Listening to: Miike Snow — Genghis Khan (official video)

Experimenting with pencils today.

Media: Wausau Neenah Exact Index Cardstock, 94 Brightness, 90 lb, Tabloid.

Sketch was with a BLACKWING (natural), extra firm. The BlackWings are still fantastic and I do love them. The clay really makes a different and it is super to work with. But, not black enough for me. And the graphite is missing that 'kind of like a little plastic nib' feeling the Hi-Uni has. Might keep using them for initial sketches though — they give good dopamine and work really fast. And wow do they erase well! Original pencils are below.

This image is the final pencils, done with Hi-Uni 2B. They are, and always have been, so amazing. I love them so much. I can expose 1" or even 2" of graphite and it behaves like a nib, or a firm brush. Very plastic and responsive. It's like I'm flowing ink across the page. It is "dirtier" than the BlackWings though — the whole page ends up with smudges if I don't protect the page with a blank sheet of paper under my hand. And even then it still ends up a little grimy if I ever try to erase it. Even using a Staedtler Mars Plastic eraser it's almost impossible to get all of the pigment from the Hi-Unis off the page. But … it's worth it. Given that my next step is to ink on a completely new piece of paper, the mess is worth it to be able to use the Hi-Unis.

Click thumbnail for a larger version:

"![medium":https://i.ibb.co/BY9B54H/Aria-Genghis-Khan-sketch.png(https://i.ibb.co/BY9B54H/Aria-Genghis-Khan-sketch.png) "![medium":https://i.ibb.co/zTk78jKh/Aria-Genghis-Khan-finished-pencils-photo.png(https://i.ibb.co/zTk78jKh/Aria-Genghis-Khan-finished-pencils-photo.png)