I've been struggling to produce a range of nine values in pencil. For the darkest values I tried General Ebony pencils, Cretacolor Negro pencils, Wolf Carbon, and a couple other things ... no luck. Everything I tried was still too light or so shiney it appeared too light.
I finally gave up and put a Faber Black Pastel Pencil in the set. Works like a charm.
Minh
BTW Jimmie ... I love your work!