Whats the differences between artists pencils and regular pencils?
Owen has used virtually every style and type of pencil, and has found there to be very little difference between them. There’s no lead in pencils, it’s graphite, which is carbon. Hard pencils (the H’s) have more binder-usually clay. Softer pencils (the B’s) have more graphite and less clay. Every company has it’s own ‘recipe’, so one brand may be different from another in terms of hardness. The very best artist pencils tend to have a smoother grind to the graphite; thus giving a smaller particle size. There may be a difference in the binders/clay used to create the ‘lead’, but Owen says he’s never found much difference, other than hardness between brands. He uses all of the major brands for different purposes (at least until his own line of premium drawing pencils becomes available!) For a large part of his work-especially the fine detail work, Owen tends to use mechanical pencils, and on some occasions, Owen has even used a carpenter’s pencil!
