Why I stopped drawing with a mechanical pencil after 15 years

I always used a mechanical pencil for sketching because I thought the thin line looked cleaner. Then last week at a sketch group in Portland, this older guy named Frank handed me a 4B wood pencil and told me to try shading a sphere. One pass and I saw how much depth I was missing by never laying down a soft edge. Has anyone else had their whole method flipped by just trying a different tool for one drawing?

2 comments

2 Comments

victorhill7d ago

...and then Frank hands you a 4B and it's like seeing in COLOR for the first time, right? I had a similar moment when I grabbed a friend's fountain pen at a bar and couldn't believe how loose and free my lines got compared to my tight ballpoint scribbles.

sarah_mason7d ago

I mean, I get the appeal of a softer lead or a fountain pen for that loose feeling. But idk if it's really about the tool - maybe it's just me, but I've seen people do incredible loose and free work with a ballpoint. One of my favorite artists uses a standard Bic pen for all his sketches and they look so alive and expressive. I think it's more about how you hold it and what you're used to. A softer graphite just makes the looseness easier to fake, if that makes sense. Like, you can hide a lot behind a super soft lead, but a ballpoint forces you to commit to every line and that can be a good thing too.