What are the different pencils used for?

Harder pencils produce lighter marks since less of the material is released as pressure is applied. Softer pencils make darker marks since more of the material is released. Therefore, a “4H” pencil will produce lighter marks than an “2H” pencil while a “4B” pencil will make darker marks than a “2B” pencil.

What pencils are best for what?

The Best Pencils for Drawing

• The go-to drawing pencil: 2B or 4B. Graphite pencils, brown.
• The investment pencil: Cretacolor Monolith Graphite Pencil or Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil.
• The affordable pencil: General’s Kimberly Graphite Pencils.
• The experimental pencil: Faber-Castell Graphite Aquarelle Pencil.

What is each graphite pencil used for?

Graphite pencils with hardness degrees of 3B to 8B are ideal for artistic, pictorial drawing with their very soft to extra soft, very black graphite. Graphite pencils H, F, HB, B, and 2B are ideal for drawing and writing with our B (soft black) pencil being equivalent to the traditional No. 2 pencil.

What are 2B pencils used for?

People who want to express themselves artistically use soft pencils of hardness grades 2B to 8B. You can make expressive drawings with them, which are very rich in contrast. Hard pencils are good for technical drawing. They are excellent with hardness grades H, 2H to 6H.

What pencils are used for sketching?

The best pencils for drawing and sketching are a HB, 2B, 6B and 9B. Far better than buying a whole set of pencils, most of which will never be used.

What do the H and B stand for on pencils?

The degree of hardness of a pencil is printed on the pencil. B stands for “black”. These pencils are soft. H stands for “hard”. HB stands for “hard black”, which means “medium hard”.

What pencil is best for shading?

B pencils
While the softer B pencils are generally considered the best for shading, there’s no reason to discount the harder H pencils. The HB and H are good choices for fine, light, even shading. However, they too have drawbacks. Pencil grades from HB through H, 2H to 5H get progressively harder and are easier to keep sharp.