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You are here: Home / Drawing Tips / Graphite Drawing Tips / Drawing With An Eraser

August 6, 2016 By Dave Nevue Leave a Comment

Drawing With An Eraser

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Most people think that erasers are meant for fixing mistakes. For graphite artist’s erasers are a powerful tool that helps the artist create photo-realism drawings. By practicing drawing with an eraser, you will learn different techniques that will enhance your drawing skills.

Drawing Supplies

Below is a list of all the materials I use for my drawings. I purchase all of my drawing supplies online at Blick Art Materials.

  • Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board Pads 9″ x 12″ Smooth 
  • Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board Pads 9″ x 12″ Velum 

Blending

  • Tortillons
  • Loew-Cornell Blending Stumps

Pencils

  • Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencil
  • Blick Studio Drawing Pencils
  • Pentel Graph Gear 500 Pencil

Value Finder

  • Gray Scale and Value Finder

Erasers

  • General’s Factis Magic Black Eraser
  • Tombow Mono Zero Refillable Eraser
  • Prismacolor Kneaded Rubber Erasers
  • Alvin Dry Cleaning Pad

Extras

  • General’s The Miser Pencil Extender
  • Sandpaper Block
  • Westcott Wooden Dusting Brush

The list above is all of the tools that I use for my drawings. For this article, you will only need a 2B graphite pencil, 4B graphite pencil, kneaded eraser, Tombow Mono Zero Eraser, camel-hair artist brush, and a Factis Black Eraser.

Pencil Drawing Goal

The objective of this post is to help you discover what each drawing tool offers and how to control each drawing tool.

There will be times when you are creating a pencil drawing that you will need to remove a line, lighten a line, or create a straight edge.

Practicing drawing with an eraser will allow you to make the best decision every time for your drawings.

Removing graphite

Drawing With An Eraser

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission.. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy

“A Taste of Autumn”

By Dave Nevue

Drawing by Dave Nevue

How To Sell Art Prints On Etsy With Printful

Commissioned Drawing

By Dave Nevue

With my drawing “A Taste of Autumn” I used the eraser to create a realistic illusion for the whipped cream, plate, pie, and pumpkin.

I use the same technique on all of my drawings.

You can also see the soft value changes made with the eraser on the commissioned drawing above.

Smooth Value Changes

For the whipped cream and plate I used the kneaded eraser to remove graphite to create a very smooth soft value change. I used the Tombow Mono Zero eraser to draw the highlights.

Drawing Tips:

To create a soft value change by removing graphite, take your kneaded eraser and form a point at one end.

Tap the end softly on your drawing table to make the point a flatter surface.

Lightly tap the eraser on the area that you would like to remove graphite. Work from the lightest value and go towards the darkest value.

Using the kneaded eraser to create smooth value changes does take some time to master.

Practice before you try this technique on your finished drawing.

How to Practice:

Draw a one-inch block, a two-inch block and a three-inch block on a piece of paper.

Fill in the three blocks using a 2b or 4B graphite pencil.

From the middle of the block start removing graphite from the top to the bottom. The middle should be the lightest and gradually become darker as you go farther away from the center.

Try to make the values consistent.

It is ok if you remove too much graphite. All you have to do is lightly add the graphite back in the area that is too light.

Creating Highlights

To create highlights as you see on the pumpkin, I draw them in with the Tombow Mono Zero Eraser.

Drawing Tips:

When drawing with the Tombow Mono Zero Eraser use a light touch just as if you were drawing with your graphite pencil.

Keep going over the same section if you wish to have the line lighter.

Use a kneaded eraser to smooth the values around the line you drew with the Tombow Mono Zero Eraser.

Wipe off any debris that is left on the drawing surface from the eraser with your camel brush.

How To Practice:

Draw a one-inch block, a two-inch block and a three-inch block on a piece of paper.

Fill in the three blocks using a 2b or 4B graphite pencil.

Practice erasing lines in all directions just as if you were drawing with a pencil.

Draw curves and circles with the eraser.

The more that you practice the more consistent your lines will be.

Soften the lines with your kneaded eraser.

Conclusion:

Draw with an eraser and you will get an astonishing result that you can never get with just a pencil.

Practice with all of your tools until you have total control of them. Then apply what you have learned on your final drawings.

More Drawing Tutorials

How To Draw An Apple

Art Challenge Ideas Spark Creativity

Over 100 Ideas Of What To Draw And Sketch

5 Awesome Art Techniques Using Various Mediums

Realistic Drawing Tips You Must Know

How To Draw Realistic Cat Eyes

How To Draw Realistic Eyes Step By Step

How To Preserve Pencil Drawings

How To Keep Graphite Drawings Clean

How To Draw Realistic Hair With Graphite

How To Shade Drawings With Graphite

How To Draw A Tulip

Drawing Tips For Enhancing Your Drawing Skills

Drawing Tips For Realistic Drawings

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Filed Under: Blog, Drawing Tips, Graphite Drawing Tips Tagged With: Dave Nevue, drawing, Drawing With An Eraser, eraser

About Dave Nevue

Dave Nevue is a Professional Graphite Artist and the founder and CEO of Nevue Fine Art Marketing. He also authored the eBook The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams, and provides courses on art marketing at Nevue Fine Art Marketing Courses.

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