I love Ebony pencils
 

HI Jimmie,

I just saw this post and had to reply. I also have been using Ebony pencils for a long time and buy them by the box. I love them because they give me such a rich tonal value and darkest darks all in one pencil. I probably break the tradition of pencil drawing because I never use the 2b, 2h, blah blah blah pencils...I use only one: Ebony. I like to use a fine illustration board to draw on, as the surface is smooth and takes the graphite very well. I would highly recommend these pencils to you, as your drawings are fabulous! They would certainly benefit by being used in your hand.

And that is my two cents worth! ;-)

Generals has a nice line of woodless graphite pencils which I like because the woodless pencils are heavier in my hand. However, I feel guilty every time I sharpen the pencil for all the graphite I am not using.

In Tony Ryder's workshop, he used Staedtler Lumograph Pencils, and says he likes them the best for the softer leads, 4B through 9B. I just received my set from Dick Blick (order from Dick Blick from SOG and it benefits Cynthia) yesterday and am going to portrait class with them tonight.

I have ebony pencils and really like them for their smoothness but I doubt they will get the dark you are hoping for. They do get shiny fast for me.