Well, last year it happened. We received a shipment of new pencils at the studio a few months ago and we noticed something wasn’t right. First, there was a Mars Lumograph 9B that we hadn’t seen before, but more importantly, the\u00a08B and 7B were… different. Gone was\u00a0the dense, inky blackness\u00a0that used to grace these pencil leads, and in their place was a familiar silvery grey – in other words, the Staedtler Mars Lumograph<\/em> 7B & 8B are now just\u00a0“normal” graphite pencils that lack the added carbon\u00a0–\u00a0and therefore the darkness and shine-free characteristics – of the previous generation.<\/p>\n Ugh<\/em>…<\/p>\n My first instinct was to panic, but that impulse was short lived. If Staedtler had indeed abandoned making darker pencils, there are alternatives such as the Kimberly 9XXB<\/em>, which offers similar characteristics. But further research revealed that Staedtler’s\u00a0changes weren’t as drastic as I had feared. The darker leads of the 7B and 8B aren’t gone, they’ve simply been spun-off into a new product: the Staedtler\u00a0Mars Lumograph black<\/em> (the lower-case “b” appears to be part of the brand name). I acquired a set of these pencils a few months\u00a0ago, and I’ve finally had a chance to use them.\u00a0I’m happy to report that they’re\u00a0good<\/em>.<\/p>\n Unlike the previous generation of Mars Lumograph<\/em>, the entire\u00a0black<\/em> line is made to draw darker than graphite alone. This addresses one of the core limitations of drawing with graphite in the first place: limited\u00a0values. Even the softest of graphite pencils will only go so dark. Press as hard as you want, you’ll never get the value to go darker than around a value 3 on a Munsell scale. That means if you choose to draw with\u00a0graphite, you’re sacrificing nearly a third of the value scale from the get go.*<\/p>\n Why does this matter? Well, in a way it doesn’t. Just look at metalpoint<\/a>\u00a0for evidence that a full range of values isn’t required to make beautiful drawings. But if our\u00a0aim in drawing is to describe\u00a0form, light and space as fully as possible (which for me\u00a0it is), then\u00a0the ability to “go dark” is\u00a0desirable.\u00a0A full range of values can make\u00a0lights seem brighter, forms seem rounder and spaces seem deeper than they would otherwise. A broad range of\u00a0values provides artists with a robust\u00a0vocabulary for describing things. Limiting that vocabulary may well compromise\u00a0our\u00a0efforts.<\/p>\n *In part,\u00a0this is true of all dry\u00a0media. Even charcoal (everyone’s favorite alternative to graphite) is only around a\u00a0Munsell value 2 – darker than graphite, but not much.<\/p>\n At first, I was irritated that Staedtler\u00a0eliminated the carbon-added 7B & 8B from the standard Mars Lumograph<\/em> line. It was convenient\u00a0when\u00a0they were\u00a0included in\u00a0a set, requiring no separate purchase. Also, replacing these with yet more\u00a0soft graphite pencils seems\u00a0like a waste – is a sans-carbon 7B really any more useful than a 6B when neither one will draw darker than a Value 3 anyway?<\/p>\n That said, I think I understand why they\u00a0did it. I can’t speak for\u00a0the company, but I can imagine\u00a0that they\u00a0lost as\u00a0many customers as they gained by including carbon-laced pencils by default. Not everyone wants a pair of weird, waxy pencils in their graphite set, so splitting them off into a separate product makes sense: keep them available for those who want them, but don’t force them on everyone else.\u00a0Also, this kind of rebranding\u00a0provides an opportunity to overhaul\u00a0and improve the product, which Staedtler\u00a0appears to have done.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Like their 7B & 8B predecessors, the Mars Lumograph black<\/em> pencils deliver substantially darker values than graphite alone. Staedtler’s website promises “jet black results” but I chalk this up to marketing speak. In my testing, the darkest value achievable with these pencils is just a whisper lighter than\u00a0a Munsell value 2 – similar to charcoal, but\u00a0well north of actual black. This is no worse than the previous generation, however, and\u00a0is a limitation to be expected from dry media.<\/p>\n There are some notable differences, however. Most importantly, Staedtler is giving more of it’s pencils the carbon treatment. Previously, the darker leads were to be found only<\/em> in the\u00a07B & 8B. The black<\/em> line preserves the 8B but ditches\u00a0the 7B, offering in it’s place is a 2B, 4B and 6B, each containing an increasing amount of carbon. This is really<\/em> interesting\u00a0because\u00a0it appears Staedtler is trying to address a problem that’s long bothered me about the previous generation: the apparent jump in value between the 7B and the other graphite pencils in the lineup.