Graphite versus mechanical pencils - it's an age-old art supply debate in the creative community. Although both use graphite lead, there are key differences between these two in terms of versatility, convenience, and durability. Placing a pencil order depends on your personal preference and creative needs.
What Are Graphite Pencils?
Graphite pencils are traditional, convenient, and reliable writing tools. The core of a graphite pencil is a mixture of graphite and clay placed between two slices of wood. The ratio of these two elements determines the hardness or softness of the lead. More graphite results in a softer core and darker tones while more clay means the core will be harder and lighter in colour.
Graphite pencils come in different grades ranging from 9B to 9H. This describes the tone of the line that each one makes. The H represents hardness while the B represents blackness. H pencils contain more clay resulting in a harder pencil lead. They produce lighter marks because they leave less graphite on the paper. This makes H pencils perfect for precise, clean lines without worrying about frequent breakage.
On the other hand, pencils that fall into the B grade are softer and leave much more graphite on paper. Because of their deeper, stronger strokes, these sketching pencils are well-suited for expressive shading and sketches. For both types, the higher the number, the blacker or harder they are. HB models are the perfect middle ground. They come right in the middle of the scale balancing hardness and blackness for everyday writing and basic sketching.
Submit a pencil order for your next project depending on the effect that you want to achieve. For instance, you can use soft black models for deep, dark shading and blending. For sketching and drafting, you can use harder H-grade versions.
If you want to achieve both fine details and deep shading, you can opt for a complete graphite pencil set. These have a good selection of basic grades useful for sketching, creating technical drawings, shading, and more.
What Are Mechanical Pencils?
Mechanical pencils are versatile, precise, and consistent mediums. Similar to graphite pencils, mechanical pencils use a solid graphite core that extends out through the pencil’s tip with a mechanism like a push button.
Mechanical pencil leads come in different widths ranging from the thinnest 0.2mm to the thickest, 5,6mm. With this being said, there’s a size for every purpose, whether you're designing the layout of an office building or simply sketching the skyline of a city.
Understanding lead sizes can help you make an informed decision when submitting a pencil purchase. Tiny mechanical pencil leads are perfect for writing in small spaces and adding details to your art. However, they’re fragile and can break easily. Thick mechanical pencil leads, on the other hand, are smooth and virtually break-resistant. They're ideal for drawing bold outlines and quickly covering large areas but not for detailed work.
The most common mechanical pencil lead widths are 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm. Offering the perfect balance of precision and break resistance, these are often used for both writing and technical drawing. Many companies design mechanical pencils that fit 0.5mm leads, giving you a plethora of choices.
Graphite Vs Mechanical Pencils - What's the Difference?
Graphite pencils will be more suitable for artistic drawing, offering a wide range of shading and blending techniques. Different pencil grades can be used to achieve varying results, making graphite pencils more versatile than mechanical pencils.
Next, graphite pencils are more forgiving when it comes to making mistakes. If you make a mistake or wish to alter your writing or drawing, it's simple to remove the graphite marks with an eraser. The downside of graphite pencils is that they can smudge easily and need to be sharpened constantly.
Speaking of sharpening, you can use the conventional pencil sharpener to keep your writing tools in top condition or try to sharpen your pencils by hand to achieve the best graphite pencil layering and blending results.
You might prefer a mechanical pencil over a graphite pencil for a few valid reasons. First and foremost, mechanical pencils are more practical since they don't need to be sharpened. The tip always has the same thickness providing lines of constant width and saving you valuable time and effort.
Second, contrary to graphite pencils, mechanical pencils lay down consistent and precise lines. This makes them more suitable for technical drawing, illustration, and detailed work.
Next, being refillable, mechanical pencils are considered an environmentally friendly option. That's because you can reuse a mechanical pencil by adding more lead when you run out.
Finally, you might prefer mechanical pencils over graphite for their consistent balance. As you draw or write with a graphite pencil it tends to get shorter and may feel hard to use. However, mechanical pencils don't change size over time as the lead is used up.
