These are the 4 main shading techniques I am going to demonstrate, smooth, cross hatching, "slinky," which can be called hatching as well (I think slinky is more fun) and stippling.

I'm showing the techniques on circles like this I drew.

This is cross hatching, the arrows on all my examples represent the light. So in cross hatching, the way to create the effect is pressure and overlapping. More pressure and overlapping for darker....

Now the smooth technique is the most common technique used for realistic drawings. Just add pressure on the areas furthest away from the light source. I use a blending stick or just use your finger😌

This is a blending stick, super cheap as craft stores, totally worth it and I recommend buying one. I use this for most of my guides and my other drawings 😄

The slinky technique is the easiest and fastest technique. Yes it is meant to look sloppy, and us basically the smooth technique without blending your lines.

Now for stippling I used a china marker because pencil doesn't show too well unless you use soft lead. For stippling also add more pressure away from the light and add for dots and decrease gradually.

This is the peel-off china marker, I like sharpie the best but It doesn't really matter.

Here are all the techniques, I personally use either cross hatching or the smooth technique most but I use the others when necessary 😏