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The most common drawing pencils are graphite pencils. 
These pencils are made with compressed graphite powder. Graphite is a mineral and in its natural form is soft and brittle.

Although graphite is a form of carbon and chemically unrelated to lead, the term lead continues to be used for the thin rod of graphite used in pencils today.

Drawing pencils are categorized in degrees of softness/hardness.
Soft pencils make dark marks, hard pencils make light marks.

From softest to hardness, the most commonly used degrees are:
8B, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, B
HB
H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H.

How to choose a graphite pencil

HB is the neutral range. 
The HB pencil is the balance point between harder and softer pencils.

B numbers are used for soft pencils. 
H numbers are used for hard pencils.
 
The degree of softness/hardness is indicated by the roman number in front of the letter B/H. The higher the number is, the softer/harder the pencils mark will be.
A 8B pencils is extremely soft and leaves a dark and large mark on the surface. A 6H pencil is extremely hard and leaves a very light, almost invisible mark on the paper.