Electric Pencil Sharpener
Using an electric pencil sharpener will help to preserve your expensive drawing pencils.
Good drawing pencils aren't cheap, so your electric pencil sharpener should be of the best quality that you can afford.
Yeah, I know, there are lots of inexpensive (cheap) electric sharpeners out there; but if you want to preserve those nice drawing pencils you just bought, you might want to save-up some money and buy the high-dollar model.
Why on earth would I want to get an electric sharpener when I could just as easily sharpen a pencil with a manual sharpener?
A valid question...
Here are, in my opinion, some of the reason why electric pencil sharpeners are a better choice for sharpening your drawing pencils:
Speed
You will probably not want too many things to interrupt you when you're “in the zone”, so stopping to sharpen a pencil should be as quickly done as possible...just stick the pencil in a hole for a couple of seconds and you're ready to continue.
A manual sharpener will take more of your mental energy, thus making it harder to get back into focus again.
You will undoubtedly end-up breaking a lead while trying to sharpen a softer pencil when using a manual, twist-type sharpener, which will take even more time away from your creative mood. A good electric sharpener will help to minimize this possibility.
Quality Of The Point
Unless you have the steady hands of a surgeon, you won't get the same quality of a point by using a manual sharpener. Electric sharpeners are just better at producing nicely shaped points.
However...
Different models will create different shapes of points. I have not used all the models that are available, so do some research before buying an electric sharpener if this is a concern to you.
Less Breakage
You don't want your drawing pencils to become prematurely short... Do You??
Of course you don't!
I know that drawing pencils are not the same price as a set of the common No2 pencils that you find at any department store; and I don't feel like going out and buying a new set of quality drawing pencils every week.
I've tried to sharpen a soft grade pencil with a hand-held, twist-type sharpener without breaking the lead, but I can't do it without breaking the lead sometimes. I'm getting better...but still not perfect.
The breakage is a lot less when I use a good electric pencil sharpener.
A Word of Advise
Electric sharpeners have their faults.
- They're not great at sharpening wax-based pencils.
- They're noisy.
- The cheaper models wear-out faster.
- Most models will produce only one type of point.
- Sometimes there is a "technique" to getting the pencil's point sharpened without breaking it.
Well there you have it.. the electric pencil sharpener.
Do some research and choose the model that suits the kind of pencils you have, and your drawing style.
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