Protecting the Paper of a Pencil Drawing

Tips for Rendering Clean and Smudgeless Drawings

Nov 16, 2009

When drawing in pencil it's easy to get your paper soiled or dirty from either greasy hands or from eraser smudges. That's why it's important to protect your paper.

Of all art mediums, the pencil is the simplest and most affordable. What’s more, it’s the most portable as an artist can take a simple pencil, eraser and drawing pad most anywhere. To render good drawings, however, an artist needs to ensure his paper stays clean and not smudged.

Types of Drawing Pencils

Mechanical pencils have certain advantages over graphite pencils. For example, because they have a constant length, they also have a constant balance, meaning their leads don’t need sharpening, so they’re more consistent. They also don’t leave the smudge marks that graphite pencils make, so a drawing is neater. On the other hand, many artists prefer graphite pencils. Popular graphite drawing pencils include Derwent Graphic and Sanford Turquoise drawing pencils. Hardness ranges from 7H (which is very hard) to 7B (very soft). HB is midway between H and B.

Sharpening Pencils

If graphite pencils are used over mechanical ones, it’s important to keep pencils sharp as it’s impossible to do detailed work with blunt pencils. It’s especially important to keep harder pencils (H’s) sharp for making fine details. Pencil tips should be wiped after they're sharpened.

Erasers

How to Keep Drawing Paper Clean

It’s important to keep hands and arms off the surface of your drawing paper. Even if you consistently wash your hands, they’ll still be somewhat greasy. That’s why it’s necessary to keep a second piece of paper, preferably tracing paper, for protecting your drawing, besides resting a hand or arm. If erasing is needed any skin moisture or greace can bind graphite into the surface of your drawing paper, making it challenging to cleanly erase it.

Start Out Drawing Lightly

When using graphite pencils, begin drawing lightly with an HB pencil, producing a very light outline. Using minimal pressure, make lines only heavy enough so they’re light, yet visible. This way you’re able to gently erase lines as you refine your drawing. Be careful not to make any deep indentations in your paper as these will be hard or impossible to correct later.

Shading and SmoothingOnly dry material should be used when working with applied graphite. Tools used for shading and smoothing include cotton balls, Q-tips, tortillions and tissues. Never use fingers for shading or smoothing as this can damage your paper from grease or moisture.

Once you’ve finished your artwork seal your drawing with a spray fixative. Be sure that your drawing is finished, though, because once it’s sprayed with fixative there’s no way to make corrections or use an eraser for lightening or other effects.

Finally, iIf your first attempts still have obvious smudges, don’t be afraid to start over if the damage is irreparable. Instead of feeling you’ve wasted your time, just learn from those mistakes and after awhile producing pencil work that’s free of unwanted marks and splotches will become easier.

The copyright of the article Protecting the Paper of a Pencil Drawing in Drawing is owned by Venice Kichura. Permission to republish Protecting the Paper of a Pencil Drawing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.