Why You Might Actually Need A Super Long Pencil Lead to DRAW BETTER

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About me (bio) :
Website :
www.florentfarges.com
I am an artist living and working in France. I learned the techniques of the Atelier of the Nineteenth century and now I try to share some of my knowledge with the rest of the world, because I think that beauty still has an important role to play in artistic creation. I do mostly drawing and oil painting, and my goal is always to provide techniques, thoughts and explanations that can be useful to anyone, from beginners to more advanced artists.
The material I use most of the time (not necessarily in this video) :
Drawing
✓ Kneaded eraser
✓ Plumb line (DIY)
✓ Small mirror
✓ An old synthetic brush
✓ Masking tape
✓ Cutter
✓ Sandpaper or sanding block
✓ Mahlstick or Hand rest (DIY)
✓ Level ruler
Graphite
✓ Pencils 2H, HB and 2B
Charcoal
✓ If available: Nitram charcoals (H, HB and B)
✓ Square charcoals
Black and white chalk
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
✓ Square Conté noir : HB and 2B
✓ Chalk or pencil holder
✓ Pencil sketch Conté Pierre noire : H and HB
Sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté : Blood and blood Medici
✓ Crayon Polychromos Faber-Castel : sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
Oil painting
Palette
(Extra-fine paint, recommended brands depending on availability: Sennelier, Lefranc Bourgeois, Winsor and Newton, Royal Talens Rembrandt, Blockx, Michael Harding, Gamblin)
✓ Titanium White PW6
✓ Flake White (or substitute) PW1
✓ Cadmium Yellow light (or "lemon") PY35
✓ Yellow Ochre PY42
✓ Raw Umber PBr7
✓ Transparent Red Oxyde PR101
✓ Burnt Umber PBr7
✓ Venetian Red PR101
✓ Pyrrole Red PR255
✓ Quinacridone Rose PV19
✓ Quinacridone Magenta PV19
✓ Ultramarine Blue PB29
✓ Mars Black PBk11
✓ Cobalt Teal Blue (turquoise light) PG50
✓ Phthalo green warm PG36
Brushes
✓ Filbert hog bristle and Synthetic sizes n° 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12
✓ Flat Synthetic brushes (same size)
✓ Round sable brush or round Kolinsky sable n° 4, 8, 10, 12 (from the size of the nail (about one inch) or synthetic imitation
Medium
✓ Linseed stand oil
✓ Odorless mineral spirits
✓ Or Alkyd medium (Liquin, Galkyd, Flow'n'Dry etc.)
✓ Safflower oil
Surface
✓ Linen canvas, fine grain universal coating
✓ For studies : Canson oil-acrylic oil paper Figueras
Others
✓ Palette
✓ Sponge and spalter brushes
✓ Palette knife in the shape of a water drop, no souldering
✓ A few small pots, containers, jars...
✓ Paper towels
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#art #painting #inspiration
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Thanks for watching !

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Just in case, obviously I know about mechanical pencils, I just prefer the feel and weight distribution of wooden pencils. Personal preference, same idea. How do you like your pencil?

[@GnaReffotsirk]

Same here. I also dont get 2mm leads past 2b and mechanical leads are more expensive. I prefer wooden pencils.

[@krahnjp]

Yeah I have both 2mm and 5.6mm mechanical lead holders that I love for their ease of use. I use them pretty extensively. But they do have a different feel. A wooden pencil often has a lighter, more agile feel. Plus you can't easily put most lead holders into a long holder like the one you showed. I kind of hate standard (0.3 or 0.5ish) mechanical pencils. They have their uses, and I do use them occasionally, but they are probably my least used tool.

[@anapettyartist]

I have been using the clutch pencils instead of sharpening traditional pencils. They can get the same lengths, and are fun to use with all kinds of lead hardnesses. Plus, I kind of bond with the holders, they are like good luck charms. ✏

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Hey, need to try them sometime.

[@jeregamm]

@@FlorentFargesarts Kitaboshi mechanical pencils are made out of wood and are a joy.

[@anapettyartist]

@@jeregamm I'll look it up, thank you for telling me about it. ✏

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you for this video. As a self-taught artist, I always wondered about the atelier practices, which are necessary and which are just part of a rigid dogmatic, inflexible curriculum based on nostalgia. All that being said, I would posit that a "high resolution" hand with a regular pencil could still have a more subtle effect than an impatient heavy hand with one of these atelier pencils. It may be more to do with the psychology of the student than their tools. I personally have had no problem at all achieving the most subtle gradients with regular pencils, especially when using H pencils for lighter areas (all the way to 9H), and a blending stump. It just requires a good sharpener used more often. Labelling the regular pencil as 'bad' and the super sharp atelier pencil as 'good' is a common misnomer that many traditional artists fall into: the partially dogmatic practices of the realist atelier. On another note, I do think a lot of realist atelier practices to be kind of funny. The schools produce a lot of artists who come out with great technique but still, often produce paintings and drawings of the same subject matter that they learned to do in school: standard studies of casts, eyes, mouths, hands etc... standard portraits, still lifes and landscapes. No matter what tools we use, the most difficult thing in building a body of work are the creative elements. The contemporary art schools teach little technique and focus mainly on theory for the goal of originality. There is a huge gap between these approaches and yet, both are needed in my opinion to fully develop an artist. Got a little off topic there. I will stick to regular pencils because of the ease of set-up and that is an important part of keeping a good rhythm to spend more time on creative elements rather than technical. Thank you again for the video.

