Graphite Pencils

My Favorite Medium

In all the years that I’ve been doing my creative, art stuff, I’ve used a number of different tools to do what I do. Graphite (pencils), paint, colored pencils, charcoal, airbrush, digital… But every single time, I come back to only one…pencils.

Why pencils? I’m not really sure. I guess because it’s what I started with as a child. Aside from Crayola crayons, of course. They are relatively cheap in comparison to other things and they’re always around. That being said, however, your typical school issue Ticonderoga #2 would not be the first choice in my arsenal. Why not? Aren’t all pencils the same?

Ticonderoga #2

Quite frankly, no. They’re not. While a Ticonderoga might be great for tackling your basic school work or perhaps filling out a Scantron, they’re very limited when it comes to the range of value that they can deliver. They basically put out a very medium gunmetal grey and never go to a true black no matter how hard you press. They also tend to have a pretty wicked metallic shine.

Staedtler graphite pencil set

Prismacolor graphite pencil set

So which pencils do I use? I prefer artist’s pencils made either by Staedtler or Prismacolor. You can buy them individually or in sets. The sets generally go from the hardest to the softest graphite, 6H being the hardest and 9B being the softest. More often than not, I’ll use both sets as I’m drawing my portraits. While both brands have the same numbering system, the pencils are not interchangeable (at least, not in my opinion). The Staedtler brand pencils seem a bit softer overall. This isn’t a good or bad thing in my world. I know how they behave and they’re perfect for certain situations, but for others, I have to be a bit more cautious that I don’t go too heavy handed with them.

Charcoal pencils and compressed charcoal

With pencils I have far more control…precise control, as opposed to charcoal, for example. Charcoal is far too soft and crumbly. I know some people can produce beautiful work with charcoal. But it eludes me. And it only comes in one value…black. Actually, there is a white charcoal and a sienna type tint. But I operate primarily with black and white. And the only way I know to vary the value is by blending them, rubbing or smearing the medium. Something I never do with pencil. Well actually, something I never do…anymore. I used to, back in the day when I used a Ticonderoga for everything. Lay down a lot of lead and use your finger to smear and do the shading. But then I took my first official college drawing class and my teacher made it clear that she thought very little of that practice.

“True mastery over graphite,” she said, “comes in laying it down right the first time.” If you want a light grey, make it light to begin with. If you want a medium grey, then make it medium. In other words, it’s a test of patience, building up value very gradually so as not to go overboard too quickly. Smearing is a form of cheating and it alters the texture of the paper. Worse yet, the oils in your skin can discolor the paper. Not something you want to have happen to a commission piece! Also, smeared graphite will always look like smeared graphite in that it appears a bit flat and two-dimensional. Whereas carefully laying down layers of graphite creates a wonderful depth to whatever you’re working on.

She also had us do all we could to avoid erasing at all costs. That’s right…no erasing! Lay it down right the first time and you won’t have to erase. Erasing also changes the texture of the paper, knocking the tooth down as you rub, preventing you from ever getting a true white again. If I do use my eraser at all, it’s mostly to add texture to fur against a dark background or to add minute details or touch-ups at the last minute.

Ballpoint pen sketch from 2014

The challenge came in 2014 when I decided to do my daily sketchbook in ballpoint pen. Stepping away from my beloved pencils, I opted to step out of my comfort zone and take on a medium that was not erasable or smearable. I knew that after a year of toting my sketchbook around, most of the pencil sketches would be smeared and I didn’t want that, obviously. But unlike my pencils, I couldn’t do much about the value, right? I mean, a black pen is just that…black.

However, with a little trial and error, I found that I could regulate the value just by the pressure of the pen on paper. A lighter touch would give me lighter greys. Sometimes it took me literally barely skimming the surface of the paper with the pen. And, I had to be diligent about wiping ink blobs off the pen tip frequently, but other than that, I managed quite well. After a year’s worth of sketches, I found that my touch with a pencil had become that much more sensitive and even more controlled than I had been.

I was glad to go back to pencils and, like an old friend, they seemed to welcome me back. I continue creating animal portraits in pencil and I continue to get the same question… “You did this just with pencil?” Yep. Just with pencil! The least pretentious, unassuming, humble pencil.