Materials Question: Pencils
By
Blood_Wolffe,
Posted on: 2007-04-04 11:29 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
*reads off the side of the pencil*
Bic Softsider 0.5
Don't shade or anything so all I'm really concerned about is if its comfy to hold for an hour or so 
Much more obsessive about eraser, Scripto Edit Eraser, they don't make them anymore and I dread the day I finally use up the 10 or so I have stockpiled...
I use a standard .5 mm mechanical pencil as well. I have for 20+ years and love it. Sometimes it's pentel, sometimes it's bic... I don't think the brand matters.
IMO, the secret to good pencils is in the USER, not the equipment. If someone tries to tell you that you need to invest money into different lead hardnesses, don't fall for it; a well-trained hand can make a pencil do any lightness you need... it's just a matter of practice and patience (and a very light touch).
Pencil has been my favorite medium for many years, so it's a topic near and dear to me =)
With mechanical pencils, I really like that I don't have to keep sharpening it. What does seem to be happening is that the way I'm using the pencil, the other half of the lead does end up coming to a point. If I turn the pencil and then draw with the now-pointy part of the lead, it changes the quality of the line, and seems to make it more fine.
I'm still working through getting better control of the pencil, so that when I draw a line it's the line I wanted to draw in the first place.
Some of my lines also come out shaky, and I'm not sure if my hands shake, if I'm holding the pencil too tight or what. More than likely, it's just that I need to keep on practicing.
I think the only other pencils I have with me at work are a 2B wood pencil that needs sharpening in a very bad way, and a .7 mechanical.
The .5 is comfortable with a nice spongy grip.
Cosmic
I hate mechanical pencils so I use a wood pencil. I hate sharpening especially in the middle of a piece so I usually sharpen 5 of them before I start and switch them out as they dull.
My pencil of choice, why the Papermate #2 Mirado Black Warrior of course.
Ticonderoga #2 HB soft!!! Dirt cheap and I loves them. I have an electric sharpener, one that I plug in and one battery operated one that I take with me.
Lead holders also rock, and you cannot get a sharper point with anything else! Adam Hughes uses that, at least he does in that video of him drawing supergirl.
But for price and usability, Ticonderaga! I have boxes of them scattered around my desk.
oh if you rotate your pencil after every line you put down, you can sharpen less, after awhile it becomes second hand and you don't have to consciously do it anymore.
I tried to find a lead holder that isn't the drafting one I picked up last year, but haven't been able to find one. The art store where I usually go doesn't seem to carry them.
I figure this is the time to experiment and see what works.
Cosmic
There's also the lead holder route, you can get most leads for those, they have a thicker woodless lead, but the down side is having to sharpen them either on scratchboard or a special small sharpener made just for their points. This is a drafting tool, but is very adaptable to standard pencil uses.
Jedi is right, the key is patience, I prefer soft leads, but they will smudge more... don't forget the paper you use also makes a difference as does the eraser which you use on the paper. I hate pink dust makers, I use a kneaded eraser in tiny bits, and pull on that to clean it if I want to get a section very white.
Sample of old pencil work:
Hitwoman
Conan
PB at the Beach
LJ
The pencil I have right now, the mechanical 0.5mm one I've been using, has little of the eraser left on it. Thankfully, though, there's still enough of it that when I need to erase, it works.
The lead holder I have, it came with a sharpener. The thing is so uncomfortable to use that it's all pretty much moot though.
Cosmic
I bought a Staedtler MARS-780 lead holder(I guess that's what you call it) back in high school for Technical drawing class, and I've used it ever since.
I've been using 2H lead in it because it's the only one I have at the moment. It's okay for making light guide lines, but you can't really make it that dark, so I'd recommend getting a softer lead to go over the guide lines to make it darker.
I really want to get one of those blue pencils that some comic book artists use to make guide lines.
This I did with just the 2H pencil. As you can see, it's mostly grey toned, but this one I also used a B pencil. As you can see it's much darker.
So, I'd probably say HB would be best if you were going with just one pencil, since it's possible to make lighter tones with a softer lead by having a light touch, but trying to get harder pencils to be darker by pressing down harder will probably just poke holes in your paper.
I also use my Sanford ArtGum eraser alot.
I'm with DarkJedi, here. Purely mechanical "disposable" pencils for me. Erasers I use are either the pencil-style so I can get itty bitty parts, or a kneaded one. Anything else doesn't cut it.
Besides, I love playing with the kneaded eraser. It's a great stress reliever!
