Types Of Drawing Pencils And Their Uses

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Drawing pencils are an essential part of an artist’s life. Even if you draw, paint or write, you’ll still need a pencil. There are varieties of pencils available and they have their own value. Most importantly, you won’t become a professional artist after buying expensive pencils, all you need is the talent inside you. These pencils just make you comfortable to draw what you desire and all these pencils can produce art beautifully.

Different Types of Drawing pencils:

  1. Graphite pencil. 
  2. Charcoal pencil. 
  3. Carbon pencil. 
  4. Colored pencil.
  5. Mechanical pencil.

1. Graphite Pencil

Graphite Pencil is one of the most common and popular pencil used by artists. And they’re beginner friendly pencils. If you are a beginner, it’s the best option for you. These pencils are made from mixtures of graphite and clay (kaolinite).

These pencils are thin and the shell is usually made of wood.

It has different types of grades like 9H, 8H, 7H, 6H, 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H, HB, F, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B, 10B etc. 

Where H grading defines the “Hardness” and “B”  grading defines the “Blackness” or “Softness”.

2. Charcoal Pencil

Charcoal pencils are used to draw rough lines or sketches. It can be used by beginners. Charcoal pencil is usually darker than graphite and it gives you a matte finish. Charcoal mark is hard to remove by eraser completely. 

You can use charcoal with different techniques like hatching, blending or rubbing.
There are various types of Charcoal are available as an art medium.
  • Vine Charcoal
  • Willow Charcoal 
  • Compressed Charcoal
  • Charcoal Powders
  • Charcoal pencils

3. Carbon Pencil

Carbon Pencil has more even consistency than charcoal pencil as it is purer and smoother. Carbon pencils are as dark as charcoal and it gives matte finish like charcoal but it can easily be combined with graphite and charcoal, usually you can’t use a charcoal pencil over graphite but you can use carbon pencils over graphite or charcoal as it blends comfortably. Carbon pencils have less dust particles as compared to charcoal pencils. 

Carbon Pencils are also available in different grades like graphite pencil.

4. Color Pencil

coloured pencil

Colored pencils are made like other pencils but colored pencil’s leads are not made of graphite. They are made of pigments, binders and resins. Some colored pencils contain wax or oil depends on the type of pencil. A good quality of colored pencil have a higher concentration of pure pigmentation. Marks of these pencils can not be erased easily.

There are mainly three types of colored pencils

  • Oil based
  • Wax based
  • Water soluble 

These pencils contain different types of ingredients depends on their quality and type.

5. Mechanical Pencil

Mechanical Pencil is the best option if you have to deal with technical drawings or fine detailed works. You need not to sharp it again and again. Environmentally, these pencils are better option as they are reusable and last for a long time. These pencils usually contain leads of graphite in different grades. 

Mechanical Pencil offers you different ranges of thikness like 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7mm, 1.0 mm and more.


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