What are the differences between hard and soft pencils? What types of drawing pencils are there? Which letter indicates the hardness and softness of the pencil.

This soft material is perfect for drawing voluminous and large works. Charcoal adds tenderness and softness to the picture, so these pencils display well the translucency of shades and the brightness of tones. They are easy to use, but in the future they need to be coated with a fixing aerosol.

Well, it is clear that these are the most popular pencils in the world, and they are incomparable. But for such art you will need medium-textured paper, since on very soft paper the pencil will crumble, and on rough paper it will be difficult to draw.

Pastels, both in crayons and pencil forms, are very popular as they are an excellent medium for creating fine details and outlines in a drawing. In addition, they make excellent backgrounds (with crayons). Very easy to use.

These pencils are still used to create incredible masterpieces. Many beginning artists start drawing with watercolor pencils (soluble), although there is also a dry type. Exactly dry watercolor pencils You can achieve expressive clarity and impressiveness of the drawing. To achieve maximum brightness, it is enough to draw with this pencil in thick layers.
Tip: A sharp pencil and wet paper are incompatible things. It is not recommended to do this - you will ruin everything!

This material is almost similar to coal. Its most important difference is its stability rough paper, cardboard and canvas. The color of sanguine has red-brown tones, making each design colorful and warm.

The most ordinary and at the same time one of the most popular pencils, with the help of which great works are created, although this is not an easy task. They vary in hardness, soft ones perfectly depict dark and clear lines, and hard ones depict thin lines. But the master of his craft has long known that a soft pencil - best pencil, because when it is well sharpened, it can perform the tasks of a hard pencil without much difficulty.
With this pencil you can depict as clearly as possible small parts and give volume to the subject. And some natural artists can even depict the structure and material itself.

Graphite pencils, in turn, vary in degree of hardness.

Lead hardness

The hardness of the lead is indicated on the pencil with letters and numbers. From manufacturers from different countries(Europe, USA and Russia) the marking of pencil hardness is different.

In Russia The hardness scale looks like this:

• M - soft;
• T - hard;
• TM - hard-soft;

European the scale is slightly wider (marking F does not have Russian correspondence):

• B - soft, from blackness (blackness);
• H - hard, from hardness (hardness);
• F is the middle tone between HB and H (from the English fine point - subtlety)
• HB - hard-soft (Hardness Blackness - hardness-blackness);

IN THE USA A number scale is used to indicate the hardness of a pencil:

• #1 - corresponds to B - soft;
• #2 - corresponds to HB - hard-soft;
• #2½ - corresponds to F - average between hard-soft and hard;
• #3 - corresponds to H - hard;
• #4 - corresponds to 2H - very hard.

Pencil is different from pencil. Depending on the manufacturer, the tone of the line drawn with a pencil of the same marking may differ.

In Russian and European pencil markings, the number before the letter indicates the degree of softness or hardness. For example, 2B is twice as soft as B, and 2H is twice as hard as H. You can find pencils on sale ranging from 9H (hardest) to 9B (softest).

Soft pencils

Start from B to 9B.

The most commonly used pencil when creating a drawing is HB. However, this is the most common pencil. Use this pencil to draw the base and shape of the drawing. HB is comfortable for drawing, creating tonal spots, it is not too hard, not too soft. A soft 2B pencil will help you draw dark areas, highlight them and place accents, and make a clear line in the drawing.

Hard pencils

Start from H to 9H.
H is a hard pencil, hence the thin, light, “dry” lines. Use a hard pencil to draw solid objects with a clear outline (stone, metal). With such a hard pencil, thin lines are drawn over the finished drawing, on top of the shaded or shaded fragments, for example, strands in the hair.
The line drawn with a soft pencil has a slightly loose outline. A soft stylus will allow you to reliably draw representatives of the fauna - birds, hares, cats, dogs.
If you need to choose between a hard or soft pencil, artists take a pencil with a soft lead. An image drawn with such a pencil can be easily shaded with a piece of thin paper, a finger or an eraser. If necessary, you can finely sharpen the graphite lead of a soft pencil and draw a thin line similar to the line from a hard pencil.

Quality depends on correct selection pencil hardness.

Hard pencils with a sharpened and dry point can be used to draw grayish lines. Such pencils usually have the letter H (from the English hard - “hard”). They are good for high-precision images, such as line drawings or drawings. Hard leads, unlike soft ones, produce fine lines and do not leave excessive marks on the paper.

