When on the lookout for different types of pencils for your sketching needs, it is best to look what's on offer as there are some great pencil types for certain art techniques and knowing what these are is of a huge benefit to you as an artist.

Drawing pencils

These are your standard sketching pencils that come in the usual grades from 9H which is the hardest giving a lighter tone, then right through to an F or a HB which is the medium shade and then to the end of the grade scale an 8B or 9B which is classed as the softest darker shade.

A good set of drawing pencils however usually come in these grade ranges and any really are ideal for drawing and sketching whatever you want.

Charcoal pencils

These are darker in tone and are great sketching pencils for drawing in their own right and since they are softer in tone they can be blended effectively to create many different tones combined with other pencil grades too.

Watercolour pencils

These are water soluble pencils that when drawn on the papers surface you then wet them with a paintbrush and it produces a watercolour effect.

Mechanical pencils

Pencils that can be used for mechanical drawing and all manner of technical art illustrations, the fine lead makes drawing a precise sketching tool.

Coloured pencils

Pencil crayons or coloured pencils are great to add colour to your base drawings and if the pencils are blendable then all the better for your art.

Derwent pencils have been produced ever since 1832 and these are some of the first drawing pencils that I ever used, their range of drawing pencils now are vast and you can get packs f varying weights and pencil sizes.

Derwent drawing pencils are one of the top drawing pencils that come to mind for me personally.

By far the best release from Derwent is the Inktense range, (which are cheekily similar to any water soluble pencils) were the pencil turns to ink in one wash. Plus I am a fan of pencils with the ability to blend well and these do quite well on that level, these types of pencils are widely used for drawing manga and more focused works like technical illustration and botanical drawings.

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 Reeves pencils are only the tip of the iceberg of art products as Reeves produces many artists paints and pigment too with acrylic and oil being the most popular.

These high quality graphite lead pencils are an ideal choice for any types of sketching, even though I am more familiar with their paint ranges.

If you are sketching on a budget, I find these drawing pencils quite affordable.

 Steadtler pencils, A german based company founded by Friedrich Staedtler, the company is responsible for writing and drawing pens and pencils that are widely available in over 150 countries worldwide.

Staedtler is one of the most recognisable brans of pencils with the Mars Lumograph name, the company has since diversified with fine liners and other writing pens of high quality in their range of products.