<\/p>\n If you’ve ever taken a course with me (online or at the studio), you already know that I tend to shun most B pencils because of their penchant for “burnishing” – a condition where the graphite film becomes reflective, polished-up by the back-and-forth of\u00a0the pencil point (more info about that here<\/a>). Consequently, I don’t often use graphite-only pencils much softer than HB. With the previous generation of Lumographs<\/em>, if I needed values darker than what HB could\u00a0safely deliver, I’d jump all the way down to the darker, carboniferous 7B – which is a big jump. For in-between values (usually around a\u00a0Munsell value 4 or so), I’d use both HB and 7B together,<\/em>\u00a0mixing them on the page. It worked, but HB to 7B has always felt like a bit of a leap. The black<\/em> pencils provide a nice solution. The addition of 2B, 4B and 6B,\u00a0each incrementally darker with increasing amounts of carbon in the leads, helps to bridge the gap between lighter graphite pencils and the heavy darkness of the 7B and 8B of yore.<\/p>\n\t First off, these pencils look different because… well… \u00a0they’re black. The Mars Lumograph\u00a0<\/em>remains it’s trademark glossy blue, but the Mars Lumograph black<\/em>\u00a0pencils are\u00a0matte black. Beyond that, the appearance is very similar. Both pencils have\u00a0the same hexagonal cross-section, the same debossed silver typeface, and the\u00a0same imprinted lead identifiers on the ends.<\/p>\n I like this change. The design and type cues clearly indicate that these two pencil families are related, but the color makes them easily distinguished from across the room. With the previous generation, hunting for a 7B in a crowded pencil box could be a chore because they all looked so much alike.<\/p>\n The black<\/em> pencils also appear to be slightly<\/em> heavier. This is hardly a scientific test, but using my food scale at home, a Mars Lumograph 2B weighs in at 3 grams, while a black<\/em> 2B of the same length tips the scale at 5 grams – perhaps not enough to notice, but heavier nonetheless. I’m guessing the difference lies in the carbon leads and whatever binder is required to hold them\u00a0together.<\/p>\n I can’t tell if it’s just my imagination, but the black<\/em> pencils also feel slightly thinner. I’d need some precision calipers to\u00a0know for sure, but the blacks<\/em>\u00a0feel a bit different in my hand.\u00a0If true, it’s not great for me because I’ve got big hands and thinner objects\u00a0are harder to hold\u00a0(I’m looking at you, iPhone).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t I won’t say much here about how these pencils handle for drawing lines. Since I plan to use these pencils for developing tonal value passages, that’s what I’m going to focus on.<\/p>\n I did\u00a04 separate tests to see how these pencils compare, both to the current graphite-only*\u00a0Mars Lumograph<\/em>, and to the previous generation’s 7B and 8B since these are the pencils that have actually changed. The tests were conducted on Strathmore 400 series drawing paper with medium tooth. The color of the paper is slightly yellowish (specifically, a Munsell 10Y), which influences the color of the pencil material, but since I’m using\u00a0the same surface for both pencils, I think we can still make meaningful comparisons.<\/p>\n *It’s true that most graphite pencils contain some combination of graphite and clay, but for simplicity’s sake I’m going to refer to those pencils without added carbon as “graphite-only”.<\/p>\n\t The first test I performed was to compare the value of each black<\/em> pencil – 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B – next to its counterpart in the current, graphite-only\u00a0Mars Lumograph<\/em> line. The purpose of this test was to see how the values\u00a0compare with moderate\u00a0pressure. “Moderate pressure” is a little hard to quantify, but in this case I wasn’t trying to draw lightly or heavily. I just\u00a0tried to keep the pencil point in continuous contact with the page and let the material accumulate.<\/p>\n My first observation was that there’s not a huge value difference between the two at this level of pressure. The black<\/em> pencils are definitely darker, but only by about a quarter-step on a Munsell scale.<\/p>\n The blacks<\/em> also appear\u00a0warmer\u00a0in hue. Graphite is naturally somewhat bluish, which gives the blacks<\/em> a slight yellowish appearance next to them. Of course, the paper I tested on also has a yellow cast to it, so there’s that, but even side-by-side on the same page, the black<\/em> pencils are definitely warmer and slightly<\/em> more chromatic.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t What was also noticeable immediately was the different lead consistencies between the different Black<\/em> pencils. The 2B in particular is unlike any other Staedtler pencil I’ve tried. It has an almost chalky brittleness to it that feels kind of\u00a0like a charcoal pencil.\u00a0It held it’s\u00a0sharp point for a surprisingly long time, and despite not\u00a0pressing hard I feared scratching the paper. