Using Pencils in Art

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What kind of pencils do you use? Art pencils have numbers, I'm just wondering what kind is better.

You'll want to have a set of graphite pencils. They are numbered on a scale. H stands for hard, which gives a lighter color. B stands for black, and it's a softer pencil that makes a darker color. HB is in the middle of the scale.

Ideally you are going to want a set with different levels of hardness, so that you can make really light and really dark colors. I think my sets go from 8H to 8B. 8B is very soft and would be darker than 2B, for example.

Colored pencils are a totally different thing entirely, though.

Thank You! I forgot this information.

You're welcome

3B is all I really need for most circumstances. I like to draw dark, bold lines. Most students make the mistake of being too timid, and using too hard a pencil.

I tend to use hard pencils for preliminary sketches, or for underpaintings. Also some detailed pencil drawings can benefit from some very light shading in some areas. It useful to have harder pencils when drafting by hand, too. Not that anyone really does that anymore.

I use 2B pencil & I still remember how to shades in things, my sister is an artist too & my grandmother, my sister taught me how to shade in things, she went to art college for 4 years.


What the difference between a sketch pad & drawing pad?

From what I can remember, a drawing pad usually has higher quality paper. A sketch pad usually has lesser quality paper, because it's intended to make sketches instead of finished drawings.

But sometimes something labeled as a drawing pad isn't really much different from what's labeled as a sketch pad. If you go to a real art supply store, you'll probably have an easier time finding a real sketch pad, and a real drawing pad, that are accurately labeled.

And then there are other kinds of papers that come in pads, like for watercolors, or for drawing with ink, or for using pastels. There's also "newsprint" paper, that is very thin, and tends to be cheap. Sometimes people use it for times when they know they don't need quality paper. It has other purposes, too.

That reminds me of fond memories. I have a foot in both camps, in that I have always loved art as a hobby (2B - 6B), but was also taught engineering drawing as a craft at school (2H - 6H, and sharp!) I was probably among the last that were taught it as a school subject, by which time it was already a skill that industry no longer needed. I am able to use CAD software, and have done professionally for brief periods - but I much preferred doing it the old fashioned way, it felt much more like a craft.

I find the trick with paper is just to feel it with my fingers, rather than going by what it says on the cover of the pad- I know instantly if the paper texture is one that I would like working with. I've done little drawing for years, but I remember I liked to use paper with quite a coarse texture - so that you can get a nice 'scumbling' effect with a light stroke.

My "drafting for the theatre" 101 class was all done by hand. This was only a few years ago. I loved drafting by hand, and I was very good, according to the professor. But, he admitted that it's an obsolete art form. Everyone uses CAD

It is more like a craft. The individual can put his or her own personal touch into the drawings, and it makes it unique.