Have you ever tried using a regular eraser on colored pencil? How did that turn out? Not well, I’m guessing. If you’ve had the same experience I have, you’re looking for a few good alternatives to erasers.
The topic for this post arises from a question from an artist who is allergic to erasers.
Maybe you’re like me and this is a new idea to you. So let me begin by sharing the reader’s comment and question.
I’m a college student who has been drawing with colored pencils for a while. I am starting to get more serious about improving my skills, and I was delighted to find your blog! I have a question about materials. I use the eraser on my Papermate mechanical pencil to erase my line drawings and to lighten colors or fix mistakes, but I’ve discovered I’m allergic to it and am feeling kind of lost. Do you have any suggestions on what else to use?
Allergic to Erasers
I’ve never heard of anyone being allergic to an eraser before. But a lot of modern products, including plastic erasers, contain so many chemicals that I realize I shouldn’t be surprised.
And because someone wrote and asked me this question, I’m sure there are other artists with the same problem. Hence this post.
Alternatives to Erasers
Two Suggestions to Begin
The first thing I want to address is the eraser this student is using. Just because she’s allergic to the eraser on the Papermate mechanical pencil doesn’t mean she’s allergic to the erasers on all mechanical pencils. It might be worth while to do a little research into other mechanical pencils. For example, I have two mechanical pencils. The erasers are not the same; one is harder than the other and they don’t appear to be made the same way, either.
Second, none of the mechanical pencils I have are very useful for erasing colored pencil. That’s because they’re made for graphite. The binder in graphite allows graphite to be removed from paper very easily. The binder in colored pencils is designed to keep the pigment where you put it. That means that it doesn’t erase easily.
The two erasers shown above are made for a variety of uses. I use them for graphite when necessary, but I have also used them on colored pencil. They work best on colored pencil in the early stages of drawing, such as shown above. The nice thing about these is that you can sharpen them with a knife if you wish, and the erasers themselves come in a variety of hardnesses.
However, they may be manufactured similar to that Papermate mechanical pencil eraser, so check the manufacturer’s details before buying or trying.
Now, for some alternatives to erasers.
Mounting Putty
Mounting putty is usually my first choice for lifting color and correcting mistakes. It’s great for removing excess graphite or other transfer material, and you can also lighten or remove colored pencil.
One of the advantages of mounting putty is that it’s self cleaning. When you get too much color on it, knead it until the color is absorbed.
You can also shape it to almost any shape you need. I’ve rolled it into a pointed shape for small areas, and into balls or random shapes for larger areas, such as shown below.
There’s very little risk of damaging the paper, and it works on any type of paper you might be using. I use it on Stonehenge, Canson Mi-Teintes and Pastelmat, as well as other papers.
Tape
When I use tape, I use transparent tape most of the time. That’s because I can see through it and make very focused corrections or lift small amounts of color by using a pen or pencil on it. However, masking tape also works.
Tape is not ideal for making transferred line drawings lighter, but it’s useful for lightening colored pencil. The biggest risk with this is tearing the paper, especially if you’re using a paper that’s soft, like Stonehenge.
TIP:
If the tape is too sticky, lightly press it against your pants leg first. That removes some of the stickiness. Denim or something similar is best because the tape doesn’t pick up fibers from that type of material.
Art Erasers
Since this reader specified the eraser on her Papermate mechanical pencil, I’m including ordinary erasers here. Basic gum erasers are excellent for removing excess graphite after you’ve transferred a line drawing. Pink Pearl and white erasers are also good for graphite.
None of these erasers work very well on colored pencil. They tend make more of a mess than anything.
One Other Suggestion
You can transfer line drawings with colored pencil. When you do that, you don’t have to worry about the graphite showing through the colored pencil or making the colors dirty. If you use a color that’s just dark enough to see, it’s easy enough to cover.
If you use a color that will appear in the finished drawing, it’s even easier to conceal. For example, when I do landscapes, I often sketch in my composition with a medium-light value green, earth tone or gray, depending on the composition. No erasing necessary! This is the initial sketch for one of my landscapes.
Shade the back of your line drawing with the color you want to use, the trace the line drawing onto to the drawing paper. Don’t use real heavy pressure or you’ll indent the paper. But you will most likely have to use more pressure than you’d use with a graphite transfer.
Alternatives to Erasers
There are other eraser alternatives,including some non-art options like the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Its purpose is household cleaning and “erasing” dirt and stains, but many artists use it with colored pencils. I’ve never tried it, but those who have usually rave about it.
The tools I’ve described above are the tools I use most of the time. They at least give you a place to begin.
Do you have another suggestion? We’d love to hear it in the comments below!
Buenas tardes,
Yo utilizo el Perfection 7058 B de Faber Castell para retirar sutilmente color
El Mono Zero de Tombow para detalles más pequeños
El Electric eraser de Milan (con mina de goma de 5 mm)
Y otro eléctrico, el Foyucool 43001, con minas intercambiables de 5 mm y de 2,3 mm, que viene con 220 minas de goma de recambio. Ideal.
Todos ellos los utilizo exclusivamente con lápices de colores.
Para retirar grafito de boceto o excesos de calco uso una goma maleable o goma para lápiz Derwent.
Saludos
I don’t speak Spanish very much, so the first thing I did was use an online translator to translate Angel’s comment for myself and for all the other readers who also don’t speak Spanish. Here it is:
I use the Faber-Castell Perfection 7058 B to subtly remove color, Tombow’s Mono Zero for smaller details, The Milan Electric eraser (with 5 mm rubber lead), and another electric one, the Foyucool 43001, with interchangeable 5 mm and 2.3 mm leads, which comes with 220 spare rubber leads. Ideal.
I use all of them exclusively with colored pencils.
To remove graphite from sketch or excess tracing I use a malleable eraser or Derwent pencil eraser.
I hope that’s an accurate translation.
Angel, thank you for sharing your methods of removing graphite and colored pencil. I’ve heard of some of those tools (the Tombow Mono Zero, for example), but most of them are new to me. Thank you for taking the time to share these ideas.
Thanks for the post, Carrie! I’ll have to give these ideas a try. Do you think tape will work well on Strathmore Bristol Vellum?
-Karen
Edit: I tried transparent tape on Strathmore vellum and smooth bristol and it worked fairly well! I got better performance using it to erase my Koh-I-Noor woodless colored pencils than my Prismacolors, I guess because the Koh-I-Noors are more oil-based.
Karen,
Thank you for the update.
It is interesting that you had more success removing color with the Koh-I-Nor woodless pencils. Thank you for the tip!
And here I thought I am alone in having odd allergies such as to erasers!
The main offender, for me, is latex. And many eraser contain latex – often called natural rubber.
Tombow’s latex free erasers are my go to.
Derwent’s ‘shaped erasers’ are softer and useful to use with a tapping motion to lighten an area.
I think Faber-Castle’s erasers are latex free – but the only one I found useful is the precision eraser.
As for putty erasers – unfortunately I haven’t found one that hasn’t caused me allergies.
Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for sharing that information. I’m sure your suggestions for latex-free erasers will be helpful!