What the way you hold a pencil says about you

Ask anyone how many ways there are to hold a pencil and they'll probably say one way – their way. But as a viral image has revealed on Twitter (sorry, X) recently, there are actually at least nine. And apparently, they reveal a few things about your personality.

Drawing on the character alignment system made famous by Dungeons and Dragons, the chart suggests that the different ways of holding a pencil range from lawful good to chaotic evil (and the latter really is evil). Fancy working on your own grip? Check out our guide to the best pencils for artists.

The hilarious chart was created by comics artist H-P Lehkonen. According to the chart, I'm 'chaotic neutral'. And according to Wikipedia, that means I'm, "an individualist who follows their own heart and generally shirks rules and traditions." Examples of my kind include "barbarians and rogues, and some bards." Sure.

But the biggest surprise to me is how some other people apparently hold their pencil. The likes of 'chaotic good' and 'lawful evil' are just pure... chaos. Surely their handwriting is appalling? Although, to be fair, so's mine. And yet... and yet... some commenters have managed to find even more evil ways of holding the implement:

So there we have it. There are lots of ways to hold a pencil, and some of them are just plain evil. And don't worry, digital artists can be evil hand models too – take a look at our guide to the best Apple Pencil deals.