I can't stand a pencil getting dull, and swore off wood-style back in grade school. For a long time it was strickly the Click pencils, but now I buy cheap disposables. They work just fine. Most of my work is primarily in pencil, although I have a few pastels, which is a whole different style.
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I have been using a Faber-Castell HB lead wooden pencil. HB is very hard so it stays sharp a long time. Good for getting the rough sketch and details down. I tend to push harder than most so it comes out darker anyways. Another reason I don't use mechanical pencils is I squeeze the pencil as well as pushing hard. A bad habit that makes my hand shake sometimes but wood at least makes it so it doesn't hurt.
For an eraser I recently tried several. My favorite is art gum. It picks up the lead but there is nothing to brush off so no risk of smudging.
I use a .5mm mechanical pencil, I really love sharp, clean lines. I also ink directly with a .5 ballpoint (well, whatever is available and isn't gonna smudge) so my pencil lines 9 times out of 10 = slightly lighter versions of my ink lines.
I hardly sketch, when I draw. I use the most bare of construction lines on anything, and usually I know where I need to draw and where I don't. I basically *never* shade.
Some shaded pieces are just beautiful, and it's definitely a skill worth pursuing IF you know how to do it right. I am not one of those people. I prefer straight up pristine, easily-colored line works.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
Picked up a mechanical tonight while I am still obsessed with all things drow, here's the result: Priestess.
Gonna clean this up with some digital ink and color later on...
LJ
Good job on the multiple arms, there. They're a pain in the @&$. I know I had a time trying to get them half-way decent with my Spiral.
"If I fail, they write me off as another statistic. If I succeed, they pay me a million bucks to fly out to Hollywood and fart." --- George A. Romero
"If I had any dignity, that would have been humiliating" --- Adam Savage
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I use a Zebra M301 0.5mm mechanical pencil...for no other reason than I think it simply looks cool. Other than that, it performs no differently than any other pencil I've used...exception of the generic Staples brand one which, literally, sucks since you can never apply pressure when using it otherwise the lead will "slip".
I know a lot of people prefer mechanical pencils...I don't. I like an extremely sharp point when I'm drawing (yes, I know you can sharpen the tips of mechanicals...something about them I don't like). Anyway...I use primarily 2H pencils. I like slightly harder lead for the basic sketches. Right now, I have Faber-Castell, General's and something else...they're black. I don't worry too much about brands...whatever's there when I need more is what I buy.
I also use 2B for going over the light lines to darken things. I've got a lot of different lead weights, but those are the two I prefer. I don't care for extremely soft lead because it loses its point too quickly and I don't like the way it looks for my work.
But like some others have mentioned, it's down to what feels comfortable to you and what makes your art sing. I experimented a lot with different hardnesses of lead, with mechanicals, with woodless lead. These are simply my preference. Your mileage may vary
For erasers, I use a clicky eraser primarily. Either that or I smudge the lines (this is partially why I use a harder pencil with very light lines to begin with: less erasing). I do have other erasers (kneaded, gum, etc), but I like the clicky pencil-style one
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I prefer wooden over mechanical most of the time, Mostly because i can control a wooden pencil on shading and darkness better. Also I've noticed mechanical "dents" the paper more often then a wooden(i.e. if you push down to hard or go over a line to much you can feel and see the line marks).
On erasers I usually use what ever is on the pencil I use, though there are those exceptions to those that make the paper smugged and hard to rub or blow of eraser droplets....
I hoped that helped a little...
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Papermate wooden pencil. I go for the B rather than the traditional HB but I have no really good reason for it it just feel like I can hold it lighter for the same reasult (might be in my mind) I use a good old white steadler eraser. I tried using a mechanical pencil but I found that I did not like the fack that it always stays the same. With the wooden pencil I will sometime wear it out on purpouse for shading and at other time sharpen it every 3 minutes for sharp lines.
I strongly beleive that the choice is very personal ant that whatever you find most comfortable is the best choice for you
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For those that still use pencils or have opinions on pencils or anyone who feels a need to make a comment in regards to pencils...which do you prefer?
I'm currently (or at least have been this morning) using a .5mm mechanical pencil. I believe it was made by Pentel and is their Champ brand, or something like that. So far, I'm not happy with it. It seems to be capable of mostly dark, dark, and black, though that could be me. The lead seems pretty hard in this one, though I'm not entirely sure.
I need to dig out one of the .7mm and see if I like that any better.
I have a drafting pencil at home, but the end of it is this rough metal that gets uncomfortable after a little use.
I have some wood pencils that I hate having to sharpen, though I think they seem to do well enough when I remember to sharpen them.
So, what is your preferred pencil of choice?
Cosmic