U soft pencils stylus on oil based. By drawing with such a pencil and lightly pressing on the lead, you can get more dark and thick lines. They are marked with the letter B (from the English bold - “fat”). IN artistic drawing the use of soft pencils allows you to add greater expressiveness and expressiveness to the artist’s work.

• A well-sharpened pencil lead marked 6B allows you to make a good sketch. The basis of the sketch is applied with a soft stylus. To get pale lines, you should tilt the pencil.
• As you create a drawing, you need to gradually add new strokes to the previous ones to deepen the shadows and expand the midtones. Lightened areas on white paper remain unpainted, that is, there is no need to apply strokes to them.

Graphite pencils , which exist to this day, were invented by a French scientist Nicola Conti in 1794. Typically, a graphite pencil is called a “simple” pencil, in contrast to colored pencils. Graphite pencils can be divided into two main types: soft And solid. The type is determined by the softness or hardness of the lead located inside the body of the pencil. The type of pencil can be determined by looking at the letters and numbers written on it. The letter “M” means the pencil is soft, and the “T” means it’s hard. There is also a type of TM - hard-soft. The degree of hardness or softness of a pencil can be determined by the numbers written in front of the letter. For example, 2M is twice as soft as M, and 3T is three times harder than T. In many countries abroad, for example, in England and the USA, the letters H or B are written. H means hard, B - respectively soft, and HB is hard-soft.

A striking example for comparing pencils can be seen in the figure:

The choice of pencil depends on the type of paper, on the work being performed and, also, on the personal preferences of the artist. For example, I prefer HB pencils from Faber Castell. It is more convenient to sharpen pencils with stationery knives. Historically, knives for sharpening stationery (pen) were called “penknives”. It is very important to protect pencils from falling. The impact may cause the lead to break into small pieces. It is also important to protect pencils from excessive moisture. When dampened and then dried, the pencil jacket may become deformed, which will lead to a violation of the integrity of the lead. There is also another type of graphite pencil called a “mechanical pencil”. They are convenient because they do not require sharpening. These pencils have a movable lead. Its length can be adjusted using a button. Mechanical pencils come with very thin leads (from 0.1 mm). There are also mechanical pencils with intermediate lead thicknesses. The thickest mechanical pencil lead I've ever gotten my hands on is 5mm. Professional artists often like to draw with such pencils.

Marking pencils by hardness

Pencils vary in lead hardness, which is usually indicated on the pencil.

In Russia, graphite drawing pencils are produced in several degrees of hardness, which is indicated by letters, as well as numbers in front of the letters.

In the USA, pencils are marked with numbers, and in Europe and Russia with a mnemonic combination of letters or simply with one letter.

The letter M stands for a soft pencil. In Europe, they use the letter B for this, which is actually short for blackness (something like blackness, so to speak). In the USA they use number 1.

To designate a hard pencil, the letter T is used in Russia. In Europe, the corresponding letter is H, which can be deciphered as hardness.

A hard-soft pencil is designated as TM. For Europe it will be HB.

In addition to combinations in Europe, a standard hard-soft pencil can be designated by the letter F.

To navigate these international issues, it is convenient to use the scale hardness correspondence table given below.

History of pencils

Beginning in the 13th century, artists used thin silver wire for drawing, which was soldered to a pen or stored in a case. This type of pencil was called a “silver pencil.” This tool required high level mastery, since it is impossible to erase what he has written. His other characteristic feature was that over time, the gray strokes made with a silver pencil turned brown.

There was also a “lead pencil”, which left a discreet but clear mark and was often used for preparatory sketches of portraits. Drawings made with silver and lead pencil are characterized by a fine line style. For example, Durer used similar pencils.

The so-called “Italian pencil”, which appeared in the 14th century, is also known. It was a rod of clayey black shale. Then they began to make it from burnt bone powder, held together with vegetable glue. This tool allowed you to create an intense and rich line. Interestingly, artists even now sometimes use silver, lead and Italian pencils when they need to achieve a certain effect.

