Some Notes On: Pencils

Pencils. Oma requested this one.

As I prepared for the pencil update I realized how personal they are. More than paints, paper, or other art materials, pencils represent times in my life. So let’s dig into this little memory lane…

The pencil familiar to most people is the 2B graphite pencil. Graphite is a form of carbon. They have never been made with lead it seems. The term”2B” refers to how soft or hard the graphite is.

It goes from light (hard) to dark (soft):

9H  8H  7H  6H  5H  4H  3H  2H  H  F  HB  B  2B  3B  4B  5B  6B  7B  8B

There are many different brands of these but my favorite are Staedtler:

My favorite pencils are the 6H, HB, 2B and 4B. I use the 6H for very fine and light pencil work, sometimes with watercolors. I use the HB and 2B for sketches and everything. I used 4B when I drew logo’s a long time ago in design school. It makes nice dark lines.

Then I got a job in video games.

My first place of employment, the Neverhood, sold me on mechanical pencils. My boss Doug loved them and so I learned to love them too. They are great for never losing a point. I don’t think they are a good first choice for sketches because of that. I like to have thick and thin lines which are harder to get with a mechanical pencil.

The second place I worked, Insomniac Games, sold me on another pencil. The col-erase. It’s a colored pencil with an eraser attached. My boss there, Oliver, loved them for character designs. I swear by them for that. I liked blue and red (either/or, not together.)

As for colored pencils I found the Faber-Castell to be the best. I compared them again today, including some cheap crayola pencils, and I could clearly tell the Faber-Castells were the smoothest. They made the finest line with a smooth feel. Smooth smooth smooth.

I don’t use watercolor pencils much, but when I have I use Derwent,  Faber-Castell or Prismacolor. I like them all. They are for sketching and then adding water to make a watercolor look.

As for erasers, it totally depends on what you are doing.

Lou rates the factis as bad tasting.

The kneaded rubber one is the best when water coloring. It hardly hurts or rubs off the paper, which is important. For charcoal and “who cares” drawing the pink pearl is a good bet. The white erasers are great for everything else, sketches, drawing, whatever. I use the kneaded rubber one for charcoals too. When in doubt, go with the kneaded. They are great.

A small note on paper care when drawing: I never wear gloves or put paper down under my hand when I draw, but if you want to take care to not leave hand oils on your paper, you can put a paper in between your hand and the artwork.

So that’s pencils. 

Some Notes On: Paints

Some Notes On: Paper