Before we start playing with colors and shadows and highlights its important to get our lines straight or may be curved to the perfection so the drawing is solid. Which is foundational for a great painting. So let’s see what kind of pencil should we be using and how to do draw before we paint.

The Lead:

It’s important to pick the right lead pencils for a drawing and its obvious that each type of pencil is suited for a specific need.

I usually use four different types of lead pencils. HB, 2B, 4B and 8B. Each of this lead pencils are very useful for a nice painting but might not be always needed bases on the final media you are planning to use.

I believe it’s very important to have a very clean drawing before you starting painting colors.

Start with HB pencil for a soft and crisp drawing. Make sure not apply too much pressure so you don’t create a hard impress of the pencil on the paper/ canvas.

Drawing with deep strokes also makes it very difficult to retouch if needed.

Does Brand Matter?

Well ideally brand does not matter. One should look for softer leads for drawing so it flows easily on any kind of paper or canvas, does not leave hard impression on paper.

I have used some pencils HB pencils available in target and they work just good. However if you are looking for great quality pencils an essentially interested in pencil sketch composition you might have to look for better quality pencils for better control on the darks and lights and strokes. I personally use “Derwent”, which I got from Amazon.

Also do not forget to collect couple of 8B, 4B, 2B for better dark wash and depth control in your composition.

Do let me know your feedback and comments