The hand is transferred and underway. It is always a little difficult to find the right depth in the beginning to separate the shadows, so I apply the graphite lightly and will work to add several layers after the original blending. If I go to dark with the graphite application in any area, it will muddy the blending stage. When that happens, a kneaded eraser can be used to pull out the excess graphite. Sometimes, the graphite embeds to deeply into the grain of the paper and a white eraser is needed (sparingly). When the clean up looks to be a major project, it is just easier to start over than to deal with problems that can arise from using a more harsh eraser. Over time I have learned the hard way to resist making a strong initial layout, it is always better to sculpt the image in graphite using layers.
