You’re staring at a blank page. It’s white. It’s blinding. You’ve got a 2B pencil in your hand, the lead is perfectly sharp, and yet, your brain is a total desert.
Usually, when people search for things to draw pencil artists like to suggest, they get the same tired list. Draw an apple. Draw a coffee mug. Draw a shoe. Honestly? That’s why people quit drawing. It is boring. If you aren't excited about the subject, your hand isn't going to move with any soul. Pencil drawing is about texture, shadow, and that gritty graphite feel, not just documenting the fruit bowl on your kitchen table.
The secret to a good sketch isn't just "talent." It's picking a subject that actually plays to the strengths of the medium. Graphite is incredible for capturing things that are shiny, things that are wrinkled, and things that have depth. If you choose something flat and matte, you’re making your job ten times harder.
The Texture Trap: Why Certain Subjects Work Better
If you want to get better at pencil drawing, you have to stop thinking about "objects" and start thinking about "values." Graphite is literally just different shades of grey. That’s it. To make a drawing pop, you need a high contrast between your darkest blacks and your whitest whites.
Think about an old, leather boot. Not a new one—a beat-up, cracked, salt-stained work boot. This is one of those classic things to draw pencil enthusiasts swear by because of the sheer variety of texture. You have the smooth (but scuffed) leather, the rough nylon laces, and the heavy rubber tread of the sole. Each of these requires a different pressure on your pencil. You’re not just drawing a boot; you’re practicing pressure control.
👉 See also: Why Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Walmart Prices are Changing Everything for Your Freezer
Metal and Glass: The Hardest Simple Things
Most beginners avoid glass like the plague. It’s clear, right? So how do you draw it? You actually don't draw the glass; you draw the reflections.
Take a simple glass of water with a couple of ice cubes. This is a masterclass in observation. You’ll see sharp, dark lines where the water hits the glass and soft, blurry grey shapes where the ice is melting. If you can nail a glass of water, you can draw anything. Metal is similar. A crumpled soda can is a fantastic exercise. The sharp transitions between the bright highlights and the deep shadows inside the folds teach you how to be bold with your darker pencils, like a 4B or 6B. Most people are too scared to go dark enough. Don't be that person. Smudge it. Get your hands dirty.
Anatomy Without the Boredom
People get intimidated by human figures. They think they need to understand every single muscle in the human body to draw a person. You don’t. At least, not right away.
Instead of trying to draw a full portrait of your sister or a celebrity—which is high-pressure because if the likeness is off by a millimeter, the whole thing looks "wrong"—focus on the weird bits. Draw a hand gripping a glass. Draw a pair of ears. Seriously, ears are bizarre. They are all cartilage and strange curves.
Hands are notoriously difficult, but they are the best things to draw pencil can tackle because of the wrinkles in the knuckles. Those tiny, fine lines are where your mechanical pencil or a very sharp H-grade pencil really shines. If you want to get better at portraits, spend a week just drawing eyes from different angles. Look at how the eyelid casts a tiny shadow onto the eyeball itself. It’s those little details that move a drawing from "hobbyist" to "artist."
Things to Draw Pencil Layers: Architecture and Nature
Sometimes you just want to zone out. You don't want to think about "artistic expression," you just want to move the lead across the paper. That's when you go for architecture.
Find a photo of an old European street or even just a cool-looking house in your neighborhood. Architecture is great because it relies on perspective. You get to use a ruler if you want, or you can go freehand for a "sketchier" look. The contrast between the hard lines of a building and the soft, organic shapes of the trees next to it creates a really pleasing composition.
- Tree Bark: Spend twenty minutes just on the texture of an oak tree’s bark. It’s basically just a series of random, jagged shapes.
- Fabric Folds: Toss a t-shirt on the floor. Don’t straighten it out. Draw the way the fabric bunches up. This teaches you how light wraps around a form.
- Mechanical Parts: An old watch movement or the inside of a computer. All those tiny gears and wires are perfect for someone who loves detail.
Why Your Pencil Choice Actually Matters
I see people trying to do a full-value drawing with a standard yellow No. 2 pencil they found in a junk drawer. Can you do it? Sure. Is it fun? No.
A standard pencil is usually an HB. It’s right in the middle. If you want those deep, velvety blacks, you need a B (Black) range pencil. If you want light, hard lines for technical details, you want the H (Hard) range. Most artists have a small kit: an HB for sketching, a 2B for general shading, and a 6B for the "soul" of the drawing—those darkest spots that provide the punch.
The Mental Block: "I Have Nothing to Draw"
We’ve all been there. You have the tools, you have the time, but the inspiration is dead. When this happens, stop looking for "artistic" subjects. Look for mundane junk.
A crumpled-up bag of chips. A pile of laundry. The tangled mess of charging cables on your desk. These are actually better things to draw pencil lovers should focus on because there is no "perfect" version of them. If you draw a bowl of fruit and the banana is a little wonky, it looks like a bad drawing. If you draw a tangled mess of cables and a line is a bit off, nobody knows! It takes the pressure off. It lets you focus on the actual act of seeing rather than the result of "making art."
Real improvement happens in the "ugly" sketches. The pages of your sketchbook that you don't post on Instagram are the ones where you actually learned something.
👉 See also: Why Every Picture of Ice Cream Cone You See Is Probably a Lie
Actionable Steps for Your Next Sketch
Stop scrolling and actually pick up the pencil. To get the most out of your next session, try this specific sequence:
- Select a "Texture Hero": Find one object near you that has a weird texture. A pinecone, a wool sweater, or even a piece of toast.
- The 5-Minute Blind Contour: Spend five minutes drawing that object without looking at your paper. Keep your eyes on the object the whole time. It will look like a disaster. That’s the point. It warms up the connection between your eyes and your hand.
- Map the Shadows: On a new page, lightly sketch the outline. Instead of drawing "lines," draw the shapes of the shadows you see. Where is the darkest part? Block that in first.
- Layer Your Graphite: Start with your HB or 2B for the mid-tones. Save your 6B for the very end. Only put those darkest blacks in the areas that are truly, 100% in shadow.
- Use Your Eraser as a Tool: Don't just use an eraser to fix mistakes. Use a kneaded eraser to "pull" light back out of a shaded area. This is how you create highlights in hair or the glint in an eye.
The best way to master things to draw pencil styles is to stop overthinking the subject and start obsessing over the light. Everything is just a series of shapes and shadows. Once you see that, the blank page isn't scary anymore; it's just a place to play. Grab a 2B, find a piece of crumpled paper, and just start. Forget about the "masterpiece" and just focus on the way the graphite grips the tooth of the paper. That's where the real progress happens.