I am new to the world of drawing and thanks to my wonderful teacher and mentor I am discovering some hidden talent. He has also opened my eyes to purchasing quality supplies. This is where Michaels comes in with their reasonable costs and quality supplies. My recent purchase was Faber Castell 9000graphite pencils to complete a detailed section of a portrait of my granddaughter. These pencils are artist quality, come in a number of graphite grades and meet my needs. I highly recommend them and have added them to my artist supply kit. I also recommend Michaels for your art supply purchases: drawing and sketching pads, stumps and erasers, colored pencils, paints, you name it, they have it and so do I.

I purchased the Faber Castell 9000 in two variants. First was the 2H. I find this to be a great starter for rough sketching designs. The lead is still surprisingly soft and does not scratch the paper like most other brands.Second was a 4H pencil. This is also a great tool for sketching out ideas. And just like the 2H, the lead provides a pleasant drawing experience.I have used Faber Castell 2H and 4H pencils for over 30 years and I have never been disappointed.

These pencils are soft and velvet like, I can sketch a layout for a watercolor and not cut or indent the paper, so if I have to arrange components or switch perspective for a more effective presentation there is no strange effects when the wet pigment hits the paper. That is why I like these, I draw things I am not always familiar with or that I necessarily know how to draw, so I have to look for a line to keep, and what to change, and what just doesn’t work. The soft graphite is good for transfers, also, which is fine as long as you drew the picture you are copying. I have a drafting background, and in drafting you punish the vellum with hard pencils, cutting tracks pushing hard for definition with a sharp point, with these 4b pencils I tickle a picture out of the ... MoreThese pencils are soft and velvet like, I can sketch a layout for a watercolor and not cut or indent the paper, so if I have to arrange components or switch perspective for a more effective presentation there is no strange effects when the wet pigment hits the paper. That is why I like these, I draw things I am not always familiar with or that I necessarily know how to draw, so I have to look for a line to keep, and what to change, and what just doesn’t work. The soft graphite is good for transfers, also, which is fine as long as you drew the picture you are copying. I have a drafting background, and in drafting you punish the vellum with hard pencils, cutting tracks pushing hard for definition with a sharp point, with these 4b pencils I tickle a picture out of the paper with the side of the pencil with almost no pressure, and I use a kneaded rubber eraser to remove what doesn’t enhance or help my picture. I draw a lot of things just because I will look at something and ask myself how do you draw that? How do you contrast the lights and darks, edit the value map for a more gripping presentation. But that’s how I learned to draw, by drawing. And when you first start, you get a lot of ghost images of things you’ve changed and it can effect the results of your work, and these are the things that make it very hard to market work in the beginning. But in the meantime, draw everything. If you can’t think of anything to draw, draw your left hand if you are right handed. This is a learned skill, for me, some people are born with more talent than I will ever have but people look at my artwork and they know what I was portraying. You compare your drawing to what you are drawing, for instance, the fishing boats I draw look like real fishing boats because I draw real fishing boats, I used to discard a lot of drawings that didn’t work. Now I design better, and I can mess up a picture and still use the paper because of the soft graphite in these pencils. Brands matter, the price of art supplies is frequently related to their quality, and Faber Castell is an old friends name. I have used their pencils since I was a child, they work.