Okay, so you see all these different pencils ranging from 9H to 9B, but how do you decide which to choose. Well, I've found that it's best to pick just 3 or 4 and stick with them. I generally get a very soft pencil like 8B, combine that with a medium soft pencil like 2B or 3B, have a middle ground pencil like HB, and one or two hard pencil like 2H or 4H. This will cover about any drawing you could do, and sticking with some select pencils means you can buy more of those and have back-ups.

Here is a basic rundown of what to expect and how to choose a hard or soft lead.

leads get harder <<<<H (hard) —– B (soft)>>>> leads get softer

leads get cleaner <<<<H (hard) —– B (soft)>>>> leads get messier

 lighter <<<<H (hard) —– B (soft)>>>> darker

must press hard to get darks <<<<H (hard) —– B (soft)>>>> can get darks by pressing easily

will ruin paper if pressed hard (2H and up)<<<<H (hard) —– B (soft)>>>> will ruin paper if pressed hard (3B and down)

So, overall HB is a good medium between the H's and B's. For quick sketching 3B and down work great because they require little pressure and can make good quick gesture drawings. I found 8B to be very useful for quick sketches, just keep in mind that it may make your sketchbook a little dirty. When you need more precise lines, choose a harder pencil (HB or harder). If you need a clean surface (like for watercolor under-drawings), use a harder lead (cleaner), but don't push too hard or it'll be hard to erase or paint over.

Note: these pencils do not typically have erasers. I recommend using a kneaded eraser only resorting to other types of erasers for lines that are very hard to erase.