The softness of the stylus designation. Hardness of pencils

What could be easier than a pencil? This simple tool, familiar to everyone since childhood, is not as primitive as it seems at first glance. It allows you not only to draw, write and draw, but also to create a variety of artistic effects, sketches, paintings! Any artist must be able to draw with a pencil. And, more importantly, understand them.

Graphite ("simple") pencils are pretty different from each other. By the way, "pencil" comes from two Turkic words - "kara" and "dash" (black stone).

The pen's nib is set in a frame made of wood or plastic, and may be made of graphite, charcoal, or other materials. The most common type - graphite pencils - differ in the degree of rigidity.

Let's start!

Pavel Chistyakov, a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts of the 19th-early 20th century, advised to start by putting paint aside and practicing drawing "with a pencil for at least a year." great artist Ilya Repin never parted with pencils. Pencil drawing is the basis of any painting.

The human eye distinguishes about 150 shades of gray. An artist who draws with graphite pencils has three colors at his disposal. White (paper color), black and gray (color of graphite pencils of different hardness). it achromatic colors. Drawing only with a pencil, only in shades of gray allows you to create images that convey the volume of objects, the play of shadows and glare of light.

Lead hardness

The hardness of the lead is indicated on the pencil with letters and numbers. Manufacturers from different countries (Europe, USA and Russia) have different markings for the hardness of pencils.

Rigidity designation

In Russia hardness scale looks like this:

• M - soft;
• T - solid;
• TM - hard-soft;

European scale somewhat wider (marking F does not have a Russian equivalent):

• B - soft, from blackness (blackness);
• H - hard, from hardness (hardness);
• F is the middle tone between HB and H (from the English fine point - subtlety)
• HB - hard-soft (Hardness Blackness - hardness-blackness);

IN THE USA a number scale is used to indicate the stiffness of a pencil:

• #1 - corresponds to B - soft;
• #2 - corresponds to HB - hard-soft;
• #2½ - corresponds to F - medium between hard-soft and hard;
• #3 - corresponds to H - hard;
• #4 - corresponds to 2H - very hard.

Pencil pencil strife. Depending on the manufacturer, the tone of the line drawn with a pencil of the same marking may differ.

In Russian and European marking of pencils, the number before the letter indicates the degree of softness or hardness. For example, 2B is twice as soft as B and 2H is twice as hard as H. Pencils are commercially available and are labeled 9H (hardest) to 9B (softest).

soft pencils

Start from B before 9B.

The most commonly used pencil when creating a drawing is HB. However, this is the most common pencil. With this pencil draw the basis, the shape of the picture. HB handy for drawing, creating tonal spots, it is not too hard, not too soft. Draw dark places, highlight them and place accents, a soft pencil will help to make a clear line in the picture. 2B.

Hard pencils

Start from H before 9H.

H- a hard pencil, hence - thin, light, "dry" lines. With a hard pencil, draw solid objects with a clear outline (stone, metal). With such a hard pencil, according to the finished drawing, over the shaded or shaded fragments, thin lines are drawn, for example, strands are drawn in the hair.

The line drawn soft pencil, has a slightly loose contour. A soft lead will allow you to reliably draw representatives of the fauna - birds, hares, cats, dogs.

If it is necessary to choose between a hard or soft pencil, artists take a pencil with a soft lead. An image drawn with such a pencil is easy to shade with a piece of thin paper, a finger or an eraser. If necessary, you can finely sharpen the graphite core of a soft pencil and draw a thin line similar to the line from a hard pencil.

The figure below shows more clearly the hatching of different pencils:

Hatching and drawing

Strokes on paper are drawn with a pencil inclined at an angle of about 45 ° to the plane of the sheet. To make the line bolder, you can rotate the pencil around the axis.

Light areas are shaded with a hard pencil. Dark areas are correspondingly soft.

It is inconvenient to hatch with a very soft pencil, as the stylus quickly becomes dull and the fineness of the line is lost. The way out is to either sharpen the point very often, or use a harder pencil.

When drawing, they gradually move from light to dark areas, since it is much easier to darken a part of the drawing with a pencil than to make a dark place lighter.

Please note that the pencil must be sharpened not with a simple sharpener, but with a knife. The lead should be 5-7mm long, which allows you to tilt the pencil and achieve the desired effect.

