I often use The General’s Charcoal pencils. Generally, my canvases are toned, so the White Charcoal is the one I use most frequently. It seems a little more solid than regular charcoal, and doesn’t smear much (the black one smears a little more than the white, but still much less than regular charcoal. I think the charcoal material may be mixed with something else to achieve this more solid quality.

I also do quick oil sketches as you do, and for more complex scenes – such as cityscapes where angles must be right for the piece to read well – I will use a blown up photograph and Saral paper (it’s sort of like carbon paper).

FYI, it’s probably better to avoid graphite, as there are documented cases of bleed through. Although it may not be “bleed through” exactly. As oil paints age, they become more transparent, and this may reveal the graphite below the paint layers. There’s a graphite color Saral paper that’s better avoided, as it can smear and affect color applied on top of it.

When I want to draw precisely on a panel or canvas I use Polychromos colored pencils and I match the color to what is going to be painted so any lines that might show through as the paint dries won’t matter. They are oil based and wipe off fairly well with OMS for changes. I have never had problems with them mixing with the paint, but I tend to use fairly light and harmonious colors.

This is very near my method for doing an underdrawing for a painting as well (when I actually do an underdrawing). The only difference is I usually use Walnut oil instead of OMS for correcting my mistakes, which loosens the binder in the pencils and allows them to be wiped off with minimal staining (for most colors).

I draw with simple chalk on colored grounds.

Polychromos Oil Pencils when I don’t want lines to smudge like when using a grid or something.

Charcoal if I want to do an elaborate drawing with shading and what not. I wipe off most of the charcoal before I paint over that area though otherwise it can make the paint dirty. Could do the same thing with the Oil pencils but it’s alot more work. You can thin and blend oil pencils out the same as thinning a wash with oil paint. You could actually do a pretty elaborate drawing with the oil pencils now that I think about it. I might have to try that one day.

When it is a bit more complex to just use a brush only I do a graphite drawing with a 3B pencil. Once I am happy with the drawing I seal it with a mixture of acrylic and acrylic medium in a color I like and a bit of acrylic primer to work on further …. often a burnt sienna mixed with burnt umber or yellow ocre. APply it thin enough to see the pencil lines through that layer. Sometimes I reinforce the drawing with a small brush and acrylic paint thinned such that it flows easily. That ground is perfect for oil painting … for me that is.

I use a regular graphite pencil (2H).