pencil drawings

Shaded graphite illustrations

Pencil drawings are artworks created using graphite, charcoal, or colored pencils on paper.

The term emphasizes both the medium and the finished work: The museum's collection includes pencil drawings by old masters.

Pencil drawing as a practice is often considered foundational to visual art training, valued for its immediacy and capacity for fine detail.

Opposites
medium/material

pencil drawingsoil paintings

Artwork using pigmented oils

ink drawings · watercolors · acrylic paintings · charcoal drawings · fresco

permanence/revisability

pencil drawingsink drawings

Art rendered in liquid pigment

pen and ink · etchings · engravings · tattoos · woodcuts

technology/method

pencil drawingsdigital art

Computer-generated visual work

photographs · computer-generated imagery · 3D renders · photograms · screen prints

Family

pencil, drawing

Familiarity
Top 100,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G