Which is the softest pencil

F and HB pencils are middle of the road and more general use pencils. F tends to still be a tad hard, while HB and B tend to be a nice blend of both worlds. Though they cannot get very dark. While they can also be used for outlines, B-grade pencils are generally used for shading and tonal work.

The high-numbered grades have a smooth, velvety feel on the paper and they can make darker gray tones which can border on black.

For those who like to work less with outlines and more with tones, B pencils are the optimal choice as their softness will cover the paper more quickly with darker solid tones than will an H-grade pencil.

B-grade pencils work well on both smooth paper and paper with a slight bit of texture Their soft consistency will not cause the same paper indentations that you get with an H-grade. Strokes applied with little pressure tend to erase easily, but strokes applied with a lot of pressure are very difficult if not impossible to erase. While B-grade pencils are easy to sharpen, they cannot achieve the same razor-sharp point that you get with an H-grade.

Even if you sharpen it to a fine point, that point will almost immediately disappear when you start to use it as the soft graphite wears down quickly. As a result, B-grade pencils require more frequent sharpening. B-grade pencils are very easy to blend. While this makes them more attractive for tonal work it also makes them messier. If you are going to use them in a carry-along sketchbook, I recommend a hardbound sketchbook as the pages will not rub together as much as a spiral-bound book.

But even with a hardbound sketchbook, you will still end up with some smudged sketches. Use a fixative if you really want to preserve your sketches. One drawback no pun intended that can be more apparent with darker B-grade pencils though it can happen with any grade is that they can leave a glare or shine which reflects light in a very annoying manner. When you apply the pencil with a very heavy hand or overwork the area, you are actually burnishing the graphite, a similar effect to polishing metal, which gives it a very smooth and shiny effect.

Once this happens, it's very difficult to undo. A matte fixative spray can help eliminate some of the glare, but to avoid this in the first place, make sure you don't overwork the area or apply too much pressure. Using a dark enough pencil in the first place is the best solution.

Also, keep in mind that a heavily-textured paper will result in little white areas that are difficult to darken without applying a lot of pressure. The smoother the paper, the easier it is to darken. A more recent development has been that of carbon pencils.

This numbered system only covers a range from B to 2H - enough to cover most office use, but not enough range for drawing and sketching. Different pencils are available in different ranges of hardness.

Many ordinary pencils are only available in HB , whilst some specialist art pencils are available in every possible hardness grade. Because the lead in mechanical pencils has to be stronger, but not too brittle, it is not usually available in very soft or very hard grades.

An interesting compromise - the lead thickness of a wooden pencil, but with replaceable leads, and they don't get shorter as you sharpen them. Dupont Stipula Visconti. Fountain Pen Ink Other Refills. Desk Accessories Notebooks and Journals.

With the widest range of pens and pencils on the planet, Cult Pens are the experts on everything that makes a mark. We pride ourselves on a high standard of customer service , so feel free to contact us - we're happy to try our best to help with even the strangest of questions! Otherwise, check the standard types first - many pens use one of those.

Home Pencyclopedia Lead Hardness. Pencil 'Lead' Pencil lead is made of a mixture of graphite and clay. What it Means in Use When you're actually using a pencil, you want it to make marks on paper. You'll also have to buy more lead or another pencil sooner - great for us, but maybe not so good for you ; The Numbers Here in Europe and the UK, we have one system for both art pencils and office pencils.

American Pencils For art and drawing pencils, Americans use the same system. If you picture a full value range from white to pitch black , each pencil grade can create a segment of that value range.

In the diagram above, you can see that the HB pencil can create a certain segment of values. This means that you can extend its value range by using a kneaded eraser to lighten values, or layering your pencil marks to darken values, but it will take more effort to do that than to simply use a pencil that comfortably creates the value that you need.

The harder the pencil, the lighter the range of values that it creates. The softer the pencil, the darker the range of values that it creates. This is the case for charcoal as well as graphite. As you can see in the image below, the darkness of graphite pencils varies from very light grey 9H to almost pitch black 9B. In the image below, the top gradation was drawn with a 2H graphite pencil.

It ranges from the darkest possible value the 2H can create to the lightest possible value that it can create. The bottom gradation was drawn with a 4B graphite pencil, and ranges from the darkest possible value the 4B can create to the lightest value it can create. I used Staedtler Mars Lumograph graphite pencils for both gradations. First, notice the vast difference in the range of values created by the 2H and 4B. The 2H can comfortably create from a value 2 to a value 3 or 4 on the value scale , while the 4B can create from a value 6 through 8.

I had to use my kneaded eraser to create the lighter values of the 4B gradation, while it was almost effortless to use the 2H to gradate into the white of the paper. Notice how much smoother the 2H gradation appears as well, while you can see more of the paper texture in the 4B gradation. Find out in this free downloadable guide! How does the grade of a drawing pencil affect line quality? The hardest pencils create sharper, lighter, thinner lines, while the softest pencils create softer, darker, thicker lines.

Of course, this depends on the sharpness of your pencil as well, but generally speaking - it is much easier to create a sharper line with a hard pencil, and a softer line with a soft pencil. Do you need the whole range of graphite pencils, from 9H to 9B? No, it's not a necessity, but a matter of personal preference and skill level. On the occasion that my drawing requires a very dark value, I may also use a 6B though I try to avoid them, as the darker the graphite pencil, the more it will reflect light and produce glare - but I'll discuss that in a later section of the article.

If you are new to drawing and are developing the sensitivity of your hand, you may want to add a few harder pencils, such as a 2H, to make it easier to draw the lightest values in your drawing.

Brands of graphite: I tend to use Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils, but other brands such as Derwent and Faber-Castell work just fine as well. The application of graphite on paper is smoother than charcoal, and easier to gain control of. It can be very comfortable and enjoyable to work with, especially when paired with a smooth drawing paper. Because of this, I often recommend that beginners draw with graphite to build confidence and experience before moving on to charcoal pencils.

Keep in mind that graphite has a metallic sheen. The shine, or glare, can be very apparent when you stand at an angle to a picture drawn in graphite, such as the one below:. As you can see, the sheen becomes more apparent where there are darker values.

So, the darker the tones in your drawing, the more they will reflect light and produce glare. This can be particularly irksome when trying to photograph graphite drawings. While there are ways to minimize graphite glare, it is ultimately an inescapable quality of the medium.

If you experiment with graphite and find that the glare is too much for you, don't fight it. You will lose.