Best Drawing Pencils

Last Updated: Oct 19, 2021 @ 10:21 am.

Finding the Best Drawing Pencils: Tips & Advice

Let’s talk the best drawing pencils!

If you are new to drawing, drawing pencil kits are a good place to start—but they can be somewhat intimidating, we know.

Here’s a quick 411 on buying drawing pencils:

• Many kits have both graphite and charcoal pencils—these are used for various depths of shading.

• Pencils and hardness. Pencils are graded according to how hard they are, usually with a number and letter. For hard pencils, they range from 8H (the hardest) to plain H. For softer pencils, you’ll see grades from B to 8B (softest).

• What is a sketch stick? Also called blending stumps or paper stumps, these sticks are made of cotton fibers with two pointy ends. Sketch sticks are used to shade and blend graphite and charcoal. To keep a sketch stick sharp, use sandpaper.

• Grey and white erasers—what’s the difference? You’ll note that many kits come with two types of erasers—one is grey (also called a kneaded eraser) and the other is white. The grey ones are slightly sticky and help lift graphite off the paper when you make a mistake. They don’t damage paper like a pink eraser. White erasers are vinyl and used to remove pencil lines that can be difficult to erase. Why white? That way they don’t change the color of the paper if you need to vigorously erase!

Ok, now that you’ve got the lay of the land, here are the pencil kits we’d recommend.

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing products for the home and families since 1994. We do hands-on testing—we buy the products with our own money and evaluate with an eye toward quality, ease of use and affordability.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Our work is 100% reader-supported!