Part One – THE PENCIL
12
SOFT PENCIL
The soft pencil has more versatility for
creating tone and textures than the hard
pencil. Soft pencils are denoted by the letter
B. The HB pencil is a mixture of hard and soft
and is the pivotal pencil between the two
extremes. The range of soft pencils available
consists of HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B
and 9B (the softest).
These pencils are designed for the fine
artist to express particular ideas, for example
through the building of tone, the creation of
texture, cross-hatching or even just simple
line. Pencils at the softest end of the range
can be used to produce blocks of tone. A
graphite stick is generally more useful for
this type of work and for producing larger
areas of tone For a small drawing - up to A
size - a soft pencil is more appropriate.
The only soft pencil suitable for refined
work requiring great precision - essentially
the preserve of the hard pencil - is the fine
clutch pencil.Drawing in soft pencil of a still life using observed directional light.