The last couple of years, every time I draw something traditionally, something bad happens, it’s like the universe is playing tricks on me. Last time, I had a sore shoulder for a month (which I guarantee had nothing to do with drawing).
However I decided that the universe won’t beat me, damn you universe, this eye is for you. Eye see you! 😉 Oh and by the way, if you take a long break from drawing, I highly recommend starting with an eye like the one below. There’s a famous quote among visual artists: “There’s nothing more difficult than drawing the other eye”. Well… if you draw only one, there’s no problem I guess!
Staedtler Mars Lumograph are probably my favorite graphite pencils of all time. Especially the 7B and the 8B ones. There are pitch black and they have an almost charcoal-ish quality. You can see how much I love them in this post. Naturally, I was itching to try Mars Lumograph Black, but for some reason I never did. However, when I saw the pencils at the local craft store, a couple of months ago, I couldn’t resist, I had to grab a package!
What’s the big deal with black pencils?
If you have ever worked with graphite, you might have noticed that it has certain disadvantages. For once it is difficult to create dark values. And second, it produces (sometimes) unbearable shine, as you can see below. (The left image was created -you guessed it!- with the Mars Lumograph line!) So, artists are always in search for the perfect black pencil and for ways to cancel unwanted shine. Companies know this, and they try to keep up. Sometimes they succeed, sometime they don’t! But let’s jump to the actual products.
The pencils
The black range comes in six grades, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 7B and 8B. Which came as a relief actually, I rarely use more than 3 different grades in an artwork, it is exhausting in my opinion. However, I went on and got the metal case with all grades. (Because when I see something new, I have to get it, I probably have more pencils than I can use in my whole life – who can relate?!)
Mars Lumograph Black Swatched
First of all Mars Lumograph Black is unlike any other graphite pencil you have tried. It is Black, and I mean BLACK and matt. Even the lighter values have a matt, dark quality.
The lead is not dense as with normal graphite pencils, it is rather soft and gritty and it leaves residue, just like charcoal. I have read somewhere that Mars Lumograph Black are in fact charcoal pencils, not graphite pencils. Unfortunately I cannot find my source and I am no expert when it comes to charcoal, if you know something more, please share!
Black Intensity, Matt quality
The thing is that Mars Lumograph Black are the Blackest and the mattest (is it even a word?!) “graphite” pencils I have ever tried. Even from extreme angles, swatches appear matt (unlike the ever-so-popular Faber-Castell Pitt graphite Matt pencils)
Blendability
A disadvantage at last! Sorry folks but Mars Lumograph Black are not easy to blend… They are gritty, sticky and because they are super soft they create a lot of texture. Here’s a super zoomed-in image of my artwork, so that you know what I am talking about. (Ignore my much untended hand) And don’t get me wrong, I love texture (proof this blog!) I have said over and over again that I love texture and I hate super polished, plastic-like artworks. But I love texture when I PERSONALLY am in control of it!
Anyways, to be honest I could easily “fix” my problem here, if I mixed ordinary graphite. But I decided to leave the drawing as is, so that I can have a reference how Mars Lumograph Black perform standalone.
Price
Mars Lumograph Black retail around 2$ per piece on Amazon, which makes them quite pricey. Although I am sure you can find them at a much lower price, Staedtler is such a popular brand, it is almost everywhere. And let’s be honest here: Graphite is the most economical art supply out there, a few cents more won’t make a difference. But the quality of the pencils will!
Final Results
As expected, Mars Lumograph Black are probably my … favorite pencils out there! I kinda expected this, because I have been using the plain Mars Lumograph 8B for years and they are practically identical. However, I will be mixing them together with normal graphite, at least I find another technique! Overall they are fantastic pencils which solve the two biggest problems graphite artists face: They produce super dark values and they are matt.
Have you ever tried Mars Lumograph Black? What do you think of them?
