The tip, however, wears down quite quickly (especially with the softer leads). This flat area is very good for gently working in shading, with small, circular marks, where you do not want the individual pencil marks to show.
This sort of broad shading effect can be even more accentuated by holding the pencil nearly horizontally. This tends to show the roughness of the paper up and gives a “grainy” effect.
Creating a sample sheet, showing the range of marks that can be made, is a useful exercise. The top row was created with the pencil held vertically, the bottom row with the pencil held low.
Pencil Samples!
T. Spencer