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – the pencil may prove useful for those intermediate darks I mentioned above, but it’s worth noting here. The lead-feel became increasingly more silky down the line, with the 8B feeling almost oily – more like a Cretacolor Nero<\/em> oil charcoal pencil than the waxy 8B of the previous generation.<\/p>\n\t For this test I repeated the same sequence as above, but this time I really let it rip on the pressure, digging-in hard\u00a0in an effort to flatten the tooth of the paper. Just to be clear, THIS IS NOT HOW I DRAW. Flattening the tooth of the paper is never advisable – it’s damaging, limits the paper’s ability to retain the material, and can cause pencil strokes to stand out starkly.\u00a0But for this test, I wanted to do two things: 1) push the values as dark as possible, and 2) compare the amount of “burnishing” or “graphite shine” each pencil would deliver when forced.<\/p>\n As in the previous test, there’s not a huge value difference\u00a0between the blacks<\/em> and the conventional graphite pencils – at least when viewed head-on. The\u00a0blacks<\/em>\u00a0are darker, but only slightly. The difference\u00a0gets\u00a0more noticeable down the line, however, exposing a core limitation of graphite pencils: they only go so dark. The\u00a0graphite-only 8B really isn’t much darker than \u00a0the 6B, which isn’t much darker than the 4B. But in the\u00a0blacks<\/em>, there’s a more noticeable jump in value between the different pencils – the darker variations really are darker, not just softer.<\/p>\n Where the blacks<\/em> really out-perform their graphite\u00a0counterparts, however, is with respect to burnishing. The 8B black<\/em>\u00a0displayed no shine at all, even at maximum pressure. This may be evidence that it contains no graphite, but it’s hard to know. All I can say for sure is that it’s completely matte, like charcoal.\u00a0On the other end, though, the 2B black<\/em> burnished considerably under pressure. I was disappointed by this at first, but it makes sense now that I think more about it. The 2B, 4B and 6B\u00a0blacks<\/em>\u00a0are meant to be transitional pencils, bridging the gap between harder H pencils and the inky 8B. As such, they probably should contain at least some graphite. This will allow drawings that employ both types of pencil to maintain a more consistent appearance throughout the value scale, and possibly allow the blacks\u00a0<\/em>to blend\u00a0better with other pencils in transitional areas.<\/p>\n It’s worth noting that while the 2B could be coaxed to produce a burnished shine,\u00a0it was far less noticeable than its 2B counterpart – in other words, it burnishes, but burnishes less than a standard graphite pencil. Keep in mind to use it delicately. As with all graphite pencils, don’t force it. If you require a darker value than what the 2B black<\/em> seems comfortable delivering, put it down and pick up a darker one.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t I make liberal use of blending tools while drawing. They’re useful for creating continuous value transitions and for combating the “graininess” of the paper tooth – which I find distracting, particularly in shadows. In this test, the black<\/em> pencils performed as well as can be expected. The difficulty here is that these pencils contain a binder of some sort to keep the carbon and graphite content of the leads combined. I don’t know exactly what the binder is, but it gives the pencils a slight waxy or oily feel – kind of like a colored pencil. The material on the page has a\u00a0sticky stiffness to it that is markedly different from the fluid, slipperiness of pure graphite. As such, doesn’t\u00a0flow\u00a0<\/em>quite as well on the page when manipulated with a blender. I’m used to this, because the older generation 7B and 8B behaved\u00a0much the same way, so not much has changed here, but it does take some getting used to if you’re new to these pencils. I wish they were a bit more fluid, but they are what they are.<\/p>\n The binder also affects the erasability of the blacks.<\/em> These are dark pencils, and the material sticks to the page a little when applied, so it’s logical that they won’t\u00a0erase fully (unless you’re drawing\u00a0very<\/em> lightly). But they remain surprisingly workable. A kneaded eraser was able to remove about 50% of the material with one pass on a moderately dark 4B passage, and vinyl eraser a little more. This is about as much as I would expect, and frankly, it’s as much as is needed. As I frequently tell students, you shouldn’t really be using these pencils until you have a pretty good idea how dark you need to go and where (doing\u00a0value studies helps enormously with this.) In other words, if\u00a0your drawing procedure is well-organized, you shouldn’t need to erase that much. Use of the eraser is then confined to making relatively subtle value adjustments, not for removing the material completely.