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- Verified Buyer
Very black is what I was after. Wish the "lead" was a little harder as I have to be soft on first use to keep from breaking the point. But, I sharpen probably too a very sharp point and that is probably why I tend to break the point. These pencils are very black, like I said, that's what I wanted and I got it. No complaints really and would buy again!I was looking for a very dark lead to use for pupils, and other small areas where needed for portrait drawing. I’m a professional artist, but I’ve been doing my work on the computer for the last 10 years. I recently decided to start drawing the old fashioned way again, and thought I’d check out what’s new as far as what, and how art supplies have changed; only to find the old stanbyes are still around with a few pretty impressive new additions. As far as the dark black pencils: I chose three different brands to compare and purchase based on Amazon reviews. General’s Layout Pencil Extra Black Graphite, Hi-Uni 10B, and Prismacolor Ebony.1) My favorite: ‘General’s Layout Pencil, Extra Black Graphite’. It is dark, not too soft, but soft enough to shade with, and hard enough to keep a point for those tiny areas I want to give depth to. This is one of the best pencils I’ve found for drawing. It’s smooth, It sharpens perfectly without breaking, and all of the pencils in the box appear to be excellent quality. Of the three I tried General is closer to a mat finish than the other two. I’m very impressed with the quality, texture and color.2) Hi-Uni 10B: This pencil is velvety, very smooth and even, in fact the entire set is fabulous. It may be as dark as the General, but it does have a shinier finish when pressing to get the darkest shade I’m looking for.2) Prismacolor Color Ebony: I didn’t care for this pencil for using it to deepen the dark areas I need. It’s dark, but it is lighter than the other two, and it has a silver cast to it, and shiny. I’ve never been a big fan of Prisma, preferring Derwent for the smother less waxy finish.I hope this helps for those of you who use a dark black lead.This is just a high quality pencil for sketching and signing fine art on art papers.I've been a finish carpenter for over 40 years, and I use soft lead pencils which will leave a legible mark, yet not leave an indentation in the wood. This is especially true on vertical grain fir, which has the hard spring grain and the soft summer grain. When that gets a mark across the grain, it is very difficult to get out. I've tried a lot of pencils; I used to get Ticonderoga number 1 soft, but they are not the same anymore. The worst part is with sharpening; I sharpen my pencils to a chisel point, not a round point, and this has to be done with a very sharp knife. With most pencils, the graphite cracks and pulls out of the wood, which takes more time and wastes more pencil. Not the case with these Generals. Also, they are still fashioned from cedar, which makes sharpening easier and more controllable, unlike Chinese pencils which are made of just about anything they can get their hands on. I've used these for three years, and will continue to do soActually I have used generals number 555 play out pencils for many years. They always perform excellently, and the level of here blackness they leave behind I can't get without charcoal. Also I was very pleased to find out I purchased 2 boxes of the pencils instead of only 1. Thank you for your service I will be entire Also I was very pleased to find out I purchased 2 boxes of the pencils instead of only 1. Thank you for your service I'll be in touch.These pencil are wonderful Easy to sharpen, nice dark lead. I was looking for black to shade the darker areas and make dark lines, these pencils are just dark lead ....more like a 5B, not dark enough for outlining and dark shadingAfter trying out different products, this is by far my favorite graphite pencil to use for drawing.The quality of the graphite is excellent and looks great on all the different paper types that I have tried. You can get some really great values in your drawings by using this pencil alone. It's both great pencil to carry with you when you want to draw something in your sketchbook and/or when you want to draw something more complicated.The only downside is that the graphite is indeed extra soft. That means you constantly have to keep sharpening your pen, especially when working with darker values. In other words, a single pencil can be used up fast.A great pencil for both beginners and professional artists.I first found out about this pencil via a website that I am using to learn to draw, thevirtualinstructor.com. I was wondering how the instructor kept making all these great lines and shades with one pencil. I had to watch the videos multiple times to figure out what he was using. I must say, I am not a professional artist by any stretch of the imagination, but these pencils have made it a lot easier for me to get into drawing and see great results without using many different pencils. You can achieve light or heavy lines, rich blacks, great shading, and all with just one pencil. This is the one!I would highly recommend these to anyone that loves to draw and is looking for a versatile, durable pencil.
