New Pencils

I drew every day since posting except for Wednesday. I ordered some pencils and newsprint over the weekend as I could see myself running out of materials. I can archive things on the computer before I toss them out. The pencils and paper arrived today. I had barely started on a warmup page so I decided to turn it into a pencil test page. The paper was a cheap 50lb pad I bought years ago. I tried not to smudge the pencils for this. Tones were attempted primarily via pressure.

1.) Prismacolor PC935 Noir Black
2.) Prismacolor Ebony 14420 Jet Black Extra Smooth
3.) Conte a Paris 1710 Pierre Noire B
4.) Eberhard Faber American 2 HB (School Pencil)

1.) I was using the Prismacolor this morning because I figured I would be putting it away after today's delivery. It is smooth with a flat black that is not very reflective. I have not used this pencil a whole lot. I love the color and gradation, but it does not erase easily.

2.) These were on sale (a dozen for $7 US) when I was placing my order. This is a graphite pencil with a thicker core than a writing pencil. This pencil had the most reflective blacks of the four tested. It is very easy to erase. It had the smoothest glide of all the pencils I tested.

3.) These were recommended to me for use with newsprint. I waffled between the B and 2B, but settled on the B since it would be closer to the HB I am used to. This pencil is soft. It picked up the grain of the paper rather strongly. This pencil produced the deepest black out of all of them I tested and was not reflective when I tried viewing it with lights from different angles. It is easy to pick up and push around the pigment after laying it down. An eraser removes this pencil rather easily. This is the only charcoal pencil of the bunch, and I believe it might also be pigmented. I need practice to get a greater tonal range and smoother lines. There was a lot of glue residue all around the core which is not a big deal, but was a difference from the other pencils so I am mentioning it.

4.) This was a standard school pencil I have been doing most of my drawing with so I decided to throw it in at the end. I like it quite a bit and figured it was a pencil most people might be familiar with. This pencil does not erase quite as easily as 2 or 3. The core is much narrower than those in the other pencils.