Updated on by Rita Moreira
Most realistic drawing starts from a photograph, and the better the photo, the better the drawing. One trick professional photographers lean on constantly is the blurry background: it adds depth and pushes all the attention onto the subject. In the camera it comes from the lens. On paper, it comes from you.
The good news is that this effect can absolutely be reproduced in graphite, and it makes a portrait or still life look softer and more three dimensional at once. The bad news is that when it goes wrong, it goes visibly wrong: patchy, scratchy and grainy. This guide covers how to get it right.
How do you draw a blurry background with pencil?
A blurry background in pencil is drawn with smooth, continuous shading and no sharp outlines: you soften every edge with gradual tonal transitions, work on smooth paper with a well sharpened pencil, lay a light base layer before any dark areas, and keep the blending stump for small spots only. Done this way it reads as depth, not as a random smudge.
The underlying principle is the same one that carries every photo based realistic drawing: stop thinking about what the objects are, and simply copy the shapes, patches and tones you see in the reference. When I shade a background, I am not drawing “trees” or “a wall”. I am matching one soft grey patch after another, and that mental shift is what keeps the result believable.
In practice, the process looks like this:
- Choose a smooth paper and sharpen your pencils properly before you start.
- Lay a light, even base layer over the whole background with an HB or 2B.
- Build the darker patches gradually, in several light layers, never in one heavy pass.
- Soften every transition with gradients, so no shape in the background keeps a hard outline.
- Smooth large areas with a folded tissue, and save the blending stump for small spots.
Notice what is not on that list: outlines. In a blurred background, almost nothing gets a defined edge. Shadows are never closed off with a line; they fade into the next tone through a gradient. That single habit does more for the illusion of depth than any fancy material.
What is depth of field, and why does it make a drawing look real?
Depth of field is the zone of a photograph that appears in sharp focus. A shallow depth of field, produced by a wide lens aperture, keeps the subject crisp while everything behind it melts into soft shapes. When you copy that relationship onto paper, the viewer’s eye behaves exactly as it does with the photo: it locks onto the sharp subject and reads the soft area as distance.
There is one curious exception worth knowing. Small bright lights in an out of focus background take on the shape of the camera’s aperture, so an aperture built from eight blades turns each point of light into a little octagon with surprisingly crisp edges. Photographers call these shapes bokeh. If your reference has them, draw those edges as sharp as they appear: it is the one place where a blurred background contains defined detail, and copying it faithfully sells the photographic look.
This effect earns its keep in portraits above all, because a quiet background makes a face feel present and alive. If that is the destination you have in mind, my step by step guide to drawing every feature of a realistic face will take you the rest of the way: learn to draw the whole realistic face.
Which paper and pencils give the smoothest blur?
Smooth paper, sharp pencils and light grades are what give a blurry background its softness. The smoother the sheet, the softer and more photographic the shading looks. On a textured paper, the grain prints through every stroke, and in a background that is meant to look out of focus, that grain reads as noise, the same speckled effect you see in a photo taken in poor light. Slightly scorched and not very attractive.
Even smooth sheets have a faint surface texture, which artists call the paper’s tooth. Two habits stop it from showing. First, keep your pencils sharpened, because a blunt tip rides over the surface and exaggerates the grain. Second, never shade straight onto blank paper with a dark pencil: lay a lighter base first, then build the darks on top. Fabriano, the Italian mill that has been making paper since 1264, is a reliable name for smooth drawing sheets, and any smooth Bristol works well too.
| Grade | Job in the background | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| HB or 2B | Light, even base layer | Light pressure, sharp tip, whole area |
| 2B to 4B | Darker patches and shadows | Several light layers, never one heavy pass |
| 6B and softer | Avoid in backgrounds | Saturates fast and leaves visible blotches |
Graphite from Derwent, made in the Lake District since 1832, layers predictably for this kind of work. For very large, very dark backgrounds, some artists switch to charcoal instead, and brands like Winsor & Newton, founded in London in the same year, 1832, make it in pencil form; I cover that route in my guide to using charcoal pencils in realistic drawing.
How do you stop the background going patchy?
A patchy background almost always comes from four avoidable habits: touching the paper with your fingers, over using the blending stump, scrubbing with the eraser (rubber), and inventing marks that are not in the reference. Fix those four and the blur stays clean.
Fingers first. Skin leaves an invisible film of oil wherever it rests on the sheet, and the moment you shade over that spot, it shows up as a stain that no amount of layering will hide. I rest my drawing hand on a spare sheet of paper the entire time I am working on a background, with no exceptions.
The blending stump is a small area tool. Across a wide background it deposits and drags graphite unevenly, and that is where those cloudy blotches come from. For anything larger than a coin, I get a smoother result from a folded paper tissue moved in light circles. As for the eraser, in a blurred background it should barely appear at all: lifting highlights gently is fine, scrubbing is not.
Finally, stick to the patches and shadows that actually exist in your reference photo. Random marks from a carelessly handled pencil or stump read as stains, not as blur. The discipline pays off where it matters most: once the background sits quietly, all the crisp detail belongs to the subject, which is exactly why features drawn with care stand out so well against it. If you are building towards portraits, that is where guides like how to draw a realistic eye and how to draw realistic lips come in.
Where to buy the materials in the UK
Everything mentioned here, smooth paper, graphite pencils, blending stumps and tissues aside, is easy to find from Jackson’s Art or Cass Art online, or on the shelves at Hobbycraft. Amazon.co.uk carries the same ranges if you prefer to add them to your usual basket.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you draw a blurry background with coloured pencils?
Yes, and the logic is identical to graphite: no outlines, gradual transitions and light layers. The extra challenge is that colour transitions have to stay soft in hue as well as in tone, so build them from several gentle layers of neighbouring colours rather than one bold pass.
Work on smooth paper and keep the points sharp, exactly as you would in graphite. Where wax based pencils allow it, a final light burnishing layer helps melt the strokes together. What ruins the effect is the same enemy as ever: visible paper grain and hard edges between colours.
What is shallow depth of field in a drawing?
Shallow depth of field is the photographic effect where only the subject is in sharp focus and everything in front of or behind it dissolves into soft shapes. In a drawing, you recreate it by reserving all your crisp edges and fine detail for the subject, then shading the background with smooth gradients and no defined contours.
The contrast between the two treatments is what creates the illusion of distance. If the background is as sharp as the face, the drawing flattens; if the face is as soft as the background, it looks unfinished. The effect lives in that deliberate difference.
How do you shade a background evenly?
Even shading comes from light pressure, a sharp pencil and patience. Lay a base with an HB or 2B in overlapping strokes, then deepen it with further light layers, letting each one even out the last. Several light layers always beat one heavy layer, which saturates the paper and turns blotchy.
Keep your hand off the sheet while you work, since skin oil creates stains that appear later. To finish, smooth large areas with a folded tissue in light circular motions, and only bring in the blending stump for small corners it can handle without streaking.
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