Play with Kneaded and Vinyl Erasers

By Brenda Hoddinott

Experiment with charcoal as a shading medium and two different types of erasers as drawing tools

Promo

Resource:

1.1.R9 Checking Out Charcoal

Supplies:

heavy white drawing paper or smooth watercolor paper, charcoal (stick, powder, or pencil), kneaded eraser, vinyl eraser, blending tools

ArtSpeak

Blending: The process of gently rubbing a section of shading with a blending tool (e.g., paper towel) to evenly distribute the medium over the paper's surface.

Blending tool: Anything used by an artist to blend a medium.

Values: The various shades of gray in an artwork. A broad range of values can be achieved by using various grades of a medium and by varying the density of the shading lines and the pressure used when applying the medium to a surface.

When used as drawing tools, vinyl and kneaded erasers work very differently.

  • - The sharp edge of a vinyl eraser works well for drawing light areas and fine details. If the edge of your vinyl eraser gets too dull to draw properly, use a very sharp blade or knife to cut off a new piece about an inch long or cut a thin slice off the end of the eraser.
  • - A kneaded eraser is great for lightening large areas. You can either pat or gently rub the surface of your paper. To draw fine detail, simply mould the tip of the eraser to a point or wedge. To clean your kneaded eraser, stretch and reshape (or "knead") it several times until it comes clean.

The technique of taking away values (rather than adding values) is a fun twist on traditional drawing. Most artists are familiar with drawing dark values on a light surface. However, as you will soon see, you can also draw light values on a dark surface.

Caution!

Don't apply too much pressure with the charcoal or the blending tool or you'll grind the charcoal into the paper so much that it won't erase (thereby defeating the whole purpose of this exercise).

1. Use charcoal to shade in a section of a sheet of drawing paper (Figure 1).

If you are using a pencil (as used for the shading Figure 1), shade with the side of the pencil point instead of the tip. It's faster and you end up with a smoother surface.

Figure 1

Figure 1

2. Use a blending tool (such as paper towel) to very gently blend the whole surface until you have a relatively solid tone (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Figure 2

3. Use your erasers to pull light values from the dark drawing surface(Figure 3).

Feel free to experiment with the erasers and remember to have fun!

Figure 3

Figure 3

Tip!

This technique of taking away values with an eraser is often used for shading realistic subjects - especially their textures and patterns.