Category: Tips for Artists

Being able to take your pencil marks up off the paper is as important as being able to put them on in the first place. In my years of drawing, I have settled on two main types of erasers and use both for different purposes. Both are very inexpensive.

The best eraser if you are working on rough paper or doing a lot of work with soft pencils is a gum eraser, or kneaded eraser. It costs a dollar or two and looks like grey clay. If it gets dirty, knead it and work it and it will come clean again. You can form it into a small point for taking up small areas, or a big broad blob for erasing large areas. It is gentle on the paper.

The best eraser if you are working on smooth paper or with hard pencils, is a white vinyl eraser. Good ones are made by Staedtler Mars, and also only cost a dollar or two. They are used by draftsmen. A white vinyl eraser is rectangular with sharp edges and a cardboard cover around it. Used carefully, you can erase large areas cleanly and it does a good job picking up pencil marks. Wipe it off on an old T-shirt if it needs to be cleaned, tissue works well too.

Another drafting tool that is really good for art is an eraser shield. It’s a thin piece of metal with various sized slots in it, and it’s very good for erasing exactly where you want to, and no more. This, too, is also available at most large office supply stores.

If you want to check out a great selection of art supplies, DickBlick.com is the place to go.

Whether art board, paper, or canvas, there are places you can skimp and places you cannot. Better to buy masonite panels at your hardware store and gesso them yourself, then buy a badly stretched, flimsy canvas at a big-box craft store. Better to save up and get paper with a good tooth rather than get cheap stuff that will make it impossible to get a good line. That said, a ream of printer paper is good for most marker or technical pen practice. It does have a tendency to bleed however.

For the novice, better paper tends to tell you what the weight is. The simplest rule is, generally, the heavier the better.

For interested parties, some of the best deals on quality art materials can be found at DickBlick.com.

You can have a lot of fun with a good pencil. That won’t necessarily make or break a piece, but it can be hard to do good work if you have bad materials. The best pencils have leads that make a dark, smooth line, don’t have a lot of hard chunks in the lead, are easily sharpenable, and are centered in the wood so they sharpen properly.

You may consider trying a woodless graphite. They are pure graphite wrapped in a tough outer coating. You sharpen them just like a pencil but the whole tip can be used to make lines! They come in an assortment of hardnesses. My essential set consists of a 2b or Hb, a 6b and a 9b. Layout is done with the 2b and the shadows are filled in with the darker, softer 6b. Woodless graphites cost a dollar or two each and last a very long time.

Don’t forget a quality mechanical pencil. It can be invaluable for making crisp fine lines. Buy a good one and it will last forever. A good one can be had for less than ten dollars in the drafting section of an office supply store.

Or just shop at Dick Blick – they’re awesome.

For art to impress, it’s helpful if it readily catches the viewer’s eye. If you have your work scanned in on the computer, looking at the file thumbnails is an excellent way of quickly seeing what an art viewer sees as they pass by. A similar effect can be had by putting the painting or drawing across the room from you and glancing at it quickly.

What pops out at you? What is the first thing that you see? Is that the main focal point of your work, or can you think of ways to make the art more impactful?

When drawing and painting, you can really make an image “pop” by paying attention to the overall lights and darks of the piece. If you can look at your picture and see that it’s roughly the same value, you should consider darkening the shadows and brightening the highlights. Doing this will add contrast and prevent the work from looking like an undifferentiated mass.

This is particularly apparent when using pencils. It’s worthwhile to invest in a really soft, dark pencil (like a 6b or even a 9b) to make the darks really, really dark. A touch of chalk pencil can touch up the highlights for some extra impact.