Graphite pencils have been known since the 16th century. The first description of a graphite pencil was found in the 1564 writings on minerals of the Swiss naturalist Konrad Geisler. The discovery of a graphite deposit in England, in Cumberland, where graphite was sawn into pencil leads, dates back to the same time. English shepherds from the Cumberland area found a dark mass in the ground, which they used to mark their sheep. Due to its color similar to that of lead, the deposit was mistaken for deposits of this metal. But, having determined the unsuitability of the new material for making bullets, they began to produce thin sticks pointed at the end from it and used them for drawing. These sticks were soft, stained your hands, and were only suitable for drawing, not writing.

In the 17th century, graphite was usually sold on the streets. To make it more convenient and the stick not to be so soft, artists clamped these graphite “pencils” between pieces of wood or twigs, wrapped them in paper or tied them with twine.

The first document to mention wooden pencil, dated 1683. In Germany, the production of graphite pencils began in Nuremberg. The Germans, mixing graphite with sulfur and glue, got a different rod High Quality, but at a lower price. To hide this, pencil manufacturers resorted to various tricks. Pieces of pure graphite were inserted into the wooden body of the pencil at the beginning and at the end, and in the middle there was a low-quality artificial rod. Sometimes the inside of the pencil was completely empty. The so-called “Nuremberg product” did not enjoy a good reputation.

It was not until 1761 that Caspar Faber developed a method of strengthening graphite by mixing ground graphite powder with resin and antimony, resulting in a thick mass suitable for casting stronger and more uniform graphite rods.

IN late XVIII century, the Czech I. Hartmut began making pencil leads from a mixture of graphite and clay, followed by firing. Graphite rods appeared, reminiscent of modern ones. By varying the amount of clay added, it was possible to obtain rods of varying hardness. The modern pencil was invented in 1794 by the talented French scientist and inventor Nicolas Jacques Conte. At the end of the 18th century, the English Parliament introduced a strict ban on the export of precious graphite from Cumberland. For violation of this prohibition the punishment was very severe, up to death penalty. But despite this, graphite continued to be smuggled into continental Europe, which led to a sharp increase in its price.

On instructions from the French Convention, Conte developed a recipe for mixing graphite with clay and producing high-quality rods from these materials. By processing at high temperatures, high strength was achieved, but even more important was the fact that changing the proportion of the mixture made it possible to make rods of different hardness, which served as the basis for the modern classification of pencils by hardness. It is estimated that with a pencil with a lead 18 cm long you can draw a line 55 km or write 45,000 words! Modern leads use polymers, which make it possible to achieve the desired combination of strength and elasticity, making it possible to produce very thin leads for mechanical pencils (up to 0.3 mm).

The hexagonal shape of the pencil body was proposed in late XIX century, Count Lothar von Fabercastle, noticing that round pencils often rolled off inclined writing surfaces. Almost ²/3 of the material that makes up a simple pencil goes to waste when sharpening it. This prompted the American Alonso Townsend Cross to create a metal pencil in 1869. The graphite rod was placed in a metal tube and could be extended to the appropriate length as needed. This invention influenced the development of a whole group of products that are used everywhere today. The simplest design is a mechanical pencil with a 2 mm lead, where the rod is held by metal clamps (collets) - a collet pencil. The collets open when a button on the end of the pencil is pressed, resulting in extension to a length adjustable by the user of the pencil.

Modern mechanical pencils are more advanced. Each time you press the button, a small section of lead is automatically fed. Such pencils do not need to be sharpened, they are equipped with a built-in eraser (usually under the lead feed button) and have different fixed line thicknesses (0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, 0.9 mm, 1 mm).

Graphite pencil drawings have a grayish tone with a slight shine; they do not have intense blackness. The famous French caricaturist Emmanuel Poiret (1858-1909), born in Russia, came up with the aristocratic-sounding French-style pseudonym Caran d’Ache, which he used to sign his works. Later, this version of the French transcription of the Russian word “pencil” was chosen as the name and logo of the Swiss trademark CARAN d’ACHE, founded in Geneva in 1924, producing exclusive writing instruments and accessories.

A pencil is a graphite rod in a wooden frame made of soft wood, such as cedar, approximately 18 cm long. Graphite pencils made from naturally occurring unprocessed graphite were first used in early XVII V. Before this, lead or silver rods (known as a silver pencil) were used for drawing. Modern form lead or graphite pencil in a wooden frame came into use in early XIX V.

Typically, a pencil “works” if you guide it or press the lead onto the paper, the surface of which serves as a kind of grater, splitting the lead into tiny particles. By applying pressure to the pencil, the lead particles penetrate the fiber of the paper, leaving a line, or mark.

