What is the difference between hard medium and soft charcoal?

What is the difference between hard medium and soft charcoal?

Compressed charcoal looks like graphite and comes either in pencil form or stick form. It is available in various hardness levels: soft, medium or hard. Softer charcoals are darker, while hard charcoals are lighter. These are also effective for rubbing vine charcoal sketches.

What are the three types of charcoal?

There are three main kinds of charcoal: powdered, compressed, and willow or vine.

• Powdered charcoal is the most basic type because it is an ingredient in compressed charcoal.
• Compressed charcoal is made of powdered charcoal held together with a binder of gum or wax.

Is 2B charcoal soft or hard?

HB (Hard), 2B (Medium), 4B (Soft) and a 6B (Extra Soft) are the most commonly used types of charcoal pencils.

What is different about compressed charcoal?

The difference with compressed charcoal is that pencils are thinner, so that you can draw thinner lines with them. It’s best not to sharpen charcoal pencils with a regular pencil sharpener, but rather with a knife or blade. This way it’s easier not to break them.

What is medium charcoal used for?

HB (Medium) Charcoal HB charcoal works well for mid-tones and for bringing together light and dark shapes. Nitram’s HB is also a great choice for “scrubbing”- the use of a bristle brush for adding texture and smoothing transitions. When scrubbing, it’s best not to overwork with the brush because value can be lost.

What is compressed charcoal used for?

Because of its hardness, compressed charcoal maintains its shape better and can be sharpened for more detailed drawing—which makes it especially useful for drawing finer lines, textures, and details. The advantages of compressed charcoal is that it doesn’t break easily and is sometimes blacker than willow or vine.

What is a compressed charcoal?

Compressed charcoal (also referred as charcoal sticks) is shaped into a block or a stick. Intensity of the shade is determined by hardness. The amount of gum or wax binders used during the production process affects the hardness, softer producing intensely black markings while firmer leaves light markings.

What is the hardness of charcoal?

Charcoal specimen DH significantly varies with the final temperature of carbonization: DH was 10.89 MPa for charcoal specimens produced at 300 °C, 3.05 MPa for charcoal produced at 450 °C, 3.44 MPa for charcoal produced at 600 °C, and 4.59 MPa for charcoal produced at 750 °C.

What is compressed charcoal good for?

Ideal for drawing, sketching, and hatching, Cretacolor Compressed Charcoal sticks offer precise, consistent strokes that can be smudged easily with a paper blending stick. The set of three contains one each of soft, medium, and hard.

What is a hard charcoal pencil?

Pick up a charcoal pencil, which is composed of compressed charcoal inside a protective layer, typically wood. Suitable for drawing, sketching, or smudging, a charcoal pencil offers a familiar feel and provides you with a lot of control over your marks.

What is the hardest pencil grade?

The numbers indicate the hardness or softness of the pencil within their particular range.

• The H pencil range: The 9H pencil is the hardest and H pencil is the softest.
• The B pencil range: The 9B pencil is the softest, and the B pencil is the hardest.

Is compressed charcoal hard or soft?

Compressed charcoal ranges from hard to soft, depending on the ratio of charcoal powder to binder. The more binder, the harder the compressed charcoal.

What is a compressed charcoal stick used for?

Ideal for drawing, sketching, and hatching, Cretacolor Compressed Charcoal sticks offer precise, consistent strokes that can be smudged easily with a paper blending stick. The set of three contains one each of soft, medium, and hard.

What is the best charcoal to use for drawing?

White Charcoal Package of smooth, compressed, white sketching sticks. Individual sticks measure 3″ x 1/4″ x 1/4″. Long considered the finest charcoal for drawing, Nitram Academie Fusains Charcoal is the preferred charcoal of professional artists, academies, and ateliers. Packaged in sets of five soft, medium or hard charcoal batons.

What is the difference between compressed charcoal pencils and regular pencils?

The difference with compressed charcoal is that pencils are thinner, so that you can draw thinner lines with them. It’s best not to sharpen charcoal pencils with a regular pencil sharpener, but rather with a knife or blade. This way it’s easier not to break them.