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

August 6, 2016 By Dave Nevue

Drawing With An Eraser

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

Related Post – Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper Review

Pencil Drawing Goal

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

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

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“A Taste of Autumn”

By Dave Nevue

Drawing by Dave Nevue

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

I used the kneaded eraser to remove graphite for the whipped cream and plate 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 where 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 takes 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.

Start removing graphite from top to bottom from the middle of the block. 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 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 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 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 to your final 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 Pastel Wildlife 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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