Graphite, one of the modifications of carbon, along with coal and diamond, is the main component of pencil lead. The hardness of the lead depends on the amount of clay added to the graphite. The softest brands of pencils contain little or no clay. Artists and draftsmen work with a whole range of pencils, choosing them depending on the task at hand.

Once the lead in a pencil wears off, you can continue to use it by sharpening it with a special sharpener or razor. Sharpening a pencil - important process, which determines the type of lines drawn with a pencil. There are many ways to sharpen pencils, and each of them gives its own result. An artist should try to sharpen pencils in different ways in order to know which lines can be drawn with a particular pencil. in different ways sharpening.

You need to know well the advantages and disadvantages of a pencil, like every material you work with. Different brands of pencils are used for specific purposes. The next section discusses some types of drawings, indicating what brand of pencil or graphite material they were made with.

The examples given give an idea of ​​the strokes and lines made different pencils. While looking at them, take your pencils one by one and see what strokes you can get with one pencil or another. Not only will you want to try each pencil and discover new drawing possibilities, but you will suddenly find that your “pencil sense” has increased. As artists, we feel the material we use, and this influences the work.

Materials and examples of strokes and lines.

HARD PENCIL

With a hard pencil you can apply strokes that are almost the same from each other, except perhaps in length. Tone is usually created by cross-hatching. Hard pencils are designated by the letter H. Like soft ones, they have a gradation of hardness: HB, N, 2H, ZN, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H and 9H (the hardest).

Hard pencils are commonly used by designers, architects, and professionals who create precise drawings where fine, neat lines are important, such as when creating perspective or other projection systems. Although the strokes made with a hard pencil differ little from each other, they can be very expressive. The tone, like a soft one, can be created with a hard pencil by shading with cross lines, although the result will be a thinner and more formal drawing.

PROJECTION SYSTEMS FOR HARD PENCIL

Hard pencils are ideal for creating drawings. As we have already said, such drawings are usually carried out by engineers, designers and architects. Finished drawings must be accurate, dimensions should be indicated on them so that performers, for example craftsmen, following the instructions, can create an object according to the project. Drawings can be made using different systems projections, starting with a plan on a plane and ending with perspective images.

STROKES WITH HARD PENCIL
I do not give examples of strokes applied with 7H - 9H pencils.

SOFT PENCIL

A soft pencil has greater possibilities for tinting and conveying texture than a hard pencil. Soft pencils are designated by the letter B. A pencil marked HB is a cross between a hard and soft pencil and is the main medium between pencils with extreme properties. The range of soft pencils includes pencils НВ, В, 2В, ЗВ, 4В, 5В, bВ, 7В, 8В and 9В (the softest). Soft pencils allow the artist to express his ideas through shading, texture, shading, and even simple lines. The softest pencils can be used to tint a group of objects, although in general I find that in this case it is more convenient to use a graphite stick. It all depends on what surface you want to apply the tone to. If it is a small drawing, for example on AZ paper, then a soft pencil will probably be more suitable. But if you want to apply tone to a larger drawing, I would advise you to use a graphite stick.

The only soft pencil convenient for making drawings that require high precision - the palm, of course, behind a hard pencil - is a pencil with a clamped thin lead.

OTHER TYPES OF PENCIL

In addition to the pencils described above, there are other pencils that provide much more opportunities for experimentation and discovery in the field of drawing. You will find these pencils at any store that sells artist supplies.

What is graphite.

Graphite pencil can be used for quick, heavy, dramatic sketches that use energetic lines, large areas of dark tones, or interesting textured strokes. This method of drawing conveys the mood well, but is completely unsuitable for drawing. It is better to draw large drawings with graphite: the reasons for this are clear to everyone. Graphite is a universal medium, and before you start working with it, learn more about its properties and features. Since it does not have an outer frame, its sides can be fully used. We don't have this option when we draw with a pencil. You will be pleasantly surprised when you see what you can achieve when painting with graphite. Personally, if I draw in a free and dynamic manner, I always use graphite. If you also draw with graphite in this manner, you will undoubtedly achieve great success.

DRAWING WITH SOFT PENCILS AND GRAPHITE

Unlike a hard pencil, a soft pencil and graphite can make thicker strokes and create a wide range of tones - from deep black to white. A soft pencil and graphite allow you to do this quickly and efficiently. With a soft, sharp enough pencil you can convey the outline of an object, as well as its volume.

