The leads themselves shouldn’t break and snap off easily, for example when you press down on your paper or sharpen them with a craft knife. They mention it's very soft and smooth as velvet on both smooth and medium grain paper, and it feels nice to hold. Another observation I made was that despite the softer ‘B’ grades being blacker than almost any of the pencils I’ve reviewed here, their leads were super strong, gave off no graphite dust at all and would hardly smudge even when I tried.

No problem, as long as you have not blotted your ink then we would be happy to refund you the full amount. The Pitt graphite crayons are an ideal and very economical medium for working on very large sketches and areas. Graphite pencils are mixed with a binder of clay, and different grades of softness and darkness are created by the varying the graphite and clay ratio. Despite being most functional looking all the pencils, the Mars Lumograph would probably still top the charts as the professional artists’ choice. From 4H to 9B, each pencil has been varnished with the tone of that grade, making it easy to spot in your pencil pouch.It’s vital that both graphite and clay should be finely ground and well mixed to give a uniform and consistent stroke. Before we begin the individual reviews, here’s a comparison of the grading values for all the brands I’m looking at.

In the 1960s they patented their famous ‘SV’ bonding in which the entire length of the lead is glued to the wooden casing instead of simply spot-gluing it in places. With Derwent Graphic pencils, you’ve got a wide choice of degrees from the popular HB pencil to the fine and crisp 9H and soft and smudgy 9B.The "green pencil from Faber", which was already being mentioned with approval by Van Gogh and Goethe, has now become part of everyday life. Caran d'ache Grafwood Graphite Pencils are professional artist pencils They are available in 15 different graduations from 9B to 4H. They are the lightest of all the pencil ranges I’m reviewing here and the harder grades make a very fine mark, but I don’t find them scratchy or the graphite overly shiny. The Cretacolor Monolith pencil is woodless - just 7mm of graphite with a thin lacquer coating - which allows you to use a huge range of strokes and techniques.

Derwent Graphic Pencils are available in a full range of densities from 9B (softest) to 9H (hardest). Faber-Castell's PITT Graphic range provides all creative artists with an extensive range of pencils and crayons in different grades of hardness for sketching, graphic design and shading work.

The pencils are fairly expensive here if bought individually and are better value when purchased in a tin, where because because the range of grades (only 3H to 6B) is so small you receive several duplicates. Derwent have been making pencils since 1832 and ‘Graphic’ is their classic graphite sketching range. The lighter grades are delightfully smooth too and if you wanted to draw more lightly with them you could use a selection of the H grades – I found that a 3H was tonally equivalent to about an HB from Staedtler’s Mars Lumograph range. If you love shading, the hexagonal Lyra Art Design pencil is for you: the perfect way to get to the heart of your drawing and unleash unexpected creativity.

Mono 100s generally vie with the Mistubishi Hi-Uni for the number one spot amongst true pencil aficionados.I’m not necessarily saying that the 9000s are superior to the other pencils I’ve awarded top marks to, but for the type of drawing that I do (light, quite detailed portraits) they suit my style better than a darker, softer range. At first I thought this was quite mad – the point of regular hexagonal casing is after all to stop the pencils sliding around on your desk – but then I picked one up and it felt so lovely, slim and smooth to hold that I was quite won over! Lumograph pencils never scratch or feel gritty and as they rise up the scale the shades become darker in a most reliable and uniform manner.