly and my blending stumps were for tighter corners. I picked 5B for the darkest part of the shadows because of how dark the pencil streaks appeared on the paper.

The process took around nine days due to me starting a seasonal job, but I eventually finished the drawing!

It looks great in my opinion and it does look a little realistic. I don’t really aim for realism in my artwork; I simply draw what I see in front of me, whether it’s a photograph or a still life setup. But I’m happy with it and I’ll take a break before starting my next drawing.

Considering what I’ve been through already, I really need it…