The Bar Cue and the HB Pencil: Lessons from Drawing 1
Just because you own a fancy pool cue doesn’t make you a great pool player. A good player can pull a warped cue off the bar rack and still wipe the table with you. Trust me—I’ve lost money using my fancy stick more than once to someone wielding a beat-up bar cue.
That metaphor hit home during our first assignment in Drawing 1 with artist and professor Priya Green at Central Connecticut State University. We were tasked with creating a value chart using different grades of graphite. I have the full range—14B to 9H—but Professor Green made a simple, powerful point:
“Truthfully, you can create a whole value scale with just an HB pencil.”
Game on.
I wasn’t sure I could actually pull it off using just a #2 pencil—the humble HB we all have lying around the house. It’s the “bar cue” of drawing tools. I’m the type who packs too many supplies every time I go out to sketch. My friend Phill Simon, on the other hand, brings next to nothing. When we ride the train to NYC to draw, he just grabs a seat, pulls out one pencil, and gets to work. He’s that bar cue player.
Here’s how I approached the challenge—just me, one HB pencil, and a blending stump:
My Process: HB-Only Value Chart
1) Paper Prep:
I tore a page from our class sketchpad and cut it into quarters to make smaller test sheets using the same paper we use for assignments. I taped it down and drew a grid.
2) Starting Light:
I began with the lightest box and worked my way darker, aiming to make each step just a bit deeper in tone than the last.
3) Light Touch Practice:
I usually press way too hard on my pencils. I grip them like I’m trying to win an arm-wrestling match. But watching experienced figure artists has taught me something—they’re gentle, almost reverent with the page. For boxes 2 through 4, I tried to match that delicacy. It wasn’t easy.
4) Blending Strategy:
I used a clean blending stump, starting with the lightest areas and moving gradually toward the darker ones so that the stump would pick up graphite as I went.
5) Midtone Build-Up:
Box #5, the midtone, took a couple of layers. Still light on pressure, but I needed more graphite to reach that middle gray.
6) Pencil Sharpening Tip:
An X-Acto knife is your friend. Sharpening this way exposes more graphite and makes it easier to shade. After cutting the wood away, I smoothed the graphite tip on scrap paper.
7) Building the Darks:
Boxes 6 and 7 came easier. Each needed just a little more pressure and layering than the one before.
8) Maximum Dark:
I skipped box #8 and jumped to #9, going all-in to make it as dark as possible. Getting a rich black with graphite is tough. I didn’t blend this one—I wanted the darkness to stay bold and unsoftened.
9) Back to Box #8:
With box #9 deep and box #7 moderately dark, it was easier to find the middle ground for box #8.
So, yeah—Professor Green knew what she was talking about. A skilled artist can do it all with the bar cue. I wasn’t sure I could. But I surprised myself.
This was a great reminder: It’s not about how many tools you carry. It’s about how well you use the one in your hand.
Time to carry less and draw more.
– Paul Gruhn
