Conte Drawing and Sketching Pencils

Conté à Paris offers a traditional range of drawing and sketching pencils with a variety of exceptional leads. These pencils are excellent for portrait, landscape and still life work.

From the dense matt black of Pierre Noire to the deep rust of Sanguine these pencils blend beautifully across the range and they are used to particularly good effect on coloured paper.

The Conté pencils compliment the Conté Crayon perfectly and blend well with them.

Available in singles and sets

Conte Pastel Pencils

The large diameter of the Conté à Paris pastel pencil lead (5mm) gives genuine freedom of creation and has an unrivalled feel. With a balanced range of 48 bright colours these pencils should be used as pure colours laid out in a patchwork fashion, side by side, rather than added in successive layers so as not to dull the shades.

The pastel pencil is perfect pencil companion to soft pastel as its core is slightly harder with a bit less pigment and it is a great pencil for detailed work.

Available in singles and tins.

Conte Carres Colouring and Sketching Crayons

Conté Carres Crayons with their 6x6mm cross-section offer a range of 84 colours, 14 tones of which are specifically designed for sketching.

The sketching range is composed of various reputable red, grey and blackish-brown tints with 3 gradations of black and white to complete the range. These crayons are very soft to use and are manufactured using natural pigments (iron oxides, carbon black, titanium dioxide), clay (kaolin) and a binder (cellulose ether). They are then baked after being extruded and dried. The degree of baking varies the grade (hardness: H/softness: B) of the black and white crayons.

The colour range has a chart of 70 bright and balanced colours and all Conté Carres crayons are produced from a highly rigorous choice of pigments.

Conté Carres crayons can be used in different ways:
Using the "flat edge" and varying the pressure (the greater the pressure on the pastel, the denser the colour obtained).
Holding the carre upright or slightly slanted, you can draw using the 8 angles at the end (allowing you to sketch and structure the drawing).

As far as surfaces are concerned all types of grained papers (especially semi-colored papers), canvas or surfaces with an uneven texture are perfect.