A Guide to Pencils
What do I need to get started?
What are pencils and how are they made?
What differences are there between pencils?
What tools or brushes can I use for applying pencils?
How easy is it to clean up my workspace after using pencils?
What is the best surface for pencils?
Can I prepare my surface with a ground?
Introduction to Pencils
Pencils are a highly practical and versatile drawing tool. A pencil is a stick of dry drawing media, usually encased in wood. You can use them to make notes, a quick sketch from observation, or spend hours meticulously rendering a large detailed exhibition piece. Today’s artists can choose from an extensive variety, including graphite, charcoal, coloured wax, watercolour or soft pastel pencils. The hardness of the drawing material in your pencil influences how heavy a mark you can make with it. A soft pencil will be capable of intensely saturated smudgy marks while a hard pencil will make lighter, crisp fine lines. The surfaces that you can apply pencil to vary according to what kind of pencil you’re working with, but generally they require a surface that offers some texture to help deposit a mark, known as ‘tooth’. You can work with pencils on their own; just a surface to draw on and away you go. However blenders, tortillions and brushes can be employed to help with blending techniques.
What do I need to get started?
Pencils can be applied to any kind of paper, but purpose made papers for specific art techniques will help you get the best results and make for a more fulfilling experience. Cartridge paper, Ingres paper, Bristol Board and Layout Paper are all considered to be different types of drawing paper.
A sharpener or a knife with which to sharpen your pencil is important to have close to hand when drawing. There are sharpeners available made specifically for graphite, charcoal, soft pastel or coloured pencil. A tailor made sharpener can be kinder to softer leads in particular. A sandpaper block is sometimes all you need if you just need to sharpen the very tip of a pencil lead and maintain its ability for fine detail work.
Erasers are available in a range of shapes, sizes and made from varying materials too. Find one that will work with your pencils. Hard plastic erasers are useful for when you may have a stubborn mark to remove, while putty erasers can be shaped in your hand to lift marks from small areas. Some erasers fit into a pencil of their own and are really useful for precise erasing.
Blenders, paper stumps and tortillions are useful for blending pencil marks. Paper stumps and tortillions are made from compressed paper and are pencil shaped. Blenders are usually made from silicon and are available in a range of hardnesses and different shaped tips.
In addition to these materials, you will need space to draw. A drawing board can be useful for leaning your drawing against when you’re out and about, and an easel might be handy if you like to draw on a vertical surface. Masking tape is invaluable for fixing individual sheets of paper in place while you are working. Finally, a pencil case, box or roll can help keep your pencils safe when you’re not using them.
What are pencils and how are they made
Graphite pencils are made by mixing graphite powder with clay and water. The proportions of each ingredient used in the mixture determine the hardness or softness of the pencil lead. The more clay there is the harder the pencil, while pencils that contain a greater proportion of graphite will be softer and darker. Pencils are usually graded from 2H - 9B, with 2H being the hardest and faintest pencil, and 9B being the softest and darkest pencil. HB pencils are most widely available in stationary shops because they are the happy medium.
In graphite pencil manufacture, the first stage is making the leads. A formula made primarily of clay and graphite is blended evenly and mixed with water to form a paste. it is then extruded into long rods, which are dried and then cut to the right lengths of the pencils. The leads are then fired in a kiln. This removes any remaining moisture and strengthens the leads. The fired leads are then coated in a thin layer of wax or oil, which helps the drawing material apply to paper smoothly, and then they are glued within their wooden casings, or given a coating of lacquer if they are woodless pencils.
Charcoal pencils are made using compressed charcoal powder mixed with a binder, such as gum arabic or wax. The mixture is then extruded into a long, thin rod and dried to create the charcoal core. The core is inserted into a wooden casing, similar to graphite and colored pencils, and is usually coated with a protective layer to prevent the charcoal from rubbing off. Charcoal pencils are also often available in a variety of softnesses, and extra care must be taken when sharpening the softer leads as they are more likely to crumble. For this reason you might like to use a sharpener especially for pastel or charcoal pencils.
