These factors include: The amount of pressure that you naturally place on the pencil. The texture of the paper. The approach that you take for developing the drawing.
Some folks place a heavy amount of pressure on the pencil naturally. For these artists, a "4B" pencil may be the darkest pencil that is required. For those that naturally produce lighter marks, a much darker "6B" or "8B" may be required. The surface of the paper also plays a role in the pencils that you choose.
Papers with a lighter tooth smoother surface may be more receptive to harder pencils and show less of the texture when softer pencils are applied. Papers with heavier textures may be more receptive to softer pencils but reveal more of the surface texture as they are applied. For quick sketchy drawings, usually only one drawing pencil is required to produce an adequate range of value. If this approach is taken, then a softer "2B" pencil may be all that is needed. For more refined drawings that require a layered approach, several hard and soft pencils may be required.
No matter what the circumstance, every single graphite grade is not required. Most artists will only need a few pencils to be successful. Because softer pencils have a bit more range, most of the pencils that an artist will use fall on the "B" side of the scale.
Pencils produced by different manufacturers vary in quality and behavior. Inevitably, each artist will discover their favorites.
But even with these great pencil choices available, there are other options. My favorite alternative drawing pencil is the General's Layout pencil. This pencil is capable of producing rich dark tones but without dulling quickly. Because this pencil is harder than most equivalent "B" pencils, it does a better job filling in the tooth of the surface.
As far as darkness goes, this pencil is most similar to a "4B" pencil. Because this pencil has such a broad range, it can sometimes be used alone or with just one lighter pencil. In any drawing, creating a full range of value should be one of the priorities of the artist. By using a variety of degrees of graphite, we are better prepared to develop a full range of tone.
However, we must understand that every grade is not required to produce the necessary contrast and that there are advantages and disadvantages each grade of graphite. Graphite Grades Graphite is produced in various grades or degrees according to the softness or hardness of the material.
The second graphite grading scale is known as the HB scale. Most pencil manufacturers outside of the U. Today, however, most pencils using the HB system are designated by a number such as 2B, 4B or 2H to indicate the degree of hardness.
For example, a 4B would be softer than a 2B and a 3H harder than an H. Generally, an HB grade about the middle of the scale is considered to be equivalent to a 2 pencil using the U. In reality however, there is no specific industry standard for the darkness of the mark to be left within the HB or any other hardness grade scale.
Thank Henry David Thoreau and his old man. When graphite was discovered in New Hampshire during the s, John Thoreau and his brother-in-law Charles Dunbar built their own pencil factory. The only problem was that New Hampshire graphite was pretty crummy; it smeared and made for pretty poor pencils. Enter a young Henry David Thoreau. Before he wrote about civil disobedience and spent his time at Walden Pond , he worked at the family pencil company. Thoreau perfected a process of using clay as a binder to make the soft, loose graphite hard and suitable for pencils.
Suddenly the New England graphite could be used to make a pencil that didn't leave giant smears, and the Thoreaus' business took off.
By the middle of the 19th century, the Thoreaus were selling pencils with varying graphite hardness, which they numbered one through four. Blame shoddy 16th century chemistry for this one. When a giant graphite deposit was found in England during the 16th century, it eventually found a use as a writing implement.
However, early chemists weren't exactly sure what the useful gray substance actually was. According to most stories, our pencils are yellow as a result of a clever marketing gimmick. In , the Hardtmuth company of Austria introduced a new line of fancy pencils at the World's Fair in Paris. The pencils were named Koh-i-Noor after a famed Indian diamond, and they contained the world's finest graphite from the Far East.
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