So... when the gradient thing was going around, I tried SO many times and I didn't get even a single, tiny one then, last night, I used the pen for the first time in basically weeks, and lo and behold I got so many gradients!! this was the end result of me trying to integrate gradients into my work... as I'm sure you can see, they are barely visible (in the eye) but I'm so happy with the rest of the shading I did on this piece!!