There are several types of pencil shading techniques you can use, and you may even come up with your own at some point, but for now we will explore six different types commonly used for artists both professionals and beginners – crosshatching, smooth, stippling, contour, circulism, and slinky.

The 4 shading techniques are blending, hatching, stippling, scumbling. There are also subcategories of each, including cross-hatching, contour hatching, pointillism. Each shading technique can be used in a variety of ways and they can be mixed with each other creatively.