Tools of the Trade

In school I had more drawing classes than anything else art wise and with drawing comes erasing. I went to college with a knead-able eraser and a rubber gum eraser. One of my teachers who became my mentor shook up a lot of what I thought I knew about art. He told us that we shouldn't be erasing, but working more carefully so that we wouldn't need to erase. He also said my rubber gum eraser was acidic and not good for the paper. Part of why we weren't supposed to erase is that erasing compromises your paper and that effects what you draw after you erase. I hadn't comprehended this before but I've found it to be absolutely true. He told us that you shouldn't use an eraser if you can avoid it, unless you're actually using the eraser as a tool and not just a mistake correcter. He also told us that we shouldn't rub our erasers back and forth as we are wont to do, but to use the eraser in one direction and go the other direction to clean it off. I bet you didn't realize there was so much to be said about erasing, I know I didn't.


Finally, he said if we had to erase we should be using a staedtler plastic eraser. I don't know if other plastic erasers would also be as good but I use a staedtler.

P.S. Another good thing about these eraser techniques is that I've had the bottom eraser for years and who knows how many more years it will take me to use it up.