Comments on: Carbon and Ebony pencils

By: Fritzy

Fritzy — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 23:47:03 +0000

Groschak-
I haven’t used the Ebony in about 20 years, and memory may be failing, but just recently picked one up, and it isn’t nearly as black or soft as I remember it being. Anyone else with that experience?

By: James

James — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:45:35 +0000

I also am a big fan of the Sanford Ebony, and find it much smoother than the General Layout pencil. The Sanford’s matte finish makes it an excellent choice for working black-on-black with the glossy finish B grade pencils. You can judge for yourself how well that combination works by having a look at a drawing in which I used that method: http://www.pencils.com/users/bobjim/images/apple-orange-lemon-lime . I have not yet tried the General Carbon Sketch, which sounds intriguing in penciladmin’s description. I’ll check it out as soon as I can.

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:03:49 +0000

Hello Floris, I am not aware of such a glossary – I would find it useful myself. The otherwise good http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ seems to not know much about pencil terminology.

By: Floris van den Broecke

Floris van den Broecke — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:32:54 +0000

Dear pencilheads
I came across your website in search of terminology as I am translating a book on drawing from German to English. Do any of you have a glossary with descriptions by any chance?

You probably know the story below (from Snowsquare blog), but in addition to the story, I was told some years ago by a student of mine that the real meaning of a karandash is the leftover core of a tree after peeling off the veneers by turning it on a cutting blade (imagine a giant pencil sharpener). It probably has several other meanings.

Happy drawing

Image: Caran d’Ache

Swiss pencil-maker, Caran d’Ache, was founded in Geneva in 1924. The brand is so famous that readers may be excused for believing that the Russian word for pencil, Karandash (????????) was derived from it. The opposite is, in fact, the truth – though the full story is slightly more complicated.

According to the Caran d’Ache website:
The name Caran d’Ache has an interesting history. The company’s founder, Arnold Schweitzer, admired the work of a famous French caricaturist of the Belle Époque, Emmanuel Poiré (1859-1909). Poiré was born in Moscow, the grandson of an officer in Napoleon’s Grande Armée. While his first work glorified the Napoleonic era, he went on to create “stories without words” and as a contributor to newspapers like “Lundi du Figaro”, he is sometimes hailed as one of the fathers of the comic.

Poiré signed his work Caran d’Ache, a French transliteration of the Russian word for pencil – karandash. A slightly modified replica of his signature became the company’s logo for Fine Arts products.

By: abraham

abraham — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:05:29 +0000

I’ll echo the appreciation for the General’s 555. I’ve found these to write very compatibly well on the Rite-in-the-Rain paper, which has an unusually waxy surface. The 555 has just the right “bite,” without smearing.
Another pencil to add to this list is the Sanford’s “Draughting” 02237. This is a longtime favourite, with thick graphite and a prominently dark mark- somewhere between the less-flexible 555 and the sketch-style Ebony.

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:38:23 +0000

I’m a huge fan of Sanford Ebony and use it for about 90% of my drawing and sketching. It’s great for casual sketching and also for more finished pieces. True, “jet black” isn’t really accurate, but you can get an astonishing range of values out of this pencil. General’s Layout is very similar, but I have a slight preference for the Sanford. Maybe I’m just a sucker for that nice pewter color.

I’ve tried Wolff’s carbon pencil. The deep black is very nice, but that noise it makes gives me chills. I’d rather use a regular charcoal pencil.

By: Alberto

Alberto — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:31:53 +0000

I can’t wait to get some of those Derwent pencil extenders, for none of the ones I have work with my wider pencils. I wonder if the Cretacolor and Koh-I-Noor Nero leads might also be charcoal and grease formulas.

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:25:34 +0000

A trio of Mikes! Thanks for the knowledgeable comments!

mike, the General Sketch and Wash is what I’d classify as water soluble – maybe we’ll look at those pencils at some point.

Michael, the Onyx sounds like a most interesting pencil. I’m hoping it will turn up locally. And thanks for the tip on a very interesting extender.

Yet Another Mike, thanks for mentioning the “Pitt Oil Base”, they sound interesting. The Lyra Rembrandt Carbon is definitely around – try a Google search for “Rembrandt Carbon Pencils”.

By: Yet Another Mike

Yet Another Mike — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:32:31 +0000

I found one Faber-Castell brand called “Pitt Oil Base,” at Pearl Arts & Crafts. They have a standard sized core and range from hard to extra-soft. They start out fairly darker than regular graphite pencils, and the extra-soft range gets as dark as a regular hard charcol pencil. Is the Lyra Rembrandt Carbon still around? It sounds interesting as I’ve been looking for a good alternative to the infamus blaisdell layout pencil…

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:31:29 +0000

I’d put Derwent’s Onyx pencils in this category. They’re wide core pencils that are a bit darker than a normal 9B but not as soft or smudgy.

Derwent’s “jet black” description is a bit exaggerated. They aren’t as black as charcoal or Wolff’s carbon pencils but they do fill large, very dark areas of a drawing more quickly and cleanly than a 9B.

On a different note but still with Derwent they’ve put out a pair of extenders all I’ve seen of them is the Derwent website reference here
http://www.pencils.co.uk/products/essentials.aspx?sid=10

By: mike

mike — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:30:07 +0000

I’ve tried the Sanford Ebony, and General’s Layout 555. I like them both but I like Sanford’s Ebony a little better because the graphite feels a little smoother to me. However General’s Layout 555 graphite seems to make a little bit of a darker line. They both hold a point rather well. I’ve also tried General’s sketch and wash (another pencil that’s fits in this category) but not that much. Artists use General’s sketch and wash for doing doing, well, sketching and graphite washes.

I haven’t used them in awhile, but what I was using them for line drawings. Specifically cartoons, I find that Sanford Ebony’s lines have a lot of character to them. I’ve also read on other blogs that animators like using the Sanford Ebony as well.

One thing has come up with Sanford, Sanford is shipping all their production off to China, and Mexico so I don’t know how much longer their USA made pencils will be available, and their quailty might soon change. For right now though it seems like all the stores still have them, probably because not very many people use them though.