I've seen several posts suggesting you use more blending. While sometimes this can help add more realism to drawings, I'd like to add that I prefer to see the line strokes in pencil drawings and like a sketchier look. Blending hides lines an artist uses in constructing shapes in their drawings and can also remove directional lines indicating curves and such. While smudging has it's place and can be put to good use, it's not needed to create better work. There are lots of ways of using a pencil that show just as much depth and shading, and don't cover up your strokes. While it's good to experiment with different methods, I wanted you to know there's value in allowing the media used, in this case a pencil, to show through in your artwork.
You don't understand. Blending is something that is good for creating better work. You don't blend the ENTIRE thing, you just blend the shading so it looks a lot better. Certain aspects of pictures cannot be captured through "random strokes to fill up negative space."
No, it is you who does not understand. Just because you think a blend looks better than lines does not make it the ideal way to show dimension in artwork. There are many many ways to show dimension, each with it's own aesthetic appeal. What you are saying amounts to no less than saying something like, a realistic looking drawing is better than a line drawing. It simply isn't true and is only your own judgement of what makes good art.
As a similar example, I like paintings just as much, if not more, where I can see the artists brush strokes as opposed to a smoothed out look. Sure, the smoothed look will most likely closer resemble a photograph, but the picture revealing the artists brush strokes will hold my attention much longer as well as give me a feeling of connection with the artist as I can see and imagine the strokes being applied.
It's funny how you can't seem to take a bit of constructive criticism to save your soul. If you're going to post your art online, you need to be ready to receive some critique. I'm not bragging about how "my art is soooooo much better than yours because I use a blender and that makes me special." I'm just trying to improve the talents you already have. You obviously have never used a blender before; as I said before, you don't blend EVERYTHING. Just shading. It's not gonna blur your picture, if that's what you're thinking. It's going to make the shading look a lot less like you used different gradients of pencil, and more look like actual shadows. Yeah, choppy strokes are pretty fun, but it's good to have some smoothness in the areas that SHOULD be smooth to balance it out.
Yes, sometimes you want to use choppy strokes of your pencil. It does express feeling. If I want to make a thumbnail sketch for something, or maybe a landscape, you don't want to spend time blending. But if you're going to do a full-blown portrait or a high-quality sketch, you want to use a wide variety of tools: a straight edge, blenders, charcoal, an eraser to help bring out shine (and also fix mistakes). I even use water (in small amounts).
Here's a sketch I made with some minor blending. I spent around 10 minutes on this, and I could have added in better shading.
http://twitpic.com/4tefqaHere's a sketch I made with a lot of blending. Spent 20 minutes on this. Sorry for the fact that it is on lined paper. I'll admit, I used a small amount of pen to emphasize the shading in the most darkened areas, but only a small amount.
http://twitpic.com/4tei9l there's a bluish tint on this, if you notice. The lighting in the room I took the picture in is all wrong lol.
Notice the difference? Yes, I spent more time on the 2nd one. I'm just trying to offer a bit of advice, it's your choice whether to take it or not -_-