Which pencil would you use for a background that you want real black - a B1?

Higher the number in B the darker so B4 or B6. I think someone just commented on this in another thread where someone asked the same question .. either last night or today...

I've never heard of a B1. Pencils usually go from F to H to B. The B's containing the highest level of graphite and being the softest and darkest.

To get a very dark background, especially if its a large area I might use charcoal or simply add layers upon layers of graphite starting with a 2B to get the level you want. You just need to be careful not to use much pressure or you'll lose the tooth of the paper. A little fixative can help too with the layers.

You will have to excuse us painters.. we were playing battle ship..
B10 "You sunk my Battle SHIP!"

I go staraight for the 9b woodless if I want a black background - or you could use a carbon pencil - you'll get a geep even black with that too.

Try a few things on spare paper to see what you feel most comfortable with . And don't forget that you want to use a hatching method to cover the area or else you are in danger of trying to get close to your subject and creating a haloed outline effect while you are concentrating on your deep black (you never see that halo till your done then its too late !) And also experiment with different materials to blend with - my favourite is a cut up old cotton T shirt - it holds the graphite and when I blend it adds more graphite as well which helps the dark backgrounds, some people have better results with felt and then some folk swear by their stumps.

As I say take a small piece of the paper you are working on and test what will give you the best results for the effect you want.

A great book on this is 'Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil' by J.D. Hillberry. Even if you do nothing but ogle at the talent of this man it is well worth getting (North Light Books).

I've never heard of F pencils. Are they even harder than H pencils?

I just did a google for my own knowledge and this is very helpfull.. scroll down.. it shows the numbers and the darkest value for that number..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil

Thanks everyone for your help!!!!!

Another trick you could do is draw it as a negative then after you scan it onto your computer, simply invert it so the white background is black. like this...[attachmentid=8642]

Thats pretty cool!!!! Thanks for that tip as well!!