Pencils & Drawing Tools
Graphite, charcoal, conte, mechanical, colored
Everything that makes a mark on dry paper. The cheapest art tool in existence — and the one most artists never fully master.
Graphite pencils
The H-to-B scale.
Pencils come graded from 9H (hardest, lightest line) to 9B (softest, darkest line). H = Hard. B = Black (or Bold). HB sits in the middle — the standard school pencil. For drawing, you want a SET that spans the range.
Beginner set: HB, 2B, 4B, 6B. Maybe add 2H for layout work and 8B for deepest darks. Don’t buy 12-pencil sets with every grade. Most are redundant. The 4-pencil set covers 90% of needs.
Brands: Staedtler Mars Lumograph (school-affordable). Faber-Castell 9000 (mid). Caran d’Ache Grafwood (high-end). All work. Difference is feel, not capability.
HB — layout
Light gray. Good for the first sketch on the page before you commit.
2B-4B — most work
The everyday tones. Most of your drawing happens here.
6B-8B — darkest shadows
Soft. Smudges. Sharpen often. Use for the deepest tones.
Mechanical pencils
When precision matters.
Mechanical pencils give a CONSISTENT line weight — no sharpening, no taper. Comic artists, manga artists, architects love them. Standard sizes: 0.3mm (technical), 0.5mm (standard), 0.7mm (writing), 2mm (lead holder, sketching).
Beginner pick: Pentel GraphGear 0.5mm with HB lead. ~$15. Will last years.
0.3mm — fine line
Technical drawing, manga inking prep, anything that needs precision.
0.5mm — standard
The default. Most working artists use this size.
2mm lead holder
Sketching workhorse. Has the feel of a wooden pencil with the convenience of mechanical.
Charcoal & conte
When you want richer black.
Charcoal makes blacker, more painterly marks than graphite. Comes as vine charcoal (soft, smudgy, lifts easily — for layout) and compressed charcoal (harder, blacker, harder to erase — for finished work). Conte sticks are similar but pigmented — white, sanguine (red-brown), and black. Used on toned paper to dramatic effect.
Charcoal is messy. Plan for it. Apron, fixative spray when done.
Vine charcoal
Soft. Smudges easily. Lifts with kneaded eraser. Great for sketching.
Compressed charcoal
Hard. Black. Permanent. For finished darks.
Sanguine conte (red-brown)
Classic figure-drawing color. Used by da Vinci and every Renaissance master after.
Colored pencils
An underrated medium.
Don’t dismiss them. Modern artist-grade colored pencils (Prismacolor, Caran d’Ache Luminance, Faber-Castell Polychromos) are professional tools. Layered carefully, they produce work that rivals oil painting in depth.
Beginner set: Prismacolor Premier 24-color set. ~$25. Will get you started; upgrade to Polychromos when you’re committed.
Prismacolor Premier
Soft, buttery, wax-based. School and intermediate standard. Lays down rich color fast.
Faber-Castell Polychromos
Harder, oil-based. Holds a point longer. Professional standard.
Caran d’Ache Luminance
Highest-end. Expensive. Beautiful. Buy when you know which colors you actually use.