But interestingly, just as many artists (three) told us that Bic’s mechanical pencils are an equally worthy drawing pencil - largely because you can buy them anywhere in a pinch, the lead doesn’t smudge, and there’s no need for sharpening. This set of six Mars Lumograph pencils includes a range of lead degrees, from HB to 8B, so you can test all three of the artist’s favorite leads.Īs Staedtler’s pencils’ name suggests, the tools are made specifically for drawing and sketching. Kuo uses HB Staedtler pencils exclusively (HB, which is the midway point of lead grades, stands for hard and black so it’s both precise and rich), while Black says that he regularly uses both HB and 2B.
“I like the 6B because it’s soft enough to produce a wide variety of marks depending on the speed and pressure I apply.” Andrew Kuo and Sebastian Black, both painters, say they also prefer Staedtler. Joshua Abelow, who uses pencils on soft paper to create large line drawings (that he never revises or erases), says he’s been using Staedtler’s 6B Mars Lumograph pencils exclusively since 2004. (Hard leads make cleaner lines that are less susceptible to smudging soft leads create richer, heavier lines.) The higher the number, the softer or harder the lead will be. Staedtler offers leads from 12B to 10H, with B indicating the graphite’s level of blackness or softness, and H indicating the level of hardness. It was officially founded in 1835, but its roots go back to a circa-1662 item in the Nuremburg city annals that references a pencil craftsman named Friedrich Staedtler. Needless to say, the company has had a while to perfect its craft, which shows in its offerings (its range of lead grades, for example, is wider than most other pencil makers’). The German brand is beloved among artists and graphic designers and came recommended by three people we spoke with. Below, he and 11 others share their favorite drawing pencils - as well as their thoughts about the finer points of pencil design, how a great one should feel when you hold it, and which degree of lead quality is best.Īmong the 12 artists we talked to, the consensus was that Staedtler’s drawing pencils are superior.
“I’ve been using drawing pencils all my conscious life,” says illustrator Christoph Niemann. To find the best drawing pencils, we talked to artists from different disciplines about the ones they reach for over and over again, whether they’re doodling in a sketchbook or putting the finishing touches on a large-scale work. The ubiquitous writing and drawing utensil may seem as commonplace as a fork, but (like with forks) there is a tremendous variety of pencils out there. Pencils are also, in many cases, the tool those same artists have been using from the time they learned to write, giving them plenty of time to find a favorite. Because they are erasable, pencils are often the first tool creative people use when sketching out a new drawing, sculpture, painting, or even designs for a new line of clothing.
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