I bought some new pencils manufactured by Cretacolor for sketching.
I did a quick drawing to test then.
Waiting at Helsinki airport - by Benoit Philippe
The Monolith Graphite pencil
The Monolith Graphite is a woodless pencil. The pencil is a pure graphite lead covered with a thin lacquer coating. The feeling is strange at first as the pencil is colder than a wooden one but the lacquer coating is really smooth and comfortable.
I chose a 9B as I wanted to be able to get very dark marks. It is easy to get a good spectrum of tones from very dark to very light, just by varying the pressure of the lead on the paper. Because there is no wood, you can achieve a broad stroke with the side of the lead or fine lines with the point.
These graphite pencils can be sharpened with a regular sharpener and are available in six grades: HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B, 9B.
AquaMonolith pencils
These aquarelle pencils are made out of a water-soluble lead protected with a thin coating of lacquer.
The diameter of the lead is 7 mm is and as there is no wood, it is easy to obtain broad strokes by inclining the pencil when working.
The AquaMonolith pencils can be sharpened with standard sharpeners.
I bought the following colours:
Ivory Black – Number 252 50
Dark grey - Number 252 35
Blue Grey – Number 252 37
and the Light Grey – Number 252 32
The verdict
These pencils are heavier than wood pencils. This is an advantage when it comes to balance and precision but could be more tiring over a long drawing session. The possibility to have fine lines with the point and broad strokes with the side of the cone is a definite plus.
The quality of the graphite and water soluble graphite is very good and these pencils offer a great range of tone and texture (from rough to subtle washes when brushed over with water).
Overall, these pencils are great products worth adding to your sketching kit.
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Waiting at Helsinki airport - by Benoit Philippe The Monolith Graphite pencil The Monolith Graphite is a woodless pencil.
The pencil is a pure graphite lead covered with a thin lacquer coating. The feeling is strange at first as the pencil is colder than a wooden one but the lacquer...
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