Do I need all the pencils ...?

Hey guys I am a newbie artist. And would like some advice regarding the pencils.

I have seen artists that use like 20 (2h,hb,6b 3h etc) diferent pencils lol. I am still a newbie. So I am only using a regular mechanical pencil.

I feel that using like 20 diferent pencil hardness is too advanced for me and I should focus on lineart and anatomy instead of shading (with the 20 pencils)¨.

What would you advice me? should I buy all those pencils with different hardness? Or I am right only using the regular Hb (mechanical pencil) until I am good with anatomy?.

Here is my gallery

thanks for the advice!

edited 13th Mar '11 7:17:42 PM by FallenLegend

Go for the anatomy first. So, yeah, don't bother getting such pencils unless you already have them if you don't feel like you need it. They're convenient but they aren't necessary.

I think the only thing with the different pencils is that they all shade differently. I would worry about your basic technique first, yeah.

I only ever use a plain 2B pencil (there's always plenty around due to scanlon exams), and while I do have HB and other pencils, I have no idea what you're supposed to do with them.

they will only help getting more polished looking work. If you really want that, I'd go to a different medium. The easiest medium to move to from pencil would be charcoal.

edited 13th Mar '11 8:35:07 PM by Roman

If you have spare cash sometime, go ahead and buy them since they do give you better control, but I don't think it needs to be a high priority. A regular mechanical pencil will be just fine for shading.

Thanks for the advice guys I read it all. Glad to hear I don't need all those fencils. I really don't want to buy them :)

Live a spartan lifestyle. Don't buy shit unless you need it.

Live a spartan lifestyle. Punch aliens in the face.

I'd get a couple, like a 2B, 4B...and that's about it, I guess. I find it fun to sketch with softer pencils because it's easier to lay the graphite down on the paper, and if your pencil is very hard and you're pushing too hard on the paper you can leave nasty lines everywhere.

Then when you feel more confident, you can get the whole range and learn how to render shadows properly.

An HB will serve you perfectly fine in most things, and the other pencils aren't at all necessary to create good art, shading, lineart, sketches, etc.. If you don't want them, don't worry about it.

H pencils (9H to H) are 'Hard' pencils, and they create lighter lines. They keep their point better, so they make thinner lines too. B pencils (9B to B) are 'Soft' pencils, and create darker lines. They wear down quicker, so you can get thick varied lines. 9H is the hardest pencil, 9B the softest.

A 4H is decent for doing preliminary sketches before inking, technical/architectural drawings, and guidelines before the full-out sketch, because they create light lines that are easy to erase and harder to see. A 2B or 4B is good if you want darker lines and shades, to shade larger areas or detailed renders, etc.. If you do want to try out the difference between pencils, you really only need one H pencil and one or two B pencils; hardly anybody actually gets the full range, it's really unnecessary.

You can actually buy different hardnesses of lead for a mechanical pencil. I have three mech pencils I use, one with 4H lead, one with HB, and one with 4B. I can tell the difference by looking at the color of the pencil, and this range of hardnesses suits me great.

<3 ali

Use whatever your comfortable with.