I started to write another post about the materials I use for my coloured pencil drawings and when I came to erasers, I realized that that warranted a separate blog post in itself. I use a variety of erasers, all variously used to fix little mistakes that I inevitably end up making. I’ll dive right into listing and explaining each of them.
1. Battery Eraser
I resisted buying this one for a long time because I was always of the thinking ‘who splurges on erasers of all things?!' But this one really is a lifesaver when you need to remove color from an area completely (or almost completely). You can try doing the same with a regular plastic eraser but in my experience, it just didn’t work as well as a battery-operated one. I don’t use this eraser for cleaning small details or edges as once the eraser starts rolling, it can be a tad difficult to be very precise with it. I use the one by Derwent and so far it has worked well.
2. Plastic Eraser
I use these mostly when I am doing the initial sketches for a drawing. I avoid using erasers on my coloured pencil drawings as much as possible because erasing might damage the paper and affect how your colours lay down on the paper. Having said that, if I happen to make a stray mark with a pencil on my drawing, I use either a plastic eraser or the battery-operated eraser to clean it up, depending on how stubborn the mark looks.
I don’t have a particular preference for plastic erasers and use whichever is available.
3. Precision Eraser
When I need to fix mistakes in small areas or I’m cleaning up the edges of my drawing, I will use a precision eraser, which is basically a thin eraser that can be further sharpened (or cut, depending on the kind of eraser you are using) to a fine tip. My favourite one is the Tom Bow Mono Eraser which looks like a mechanical pencil with an eraser instead of lead in it. They come in a rectangle and circular shape and both are good for tackling detailed areas.
I have also used a pencil eraser by Derwent (which looks like a regular pencil with an eraser instead of the graphite). The internet says it can be sharpened like a regular pencil for a fine point but I have never been able to do this. The eraser always snags in the blade of the sharpener and all in all, it’s not pleasant to use.
4. Kneaded Eraser
I use this both in the initial stage of a drawing (to lighten any graphite marks) and at the finishing stage (to pick off any powdered pigment that might have fallen on the paper). You can also use this eraser to pick off some (not all) of the colour from your drawing.
I’ll follow up this blog post with one on the rest of the materials I use. These lists might grow to include more things as I continue to progress in my art and learn more things.
Till then, Namaste.
Kommentare