Hey, Hirsch Personally I never had any problem with the Conté Pierre Noire, but I heard countless stories like yours. Honestly I don't think is a quality issue. These are very fragile pencils. So bad shipping, careless handling sharpening the wrong way...all of these may lower significantly their lifespan. There's not to say that they are perfect. Some times you come across bad batches. The advice that I give regarding this matter is to buy from art stores that you trust and that know what they are doing. And once you got them be really careful with them (never drop them on the floor, they'll break inside instantly). About your portrait of Morgan and Nicolai, I'll group my critiques together because I have the same feedback to give about both. Both are nice jobs but both have proportional issues faces are elongated, eyes have different sizes etc. You are doing a good job separating the light from the dark but I think the transitions are too hard and you're leaving these hard lines in the light there are not mixing well. So work in your edges and try to think more in term of shapes than in lines. Talking about Conté, some draftsmen say it's the best tool for you to draw like a painter. Finally, I think your work is lacking in the lights. Not that you need to add thousand of halftones and overwork it. No, in fact the stronger point in this 2 portrait were the separation between line and shadow. But I really think your work would benefit if you design better the half tones in the light to show more form. The exercise that you simplify the portrait into 4 or 5 values would help you a lot in my opinion. Keep Drawing Best Regards