Media: Graphite

Today I’m going to begin a series of blogs about the various media used in drawing, since this information is very handy to have as an artist.

The first tool that is usually thought of when considering drawing is the pencil, or graphite pencil, as we artsy folk like to call it. Note that a No. 2 pencil is not the same as a graphite pencil. When choosing which pencil to use, a few things must be considered, namely, the type of marks that you wish your pencil to make. Let me explain: Graphite pencils come in different degrees of softness and hardness. “H” generally denotes “hard”, while “B” stands for “soft”. If you go into an art store, you’ll see a whole bunch of pencils that pretty much look the same, but are separated into different categories. They are separated by the hardness or softness of the graphite. If you pick up one of the pencils, you’ll notice that on the end of the pencil it may say something like “2H”. Okay, well since you already know that “H” means “hard”, you assume that this is a hard pencil. Picking up another pencil, you see that this one says, “6H”. Basically, to make a potentially long story short, graphite pencils are sorted, as I said, according to their hardness or softness. The number in front of the letter indicates how much of the hardness or softness there is. For example, 2H is softer than 6H, but 2B is harder than 6B. There is one graphite pencil that doesn’t stick to the number/letter rule, and that is the HB pencil. This is basically the pencil that is equally as hard as it is soft.

Now, I know that some of you may be thinking (as I once did), “what’s the big deal? Why can’t I just use one normal pencil?” Well, different pencils make different lines. The harder a pencil is, the lighter, thinner, and less easily erasable the line is. Conversely, the softer a pencil is, the darker, and thicker the line is. Softer pencils are also better for shading and blending, topics that I will cover in other blogs. So, all in all, the kinds of graphite pencil you use in your art counts! However, much of which pencil artists like to use best depends on personal preference. I am a 2B or 4B person myself, because I usually erase often and I’m a fan of shading.

Since I think I’ve said all there is to say about graphite, I’m going to say farewell until next time, when we’ll learn about Charcoal, the messiest but most malleable of the media.

Image found here: http://www.thisnext.com/item/4ECD02B4/CBA57999/Faber-Castell-Graphite-Pencils