General's Layout Pencil, Extra Black Graphite, Box of 1 Dozen (555)

I was looking for a very dark lead to use for pupils, and other small areas where needed for portrait drawing. I’m a professional artist, but I’ve been doing my work on the computer for the last 10 years. I recently decided to start drawing the old fashioned way again, and thought I’d check out what’s new as far as what, and how art supplies have changed; only to find the old stanbyes are still around with a few pretty impressive new additions. As far as the dark black pencils: I chose three different brands to compare and purchase based on Amazon reviews. General’s Layout Pencil Extra Black Graphite, Hi-Uni 10B, and Prismacolor Ebony. 1) My favorite: ‘General’s Layout Pencil, Extra Black Graphite’. It is dark, not too soft, but soft enough to shade with, and hard enough to keep a point for those tiny areas I want to give depth to. This is one of the best pencils I’ve found for drawing. It’s smooth, It sharpens perfectly without breaking, and all of the pencils in the box appear to be excellent quality. Of the three I tried General is closer to a mat finish than the other two. I’m very impressed with the quality, texture and color. 2) Hi-Uni 10B: This pencil is velvety, very smooth and even, in fact the entire set is fabulous. It may be as dark as the General, but it does have a shinier finish when pressing to get the darkest shade I’m looking for. 2) Prismacolor Color Ebony: I didn’t care for this pencil for using it to deepen the dark areas I need. It’s dark, but it is lighter than the other two, and it has a silver cast to it, and shiny. I’ve never been a big fan of Prisma, preferring Derwent for the smother less waxy finish. I hope this helps for those of you who use a dark black lead.

The General's “Layout Pencil” is a favorite of mine. You can grab paper, this pencil, sharpener and eraser, then head out the door. The pencil will give you a nice little shade range, with light to bold-ish (1-2B values) lines, shading and moderately black details. I think it’s very useful for an amateur artist testing their skills. It’s much nicer than a typical #2, while being inexpensive enough to share with the kids. I would highly recommend the Layout to anyone that loves to draw and is looking for an economical, durable and “all-in-one” pencil.

Good pencil for doing initial sketches to layout ideas for drawings

Love the depth of color I can get with just one pencil - light to heavy

If you are asking "what single pencil can I get that is good for sketching?" this is it. if you want an intermediate step between an entire sketching set of pencils and cheap non-art type pencils, this is a good choice - it's pretty responsive to pressure, so shading works pretty well. good range from light sketching to rather dark if you want.

General's Layout Extra Black Layout Pencil #555 is an all time top rated artist pencil. Comes pre-sharpened. Produces a very wide range of values and has excellent point retention. Lovely, reliable pencil that matches it's reputation. Growing weary of Amazon's white plastic bag packaging. Could care less if it is "Lighter Than Our Smallest Box" I do not like receiving distressed merchandise which obviously left the Amazon warehouse in new condition. The dozen pencils come packaged in a box which is intended to hold the unused pencils until they are needed. My box arrived crushed but intact- a bit worse for the trip.

A+

After trying out different products, this is by far my favorite graphite pencil to use for drawing. The quality of the graphite is excellent and looks great on all the different paper types that I have tried. You can get some really great values in your drawings by using this pencil alone. It's both great pencil to carry with you when you want to draw something in your sketchbook and/or when you want to draw something more complicated. The only downside is that the graphite is indeed extra soft. That means you constantly have to keep sharpening your pen, especially when working with darker values. In other words, a single pencil can be used up fast. A great pencil for both beginners and professional artists.

I'm glad I bought these pencils. Awesome quality, they come sharpened and these pencils are perfect for outlining, shading and shadowing. Beautiful tone

I was delighted to get my hands on a box of these pencils. I had come across references to them in the instruction manuals of many of the 1930's American illustrators and artists whose work I revere but had assumed that they were one of these bits of kit that were no longer made. So I immediately ordered a box of them. I am so glad I did. Although they are nominally a 6B they are far darker than a standard 8b graphite pencil and lay down far more smoothly. They also don't give as much of a sheen as ordinary graphite does in heavy applications. They erase easily with a standard polymer eraser but a heavy line will not lift completely. This makes me assume that the core has an oil content. This does however mean that they easily sharpen to a perfect long point that neither shatters nor wears down quickly, unlike most of the other high carbon graphite pencils I've tried. (General's vaunted "Carbo-Weld" process used on these that bonds the core to the casing actually works which was a pleasant surprise and makes them far less frustrating to use and economical than most other brands.) Do be aware that all pencils of this type are only for adult artists and anything with an oil content should of course not be chewed or given to children to draw with. These are superb artist's pencils that are not only great value but also a real pleasure to use. Recommended.

Marque souvent vue dans des vidéos de dessins. Il est rapidement possible d'obtenir des variations de gris, presque vers le noir dans les dessins, la teinte reste mat et le crayon s'use peu. Je suis très agréablement surpris par ce crayon.

Son mi preferidos !

Pencils do what is required of them. I am quite pleased with the prouct.