Using graphite pencils on this smooth surface was a challenge. I sprayed it with fixative about halfway through to be able to add a few more layers of pencil. One nice thing about Ampersand Claybord is being able to scratch out highlights.
By the third (top) one, I lost my steam and so it’s the least finished.
All measure 9”x12”, are on Stonehenge Legion paper, and are in graphite. The bottom is Faber Castell Pitt Matt pencils. The center is graphite, Tombow Mono Homograph. The top is a mix of carbon and graphite, Staedtler Mars Lumograph.
They all have their pluses and minuses, with darks going for the Mars Lumograph, expressiveness with graphite, and lack of shine for the matt pencils. Happily, they all work with each other, unlike charcoal, and so I can imagine using these together down the road. But maybe not with another Sandpiper drawing, although it is pretty adorable.
A second drawing of a Solitary Sandpiper, also in graphite. This one was done with Tombow Homo-graph Mono pencils. I think they’re my favorite set of graphite pencils, running a little harder than many, and they don’t smear quite as much, either.
My goal is to compare a few different pencil sets by drawing the same subject. Next, I’ll use a darker set, the Staedtler Mars Lumograph, which have more carbon.
They have a long name, and I waited a long time before buying them, but I finally did, and they took a long time to get here, but they finally did. What’s so special about these graphite pencils? They’re matt, meaning they have very little shine. Plus, they’re on the dark side with a 14B, supposedly the world’s first.
So, how did I like them? Okay, but I found them hard and I needed to go over areas several times to get the dark values. This set has a 14B, which didn’t really look all that dark to me. So, although I enjoyed the lack of shine—I actually do like graphite shine but only when I do it on purpose—I found them to be less astounding than I had imagined them to be.
I’ll keep using them and who knows? Maybe they’ll be like my oil pastels, and I’ll pull them out in a year and think they’re as special as this Solitary Sandpiper I keep drawing.