Derwent - Comparison to Other Brands

This is always a fun test, comparing different brand's 

lead grades.  As graphite artists, there are a ton of 

HB lead Brand Comparison

different brands and finding which one fits your 

specific drawing technique can be challenging.

Over the years, I have tried most brands of graphite pencils.  My favorites are a mixture of brands as well as lead ranges.  

HB Lead Comparison 

The HB lead test definitely produced the most variation!  The brands used were Grafwood Caran d'ache, Palomino, Faber Castell 9000 series, Tombow and the new Derwents.  

The HB Derwent and Grafwood were the most similar in value with a nice silver tone.  However, the Grafwood laid down a bit smoother.  

Faber Castell had the most similar firmness as the Derwent but noticably darker.

The Palomino and Tombow are the darkest and the lead much softer.  The Tombow has more shine than the Palominio.  These make for great sketching pencils!  

4B Lead Comparison

The next Brand comparison was using the 4B lead.  The Brands included were Grafwood, Tombow, Palomino and Derwent.

These were much closer in both firmness as well as values with more subtle differences.

The Derwent, again is the lightest in value of the four with very little 'graininess'.

The Tombow is next in value darkness.

The smoothest, buttery feel goes to Grafwood and Palomino.  Both nice range of light to dark application.  Both have dark value with the Palomino being slightly darker.

9B Lead Comparison

I have only one Brand with a 9B and that is the Grafwood.  Again, the Derwent is slightly less in value that the Grafwood.  The Derwent is consistently firmer, leaving crisp, dark lines.  The Grafwood tip 'weardown' was markedly quicker than the Derwent.

9B Lead Brand Comparison