What kind of pencil can get these kind of blacks that sargent had?

>>2714508
Im pretty sure thats charcol not pencil

>>2714512
i have some flimsy charcoal sticks that arent THAT black and just smudge everywhere, did i just get some shit/not use it right or do you think he used a diff kind of charcoal?

>>2714519
Compressed charcoal and charcoal pencils are that black. You probably have vine charcoal which is supposed to smudge you just aren't using it well.

>>2714519
Like dude said below. Compressed charcol and charol pencil is that dark. The pencils also come in darker versions like 4b 6b etc. Some of the value of the face is for sure done in vine charcol, which you can sharpen with sandpaper, so that you get finer line