What Are the Best Pencils for Drawing? (Top 5 Recommendations)

What are the best pencils for drawing?

If you’re looking for a post about the best pencils you can use to draw, you’ve come to the right place. I think we can all appreciate a smooth, easy to hold pencil that feels like its part of our hand.

Artists’ have many tools. Crayons, paintbrushes, erasers, etc. But out of all of those tools, probably the most essential one is the pencil.

A nice pencil set or a pencil variety set is a must have for any beginner – here is our other supply list for any artist

Pencils are what we use to sketch, draw our outlines, and shade. Granted, we can do all those things with a crayon, but it’s just not the same.

Best Pencils for Drawing – At a Glance

Here is our list for the best pencils for drawing. They are:

Personally, I’ve found that these pencils are great for anything, be it sketches or shading. They come in different grades, which is helpful when you find that one pencil grade doesn’t just hit right with whatever you’re trying to achieve.

Why do I need a specific pencil for drawing?

To be completely honest, you can finish a masterpiece with just one pencil. However, by using different pencils with different grades, you can easily achieve a certain effect or shade, which can add more depth and help you easily add more detail to make your drawing achieve that finished look.

There are also pencil grades that are more efficient when it comes to a specific stage of drawing. For example, sketching.

• It’s easier to sketch with a 2b pencil than it is with a 6b pencil.
• But it’s faster to shade with a 6b pencil than a 2b pencil.
• An 8b pencil can also produce a really dark shade, making them great for areas in your drawing that require darker colors like hair or shadows.
• If you want to make lighter marks, you can use H pencils.

All in all, these pencils have their uses and can not only help make your drawings cleaner, but can also make the drawing experience easier.  

To know more about these pencils, keep reading!

Qualities to Look for in Drawing Pencils

Before we start looking at the best pencils out there, let’s talk about the qualities that you should look for in drawing pencils.

You should watch out for:

• Price
• Type
• Color

Price

Let’s start with the price. Obviously, you should look out for pencils that you can afford. If you can’t afford a pencil, it’s totally fine. Like I said earlier, you can still finish a masterpiece with just one pencil.

But affordability shouldn’t be the only determining factor of whether you should buy a pencil or not. Also, think if the pencil is actually worth the price.

Some pencils are priced an absurd amount simply because of the brand attached to them. But quality-wise, they may be just as good as your regular pencil or worse.

So when buying a pencil from a brand you don’t know much about, do your research first and read the reviews (Especially reviews from fellow artists). If you find that a pencil has more complaints than they do praise, then they’re probably not worth the price.

Type

The type of pencil is also important when you’re out looking for a pencil. There are different types of pencils, but the main ones are:

• Graphite
• Charcoal
• Colored Pencils
• Watercolor Pencils

First, figure out what drawings you wanna do. If you just want to make a simple portrait, graphite pencils will do the trick. If you want a more serious and darker tone to your portraits, try charcoal.

If you’re going for a drawing with a splash of color, get colored or watercolor pencils.

What you plan to draw matters with what type of pencil you’re getting.

Firmness

Your pencil varies in firmness or hardness. This is why there are different pencil grades out there.

I’ll touch on them more later but basically;

The grades of your pencil determine how light or how dark of a mark it makes.

According to Faber Castell, there are 16 types of hardness, ranging from 6H to 8B. However, according to other websites, there’s a 9H and 9B.  

Regardless of how many grades there are, all you need to know is the harder a pencil is, the lighter its shade will be. The softer it is, the darker the shade will be.

This will be important to know when you’re out buying a pencil. If you’re looking for a pencil that can help you with shading then it’s best you go for softer pencil grades like 6B or 8B. If you don’t know anything about pencil grades, have a quick look at this video:

Color

If you just want to make black and white portraits then this part probably isn’t all that important to you, but when going out for pencils, you should also keep in mind whether you want colored pencils or not.

You might want to add color to your portrait later or perhaps you’re learning color theory. Either way, the best way to know whether you’re getting good-quality colored pencils is by trying them out on paper first (If you’re allowed).

If the color is vibrant, chances are they’re quality-colored pencils. If you can’t try out pencils in the store, then going for a good strong brand is my next suggestion.

I recommend brands like Faber Castell or Prismacolor. They often produce vivid colors and they’re also easy to blend, at least from my experience.

Pencil Grading Scale

I briefly mentioned earlier that pencils have different grading scales and these scales tell you how dark or how light a pencil mark is going to be. The scale uses H, HB, B, and F. What do these letters mean?

What do the pencils’ names mean?

B stands for “Blackness”, H for “Hardness” and F for “Firmness”.

Pencils that are in the Blackness range of the scale are a lot softer and therefore produce darker colors. The larger the number will be next to the B, the darker the pencil is. In this case, 9B will be the darkest among the pencils.

Pencils that have an H next to their numbers mean the lead in these pencils is harder than those with a B. Because they’re harder, the lines they’ll produce will be much lighter. Similar to pencils that are in the B range, the larger the number next to the letter is, the lighter they’ll be which means 9H will be the lightest pencil.

