This cleverly designed set of six sketching pencils uses gradient color to indicate each pencil’s graphite grade: light to dark equals hard to soft, from 2H to 6B, supporting a full range of drawing styles and techniques. The concept sprang from the designer’s own use of traditional sketching pencils in a life drawing class, where they found that searching for the appropriate pencil grade was tedious and interrupted their creative flow. The addition of gradient color allows the pencils to be selected more quickly and easily. The palettes themselves were selected from single Pantone swatch cards to create a smooth and subtle gradient. The pencils are manufactured in the UK by Chambers Pencils, a small family-owned brand that has produced pencils for over 100 years in their Nottingham factory.

Six grades included: 2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B.