Pencil & Drawing
Pencils give you plenty of control whether you’re creating bold, expressive marks or working on fine, delicate detail. Our wide range includes graphite and charcoal, classic color pencils, pastel pencils, and watercolor pencils.
As well as traditional art pencils and drawing supplies, we offer specialist tools for professional and beginner artists. This includes clutch and mechanical pencils, pencil cases and storage, along with a comprehensive selection of drawing kits, pencil sets, and sketching sets to suit different techniques and experience levels.
Made with pigment bound in wax or oil and encased in wood, colored pencils are a great medium if you like to draw and enjoy working with color.
Watersoluble pencils are a versatile drawing medium allowing for a wide range of mark making. As well as crisp or broad lines, there's potential for washes and staining.
Pastel pencils are a popular medium in their own right, as well as being used to add intricate, controlled detail to conventional soft pastel paintings.
Drawing sets contain a variety of drawing media from graphite pencils to colored pencils. More comprehensive sets contain everything required to start a project.
Graphite and charcoal are both traditional drawing mediums and can be used for quick sketches or detailed studies. Available in different degrees of hardness.
Clutch and mechanical pencils offer great control and fine detail. An ideal tool for artists who like to work only with the tip of the pencil.
A range of pencil cases, rolls, and wraps to keep pencils and accessories safe, organized, and protected when on the move.
From pencil blenders to special fixatives, these mediums will help you fine-tune your drawing technique and create interesting effects.
As well as helping to remove graphite, charcoal, and colored pencil marks, erasers can be used as a drawing implement in their own right.
A sharp point to a pencil is vital for crisp, fresh vibrant lines and marks. Choose from a range of sharpeners to suit all drawing media.
Fixative is a clear liquid usually sprayed onto a dry media artwork to stabilize pigment or graphite on the surface and to preserve it from dust.
A wide range of paper ideal for drawing, including different grains and weights of cartridge paper, layout and tracing paper, and colored paper.
We’ve put together a wide variety of gift ideas for artists of all levels of experience, and catering for all budgets.
Choose from a range of drawing accessories to aid precision, accuracy, blending or special effects.
A selection of materials for this classic metal point technique, including silverpoint wires and chalk grounds.
What is Drawing?
What are the possibilities when you begin drawing? Drawings can consist of lines, tone, form, color, volume, smudges, hatching, or shading. They can possess the crisp accuracy of an architect’s plans in hard graphite or the expressiveness of an energetic life drawing in charcoal. Drawings can map out ideas, or be the idea itself.
Because the term ‘drawing’ can encompass so much, it’s no surprise that this department carries a wide variety of drawing supplies. Whether you’re looking for hard graphite drawing pencils that deliver reliability and a strong, unbreakable lead, or a vibrant lightfast watersoluble colored pencil, we’re sure you’ll find the drawing tool you need.
The monochrome drama of the softest graphite and charcoal will never go out of fashion. As versatile as it is beautiful, graphite and charcoal are used by both expressive fine artists and those seeking precision, such as architects and designers. Charcoal sticks are made from specially charred willow or vine. Brittle and chalky, they are ideal for quickly building tone and blending with your finger, while still allowing for sharp, crisp detail. Soft graphite pencils (3B - 9B) create rich, expressive black marks, while harder H grades are better suited to crisp, precise, lighter lines.
If you’re looking for color, choose from wax-based colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and pastel pencils. Colored art pencils are widely used by professional artists, designers, and illustrators for sketching, developing ideas, and finished work.
There are different surfaces available to make your work look its best. The finest colored pencils will glide over cartridge paper and can be burnished and blended. Textured papers such as Ingres help vibrant pastel pencil colors sing, which is why they are often favored by animal portrait artists. Hardcover sketchbooks will help protect your drawings while creating a lasting visual journal of your creative journey.
For intricate drawing techniques, why not explore silverpoint, favored by the greatest Renaissance draftsmen, or the mechanical practicality of a clutch pencil. If you don’t know where to begin, a pencil, drawing or sketching set can be a useful starting point, bringing together a selection of materials to help you explore different techniques.
Guide to Pencils | Guide to Drawing