Offline.
Proposition
I’m not a huge Adam Warren fan, anything close to a ‘manga’ style leaves me cold. I don’t know what it is about it, but I don’t like it. ‘Anime’ style either. My brother is a fan. My brother-in-law also. Multiple animes have been suggested to me, and I’ve seen Akira all the way through once, and that was enough to last me I think.
But, I have seen Adam Warren’s art, and when I was working on that last panel, I knew what I wanted to get out of it. Warren’s pencils are fantastic. The range of textures he manages to achieve and clarity of image, I find mind-boggling. If I drew an hundred hours/day for the rest of my life, I might get there. I’m in awe of what the man can accomplish with humble graphite. So I tried, and fell short, but I’m still happy with it.
Well, at least he tried to get some action in the way he thought was proper, as opposed to trying by force. He may live a bit longer.
I like to think of Warren (and people like him) as surrounded by dozens of pencils and leads of varying softness (I’d say 8H to 8B at least). I don’t draw much these days, but for doodling I got myself a clutch lead holder (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Koh-I-Noor-Mechanical-Clutch-Leadholder-Sharpener/dp/B009PKK8B2) and I’d say I like it much more than regular pencils. Of course it’s really worth only for the few hardness you use the most (mine is loaded with 4B ATM, although if I was less lazy on the stump I’d probably put some 8B in there)
Does clutch holder lead keep a point better? I use two leads, 2H to rough everything out, 2B to finish it all up. Anything softer than a 2B, and we get into smudginess territory, which I’ve mentioned before as not my favorite place to visit.
I think I like it for a combination of things; it’s thicker than a pencil, which I like; the 5.6 mm lead is sturdier, which I like, too, especially being a sucker for soft leads (which make a godawful mess if they crumble).
Of course the softer the lead the harder it is to go back, your eraser won’t help you terribly much, no siree. And you better watch where you put that greasy hand, lest you make a mess of what you just drawed. But I am a happy resident of smudgetown, I like being able to smooth things a bit (shadows, dark surfaces etc).
I dread the stage in my drawing process when it’s time for the soft lead. At the the very beginning I tried scanning in just my roughs with the 2H, but couldn’t get a good image out of it. Buuut, maybe if I get a smudger and start experimenting with tones and values more it wouldn’t be so bad.