[@saskia8018]

I've always been intimidated by the sharpening process but now I gotta try this! In the recent years I really liked the type of mechanical pencils with the bigger lead diameter that you can also sharpen like the Faber-Castell TK 9400 (not to advertize it, just to illustrate which type I mean and it's what's available where I live, in German they are called "Fallminenstift").

[@FeliciaWhite-hm8eq]

Love this, Florent. Always thought that pencil lead thing was an affectation of artsy-fartsy artists. You explained it so I actually understood why. Still clinging to my Bic. Great job. Felicia

[@B1ackDahlia767]

I just woke up, & this was the first thing I clicked on. I laughed WAY too hard at that. 😂 I use 2mm leads extended like this now because I'm afraid I'd probably stab myself in the hand due to my nerve damage & tremor. It's nice. It's not the same, but it's close. 😉

[@SomethingImpromptu]

Ooh, when you’re shaping your rapier pencils is a good opportunity to collect graphite dust which you can then apply to paper with a brush, as you would charcoal dust, for a whole other technique which gives a soft, ambient, diffuse style of shading all its own (though the exact nature of the patterns/strokes you get will depend on what kind of brush you are using- very soft make-up brushes & others or that sort can be excellent, depending on what you’re going for). I’ve only dipped my toes in this technique, but it’s beautiful what you can create. Also, since you can sand dust off of any kind of pencil, you can do the same with water soluble graphite, or watercolor pencils, & then apply water to the brush-applied graphite on the paper to activate it- there are all kinds of combination workflows you can introduce these kinds of very flexible techniques & materials to.

[@fragglesful]

Loving the playful drama and passion you've infused this vid with, Florent! ❤ i had never thought much about pencil nuance the way you explore it here. Keep up the fab work! Lots of love from Sydney, Australia ❤

[@vermiliongamboge155]

Thanks for this video! The closeup was really interesting. I've sharpened my pencils in this way, but not to quite that length - although I usually use a 2B or 4B, and sometimes a Blackwing, which I definitely cannot sharpen out that far. I'll sharpen my H pencils out farther and try to have more patience with them.

[@ritatomlin2962]

Thank you for the video. Completely agree with the reasons for sharping drawing pencils this way. Also, I save the graphite dust from the sandpaper in a wide mouth jar and “paint” with it to fill in large areas using a paint brush. For HB through 9B, I like graphite sticks sharpened to fine points. The weight is very satisfying and they last longer than the soft graphite in wooden pencils.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks for sharing!

[@Richardwright-we6rv]

Yet another superb video Florent, merci beaucoup! my favourite pencils are my faber castell 9000 jumbo, the diameter of the pencil is much larger than standard size, and therefore in my hand it feels more brush like, also with the graphite being much thicker maybe you could get an even longer point? i will try this

[@nickrodis6862]

Salamat po

[@Stash_Studio]

Great video - which lens did you use to shoot the close-ups?

[@dopplegangerdavid]

My art instructor used to get really frustrated at me because I kept dropping my pencil and because I was just a kid who couldnt handle knives, he had to sharpen it for me each time.

[@erdocdan]

What type of knife or razor blade do you use to sharpen these long leads? I do have pencil extenders that I use when my pencils start getting too short from resharpening. I prefer wooden.

[@bhunyee]

what thread??!

[@kukuruzzo]

RIP HB bro

[@FlorentFargesarts]

😭😭😭

[@nickolasdaff6217]

What thread?

[@cynthiamarston2208]

Some new words! I draw with polychromos Sepia or Black 95 %. They might break more easily than graphite? I use the long setting on an electric sharpener is best.

[@dreadfulartist]

I have tried sharpening my favorite soft graphite pencil (blackwing) and I broke it 3 times!😅 I am a mechanical pencil girl usually for my detailed drawings but I am really interested in trying this! Have you always used this technique when drawing?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Only for drawings where I need highly detailed values. Mechanical pencils are great but I have never found one that I like to grab, maybe it is weight distribution but I just prefer wooden pencils.

[@sophiavechnyak6763]

I’ve just sharpened a blackwing like this and it was pretty easy and didn’t break. Maybe you need a fresh blade?

[@farhanmulla6590]

what thread

[@socratesthecabdriver]

🙏🌊🔱🫧🫧🫧

[@DazzlingAction]

mechanical pencils?

[@TheLucieFurr]

Practice on cheap pencils until you master the knife shaving. :)

[@vol_kya]

What thread?😂

[@667hodge]

You don't need an inch of graphite to get resolution.You can use different hardness of graphite, blending materials, taking your time and being able to control your hand.You don't have to draw like you paint

[@socratesthecabdriver]

Leaving with a like 🙏🌊🔱🫧🫧🫧

[@asmodevsluxuria]

What thread?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

😉🤫