Graphite pencil lead is a fragile material. Despite the protection of the wooden shell, the pencil requires careful handling. When dropped, the lead inside the pencil breaks into pieces and then crumbles during sharpening, making the pencil unusable.

Nuances to know when working with pencils

For hatching at the very beginning, you should use a hard pencil. Those. the driest lines are made with a hard pencil.

Drawn with a soft pencil finished drawing to give it richness and expressiveness. Soft pencil leaves dark lines.

The more you tilt the pencil, the wider its mark will be. However, with the advent of pencils with a thick lead, this need is no longer necessary.

If you do not know how the final drawing will look like, it is recommended to start with a hard pencil. With a hard pencil, you can gradually dial the desired tone. At the very beginning, I myself made the following mistake: I took too soft a pencil, which made the drawing dark and incomprehensible.

Pencil frames

Of course, classic version- This is a stylus in a wooden frame. But now there are also plastic, varnished and even paper frames. The lead on these pencils is thick. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other hand, such pencils are easy to break if put in a pocket or dropped unsuccessfully.

Although there are special cases for carrying pencils (for example, I have a set of KOH-I-NOOR Progresso black lead pencils - good, solid packaging, like a pencil case).

A simple pencil is something so familiar that in childhood they drew on wallpaper, at school they made notes in textbooks and drew triangles on geometry. Most people know that this is just a "gray" pencil, those who had drawing at school know a little more about it, artists and representatives of several other professions who use pencils in their work know its real beauty.

A little about simple pencils.
In the usual sense, a simple pencil is graphite in a wooden shell. But everything is not so simple. After all " gray pencil" may have different shades, depending on the degree of softness of the lead. The lead consists of graphite with clay: the more graphite, the softer the tone, the more clay, the harder.
The pencils themselves are also different: in a typical wooden shell, collet and solid graphite.

Let's start with wood.
I will describe pencils and other materials that I have and use regularly. Not all of them look like from a shop window, but to understand that this is quite real =)
So, a set of pencils "Koh-i-Noor", 12 pcs. The company is familiar to everyone, these pencils are in any stationery store and you can buy them both in boxes and by the piece. Their price is quite democratic and affordable.
Pencils are good, but by the piece you can also buy a fake with a bad tree and lead.
This set seems to be for artists from 8V to 2H, but there is also the same one for drawing, it is dominated by hard pencils.

Pencil set "DERWENT", 24 pcs. Tones from 9V to 9H, some of 2 pieces of the same type (below I will write why it is convenient). In fact, I practically don’t use pencils that are softer than 4B and harder than 4H, since DERWENT pencils are already much softer than the same Koh-i-Noor, so I don’t even know what to draw, for example, with a 7B pencil, if it so soft that it leaves behind a graphite crumb.
Pencils are of high quality, sharpen well, do not break, however, at first you need to get used to their, hmm, smell. However, it fades after two weeks.

Pencil set "DALER ROWNEY", 12 pcs. Very soft pencils from 2H to 9V (see below for a comparison of markings) in a compact pencil case.

Pencils lie in two rows, so while drawing, you need to remove the top row

And, of course, "Faber Castell". There are no complaints about these pencils, but the increased softness is not inferior to "DERWENT".
We do not have boxed options for sale, there are only two series of piece.
Cheaper Series

And recently a slightly more expensive, but very stylish series has appeared. The "pimples" are quite voluminous and thanks to them and the triangular shape of the pencil it is very pleasant to hold and draw with them.

The softness of a pencil can be seen not only by marking, but also by the color of the head, which matches the tone of the stylus.

In addition to these manufacturers, there are many others (such as "Marco", "Designer", others) that for some reason do not suit me personally, but this is not a reason to ignore them, so you can try everything.
In addition to the sets, I buy the most used pencils of the same brand and the same brand as in the box.
I always have two pencils 2B, B, HB, F, H and 2H. This is necessary because when drawing, a sharply sharpened pencil is not always needed, so one pencil, for example, 2H, I have a sharp one, and the second one has a blunt rounded tip. A "blunt tip" is needed when you need to pick up the tone, while not leaving a clear trace of the stroke. This was not taught in the art school, but, as practice shows, it is very convenient and many artists, masters of a simple pencil, do this.