While graphite pencils use a mixture of graphite powder, clay, and water to create the lead, colored pencils require a mixture of pigments, binders, and fillers to create the colored core. Gum arabic is usually used in the formula for water soluble coloured pencils, while wax is used for regular coloured pencils. As with graphite pencils, the formula is blended and mixed with water before being dried and formed into leads, before being encased in wood, which is then coated with a protective lacquer so it is not susceptible to absorbing water and splitting over time. The highest quality pencils have a greater pigment content which results in a more colour saturated mark.
What differences are there between pencils?
Today the variety to be found among artist’s pencils is bigger than ever. Graphite pencils are available encased in wood, woodless, in a variety of different softnesses, watersoluble as well as water resistant. Charcoal pencils allow you to make expressive smudgy black marks without having to handle the charcoal directly. Watersoluble coloured pencils can be moved around on the paper surface with a wet brush, with some remaining re-wettable and others waterproof when dry. Some oil based pencils can be applied to almost any surface, including metal, wood and glass. Soft pastel pencils offer powdery colour that can be applied in delicate fine lines and details, with accuracy and control that’s much harder to achieve with regular soft pastels.
How To Use Pencils
In order to get the most out of your pencil it pays to explore ways to apply marks. As well as varying pressure to get heavy and soft applications, exploring how you hold your pencil can also add some variety in the appearance of marks. Holding a pencil very close to the lead tends to afford you more control, while extending the pencil on to a long stick and holding it at length can help to achieve loose flowing lines, a technique Matisse was known to embrace.
What mediums can I use?
Solvents can be used to help blend or spread oil and waxed based pencil marks, in much the same way that water can be used to blend or spread water soluble pencil marks, although solvents may leave a stain on the paper if used heavily. Fixative can be applied to help secure layers of a drawing in more delicate mediums such as charcoal or pastel, but this will also darken the appearance of colours.
What tools or brushes can I use for applying pencils?
As well as a sandpaper block or a sharpener, paper stumps, blenders and tortillions are all useful if you want to burnish your shading work and enhance its sheen, or blend your shading to make it appear as smooth as possible. If you’re working with solvent or water, a soft synthetic brush (watercolour brushes are best) will be useful for working into colour and spreading it out of the shaded area. A pencil extender allows you to hold your pencil from further away, which is useful for a looser approach to drawing.
How easy is it to clean up my workspace after using pencils?
Pencils could be considered the cleanest art medium. Pencil shavings and eraser rubbings are the messiest aspect, but if you have a bin close by then any mess can be brushed away in seconds. A drawing or dusting brush can help you keep shavings and eraser rubbings away from your work. Soft pencils are smudgy and may come off on the side of your hand - to avoid smudging your work by accident it can help to place a bit of tissue paper or glassine over the area of your drawing that your hand is resting on.
What is the best surface for pencils?
Cartridge paper (so called because in the 16th Century it was used to hold gunpowder and ammunition together for loading into firearms) is the ideal surface for most pencil art work. Cartridge paper is available in a variety of weights and some are smoother than others. The heavier, toothier papers are particularly recommended for drawings with a wide tonal range, as they allow you to make the darkest marks with a soft pencil, and are more able to withstand heavy erasing and blending techniques.
Other art papers for drawing include pastel paper, Ingres paper (which has a unique ribbed texture), and coloured papers for drawing. Recycled papers for drawing are also available, but it is worth noting that papers made from non recycled paper are made from sustainable sources and the difference in environmental impact between recycled and non recycled papers is considered by paper makers to be marginal.
Other than paper, pencil can also be applied to wooden panels, either gessoed or primed or unprimed, and canvas (unprimed or primed). Most pencils can also be applied to abraded metal, so long as there is some tooth to the surface. Some oil based pencils can also be applied to plastic and glass and smooth metal.
Can I prepare my surface with a ground?
Priming a thick sheet of paper, card or a wooden panel with primer or ground can offer a different drawing surface to work on. Sandable primers and gesso will allow you to get a very smooth even surface that has enough tooth to allow for both dark and smudgy marks as well as fine, crisp, silverpoint like marks. As with all priming, you will need to size surfaces with rabbit skin glue or an acrylic size before applying oil based primers, while acrylic primers should be applied without sizing.