What pencils do I use and recommend?
What pencils do I use and recommend?
I pretty much exclusively use the classic Staedtler mars lumograph 2B pencil. For writing and drawing. First of all I just like the way they look. But they’ve never let me down. The graphite is glued well into the wood, it doesn’t separate when you sharpen it like cheap pencils. So there’s that.
I’ve tried all the consistencies from 2H to 9B. They go right up to 6H (which is what I believe architects use, not artists).
I found H and 2H were too hard for general use. Although I do use 2H pencils just to sign my lino prints. That’s the only thing I use them for.
Same for the other direction. Blacker (or harder) isn’t necessarily ‘better’. 2B is a nice compromise between softness, blackness and ability to hold a point.
HB was not quite as soft or as black as I’d like for drawing. It’s more of a writing pencil. But since I have literally dozens of 2B pencils lying around, when I want to write something and reach for a pencil, it’s usually a 2B (I obviously have way more 2Bs than other grades of pencils)
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