Collet pencils. They have already been written about a little earlier. I repeat again that they are good in any field conditions or on the road, and in the workplace it is better to draw with wood.
An indisputable plus of collet pencils is the thickness of the rod, more precisely, the variety of this thickness.
Pencils are available under the rod from 0.5 mm (07, 1.5, etc.)

And up to a very impressive thickness of the rods of soft techniques

Solid lead pencils. Entirely and completely composed of graphite in a thin shell, so as not to get your hands dirty.
Here I have "Koh-i-Noor" pencils, I don't see any others for sale. In principle, I use them even less often than collet ones, because they are not very convenient to sharpen and in few places there is a need to draw with the entire thickness of the rod. Another significant disadvantage is that they fight ...

A little about labelling.
Let's start with the fact that each company has its own. That is, the marking is, as it were, standard from 9V to 9H, but, as you can see in the figure below, HB "DALER ROWNEY" and HB "Koh-i-Noor" are two different HBs. That's why if you need pencils varying degrees their softness should be taken all from the same company, preferably in a set.
"Faber Castell No. 1" - the series is the one that is cheaper.
"Faber Castell No. 2" - with "pimples" (in fact, I don't have "F" of them, it would just be somewhere like that).

Actually, about the softness and hardness of pencils.
Hard pencils are H-9H. How more figure, the harder/lighter the pencil.
Soft pencils - B-9B. The higher the number, the softer/darker the pencil.
Hard-soft pencils - HB and F. C HB is clear - this is the middle between H and B, but F is a very mysterious marking, this is the middle tone between HB and N. Toli due to its unusualness, or because of the tone, but I use this pencil most often (only "DERWENT" or "FC", in "Koh-i-Noor" it is very light).
There is also a Russian marking "T" - hard, "M" - soft, but I don't have such pencils.
Well, just to compare

Bottom line - DALER ROWNEY, the darkest pencils.
The penultimate line is Loki's "DERWENT-sketch", it's slightly different from mine (upper DW).
Third from the bottom - a few "Marco" pencils. They have the most alternative labeling because 6V is darker than 8V and 7V is lighter than HB. That's why I don't have them.

As an example of use - my drawing "Curious Fox"

The lightest tone is snow, it is drawn with an 8H pencil (DW)
Light fur - 4Н (Koh-i-Noor) and 2Н (FC №1)
Midtones - F (DW and FC#1), H (DW and FC#1), HB (DW), B (FC#1 and FC#2)
Dark (paws, nose, eye and ear contours) - 2B (FC#1 and FC#2), 3B (FC#1), 4B (Koh-i-Noor)

Eraser review -

Today I will talk about the marking of simple pencils, about the most famous companies for their production, as well as how to choose them.
Pencils are completely different - wax, graphite, colored, charcoal, pastel, mechanical and even watercolor. Since childhood, we have been attracted to these art supplies, but over time, many people have a question - how to choose pencils.

Marking simple pencils by hardness

Ordinary graphite pencils have a marking that allows you to determine the degree of hardness (well, or softness). Bold(abbreviated B) - means fat, that is, soft. Hard(abbreviated H) - hard, hard.

The marking of the pencil is directly indicated by letters on the wooden part. A coefficient is placed before the letter of the stiffness designation - the larger it is, the softer or harder the pencil. In Russia, stiffness is denoted by letters T and M.
Pencils range from very hard to very soft. There are also HB pencils - the transition of hardness H to B. There are also transitional form from H to HB, which is denoted by the letter F.

Colour pencils

The name speaks for itself - these pencils have a wide range of colors, with which you can create colorful drawings. Kernel watercolor pencils consists of pressed watercolor paints, so when blurring a picture with water, interesting transitions are obtained, as when painting with watercolors. Pastel pencils, like watercolors, consist of pastels in a wooden shell, that is, they are no different from pastels, except that they can be worked out with their help. the smallest details in the drawing.

Best Pencil Companies

The most famous company for the production of graphite pencils is the Czech company Koh-I-Noor. Indeed, these pencils are of very high quality, have a wide range of hardness, high-quality wood is used for their manufacture. Pencils Derwent softer than Koh-I-Noor, but, in my opinion, they are not inferior to them in quality. The real luxury for the artist can be called brand pencils Faber Castell.

