The fine lines also tend to be easier to erase. And of course, you don't have to carry a sharpener with you all the time. More importantly, it means mechanical pencils provide more consistent lines, enabling you to create more precise and accurate drawings, and neater handwriting. The main benefit of mechanical pencils is they don't need sharpening. This saves you a lot of hassle and mess. Why are mechanical pencils better than wooden pencils? When the lead has been fully used, you then simply insert a new replacement. A mechanical pencil, in contrast, uses an internal spring to push the lead upwards into the barrel, when you press the button at the other end. With a normal pencil, once the graphite tip (commonly referred to as 'lead') has blunted, you need to sharpen it using a pencil sharpener. The best mechanical pencils: questions How do mechanical pencils work? Our guides are regularly updated to ensure our recommendations are current. We also trawl reputable sites for user reviews and use these to inform our recommendations. In order to select products for our buying guides we either test them ourselves, or rely on recommendations from our extensive creative network. For light, detailed marks, meanwhile, you might want to go in the opposite direction, and try an ultra-fine 0.3mm lead.Ĭreative Bloq is a team of art and design enthusiasts who are familiar with what it means to be a creative in today's climate. For most types of drawing, a 0.5mm lead is best, but a thick 0.7mm lead can be better for shading, sketching and non-detailed work.

The best mechanical pencils for drawing, also called automatic or propelling pencils, allow you to create everything from quick sketches to technical drafting with clean, precise lines. Meanwhile, to further build up your artist toolkit, don't miss our guides to the best pencils of all kinds, the best pens for artists, and for expressive work and special effects, the best watercolour pencils. We'll start with the best pencils for drawing, but if you're only interested in writing then skip ahead to the best mechanical pencils for writing. In this article, we've gathered together the best mechanical pencils on the market today, selected from a mixture of recommendations from artists as well as extensive internet research.

And because replacement leads are cheap it saves you money over time, because you won't have to buy new pencils. Crucially, the pencil itself stays the same length, unlike wooden pencils which get shorter as you sharpen them (even with one of the best pencil sharpeners).

Good mechanical pencils for drawing