Choosing A Good Eraser

A necessary drawing tool that we all use is an eraser, for fixing mistakes, removing unwanted guidelines or left over sketch marks. in whatever way that you use it we all still need the same thing, a good eraser that works for us.

Some erasers will leave colored marks, some will smear pencil instead of erasing it and other just wont work all together. Keep reading on to learn about the different erasers and their pros and cons as I've learned them.

Pencil erasers are the most commonly used erasers and the worst erasers to use as well. How can that be? Well being on the back of the pencil it's not only convenient but also becomes habit. The erasers on the back of pencils will often times smudge the pencil instead of erasing it and make it impossible to be fully erased even by a good eraser.

A lot of pencils have colorful erasers on the end of them, green, red, pink and purple are all common colors... these are fun right? Yes it is true they are fun but it is also true that they are impractical and can ruin your drawing. When erasing with these unless you've found a very good brand they will leave leftover residue from erasing... often the colorful kind... yes, you guessed right, once this is done it cannot be erased by anything else it's already stained the paper. 

Common pink eraser are a major step up from the end of the pencil eraser most of us use and are the second most common used choice.

While these erasers are better they still are not great. Pink erasers still risk:

• smudging 
• smearing 
• coloring 

White erasers are better then pink erasers but sill can smudge even with mid quality. Smudging and staining can still occur with these erasers but at least the risk of coloring is gone.

White erasers are the second most recommended erasers for artistic use today... the first being puddy erasers which I will speak of next.

White erasers are something I've used for years and always served me well and to this day I would go back to them although I do not prefer them any longer because of the occaissional smudging and staining that can still happen.

And so The previous leads us to puddy erasers, puddy erasers are nice, I really do like them although being in a small town myself right now I find them hard to find so I am guessing this is a draw back to people in small towns without art stores as I don't believe Wal-Mart or Target carries them. However even if your still in a small town they are easily found online in places like Amazon and online art stores.

Puddy erasers are fun because you can shape then and size then to the form you need which leads to more accurate erasing. ;) Another thing I never liked about those is the fact you had to knead them... while it's fun as a larger person if you are buying for a younger one this can be difficult. I remember getting very frustrated with these puddy erasers because they took so much hand strength to use and and form... it was very difficult. kneading the puddy eraser together wraps and traps the left over lead on the eraser making them last for longer then some erasers... and this is a great aspect to these. When a puddy eraser is too used, to full it will start to smudge as with any eraser so far.

Moving on to Art Gum erasers, this is my favorite kind of eraser to use nowadays. I find then perfect for  the majority of my erasing needs. They don't smudge nearly as much as other erasers... I have never seen them stain even after smudging... and they can erase deeper and darker pencil lines then other normal erasers. I love mine because of these qualities.

However if it has it's draw backs that include things such as the art gum eraser has about twice as much eraser shaving as other erasers resulting in them needing to be replaced more often... (mine still last me a year or longer.) Along with more pencil shavings you have to make sure you gently brush the shavings off your paper, blow them off or brush them off but since it is such a good erasers the shavings will erase just as easily as the eraser it's self.

Here's What I Recommend

My personal preference is to have a Art Gum erasers for major erasing, and a puddy eraser for smaller portions... I also always keep a back up, and basic white eraser handy. I find this to be the best combination that I've found but that is considered and chosen for my drawing style and how often I need to erase and what I need to erase meaning that this is different for everyone, so find a combination that's works for you and enjoy!  

Hubchallenge Hub: #24 3rd week.