A pencil is a pencil, right? But in the fine art field, the pencil is the most precious tool in your art toolbox. Have you ever looked at those little letters and numbers on your pencil and wondered what they mean? Well, those are the graphite grades.
What are pencil grades
As you know, the numbers and letters are the graphite grades mentioned on top of the pencil. But what is the requirement to mention grades on top of the pencil? Graphite is produced in various grades according to the softness or hardness of the material. Different grades produce different types of marks. You might have noticed that graphite pencils have a H or B grade. The H stands for hard and the B stands for blackness. More blackness means soft graphite and it produces most darkness.
Pencils are graded in the following order: 9H, 8H, 7H, 6H, 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B, 9xxB. Standard drawing sets usually run from 2H through to 6B because these grades allow you to achieve most of the techniques you’ll need for your drawings.