In a previous posting I described one of the most basic tools of a beginning artist, the drawing pencil. Whether graphite or charcoal, the drawing pencil is the best way to begin sketching images of people and/or their surroundings. Along with pencils also come erasers and blenders. While we tend to associate erasers with eliminating mistakes, they can also serve as useful tools for enhancing your work.
The erasers most everyone is familiar with is the rubber eraser.
I still have fond memories as a child of getting the first eraser of the school year along with new pencils and a ruler. Originally made of rubber, modern ‘rubber’ erasers are now made of a synthetic substitute. These types of erasers can be used in drawing but they tend to leave ‘crumbs’ behind which have the potential to mar your art work.
A better eraser is the vinyl eraser.
Because plastic erasers are harder, they are less likely to leave crumbs when used. It’s important to go easy with these types of erasers as they can damage paper. But the plus side is that you can even erase ink with them.
My personal favorite is the kneadable eraser.
Similar in feel to Silly Putty, the kneadable eraser can be molded into a variety of shapes, depending on what you are erasing. It leaves no crumbs but absorbs graphite and charcoal so will turn a very dark color after you have used it on a lot of drawings. It may harden up when left sitting for a long while, but will soften back up when you work it around in your hands.
Also useful are blenders, often called blending stumps or tortillons depending on how wide they are.
These are used to spread graphite and/or charcoal on the paper to achieve a smoother effect. You can use your fingertip or a q-tip but the blenders are more precise and less messy. Chamois cloth, which is a soft piece of leather, can also be used as a blender as well for larger areas.
All of the above tools are not to eliminate mistakes made but to enhance your artwork. A good example of this can be found on this tutorial which give instructions on how to draw realistic clouds.
Buy a couple pads of sketch paper and draw, blend, erase and smudge to your heart’s content.
Happy drawing!
