The Art of Drawing

DRAWING WITH OXLADES

Drawing forms the cornerstone of every artist’s practice and is presently experiencing a resurgence in popularity as an artform in its own right. Whether your work is trendy or traditional, two-dimensional or sculptural, the humble pencil is likely to be your most important tool. Oxlades carries an extensive range of pencils plus a wide variety of drawing alternatives including pens, charcoals, mechanical pencils, graphite sticks, inks and nibs to suit any drawing project.

These days, traditional graphite or ‘lead’ is available in an amazing variety of forms including sticks, powder and blocks; and (of course) the familiar wood-encased pencils. Graphite is graded in terms of softness, from 9B (the softest and therefore darkest) to 9H (the hardest, lightest and most difficult to erase). In the middle is HB, a pencil normally reserved for writing. For fine art purposes, pencils on the softer end of the scale (2B to 9B) are most popular, while the H pencils are normally reserved for design and technical drawing.

Oxlades stocks both student and professional quality graphite pencils in favourite brands such as Faber Castell and Derwent. What differentiates a professional quality pencil from its cheaper counterparts is the special break-resistant bonding agent used in the lead. From Faber Castell, Oxlades stocks Castell 9000, the professional graphite pencil; and Goldfaber, the more economical student version. From Derwent, Oxlades has the professional ‘Graphic’ range and the unique watersoluble graphite range, ‘Draw and Wash’. Oxlades also carries a wide, flat carpenter’s pencil for broad strokes.

Graphite sticks, sometimes called progressos, are suitable for large projects and feature varnished rods of graphite – minus the wood encasing. These sticks require sharpening like traditional pencils and can be used on an angle for a wide point of contact on the paper. Graphite blocks and some of the shorter, thicker progressos on the market are available unvarnished, meaning the entire length of the rod can be used to make marks – giving an even broader width of line on the paper.

Another interesting and versatile medium used to block in large areas of tone on paper is graphite powder. Simply dip a rag or your finger into the tub and rub across the paper for shading that would otherwise take hours with a pencil.

At the opposite end of the graphite spectrum is the clutch pencil – a tool particularly suited to fine, neat linework. A clutch pencil,