My latest drawing of a baseball.
Part of my guide for drawing spheres.

When drawing a ball, pay attention to where the light comes from, and gradually draw a transition in brightness values to the opposite side.

Drawing cross-contour inside the ball helps in defining its direction, and give it volume (and then you can replace it with values).

You can use the cross-contour to define the direction of cast shadow.

In some areas, ambient light (scattered light) can not reach. These areas are usually the darkest, and called ambient occlusion.

Edges always play a crucial role when drawing realism.
Most common are soft and hard edges.

Usually, a ball has hard edges, and its cast shadow has a soft edge.
In addition, there are cases that the ground reflects light back to the object.
In these cases, the darkest area becomes a bit lighter, and the area above it is now the darkest, and it is called core shadow.

For a shiny texture, use a strong contrast between dark and light values.

In other cases, contrast is not so strong.

For more tutorials, tips & techniques, you are welcome to visit my blog.

Ran

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