How to choose a pencil

When it's time to go to the store for new ones graphite pencils, we should pay attention to the fact that it is best to buy pencils in a package, and not by the piece, since with such a purchase the risk of running into a fake is reduced. Be sure to open the package, check each pencil to ensure that the lead is not brittle and the wood is solid without nicks. Remember that real Faber Castell brand pencils have very good paint adhesion. If you notice flaws or cracks, then this is most likely a fake.

Application of pencils

In order to outline the drawing, you need a hard pencil, for example, 2H (Russian 2T). For hatching, a 2B pencil (Russian 2M) is suitable for you. To hatch the darkest part of our drawing, we will need a very soft pencil, for example 8B or 12B.

Simple pencils for the artist

Anyone who has ever written, drawn, or drawn with a simple pencil is familiar with graphite.We are used to counting simple pencils made of graphite, and we don't think about what, but in factThe lead of a graphite pencil is made from a mixture of graphite and clay, and is packaged in a case, most often made of wood. Exactly toThe amount of clay determines the degree of hardness or softness of the pencil.

Graphite is a mineral that is a form of carbon. Get it in various rocks, and also make its artificial counterparts. The raw materials for this, for example, can be carbides, which are subjected to high temperatures, or cast iron, which, on the contrary, is gradually cooled to obtain artificial graphite.

The main line of dividing pencils by hardness is as follows: "H"-pencils and "B"-pencils."H"-pencils are hard, and the higher the number (it is placed next to letter designation, for example: 1H or 2H), the lighter the lines. Toa 6H number pencil, for example, will be much easier to draw than a 2H pencil."B" pencils are soft and the higher the number, the darker the lines or strokes it will make. What corresponds to the Russian marking "T" (hard) and "M" (soft).For drawing, softness pencils “B” or “M” are usually used - if in our opinion.

The diagram belowshows the full range of hardness of graphite pencils, adopted in the West, which we also have to deal with constantly."NV" means in Russian and corresponds to the properties of the marking "TM" - hard-soft - and is the middle of the scale. Marking "F" corresponds to "TM", it's just less common.

Imported pencil hardness scale

The blackest (and most expensive) graphite is still devoid of the intensity of blackness, in addition, like graphite in general, it has a luster. A drawing made with graphite (especially hard) shines. Therefore, in some artwork it is replaced by a drawing one, which gives an intense thick blackness and does not have a shine. That is why graphite is suitable exclusively for small, mostly landscape drawings, which are well preserved without (unless too soft graphite was taken for the drawing).

Other forms of artistic graphite

Two other forms of graphite that are commonly used in drawing are: woodless pencil and graphite bar(or sticks).

Woodless graphite pencil. He's "graphite in lacquer."

Bwood pencil(as you can guess) it's graphite without the wooden case. It is often on sale under the name "graphite in varnish" or "graphite rods" (then they will not be varnished). Basically, the stylus has a round shape. Sharpen woodless pencils with a regular sharpener.They are made for sketching and drawing and are usually on the soft side of the hardness scale, more often in HB, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B. Again, different manufacturers offer different degrees of hardness. With a woodless pencil, you can draw both very thin and wide strokes, which are made with the beveled side of the writing tip.

Graphite bars (sticks)

Graphite Drawing Sticks

Useful for large images and for covering large areas quickly.They are also available in different degrees of hardness, and some manufacturers, likeCaran d'Ache(pictured above) make them in different sizes.

Practical tasks for engineering graphics

Drawing lines and fonts

Graphic Work No. 1

Graphic work № 1 , recommended for students to perform engineering graphics, has the goal of mastering the skills of drawing drawing lines, fonts and inscriptions, as well as getting to know the basics of working with a compass.
In the process of doing the work, the student must complete the frame of the drawing, the main lines provided ESKD, drawing font letters, and circles represented by various drawing lines.

The work is done on drawing paper A3 (420×297 mm).
To complete the work, you will need pencils with hardness TM ,T , 2T , a ruler with a length of at least 300 mm, a protractor, a compass, a square (to perform auxiliary parallel lines) , eraser, pencil sharpener.
Ruler and square must be wooden or plastic (metal ones strongly “cut” the pencil lead, leaving dirt on the drawing).