Now, like a nicely shaded portrait, these pencils have a middle ground, or the mid tones if you will. And those are HB (Hard Black) and F (Firmness).

Unlike the H and the B where there are multiple levels of them, there’s only one HB and F, and they’re the perfect pencils for sketching and writing. They don’t produce dark marks that can be difficult to erase like the B pencils but they also don’t produce mega light marks that can be difficult to see like the H pencils.

Here’s a summary of the pencil grades and what I personally think they’ll be good for:

What are the most trusted pencil brands for drawing?

The most trusted pencil brands for drawing are Faber-Castell, Koh-I-Noor, Hardtmuth, Staedtler, and Derwent.

Now there are a lot of brands out there selling pencils. One of the most popular ones, which I’m sure every living soul on this planet possesses, is Mongol pencils.  

They’re great but when it comes to drawing, they don’t really offer that much of a range. Which is fine because they’re not designed specifically for drawing.

These brands, however, are (That’s not to say, you can only draw with them. A pencil is a pencil at the end of the day).

Brands like Faber Castell and Staedtler are famous for being an artist’s go-to choice when it comes to tools like pencils. But what about us? What are our go-to pencils for drawings?

Our Top 5 Pencils for Drawing:

Faber-Castell 9000 Graphite Sketch Pencils

The Faber-Castell 900 Graphite Sketch Pencils is a set of 12 pencils packed in a metal case with a list price of $22. Just like the Staedtler Mars, these come in a range of hardness, from 2H to 8B.

They’re sturdy and easy to sharpen. The marks they make are smooth, making them easy to blend. And even after using them for a long time, they don’t lose their consistency.

Their B’s are a lot higher than that of Staedtler as they have both 7B and 8B, allowing for darker tones and shades.

My only problem, however, is that there are not enough “H” pencils. Their H stops at 2H, which is nice but it doesn’t offer that much variety.

They have a lot of B pencils though, from B to 8B, but as I said, the H pen

Castle Art Supplies 12 Piece Graphite Drawing Pencils

As with every other pencil set on this list, Castle Art Pencils come in a metal case. They’re a set of 12 with grades of 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, and 8B. Unlike Koh-l-Noor and Faber-Castell, Castle Art offers an equal range of H pencils and B pencils, making them good for both light and dark marks.

The lines they make are clean and the pencils don’t easily break when you sharpen them. They’re great for both sketching and shading and even blending as long as you know what you’re doing.

They’re also a lot less expensive than the pencils from Prismacolor, Staedtler, and Faber-Castell, only going for $14.99. So if you don’t know where to start, why not start with Castle Art?

Staedtler Mars Lumograph Drawing Pencils

There are 12 graphite pencils in this pack and they come in a metal case. Their grades range from 4H to 6B, giving you a variety of shades to work on. As someone who has used Staedtler in the past, I can say that these pencils are great.

They offer a wide range of shades and they’re extremely affordable (Given that artist pencils are usually quite expensive). The lead in the pencil won’t easily break when you sharpen them plus they come with a metal case to keep your pencils in.

The only con I see is that they only go up to 6B, however, they do have a version where they offer more shades.

Prismacolor Premier Graphite Drawing Pencils

Prismacolor is known for its high-quality (and costly) art materials. I mostly know them for their colored pencils but they also sell graphite pencils, and just like their colored pencils, their graphite pencils are nothing short of amazing.

The Prismacolor Premier Graphite Drawing Pencils come with:

• 7 drawing pencils with grades: 6H, 4H, 2H, B, 2B, 6B, and 8B.
• 4 woodless graphite pencils, all B’s and no H’s (2B, 4B, 6B & 8B)
• 3 water-soluble graphite pencils
• 2 erasers (one of them is kneaded)
• A sharpener and a sanding board

There’s a total of 14 pencils with a wide range of hardness in this set. Four of those pencils are woodless graphite, making them absolutely perfect for shading. With no wood in the way, you can get darker values depending on how you hold your pencil.

And if you’re worried about highlights, it also comes with an easy-to-mold kneaded eraser and a Vinyl Magic Rub eraser.

In addition to that, the set also comes with a sanding board, making sure that you can always keep the tip of your pencils pointed for sharp and small details. All this set needs is paper and a frame and you’re good to go!

That said, it is a bit pricey compared to the other pencils on this list. Its list price is $37.99, a lot more expensive than Staedtler and Faber-Castell. (But to be fair, they do come with a lot of stuff and their quality never misses) I wouldn’t call it beginner-friendly that’s for sure.

If you’re a beginner, I suggest trying Koh-I-Noor or Faber-Castell first before jumping onto Prismacolor.

Koh-I-Noor Toison d’Or Graphite Pencil

While this brand isn’t as popular as the previous 2 brands I’ve mentioned, quality-wise, they’re on par. Koh-I-Noor Toison d’Or Graphite Pencils come in four different sets.

• Class pack
• Artist Set in Tin
• Artist Set in Tin and Blister Carded
• Pencil and eraser set