Graphite and your hand

I have always been curious about how other select their graphite hardness and diameter. For me, a wide, soft lead works best for my heavy hand. I find that i'm able to draw light strokes when rocking my wrist back and using the sharpest point of the lead. I am a mechanical pencil user, so maybe that is weighing against me. I enjoy using a soft lead because it allows me to derive a wide variety of tones from just one pencil. Whether I am lightly whisking my hand around the page or intentionally bearing along a defining edge I can pull many depths of darkness from my stroke. I'm curious as to how you negotiate your graphite hardness and what techniques you use to abstract the desired lineweight or darkness from your pencils?

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Comment by Brian Lin on July 5, 2016 at 1:14pm: Great post Adam. I usually vary pressure by using my index finger. One way to keep the end of the pencil sharp (to a degree) is twisting the pencil as you draw. It's pretty effective. Mechanical pencils are great too, but I prefer the feel of a genuine wood pencil.

Best,

Brian