Pencil Slut

I've come to the realization that I'm becoming a bit of a pencil slut. I seem to be bouncing from one favorite pencil to another, much like the town trollop on payday. No sooner do I find one I love, than a new one comes sashaying along, enticing me with unimagined charms, and smooth lines. Shortly thereafter the old love will be sitting in a corner of my pencil drawer, forlorn and abandoned, tossed aside like yesterday's cheese.

Before you consider me too much of a freak, let me back up a bit here. Many years ago, I caught part of a show on PBS about ants, and I noticed one of the ant experts was in the field with his sketchbook, using a mechanical pencil to great effect. So, I thought to myself: hmm, maybe I should give that a try. I don't recall what kind of pencils I had been using up until then, but I was soon hooked on mechanical pencils, using them almost exclusively. I never really thought about it very much, and then somewhere along the line I started adding a standard #2 pencil to the mix, I have no clue as to why that seemed like a good idea; if you haven't tried this, it works about as well as a lawnmower with one wheel missing, although not as dangerous. Nevertheless, somehow I failed to notice just how much I was struggling with my drawings and I couldn't figure out why, although I probably just assumed that I was a crap artist. At some point a few years ago I rediscovered colored pencils, specifically using them on colored pastel paper, although I've found that using the back side, which has less tooth, works better for colored pencils. I found myself struggling less, and enjoying the drawing process more, yet I still didn't make the pencil quality connection.

Fast forward to a few months ago, when I discovered Derwent Sketching Pencils, and it clicked: yes, Bob-O, there is a reason they make special drawing pencils, because they work. Thin lines, thick lines, shading, man alive! these Derwents had it all, and I was in love, or so I thought. Of course, this was before I discovered the almighty Derwent Drawing Pencil. It isn't graphite, but seems to be some kind of charcoal-colored pencil hybrid.I asked at the art store, but nobody could tell me definitively what exactly is in them. Not that it really matters to me, because they just plain rock! They're dark like charcoal, but without the dust, and oh so smooth, like drawing with liquid velvet. Okay, perhaps that's a bit too poetic, actually I would say its more like drawing with a skinny black lipstick. However, as wonderful as they are, already I'm finding faults, nothing major, just a bit too smeary, and they become dull too quickly. So while I'm smitten for now, but I know its only temporary.

* Just for the record, the above illustration was done in ink, and colored in Photoshop.