Pencil Black sets the weight of the palette in authority and restraint, and Mid Gray is the swatch that breaks rank: a single gray that stops the set reading as one note. Saturation averages 7 percent, so close to grey that Warm Paper reads as a colour accent purely by being the least grey thing present. Pencil Black and Dark Gray are close enough in hue and lightness that most people will read them as one colour, which makes them a pair to separate rather than two choices to spend.
Pencil Black is black's softer relative, still authoritative, but with enough warmth to feel considered rather than severe.
Dark Gray is black's softer relative, still authoritative, but with enough warmth to feel considered rather than severe.
Mid Gray is true neutrality, balance and restraint, a color that recedes so the palette's other choices can carry the emotional weight.
Light Gray functions as quiet breathing room, understated, unobtrusive, built to let other colors do the talking.
Warm Paper signals warmth, approachability, and creative energy, friendlier than red, louder than yellow.
Line-based artwork, sketches, and hand-drawn mark-making
Explore the full Drawing / Sketch style guide