Graphite is produced in various grades or degrees according to the softness or hardness of the material. Different grades produce different types of marks. The grade of the pencil is usually designated on the side or the end of the pencil. For drawing pencils, this designation is an alphanumeric value.
Pencils are graded from 9H to 2H, H, F, HB, B, and 2B to 9B. Not every pencil maker produce every grade.
H pencils are better suited for filling the tooth / texture of the paper, resulting in smoother transitions of tone and value.
B pencils fill the tooth to lesser degree, making the texture of the paper more noticeable.
HB pencil falls in the middle of the scale. For drawing, it’s reasonably hard.
What is an F pencil?
F means ‘Fine’. F pencil is slightly lighter and harder than an HB pencil which means it can stay sharp for a longer period of use.
B pencils are softer and leave more graphite on the paper, they are darker. B stands for ‘ Black’.
H pencils are hard and they leave less graphite on the paper, they are lighter. H stands for ‘Hard’.
2B to 8B are great for loose, expressive sketching or shading.
They are soft, which means they dull fairly quickly, allowing you a lot of line variation in your sketching.
Smudge very well, which is great for certain shading techniques.
2H to 6H are great for very light sketching.
Great for drafting an outline of something before you go over it with something bold, like a dark pencil or a pen.
The lines you get from a hard pencil will be very precise.
Pencils are a magic wand for artists, so the next time you get lost in the store among pencil racks remember these pointers for a better understanding.
