Artist Reference: Drawing Pencils Explained

They Never Were Lead!
The first pencils were created some time before 1665. They were made from sticks cut from a high quality natural graphite deposit, which was then wrapped in either string or sheepskin. At the time it was thought to be lead. Later, the graphite (a form of carbon), was inserted into wooden sticks that had been hollowed-out by hand.

Today, the "lead" of a pencil is usually made from blend of powdered graphite, clay and water that is shaped into thin rods, dried, kiln-fired and then wrapped in a wood casing. 

Grading
The hardness or softness of the graphite core depends upon how much clay is added into the mix.

Harder pencils - indicated by the H code, produce fainter marks and the higher the number, the lighter the lines. In other words, if H2 produces a light grey mark, H4 will be even lighter and H6 will be lighter still.

Pressing harder with these pencils will only crease your paper rather than make darker lines.

Softer pencils are indicated by a B coding and the graphite becomes softer as the number increases. The higher the number, the darker the lines will be (and the more easily they can be smudged).

Remember it this way..... H (for Hardness) ...... B (for Blackness)

School Pencils
Those good ol' yellow pencils you purchase for back to school as a kid? They are usually smack in the middle and may be considered an H or HB, although I've owned some that marked more like a 2H.

I prefer the softer range myself because I have a light touch. I usually begin a drawing with a 2B and then move into the 4B and 6B when I'm ready to darken up my line work and create shading.

Woodless Pencils
Woodless pencils are solid graphite coated with thick varnish. They are very versatile, also come in various degrees of softness, are ideal for laying in large areas quickly and can be sharpened with a normal pencil sharpener.