Simply put: darker = softer (read: holds point for less time). Standard pencil is the sweet spot (2 hb). As a former art student and user of (probably) many hun

Simply put: darker = softer (read: holds point for less time). Standard pencil is the sweet spot (2 hb). As a former art student and user of (probably) many hundreds of pencils, I can say it's hard to beat that middle ground for writing. Obviously drawing is a totally different thing where you might need a bunch of different weights. I think the thing that makes a pencil a pleasure to use is what it looks like. Totally subjective aesthetic qualities will keep me coming back to the same pencil with much greater force than the actual writing characteristics.