I am making slow, but steady progress on my white sphere. One of these days I will actually finish it. Here’s the update.
I use the very tip of a super sharp piece of charcoal to reach down inside each pit in the paper, without hitting the ridges.
Here’s the newest sphere. I’ve probably spent about 20 hours on this drawing, mostly learning to lay down smooth layers of charcoal. I am learning, though, because this sphere is much smoother than my first attempt.
Here’s my first attempt for comparison. Notice the vertical lines in this early sphere which aren’t visible in the third sphere.