<\/p>\n Critical to modeling form is the ability to organize values into\u00a0progressions<\/em> – subtle gradients from light to dark that describe the turning of surfaces away from the light. A progression can span a very broad range of values, and as such can require the use of a variety of pencils: hard H’s for the lightest parts (or even chalk if you’re drawing on darker paper), down to the\u00a0softest\/darkest pencils available for the darkest. If our progressions are to be seamless, our pencils have to “play nice” together. They must be capable of mixing on the page in a kind of relay as our 9H gives way to 6H, to 4H, to 2H and so on, passing our target value down to the next pencil in the queue.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t As I mentioned above, there was previously a bit of an awkward jump in the Mars Lumograph lineup, where HB values reached a point where a darker pencil (not merely softer) was necessary to reduce burnishing, but that meant jumping down to a 7B.\u00a0This is were the 2B and 4B\u00a0blacks<\/em>\u00a0really earn their keep, providing a nice transition from an HB without fear of burnishing, or of going too dark too soon. The lead in the 2B black\u00a0<\/em>is visibly lighter in value\u00a0than its siblings, meaning it likely contains more graphite relative to carbon. Although I can’t say for sure, I’d bet there’s some sort of hardener in there, too – perhaps clay as is found in other graphite pencils – that gives the lead its drier, more brittle quality. Whatever it is, the 2B is ideal<\/em> for making the transition from an HB down into darker half of the value scale. The carbon content of the lead allows for the right amount of darkness without (much) burnishing, but the hardness of the lead prevents one from going too dark accidentally – a perennial risk when using a 7B in the Value 4 range of the scale. In fact, I didn’t really realize just how big a problem this was until I got used to using the\u00a0blacks<\/em>. Now that I have them, I can’t imagine going back.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Testing pencils in flat swatches and\u00a0gradations is one thing, but what’s it like to actually\u00a0use<\/em> these things for “real” drawing? My recent portrait drawing of DaLawn was\u00a0the first time I tried and I really enjoyed them. At first, the brittle scratchiness of the 2B threw me off, but only because I was trying to use it\u00a0for values that were too dark. It may be a black<\/em> pencil, but it really is meant to be used like a standard 2B – in other words, for midtone values in the Value 4-5 neighborhood. If you try to push it\u00a0much further than that\u00a0it’ll burnish and\/or scratch\u00a0the paper.<\/p>\n I think what I appreciate most about the Mars Lumograph black<\/em> pencils is that they’ve made the problem of pencil selection simpler. I used to have to explain to students why I steer clear of the softer B pencils in favor of 7B and 8B, but\u00a0there was sometimes confusion: students would forget and use the soft pencils away, or use a graphite-only\u00a07B and 8B – which are made of evil – and end\u00a0up with shiny, shiny drawings.<\/p>\n With the blacks<\/em>, however, much of that confusion is eliminated. We now use the full range of pencils from 8B to 8H just as we would in any standard pencil set, but we use the\u00a0blacks<\/em> for the B’s and the standard Mars Lumographs for the H’s. It makes more sense and is a lot easier to remember, and\u00a0I’m really thankful for that.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t We intend to continue using the Mars Lumograph blacks <\/em>here for as long as they remain available,\u00a0which\u00a0brings up an\u00a0uncomfortable\u00a0question: How committed is Staedtler to this new pencil line? Nobody\u00a0but\u00a0Staedtler\u00a0knows for\u00a0sure, and I guarantee they won’t comment on the matter. But I\u00a0fear\u00a0they may decide, for whatever reason, that the product isn’t worth\u00a0continuing. The blacks<\/em>\u00a0aren’t currently available at my local art supply stores, so I have to order them online, and our \u00a0students report the same\u00a0– which doesn’t sound good to me.<\/p>\n Now that I’m used to using the\u00a0blacks,<\/em> I have a vested interest in seeing them flourish, so I’m doing what I can to convince other graphite artists to at least give them a\u00a0chance. To be clear, I don’t work for Staedtler, nor do we have any kind of affiliate arrangement with them at Vitruvian Studio. I just like these pencils and I want them to remain available. If you enjoy drawing in graphite, pick up a set and see if you like them. You can find them on Amazon here<\/a>, and we’ve begun including them by default in our own materials kits, which your can order here<\/a>. If you like them as much as I do, contact your local art supply store and ask\u00a0for them to be kept in stock.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before we get started, I have to say that\u00a0I’m a little late to this party. The “new” pencils I’m about to discuss here have actually…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why do darker pencils\u00a0matter?<\/h2>\n
