Quality pencils are also a lot more forgiving. Softer leads do sometimes break when you sharpen them however there is a way to work around it as well. Granted, if you keep your pencils tucked away neatly at home, you probably won’t have an issue with this at all. I just recently noticed that one of my favorite 8B pencils has started splitting down the middle, I’m quite sad about it. I still have a couple from that very same time-frame and they all show wear coupled with a few dents. I can’t always say the same for my usual graphite pencils. I still have 2 trusted mechanical pencils that I had since I was in high school and they haven’t given up on me yet. If you need to pack these up and carry around in a pencil case, you can simply retract or remove the lead for safekeeping to avoid them being damaged. But that’s about the only problem I ever experienced when judging how durable they are and I blame it on user error, not the actual mechanics. So naturally, with enough pressure, these tended to break. When I first started using mechanical pencils, I made the mistake of clutching the leads too far out. Have you ever had to sharpen your pencil twice because the lead ended up in the sharpener instead of the pencil? Or a lead snapped in a mechanical pencil when you added a bit too much pressure? MECHANICAL PENCILS So in my opinion, neither lack the variety for this category. I’ve seen wood pencils go up to 14B in darkness and in one case, a 16B made specifically for dedicated mechanical pencils. These are basically all you need and then you’re sorted. The most common are 18 piece sets which feature grades from 8H to 8B. Most art stores sell the wooded pencils in a combo and a 22 piece set isn’t that difficult to find, especially in the US. The traditional choice here is much more simple without skimping on variety. If you’re looking for something darker, like a 6B, you’ll probably end up purchasing a separate size 2mm+ (0.078in) mechanical pencil to accommodate those leads. I only use 0.5mm (0.02in) sizes and this is limited to values 4H to 4B from what I’ve seen. What becomes a bit of a challenge is finding and pairing the right size leads to the their holders. The only way for me to stock up on some variety is if I order them online, which doesn’t suit me because shipping fees on a $5 product just isn’t worth it.ĭon’t get me wrong, dedicated art suppliers and even Amazon have a good variety of these available. I use a combination of HB #2 and 2B leads for my mechanical pencils because they are the only 2 values that I can find at the stores close by. For instance, some countries have a great variety of brands while others are slightly limited to what is in the local market. The availability, as I mentioned earlier, actually plays a big role for reasons why some artists stick to more mechanical pencils than others. However, the traditional wooden pencils are easily available in great variety across many countries.īut are there particular reasons to choose one over the other? Lets compare them in different categories and find out! 1. Nowadays, they are easy to maintain and slightly more portable. The concept of mechanical pencils has seen many improvements over the last few decades. So why has this type of pencil become increasingly popular among sketch artists? Head over to Wikipedia if you’d like to read up about the pencil history, it gets pretty interesting! Going further back in time, the first physical proof of retractable leads in casings was found among a shipwreck that sunk in 1791. These were some of the first pencils that featured a mechanism able to propel the lead out of its casing. In fact, the first mechanical pencil was patented in 1822 by two English gentlemen: John Isaac Hawkins and Sampson Mordan. Contrary to popular belief, mechanical pencils aren’t your new 21st century invention.
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