Comment 79548

Soft penils have alot more charcoal in it, so they're darker, and they lay out material faster and thicker. Cause of this, they're easy to smudge and a bit messy, but they make some epic contrasts.

For example, this pic [thumb24117] has HB around the face for a subtle grey shade and tone control, while the hair and outfit has up to a 6B lead in shading to achieve the dark shades. I use 2H for my construction lines http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs44/i/2009/064/b/c/Pencil_Tutorial__Sketching_by_Arkillian.jpg like this cause the 2H has alot of graphite in it which is easier to erase (unless you push hard) cause it puts less lead down at once. I think the range is 6H to HB to 9B. If you go too much higher than an HB lead, then the only thing that can lift the lead is a kneedable eraser cause it sticks to the graphite, and lifts it off. If you used an eraser on 6B it'd smudge + stain the paper. That may be a desired result though... Hope that helped ^^;