Why The Change?<\/h2>\n
![\"Relatives.](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120443\/Darks-head-on-for-web.jpg\" "\\"Darks-head-on-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tRelatives. Variations of 8B on the left: the Mars Lumograph black<\/em>, the previous generation of Mars Lumograph<\/em>, and the current generation. On the right: the 6B black<\/em> and the now discontinued 7B Mars Lumograph<\/em>.\n\tWhat’s Different?<\/h2>\n
Appearance<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120446\/Mars-Lumograph-and-Blacks-for-web.jpg\" "\\"Mars-Lumograph-and-Blacks-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tThe Mars Lumograph blacks<\/em> share design cues from their parent line despite being… well… black.\n\tPerformance<\/h2>\n
Test #1: Moderate\u00a0Pressure<\/h4>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120430\/light-pressure-for-web-2.jpg\" "\\"light-pressure-for-web-2\\"")
\n\t\tThe column on the left (ML) shows the values provided by the standard Mars Lumograph<\/em> with moderate pressure. The column on the right is the Mars Lumograph black<\/em> pencils.\n\t\t\t\t![\"Even](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120436\/light-burnish-2-for-web.jpg\" "\\"light-burnish-2-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tEven with moderate pressure, some burnishing is visible in both pencil families when viewed at an angle, although the blacks<\/em> (on the right) burnish noticeably less.\n\tTest #2: Heavy Pressure<\/h4>\n
![\"With](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120447\/heavy-pressure-for-web.jpg\" "\\"heavy-pressure-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tWith heavy pressure, the difference in value between the two pencil lines is barely visible when viewed head-on. The standard Mars Lumograph<\/em> is on the left, the Mars Lumograph blacks<\/em> on the right.\n\t\t\t\t![\"When](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120449\/heavy-burnish-for-web.jpg\" "\\"heavy-burnish-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tWhen viewed at an angle, however, the difference between to two types of pencil is stark, particularly between the 8B’s. The standard Mars Lumograph<\/em> is on the left, the Mars Lumograph blacks<\/em> on the right.\n\tTest #3: Stumping and Erasing<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t
![\"Patches](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120450\/Blenders-for-web.jpg\" "\\"Blenders-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tPatches of Mars Lumograph Blacks, dragged out rightward with a blending stump.\n\t\t\t\t![\"Two](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120434\/4B-erasures-for-web.jpg\" "\\"4B-erasures-for-web\\"")
\n\t\tTwo erasures on a swatch of 4B applied with moderate pressure. Kneaded eraser on the left, a Tombow Mono Zero<\/em> stick eraser on the right.\n\tTest #4: Combining with Other Pencils<\/h4>\n
![\"A](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120432\/progression-for-web-1024x370.jpg\" "\\"progression-for-web\\"")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA progression of values from dark to light that employs all four blacks<\/em> along with standard H pencils.\n\t![\"It's](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120429\/8B-2B-comparison.jpg\" "\\"8B-2B-comparison\\"")
\n\t\tIt’s a little difficult to photograph, but the 2B lead is significantly lighter than anything offered in the previous generation of Mars Lumographs<\/em> such as the 8B shown here.\n\tUse Case<\/h2>\n
![\"Portrait](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120441\/dalawn-square-with-black-pencil.jpg\" "\\"dalawn-square-with-black-pencil\\"")
\n\t\tPortrait drawing with Mars Lumograph black pencil.\n\t\t\t\t![\"2B](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120423\/2B-N5-for-web-294x300.jpg\" "\\"2B-N5-for-web\\"")
\n\t\t2B black<\/em> with moderate pressure on white paper. Closest whole-step Munsell value: 5\n\t\t\t\t![\"4B](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120424\/4B-N4-for-web-300x300.jpg\" "\\"4B-N4-for-web\\"")
\n\t\t4B black<\/em> with moderate pressure on white paper. Closest whole-step Munsell value: 4\n\t\t\t\t![\"6B](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120427\/6B-N4-for-web-300x300.jpg\" "\\"6B-N4-for-web\\"")
\n\t\t6B black<\/em> with moderate pressure on white paper. Closest whole-step Munsell value: 4\n\t\t\t\t![\"8B](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/25120426\/8B-N2-for-web-300x300.jpg\" "\\"8B-N2-for-web\\"")
\n\t\t8B black<\/em> with moderate pressure on white paper. Closest whole-step Munsell value: 2\n\tVote With Your Wallet<\/h2>\n