Much Ado About Graphite
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
This is one of the last high quality pencil drawings I ever bothered to make. I stopped making pencil drawings as soon as I got to University. I was working on making my first graphic novel. As such, I did not have time to spend on leisure drawings. The drawing features my two favorite Yugioh cards. It took me like a two months to complete the drawing. You can see all the fancy details and the like. One can easily say that I was a bit of a fan. One has to like something a lot to pour a lot of time into developing a drawing like this one.
The card in the left is familiar possessed Aussa and the other is Mess magic master. I think those were their names. I no longer use those cards. They are buried somewhere in my ever increasing yugioh card collection. We are trying not to buy anymore cards. Anyhow, I made this entire drawing using the same type of pencil. I was using a simple mechanical pencil, with HB graphite lead. I never had any traditional training. I was just figuring things out as I went along.
It is amassing how much mileage you can get by just playing it by ear. I have used other types of graphite pencils, aside from the mechanical pencils. They work peachy, but I do not see the differences between each of them. Sure, I do see the differences in color hues or whatever. However, I can get such variances by changing the pressure I add the pencil. I think I will always be a mechanical pencil type of person. You do not need fancy leads to make fancy drawings. Just look at what I made.
I just wanted to share this with you or whatever. As for charcoal, well, it stains the paper and my hands, so I hate it. I only used charcoal a couple of times and it was super annoying. All in all, my issues with pencils have to do with the way I draw. I always put a lot of pressure into my drawings. This is part of the reason why my pens end up with the point all the way inside. I am too set in my ways so, this is what I am dealing with, drawing wise.
For those that do not known, graphite is a type of carbon. It was known as plumango. Aside from pencils, graphite has many other uses. They can be found in batteries and brake linings. The graphite was first used to for writing in the 16th century. It was eventually named graphite in the 1780s. It means to write in Greek. The modern pencil was made by Nicolas Conte. He made it by mixing graphite powder and clay. He also made crayons.
There really isn't a lot to say about graphite and all its writing forms. Most people take it for granted. Unlike ink, it can work in space. I was planning on making a whole thing about graphite, but it is just a dead horse. Almost all the art brands I looked through for this website has a graphite pencil line. Many have their own version of graphite pencils. I guess if you are looking for quality, for a low price, I suppose I would suggest Royal and Langnickel. If you want to spend more money, there is always Derwent. I hope you find my ramblings useful.
