Pencil Comparisons 001

Pencil Comparisons!

Picture of Pencils --> Pencils of the Trade

Pencils Used (all HB lead):

TOMBOW Mono Professional
Staedtler Mars Lumograph
Proart Drawing Pencil
Mirado Black Warrior
MEGABRANDS.com USA Gold
Skilcraft Pencil
Papermate American Pencil

Guest Starring: Dr. Grip Mechanical Pencil w/ Pentel Hi-Polymer 0.5 Lead!

Erasing by: Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser

This is all done on a basic sheet of copy paper.

So first off yes the points are different because some I had to sharpen new, some blunt, and none at all. I used a manual sharpener, a rather basic one because I haz no electric or those "Magnesium" carbon steel manual sharpeners.

Sharpening Quality:

TOMBOW - Great
Skilcraft - Normal
Papermate - Uber crap

The pencil is the most widely available and cheapest drawing implement ever, and even the crappiest ones can give a beginning artist a good start. Hell for some of my drawings with actual effort put into them I used a Mirado Black Warrior. So, this is to give an objective display of what some of the most common pencils can do, from the Fancy to the Everyday.

My recommendations:

Top Tier: TOMBOW Mono Professional (or it's Japanese twin, the Mono 100, srsly this dude by the Internet name "Robert" went on two separate pencil reviews just to say they are NOT equal in terms of lead quality. Give me a written or typed letter from an employee from JAPAN saying so then I'll remove this). You can get these for $1.00-1.25

Journeyman: Proart Drawing Pencil, they're available for generally $0.50 and are pretty close to the Staedtler and TOMBOW.

Starting Out: Any pencil with lead, but of the pencils in the "Back to School sales" when I was still in Primary and Secondary School, the Mirado Black Warrior had the best feel, sharpening, and eraser in terms of toppers.

For Writing: A Mechanical pencil, 0.5 HB lead. My favorite is a Dr. Grip Soft Grip pencil (only available in Japan, there is an American version, stiff grip though blegh), you just shake it to extend the lead. Neat for quick reloading or annoying those around you!

If you feel I should include any other wood pencil here just place your suggestion in the comments or send me a note. I will say I want to review the iconic Ticonderoga pencil.