Pencils

[petrichoran]

i mostly use pencils for drawing because i usually prefer pens for stationary! my absolute favorite graphite pencil is the prismacolor ebony. i love how dark it gets and it's super fun to use! i mainly use them for getting quick ideas down like thumbnail sketching or gesture drawing. i just got some new charcoal pencils - my old ones didn't have any wood coating and were just charcoal through the whole thing and broke super easily.

my best friend in middle school [who is now my girlfriend  ] once gave me a mechanical pencil for good luck because it hadn't ever run out of lead. but it ran out of luck literally after she gave it to me so no good luck charm :[ i don't think i ever refilled it because i'm not the biggest mechanical pencil fan but i kept it and i use it to hold up one of my plants!

[bingus_baby]

(Post discusses the pencils in the picture from top to bottom!)

So, after opening my pen case, it turns out I have a lot more to say on the subject than I thought lol. First, for mechanical pencils my favorite is Staedtler. I have a few super old ones that have held strong through the years. One broke, one got lost, and the third is still own strong. I’m pretty sure I know where the lost one is, so only one breaking over the years is pretty good! Other than that, I’ll use just about any pencil depending on what I’m doing. There’s a time and place for everything, and my  overflowing art boxes really reflect that ;;

For wooden pencils, first off is Smencils! (Ironically not wood.) They are a public school icon. Famous for the early 2000s fundraisers, but I LOVE them for drawing. The paper shaft is easy to sharpen without breaking the lead, the lead is soft and dark, they smell nice, and come with the protective tube! Super nice, so I don’t get dirt on the pencil, or lead streaks in my bag.
Next is Blackwing. I got these for Christmas, so I can’t say much about them yet, besides they work well! I do like the feeling of them in the hand.
Prismacolor Col-erase. The GOAT!!!! My favorite colored pencils. They aren’t very pigmented, don't write very dark, and are kinda waxy, but they’re smooth and don’t leave marks in my bag. (Big thing for me, since I use a lot of cute bags.) They also feel amazing in the hand (the paint used on the shaft is so nice and a satin finish), and are erasable. They're my favorite for how portable they are, and the eraser makes coloring in doodles feel more casual, since I don't have to worry about mistakes.
The big TOT… I found this on the ground in elementary school, and it has been with me ever since. Considering how old it must be, it’s held up well! (At least 15 years, and probably a couple before I found it.) I don’t use it much, but when I have, it has done well. Big lead, big smooth!
Faber Castell Jumbo. Required supplies for a class, and we never used it in said class, but I like it for observational drawings at home. (Less mess than charcoal.) Easy to grip, draws very smooth. Downside is that page transfer is a big issue with it.
General’s charcoal pencils. Best on the market. What more can I say? (Watch out with the softer ones though, they break way easily. 6B and 8B look good, but are a headache to work with.)
Papermate Verithin. I’ve only been to Mexico a few times, but my most beloved souvenirs are the art supplies I get. In Cozumel there is a big supermarket that sells these double ended pencils, and I used them all through high school. I liked to doodle with them, since for an edgy 11th grader, they’re perfect! One end for the sketch, one end for the blood splatters. I drew so many edgy anime werewolves with these bad boys!
IKEA pencil. Small, portable, not very pigmented. Since they aren’t very pigmented, that means no page transfer. Therefore, they’re a permanent staple in my collection!

(And while I say “pigmented” throughout this post, I may mean very hard or soft graphite, but I’m not sure. I’m no pencil expert, just a regular pencil enjoyer. They either write dark or they don't lol)