What is Graphite
10/27/11 11:28 Filed in: Drawing Mediums & Tools
In general we refer to graphite as pencil, but graphite is a specific type of pencil that produces a silvery black. Graphite comes in pencil form and stick form. The pencils are best for detailed work whereas the stick can be used for large tonal areas.
The characteristics are a combination of graphite and clay, the higher the proportion of graphite to clay the softer the medium. Graphite comes in degrees of hardness 8H to 9B - the H refers to hard and B designates the blackness of the graphite.
Hard graphite is good for fine details, but I hardly ever encourage my beginner students to use the H. Why you ask? well the H is very hard, and tends to leave a mark on your paper if you press to hard. Which can lead to indentations on your paper after erasing. Beginners still struggle with controlling the pressure they apply when drawing lines. It is difficult for them to erase mistakes that they make, and when they have to deal with the marks left behind it discourage them.
Soft graphite can produce a wider range of tones, soft graphite requires a lot of sharpening due to the softness of the graphite.
A good way to familiarize yourself with the different tonal values of the pencils, is to create a range of 2" x 2" squares, start with the HB pencil and shade in the first square, once you are done with that one, take the next pencil in your range, usually it is "B" or "2B", shade in the next square, and continue on like that with the rest of the pencils. When you are done, you should be able to compare the different tones that the different pencils provide for you.
Pick up a pencil and have some fun with it.
The characteristics are a combination of graphite and clay, the higher the proportion of graphite to clay the softer the medium. Graphite comes in degrees of hardness 8H to 9B - the H refers to hard and B designates the blackness of the graphite.
Hard graphite is good for fine details, but I hardly ever encourage my beginner students to use the H. Why you ask? well the H is very hard, and tends to leave a mark on your paper if you press to hard. Which can lead to indentations on your paper after erasing. Beginners still struggle with controlling the pressure they apply when drawing lines. It is difficult for them to erase mistakes that they make, and when they have to deal with the marks left behind it discourage them.
Soft graphite can produce a wider range of tones, soft graphite requires a lot of sharpening due to the softness of the graphite.
A good way to familiarize yourself with the different tonal values of the pencils, is to create a range of 2" x 2" squares, start with the HB pencil and shade in the first square, once you are done with that one, take the next pencil in your range, usually it is "B" or "2B", shade in the next square, and continue on like that with the rest of the pencils. When you are done, you should be able to compare the different tones that the different pencils provide for you.
Pick up a pencil and have some fun with it.