

Hard pencils don’t smudge easily, so your drawings will always be sharp and clean. If you’re into drawing buildings, cars or technical sketches, a set of hard pencils will suit you well. Architectural / Product Sketches / Technical Sketches The pencils you need will depend on the type of drawings you do. Although, it would be a big challenge since it would require a lot of effort to keep from shading your drawing too dark.ĭon’t be intimidated by the number of pencils I listed up there! Most likely, you’ll only need to use 3-5 of them. Even though 9B is the softest pencil, you can still use it to draw an entire portrait with values ranging from medium grey to black. This shows you how flexible each grade of pencil is. If you look at the first image, there are some gradients under each square. Here’s a list of pencil grades in order from lightest to darkest or hardest to softest.ĩH, 8H, 7H, 6H, 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B Value RangeĮach pencil is capable of covering a wide range of values. So a 9B pencil is softer/darker than a 2B, while an 8H will be harder/lighter than a 3H.

The number beside each letter represents the level of hardness or softness. The softer the pencil, the smoother the graphite. Why? Because soft pencils deposit more graphite onto your drawing surface. Hard pencils produce light lines while soft pencils produce dark lines. The letters on a pencil will tell you its level of hardness or softness. How the quality of a pencil can affect your artwork.The reason why there are so many pencil grades.Which pencils are best for drawing portraits and pencils for sketching.

