Pencils and Erasers: need help

Word up my "homies", I come to you, hat in hand, in need of advice.

About erasers.

I got me some nice mechanical pencils, and a putty eraser. Both are super great at doing their job. But given the relatively small size I draw the putty eraser is doing no good at all when I need to correct small details, so... what do you use? Is there a more accurate eraser out there, like in a pen, or something?

Help, it's driving me nuts.

Well, I know someone who uses a separate lead pointer to sharpen those weirdo long click erasers for REALLY fine details. Not sure how much that might help you, but it could be a start.

It would help me more if you told me what a long click eraser was... from the sounds of it it's -exactly- what I need.

well, a click eraser is about the same length as a standard pen. it has a long, hollow barrel that one loads a long eraser in that they can adjust the length of. kind of like an eraser version of a mechanical pencil. Normally, the eraser itself is somewhat wide (that is, about as round as a normal pen) but with a lead pointer, you can sharpen the end into a fine point.

example

...you are a true hero. I need one of those!

*wanders off to the art store*

Putty erasers are pretty useless unless you're using soft pencils; mechanical ones are too sharp and too hard. I recommend the "pen"-type erasers, or just one of those simple white rectangles.

And hey, Rob Liefeld uses the pen-type. For what it's worth.

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And hey, Rob Liefeld uses the pen-type. For what it's worth.

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You're saying I should quite while I'm ahead, aren't you?

I use the mechanical pencils eraser that is on the end. It's very very tiny, and is the same rubber eraser material as my big rectangle rubber eraser. You can also use the big rectancle rubber eraser too, just use an X-acto knife or razor blade of some kind to cut it into a 'wedge' point, and use that to erase small fine details as well.

Another tip, get you one of those 'Erasing shields'. Basically it's a small piece of metal the size of a credit card, and has various holes and shapes cut into it, you lay it down on the paper and hold it still, and then erase inside the hole. You can get VERY fine edges and such with that.

I'll get you links to example screenies later when I get to work. Or heck I"ll take a pic of MY materials with my phone :P

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And hey, Rob Liefeld uses the pen-type. For what it's worth.

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You're saying I should quite while I'm ahead, aren't you?

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As long as you learn to draw feet, you'll never have to be afraid.

I've seen folks using cordless mechanical erasers like the one here with great effect.

Then there's the "mechanical advance" pencil erasers like this one.

I use a version of the "mechanical advance" erasers and it works pretty well.

I picked up a mechanical advance eraser on my lunchbreak

Thanks for the help guys.

Battery powered... eraser?! How the heck does that work?

Like a battery powered toothbrush.

...except it erases lines and not teeth.

*coughs*

Well, actually, there's a motor in the handle that spins the eraser around and around at a pretty high RPM. The eraser itself is very small, and since you don't have to scrub the eraser back and forth, you can get some really fine erasing.

It's actually pretty nifty to see...and artists who use them tell me that after using them, they can't imagine doing without!

Huh. really.

I bet my professor would hate those. He'd want us to do everything the manual old fashioned way. :P

late to the thread, but here's an anecdote: many years ago I worked as a "technical illustrator" (really just a basic drafting job, retouching old schematics mostly) and we used Electric Erasers. These were bigger than the little battery-powered ones you can get now, and they had an AC power cord attached. Picture something metal, about two inches in diameter, with a moter the size of a half-used roll of Duct Tape at its back end. You had a tall, springey boom attached to your desk that both held the ac cord out of the way and suspended the eraser's weight so it wouldn't feel like you weren't holding this BRICK in your hand. I kid you not.

Eventually, just as I was ending my stay at that job, they came out with newer, spiffier cordless, rechargable ones. These were about two inches wide, but more like three and half inches thick, by eight inches long, housed in a plastic case and about one-third the weight. Still bulky by today's standards.

- but for that job, they were indespensible! We did a lot of erasing old inked lines (originally drawn with rapidograph pens on vellum). Imagine erasing inked lines "manually" by rubbing with an eraser back and forth with your hand! You can do it, sure - your shoulders'd be gone in a week!

Nowadays, it'd all be done with computers.

Ugh, sounds like my high-school art teacher. He's the main reason I don't draw as often as I should.

One of the things he constantly tried to impress on us is 'Don't form an opinion about something until you know more about it'. Very good advice, you'd think, right? Well, one day, I went to him for advice on my comic book art, and instead of helping, he threw it back in my face, calling it 'childish junk'. That ticked me off, but not as bad as what happened next.

Remembering his comment, I asked him how much he knew about comic art, he replied 'Enough to know that it's all garbage'. Now, I may be paraphrasing things a bit, since that was over 15 years ago, but his words and attitude still haunt me.

Sorry if I went off topic. On erasers, I never thought about sharpening one for fine point work. I'll have to remember that.

"It's hard for you to be yourself, if you don't know who you really are."

Get an eraser shield. It is a small aluminum pice of metal with various sized cutouts in it to erease only what you need too. You should be able to get them at any art store or a drafting supply store.


www.bluelinepro.com

should have them

Oh yeah i know Sohaju. Right now i just go along with what he says for the assignments, knowing full well that when i do my own work I can do whatever the heck i want!

You rebal you Rowr.