Holding A Pencil Correctly

Sketching 365
Other Types of Pencil

Try a mechanical pencil

Also known as a propelling pencil, this type of pencil is extremely useful for drawing lines of a consistent thickness.

It has four unique features:

Good balance: it doesn’t wear down and thus is better balanced.

Constant core: the case contains a storage area for extra pieces of graphite, which are automatically propelled out the end of the holder.

No need to sharpen: the fine graphite core never needs sharpening.

Break resistant: modern cores are very strong, often coated in polymer to resist breakage.

Cores are available in different thicknesses – usually defined in millimetres – and different degrees of hardness.

Carbon pencils

This pencil produces very dark tones like charcoal but is much smoother and much nicer to draw with as it is less messy.

Clutch pencils

A variation on the mechanical pencil, the core is gripped and held in place by a claw. Thicker cores are inserted one at a time and require sharpening.

Drawing is very different to writing. People who have not been taught to draw often draw by holding a pencil as they do for writing, with their fingers very close to the writing end. However, the way you hold your pencil to draw can radically improve the range and quality of the marks you make.

Use your whole arm to draw as it increases the size and flow of possible marks, and allows you to work more easily on larger paper.

Change your grip so as to avoid your drawing being too ‘tight’. This also makes it easier to make a range of different marks.

Charcoal pencils

These have a charcoal core encased in wood, and vary a lot in quality. This is one item that is definitely worth testing in an art supplies shop because some are scratchy. Use a charcoal pencil to restate and emphasise line in charcoal or pastel drawings.
Lithograph pencils

Lithograph pencils are used for creating lines on media used to produce lithographs. They typically vary in softness from #00 (very soft) to #5 (hard).

Images Credits:

The difference in marks between graphite (left) and carbon sticks (right). Carbon produces a denser black.

Cynara Cardunculus (section) by Coral Guest (Carbon and graphite on paper); Use of carbon enables a much better range of values than can be achieved using graphite alone.