Drawing Pencils 101

A graphite pencil is among the first drawing materials each artist gets to use, and it’s one medium we continue to use at every stage of our careers. After graduating from basic writing pencils, artists encounter a wide range of drawing pencils, each one designed for a specific application or technique. The systems used for organizing and describing them might seem complicated at first, but once you understand some facts about pencil history and the materials they’re made from, it all makes a lot more sense.

Most of what distinguishes one pencil from another has to do with the lead. Despite the fact that we still use the term “lead”, a modern pencil core doesn't contain any actual lead at all. It’s graphite: a silvery carbon isotope. Lead, silver, and other metals were used for drawing before graphite was introduced, but except for lead, a metal stylus for drawing or writing needed paper that had a rough coating applied. Even soft lead sometimes required the use of “pounce”, a powder that made paper or parchment more abrasive.

Graphite became widely adopted as a writing and drawing medium after 1564, when a very pure ore was discovered in Northern England. This graphite deposit was considered to be so valuable that mining was restricted to six weeks per year, and the site was protected by guards armed with muzzle-loading flintlock rifles. At the time, the material discovered was still thought to be lead, so graphite was referred to as “black lead”, a term that survives as the name for a graphite polishing compound for cast iron.

Image (right): Natural graphite

Graphite pencils are available in a range from soft to hard. This is something we take for granted now, but it wasn’t until 1790 when Josef Hardtmuth of Vienna, and in 1797 Nicholas Jacques Conté of Paris (inventor of the Conté Crayon) independently developed processes that influenced the pencil lead we use today. War with England made pure graphite unavailable in France in the late 18th century, so Conté and Hardtmuth each experimented with graphite-ceramic composites to use graphite scraps and dust. Pure graphite, which is very soft, was combined with clay and formed into sticks which were fired in a kiln. It was discovered that by firing at different temperatures, hardness could be precisely controlled. Not only did this development lead to precisely graded pencil hardness, it also made pencils more affordable and available to people of modest means.

Image (left): Left - Josef Hardtmuth, Right - Nicholas Jacques Conté

Today, lead hardness is determined by the ratio of graphite to clay. Graphite hardness is organized in a scale with two ranges: H and B, with a couple of degrees in between. Each range is graded numerically; the higher the number in the H range, the harder the lead, and the higher the number in the B range, the softer the lead. “H” is for “hard, and “B” is for “black”. HB, “hard black”, is in between the H and B assortments, and it’s the same as a #2 writing pencil. “F” hardness, a little harder than HB, stands for “fine”. Alternatively, in the Faber Castell grading system established in 1910, F stands for “firm”.

Image (right): Hardness range, Eagle Pencils, 1900

Pencils in the H-range hold a sharp point for a long time, but they make lighter marks, and hard leads can emboss or dent paper. Soft leads make darker marks with smoother coverage, but they need to be sharpened more often, and it takes a lighter touch to achieve crisp details. Some special pencils like Ebony only come in one, single hardness.

Image (left): Left - Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres: “Ursin-Jules Vatinelle”, Right - 1820 Graphite Drawing by Edgar Degas, 1834-1917

Pencils also have different wooden barrels surrounding the core, called the “casing”. The earliest known wood-bound pencil was made by Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti of Italy ca. 1560, and by 1565, graphite writing instruments in wooden holders were described by Swiss naturalist Konrad Gesner. By the 1700s, pencil casings were made in two halves, which led to the method used today. The lead goes in the middle and the wood surrounds it, like two sides of a hot dog bun. Many casings are made of incense cedar, a smooth, nice-smelling wood that sharpens easily, but some are made of high-quality pine. Faber-Castell primarily sources its wood from its own, sustainably managed forests.

Image (right): Incense Cedar Tree

The shape of the casing is an important design consideration for comfort in the hand and utility. Wide, round pencils, for example, may be more comfortable and easier to use for people who experience diminished grip strength, but faceted pencils are less prone to rolling off a work surface, and they can be packaged more densely. There are also carpenter’s pencils with a flat lead and barrel, which are great for sketching with a lot of line variation, and for practicing italic-hand calligraphy. Not all pencils use wooden barrels, however. “Woodless” pencils are actually dense crayons made of solid pencil lead coated with lacquer, in the shape and dimensions of a traditional pencil.

For most people, mechanical propelling pencils are the most familiar form of non-wood bound pencil, a refillable holder that uses thin-gauge graphite stick leads. However, many artists prefer clutch pencils, a holder with thick, sturdy leads closer in dimensions to standard pencil lead.

For a long time, the preferred method for sharpening drawing pencils involved using a sharp knife to remove the wood and expose the lead, which was shaped to a long, conical point. Sandpaper was then used to create and maintain the point. Artists who do precision drawing, however, often prefer the shorter point produced by a manual or mechanical sharpener, which can bear more pressure from the hand, and which can be re-pointed easily with an electric sharpener.

Recently, a two-stage, long point manual sharpener has been introduced which removes wood with one blade and shapes the point with the other. The compact, two-stage sharpener is perfect for artists and teachers who prefer a long point for drawing, but want to avoid sharp blades.

Thick leads used in clutch pencils can be shaped to a needle-sharp point with a barrel-shaped pointer, or the compact pointer hidden in the release button on the end. Fine leads for propelling pencils are so thin, they don’t need much sharpening. The same hardness scale is used for mechanical pencil leads, including thin refills for propelling pencils and thick leads for clutch pencils.

Drawing pencils typically don’t have erasers, which sometimes surprises people new to art. In fact, the small, abrasive erasers on writing pencils really aren’t very good for drawing. There are so many great erasers for drawing, artists generally don’t miss them on the ends of the pencils. Learn more in our All About Erasers article!

A few traditional writing pencils are still favored by artists, but real drawing pencils generally offer a much richer experience than ordinary writing instruments. If you’ve only ever drawn with #2 pencils, you’ll be amazed at how expressive and descriptive your work can be when you start using something designed for making art!