mechanical pencil (I know, not the finest medium…) and plastitack (that stuff you stick pictures to the wall with so you can pull them off later)
This was just something I began drawing while talking to my father one night. It morphed into something more over the next couple of hours. Good practice to get back into doing fine details like hair and eyes.
For the record, I have always found plastitack (or ticky-tack or that weird sticky putty stuff…) to be much more useful as a kneaded eraser than a kneaded eraser. I would hands-down prefer using the putty over a costly eraser anyday.
trebor61 1:37 pm on August 11, 2009 | #
Interesting tip about your method of erasing. Must try this as putty erasers are quite expensive. I shall visit the local childrens’ playgroup soon. I’ve been using a small electric eraser recently and its great for taking out small highlights. I can see where you are coming from with the mechanical pencil helping with fine lines. Even these are not fine enough for me as I can’t get a really sharp point with them. Its also difficult to get leads of different hardness. You seem to have overcome the sort of difficulties I have, remarkably well.
I use pencils which are sharpened into long points:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28475994@N00/3812579056/
It doesn’t matter what hardness they are they are all pointed like this. The point can be touched up with a piece of fine emery paper but, if the side of the lead is used for shading, a “chisel point” results which gives a really fine line. I tend to sharpen a handful of pencils at one go. Just don’t stab yourself with them. Thanks for the tip. Regards – Bob
Capellion 11:55 am on August 12, 2009 | #
I know different products show up different in various countries, so I wanted to show you exactly what I have been using as an eraser. Hopefully you can find it in the UK.
http://www.teacherstorehouse.com/large/bro99_L.jpg
trebor61 1:45 pm on August 12, 2009 | #
Thank you for this. I wonder if this is the same as “Blue Tack?” Reminds me of my early days in teacher training college. My lecturer used to tell us the “Knead the dough” when our “Visual Aids” fell off the classroom wall, as this stuff sticks better when its warmed up in the hand. I won’t say how long ago that was but I can still remember using a piece of stale bread to erase stuff. Happy days.