To my mind, the pencil is still the best connection from the brain to the real world. Pens are good and all, but the pencil is where it’s really at. I’ve always been a fan, and now, unless the situation absolutely demands the use of a pen, the trusty .5 HB is the weapon of choice.

Amazingly, it’s not that writing or drawing with a pencil just facilitates getting ideas to onto paper, but find the right combination of lead, barrel weight and size, and thickness of tip and it seems to draw information from the brain that one never knew was there.

Due to the variance of touch, pencils offer more (dare I say) passion to the paper than a pen. And this is why I say I find then so useful. If I need to generate ideas, the pencil is the first port of call - largely because of the extra visual feedback supplied. There’s just more to the idea being drawn when drawing with this, one of my of my favourite tools.