For high-quality graphic work, it is necessary to have a set of pencils, which must necessarily include a pencil of medium hardness ( TM ), solid ( T ) and very hard ( 2T ). In this case, hard pencils are used to draw fine lines in the drawing and for a preliminary sketch of the outline of the image, which is subsequently outlined with a medium-hard pencil.
Marking of pencils adopted in different countries, described below.

Designation of pencil hardness

In different countries, the hardness of pencils is marked various characters.
In Russia, the marking of pencils with letters has been adoptedM (soft) andT (solid) or combinations of these letters with numbers and with each other. The numbers in front of the letter are an indication of the degree of hardness or softness of the pencil. At the same time, it is intuitively clear that2M - very softM - soft pencil,TM - a pencil of medium hardness (hard-soft),T - hard and2T - a very hard pencil.

There are often imported pencils on sale, for which European or American markings are used.
In the USA, pencils are marked with numbers from 1 to 9 (also used fractional numbers, for example: 2.5), while the number is usually preceded by a # sign (pound sign):#1 , #2 , #2,5 , #3 , #4 etc. Than more number(number) in the marking, the harder the pencil.

The European marking of pencils is based on the letters of the Latin alphabet:

· B (short for blackness - blackness) - corresponds to the Russian marking under the letterM (soft);

· H (from hardness - hardness) - corresponds to the Russian hardness markingT (solid);

· F (from fine point - subtlety, tenderness) - a pencil of medium hardness, approximately corresponds toTM . However, the combination of lettersH andAT – HB also indicate the average hardness of the pencil.

European marking provides for a combination of lettersAT andH with numbers (from 2 to 9), while, as in Russian marking, the larger the number, the higher the property of the pencil corresponding to the letter (softness or hardness). Pencils of medium hardness according to the European marking have the designationH , F , HB orAT .
If there is a letter on the pencilAT with a number from 2 to 9 (for example:4B , 9B etc.), then you are dealing with a soft or very soft pencil.
LetterH with a number from 2 to 9 on a pencil indicates its increased hardness (for example,2H , 7H etc.).

Graphic work task №1 and a sample of the work performed are shown in the figure below.
A full-size sample of the work can be opened in a separate browser window by clicking on the picture with the mouse. After that, it can be downloaded to a computer or printed on a printer for use as a task for students.
The task is presented in two versions:

· Option number 1

· Option number 2

The task is aimed at acquiring and improving the skills of drawing drawing lines and fonts, while their style must comply with the requirements stipulated by the standards ESKD and ESTD.

As required ESKD the dimensions of lines and fonts in the drawing must meet the following requirements:

· main solid thick line (for drawing a frame, title block, outline of a part or assembly - that is, the main lines of graphic work) should be thick 0.6...0.8 mm; on the drawings large sizes this line can reach 1.5mm in thickness.

· dashed line (draw lines of an invisible contour)- made thick 0.3 ... 0.4 mm (i.e. twice as thin as the main thick line). Stroke length (4-6 mm) and the distance between adjacent strokes (1-1.5 mm) normalized GOST 2.303-68;

other lines (dash-dotted, wavy, solid fine - to designate axes, extension and dimension lines, section boundaries, etc.)- thick 0.2 mm (i.e. three times thinner than the main thick solid line).
The length of the strokes in the dash-dotted line (designation of axes) should be 15-20 mm, the distance between adjacent strokes - 3 mm.

· letter height fonts must correspond to the ruler allowed by the standard, while the height lowercase letters and spacing between letters in a line are related to the size of capitals (capital) letters.
Most often in graphic works format A4 and A3 fonts like AT with tilt angle 75 degrees, while the height of lowercase letters (which should be equal to 7/10 of the height of uppercase i.e. capital letters), is taken equal to 3.5 or 5 mm (respectively, the height of capital letters is 5 or 7 mm).

· Letter spacing line should be equal to 1/5 capital letter height (capital) letters, i.e. for height capital letter 5 mm spacing between letters in a string - 1 mm, for capital letter height 7 mm- spacing between letters 1.5mm .
When writing letters, it is important to keep them the same height and slope in the line, as well as the distance between adjacent letters.