Sketching is an expressive activity that enables people to manifest their emotions and artistic imagination. It is a talent that can be honed through practice, however, employing the right instruments ...

Save this article to read it later. Find this story in your account’s ‘Saved for Later’ section. Because they are erasable, pencils are often the first tool creative people use when sketching out a ...

While talking to a bunch of artists I admire for a piece about the best drawing pencils, it became clear that, for the most part, the relationship between artist and drawing tool is as personal as ...

The whole point of a mechanical pencil is to have perfect sharpness forever. Yet without precise engineering and build quality, the standard slender leads are doomed to constant breakages. This ...

The lowly pencil is not an elite or showy artistic medium. It doesn't have oil paint's gravitas, or plaster's endearing gauche. Instead, the pencil is accessible, plebeian and utilitarian. If put in ...

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Technical drawing required sturdy writing implements rather than, for instance, the sharpened quills that were frequently used as pens for correspondence and record-keeping until the 20th century.