Drawings made with these means are more expressive. They are associated with our feelings, ideas, impressions and thoughts, for example, these can be sketches in a notebook, as a result of our first impressions of an object. They can be part of our visual observations and recordings. Drawings convey changes in tone during the process of observation, either through creative imagination, or express the surface texture. These drawings can also arbitrarily explain or express expression - that is, they themselves can be works visual arts, and not preparations for future work.

The eraser enhances the effect of a soft pencil. A soft pencil and eraser allow you to achieve greater expressiveness in your drawing. The eraser, used in conjunction with a hard pencil, is most often used to correct mistakes, and as an addition to a soft pencil and charcoal, it is a means of creating an image.

What are erasers?

As a rule, we first get acquainted with the eraser when we need to correct a mistake. We want to erase the place where the mistake was made and continue drawing. Since the eraser is associated with correcting mistakes, we have a rather negative view of it and its functions. An eraser seems to be a necessary evil, and the more it wears down from constant use, the more we feel it doesn't meet our needs. It's time to reconsider the role of the eraser in our work. If you use an eraser skillfully, it can be the most useful tool when drawing. But first you need to give up the idea that mistakes are always bad, because you learn from mistakes.

While sketching, many artists think about the drawing process or decide what the drawing will look like. Sketches may be incorrect and need to be corrected as work progresses. This happened to every artist - even to such great masters as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. Revision of ideas is almost always part of creative process, it is noticeable in many works, especially in sketches, where artists develop their ideas and plans.

The desire to completely erase the errors in the work and start drawing again is one of the common mistakes of beginning artists. As a result, they make more mistakes or repeat the same ones, which causes a feeling of dissatisfaction, leading to a feeling of failure. When you make corrections, do not erase the original lines until you are happy with the new drawing and feel that the lines are unnecessary. My advice: keep traces of the correction, do not destroy them completely, as they reflect the process of your thinking and refinement of the idea.

Another positive function of the eraser is to reproduce areas of light in a tonal drawing done in graphite, charcoal or ink. The eraser can be used to add expressiveness to strokes that highlight texture - a shining example Frank Auerbach's drawings serve this approach. In these, the "tonking" technique is an example of the use of an eraser to create a sense of atmosphere.

There are many types of erasers on the market that can be used to remove traces of all the substances an artist uses. Listed below are the types of erasers and their functions.

Soft eraser (“klyagka”). Typically used for charcoal and pastel drawings, it can also be used in pencil drawings. This eraser can be given any shape - this is its main advantage. It helps develop a positive approach to drawing because it is designed to bring new things into the drawing, and not destroy what has been done.

Artist's safety measures.

When working with materials, do not forget about safety measures. Handle scalpels and razor blades with care. Do not leave them open when not in use. Find out if the fluids you use are toxic or flammable. Thus, applying whitewash is a very convenient and cheap way to remove water-based ink, but whitewash is poisonous and must be used with caution.

Pumice is used to remove marks that are difficult to erase. However, pumice should be used carefully as it can damage the paper. A razor blade (or scalpel) can scrape off marks that cannot be removed by other means. They can be used in case of emergency, because by removing unnecessary strokes, you can

Simple pencils, differences. What is a pencil? This is a kind of instrument that looks like a rod made of writing material (charcoal, graphite, dry paint, etc.). This tool is widely used in writing, drawing and drawing. As a rule, the writing rod is inserted into a comfortable frame. pencils can be colored or “simple”. It’s these “simple” pencils that we’ll talk about today, or rather, what types of graphite pencils exist. The very first object vaguely resembling a pencil was invented in the 13th century. It was a thin silver wire soldered to the handle. This “silver pencil” was stored in a special case. To draw with such a pencil required remarkable skill and skill, because it was impossible to erase what was written. In addition to the “silver pencil”, there was also a “lead” one - it was used for sketches. Around the 14th century, the “Italian pencil” appeared: a rod made of clayey black slate. Later, the rod began to be made from burnt bone powder mixed with vegetable glue. This pencil gave a clear and richly colored line. By the way, writing instruments of this kind are still used by some artists to achieve a certain effect. Graphite pencils became known in the 16th century. Their appearance is very interesting: in the Cumberland area, English shepherds found a certain dark mass in the ground, with which they began to mark their sheep. Since the color of the mass was similar to lead, it was mistaken for metal deposits, but later they began to make thin sharp sticks from it, which were used for drawing. The sticks were soft and often broke, and they also got your hands dirty, so it was necessary to place them in some kind of case. They began to clamp the rod between wooden sticks or pieces of wood, wrap them in thick paper, and tie them with twine. As for the graphite pencil that we are used to seeing today, Nicola Jacques Conte is considered its inventor. Conte became the author of the recipe, when graphite was mixed with clay and subjected to high temperature treatment - as a result, the rod was strong and, in addition, this technology made it possible to regulate the hardness of graphite.

