[Chruser]

At the moment, I'm beginning to doubt that my technique is what causes my work to never go as dark as I want it to. I have a collection of Derwent pencils, and even a 9B with considerable pressure applied, my work will not become dark enough. Instead, it turns into a moderately gray area. This causes a bit of problem for my scanner, as things will look rather flat, even with a high contrast applied. Right now, I mix pencil with charcoal to achieve the desired effect, but I would rather have a pencil to be able to achieve darkness and high contrast to the paper surface.

So, I'm wondering, what kind of pencils do you use that you would recommend? Any other Derwent pencil users around who can prove me wrong, and point me to a better technique?
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[The Big Harf]

I use General's, and they're fairly cheap... The Ebony layout pencil with mine seems to work pretty well, but then again it sounds like you want it REALLY dark.

Either way, General's are rather nice for cheap drawing pencils.
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[balistic]

You're never going to get a graphite pencil that scans absolute black because graphite is a shiny, reflective material. It tends not to scan well. Waxy leads have the same problem. Charcoal or ink is your best best for true black on a scanner, though even charcoal can have a bit of gloss to it.
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint