Drawing Materials chapter 2
CONTÉ CRAYONS AND PENCILS
Conté crayonsand pencils are available in earth colors. Sanguine(red) is
probably the most popular color, and a variety of Sanguines are available.
Because the pigments are mixed with kolin clay, conté is a hard medium.
This makes it somewhat difficult to erase, and so it is not the best
medium for a beginner. However, conté is a lovely medium to use—prac-
tice and persevere, and you will be rewarded!
White chalk is useful when working with tone to emphasize highlights,
and pastels are softer than chalk and bring an element of color into your
drawing. You can use them as a basis for adding a tone to your paper
(see Chapter 12). Of course, they can also be used as a drawing medium
in their own right.
KNEADED ERASER AND CHAMOIS CLOTH
The eraser and the chamois cloth become drawing implements when
working with tone. (In Chapter 4, you will learn how the eraser is used to
create tone.) The chamois cloth’s purpose is to erase large areas of tone,
while the kneaded eraser can be manipulated to erase a variety of shapes
and sizes. Next to the chamois cloth are some tortillons, or “shading
stumps,” which come in different sizes. They are rolled paper with small
to large points on both ends.
When working with charcoal or graphite, you can use tortillons instead of
your fingers, as your fingers do not have such small points. They are useful
for softening and moving around the charcoal or graphite into very small
and precise areas on your paper.
RAZOR KNIFE, PENCIL SHARPENER, AND DRAWING
BOARD
There is nothing more annoying than drawing with an uneven, stubby
pencil, so make sure that your pencils are sharpened and ready to use.
The pencil sharpened with a razor knife is on the left. You can obtain a
very long point by carving the wood away. This gives you the ability to not
only use the point, but the whole length on the side of the point. The sec-
ond pencil from the left is sharpened by an ordinary sharpener. The point
is a lot shorter, and this is actually the only part of the pencil that you can
use to make a mark. Drawing boards are essential to give you a firm foun-
dation. Any hard board will do, as long as it is stable. Here, we have used
a piece of Masonite, which is available at your local hardware store. You
will need strong clips to attach the paper.