Lead hardness The hardness of the lead is indicated on the pencil in letters and numbers. Manufacturers from different countries (Europe, USA and Russia) mark the hardness of pencils differently. Designation of hardness In Russia, the hardness scale looks like this: M - soft; T - hard; TM - hard-soft; The European scale is somewhat wider (marking F does not have a Russian correspondence): B - soft, from blackness (blackness); H - hard, from hardness (hardness); F is the middle tone between HB and H (from the English fine point - subtlety) HB - hard-soft (Hardness Blackness - hardness-blackness); In the USA, a number scale is used to indicate the hardness of a pencil: - corresponds to B - soft; - corresponds to HB - hard-soft; ½ - corresponds to F - average between hard-soft and hard; - corresponds to H - hard; - corresponds to 2H - very hard. Pencil is different from pencil. Depending on the manufacturer, the tone of the line drawn with a pencil of the same marking may differ. In Russian and European pencil markings, the number before the letter indicates the degree of softness or hardness. For example, 2B is twice as soft as B, and 2H is twice as hard as H. On sale you can find pencils marked from 9H (hardest) to 9B (softest). Hard pencils start from H to 9H. H is a hard pencil, hence the thin, light, “dry” lines. Use a hard pencil to draw solid objects with a clear outline (stone, metal). With such a hard pencil, thin lines are drawn over the finished drawing, on top of the shaded or shaded fragments, for example, strands in the hair. The line drawn with a soft pencil has a slightly loose outline. A soft stylus will allow you to reliably draw representatives of the fauna - birds, hares, cats, dogs. If you need to choose between a hard or soft pencil, artists take a pencil with a soft lead. An image drawn with such a pencil can be easily shaded with a piece of thin paper, a finger or an eraser. If necessary, you can finely sharpen the graphite lead of a soft pencil and draw a thin line similar to the line from a hard pencil. Hatching and drawing Strokes on paper are drawn with a pencil inclined at an angle of about 45° to the plane of the sheet. To make the line thicker, you can rotate the pencil around its axis. Light areas are shaded with a hard pencil. Dark areas are correspondingly soft. It is inconvenient to shade with a very soft pencil, since the lead quickly becomes dull and the fineness of the line is lost. The solution is to either sharpen the point very often, or use a harder pencil. When drawing, gradually move from light areas to dark ones, since it is much easier to darken part of the drawing with a pencil than to make a dark place lighter. Please note that the pencil must be sharpened not with a simple sharpener, but with a knife. The lead should be 5-7mm long, which allows you to tilt the pencil and achieve the desired effect. Graphite pencil lead is a fragile material. Despite the protection of the wooden shell, the pencil requires careful handling. When dropped, the lead inside the pencil breaks into pieces and then crumbles when sharpened, making the pencil unusable. Nuances that you should know when working with pencils For shading, you should use a hard pencil at the very beginning. Those. the driest lines are obtained with a hard pencil. Draws with a soft pencil finished drawing, to give it richness and expressiveness. A soft pencil leaves dark lines. The more you tilt the pencil, the wider its mark will be. However, with the advent of pencils with thick leads, this need disappears. If you don't know what the final drawing will look like, it is recommended to start with a hard pencil. Using a hard pencil, you can gradually dial in the desired tone. At the very beginning, I myself made the same mistake: I used a pencil that was too soft, which made the drawing turn out dark and incomprehensible. Pencil frames Of course classic version- This is a stylus in a wooden frame. But now there are also plastic, lacquered and even paper frames. The lead of these pencils is thick. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other hand, such pencils are easy to break if you put them in your pocket or accidentally drop them. Although there are special pencil cases for carrying pencils (for example, I have a set of KOH-I-NOOR Progresso black graphite pencils - good, solid packaging, like a pencil case).