Little Scraps of Drawing Paper

Today, I want to share some ideas for using those little scraps of drawing paper that happen whenever we trim larger pieces. You may never have considered them useful, but I’d like to explain just how useful they can be.

Little Scraps of Drawing Paper

I usually buy paper by the pad because I like the convenience. Pads of paper are easy to store and use. When necessary, they’re also easy to pack and travel with.

Most brands of paper are available in pads. I’m showing Stonehenge paper here, but I also have pads of Canson Mi-Teintes, Clairefontaine Pastelmat, Fabriano Black Black, and Stonehenge Aqua Hot Press to name just a few.

Another reason I like pads is that I don’t have to trim the paper to size most of the time. They’re just the right size for most of my work with enough of a margin for framing.

Back when I was doing a lot of horse portraits, however, I bought paper by the full sheet. Paper is more economical when purchased by the sheet, especially when I was able to buy ten or more at the same time. Dick Blick is great at giving discounts for bulk purchases, and I made use of it whenever possible.

Besides, there’s something nice and very artistic about the deckle edges on some of the full sheets!

Most of the time, I could cut those sheets into quarters and have four pieces of paper suitable for decent sized portraits. Once in a while, I used a full sheet. That happened only infrequently, and was always a challenge.

But there were times when I had to trim paper to smaller sizes, whether I was using a full sheet or a pad. You know what happens then. You have all those little scraps of paper!

Never Throw Anything Away

I grew up in a frugal household. My mother and father grew up during the last part of the Great Depression, so they were naturally frugal. My mother especially was loathe to throw anything away. There might be a use for it later, and you could never tell when something might come in handy.

I, too, suffer from that tendency. However, I do sometimes throw things away in fits of de-cluttering, (usually to discover within days or weeks that I could have used something I pitched).

Even so, I rarely throw drawing paper away, no matter how small the scrap. Drawing paper isn’t cheap and it seems like the height of wastefulness to throw any of it away unless it’s so small it curls when I trim it off the sheet.

So it will come as no surprise to you that I sometimes need to get creative in finding ways to use those scraps.

Creative Ways to Use Little Scraps of Paper

ACEOs

The most frequent use for larger scraps is cutting them down to 2-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches. That’s the size of an ACEO (art card, editions and originals).

I make ACEOs for fun, to work out compositions for larger pieces, and for the Colored Pencil ACEOs with Carrie group. The group has a challenge every month and members are encouraged to do an ACEO to meet the challenge and also submit one for the open category. The results are published in a downloadable gallery every month and it’s amazing what artists come up with. (If that sounds like fun, you can sign up for free here.)

ACEOs are also a good way to market small, affordable pieces of artwork. Just take a look at eBay.

Illustrations

I try to use works-in-progress for illustrations as much as possible. That’s a good way to get two uses out of each piece of artwork. It also saves time.

But sometimes I have to take the time to draw something specific for a blog post or article. When that happens, I almost always reach for my stash of little scraps of drawing paper.

Here’s a sample of the type of illustration I might make on drawing paper scraps. I made this for a post titled Making Reds and Yellows Pop on Black Paper.

Maybe you have no need to make illustrations like this, but maybe it gives you your own ideas. I hope so.

Sketching & Color Swatching

I don’t sketch as much as I should, but I enjoy it when I do. Yes, I have a sketchbook and I do use it.

But many times, I reach into my bag of paper scraps and sketch on whatever I happen to pull out. Sketching on odd shapes and small scraps is a good way to give your creativity a challenge. You never know what you might come up with.

I also like the idea of pulling out a random color of paper, then using colors of pencils that go with the color of the paper. Dark blue or purple pencils on light blue paper, for example. Brown pencils on earth-toned paper is my favorite combination, but I have tried a lot of other combinations, too.

By the way, this is not only a great way to get creative; it’s a good way to practice drawing values.

Using those little scraps is also a good way to work out compositional designs without using a “good” piece of paper.

And you know what? Scraps are also excellent for testing colors and making sample swatches if you happen to be working with the same paper for a full-size drawing.

Bookmarks

When I use little scraps of paper for bookmarks, I usually just find one that’s the right size and shape and stick it into whatever book I’m reading. It travels from book to book until it’s worn out, then gets replaced.

But why not decorate some of those scraps with colored pencil or some other medium? I haven’t done that yet, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea!

Those are Just a Few Ways to Use Little Scraps of Paper

Hopefully, my suggestions get your imagination going! If that happens, we’d love to hear what you did with your light scraps of drawing paper!

Do you have other ideas? If so, share them in the comments below. We’d love to hear about them!

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