One of the most useful tools for sketching is the soft broad
lead pencil. A pencil and a sketchbook are the fundamental tools
of an artist in the field. With a simple graphite pencil you can
capture almost any subject, be it a cityscape or a careful
portrait. All we have to do is to look at the drawings in pencil
by Ingres, Degas, Sargent and Mentzel to see the possibilities
of the pencil. The best pencil to use if you are using just one
is the 2B pencil because it has a good general purpose range of
values. The HB and 6B pencils will give you a bit more
flexibility, but for myself, having had for many years pockets
full of pencils, I now carry just one, a 2B. The next point I’d
like to emphasize is that you need to sharpen the pencil
properly. By “properly,” I mean that you need to be able to make
both broad tones and thin lines with the pencil. Essentially,
this requires that you have a fair amount of lead (1/2″ or so)
showing and that you blunt the end at an angle so that you have
the ability to use the si