Pencil Artist of the Week: Shayna Reddick

This week’s featured artist is Shayna Reddick, a pencil artist from the United States who started drawing in ernest in 2012. When she first picked up a pencil, her drawings were crude and simple, but in just three years’ time, she has developed into an amazing photo-realistic pencil artist.

Shayna was kind enough to give me a glimpse inside her creative process:

“I always start with a grid to help with accurate proportions. After my outline is finished, I fill everything in using the following tools: Derwent graphite pencils, a mechanical pencil for finer, smaller details, & a white gel pen for fine white highlights. My kneaded eraser is always on hand too, for subtle highlights, or whatever else I need it for. I use blending stumps for initial shading, but my important tool for the smooth realistic effect is a tissue.”

Shayna’s DeviantArt gallery features comparison shots of drawings she created in 2012 alongside drawings she created in 2015. Both drawings are based on the same reference photo, but that is where the similarities end. The amount of progress she has made in three years is amazing, and gives hope to struggling pencil artists (like myself).

Drawings by Pencil Artist Shayna Reddick

If you want to see more of Shayna’s work, you can check out her DeviantArt profile here.

What do you think Pencils Blog readers? Do you know someone who should be featured as our Pencil Artist of the Week? Let us know in the comments!