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Eraser techniques
I have a question about how others use the mono zero eraser. Now I love this eraser and it works great. However, it never seems to work as well for me as it does for the artists in the videos I’m watching. For instance, I am on the texture portion of the drawing course. I just completed the wood section and I’m working on Stone. When I watch Ali use the eraser, it almost seems as though his eraser never gets dirty. Whereas when I use it, it’s dirty after my first few swipes. Even though I rotate it and use different edges, I never seem to be able to get near as much out of it as he does. Then instead of erasing, it’s smudging. I watched the video to see if there’s a lot of cuts where maybe he’s cleaning the eraser out of frame, but I don’t see many. Nowhere near as many times as I have to clean mine.
I have the little sandpaper board which can work, but it seems to make a mess of the eraser and I lose any sharp edge I may need. I’ve used an exacto knife to cut small slivers off, which works but will probably be too wasteful and I’ll go through my eraser too fast. I found that rubbing it on my palm works to remove any graphite stuck to the eraser, but I think the oils on my skin get on the eraser and then cause the graphite to smudge more lol. So right now I’m just using a tissue to rub the eraser on but it’s not working that great. I just keep coming back to the videos and seeing how effective others seem to be with with their erasers. My questions just what are people doing that I’m not?
Ali, roydebasree84 and 7 others7 Comments-
Hola😄 según dice el tutor se debe aplicar el grafito por capas suaves que no penetre en el papel y así debería funcionar bien el mono zero, a mi me pasaba lo mismo pero poco a poco me va saliendo
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@marisebas80 Yo también estaba pensando en eso. Quizás estoy aplicando demasiado grafito y penetra demasiado en el papel. No siento que esté aplicando más que Ali, pero él también aplica el grafito con mucha suavidad. Probablemente por eso le parece tan fácil cuando hace los reflejos. Aparte de eso, ¿qué usas para limpiar la goma de borrar? ¿Solo papel de lija?
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I clean mine when the this is black. With a sendpaper added to a wood thing.
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Yo limpio la goma en la cinta con la que pego el papel, creo que nuestro problema es que vamos directo a los grafitos muy intensos, lo que explico en post es lo de las capas primero las suaves hasta llegar al tono deseado también creo que es verdad lo que dices lo hacemos demasiado fuerte.
Aunque veamos que el tono de el dibujo de ali es muy intenso supongo que es más que nada por el tema de verlo a través de la pantalla, si algo estoy aprendiendo con el tutor es que en el dibujo ser paciente es muy importante, se trata de capa y capa y sobre todo con suavidad y sobre todo que el papel tenga un poco de rugosidad 😄
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Erika is absolutely right about the layers being applied lightly so that the graphite is not deeply imbedded into the paper. Also frequent cleaning of the eraser is necessary and cleaning it on masking tape stuck to your drawing board works well.
I recently purchased some Derwent brand graphite pencils from Amazon and they seemed to be softer and sharpen to a fine point and the Mono Zero eraser works very well with them.
I was watching Ali on one of his exercises using the Derwent pencils and thought I would give them a try.
Keep practicing with the Mono Zero and soon you will develop that skill.
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Hi Kevin 😊
Sorry for the delay in my response, I was a bit busy with my wedding.
This is actually a very common issue, so you’re not doing anything wrong.
The main difference you’re noticing comes down to pressure, surface buildup, and timing. In videos, it can look like the eraser stays clean, but in reality it does pick up graphite quickly, especially when working on darker areas like stone. I clean my eraser very frequently, sometimes after just a few strokes, it just happens off-camera so it’s not very noticeable.
Also, if the surface already has a lot of compressed graphite, the eraser will start smudging instead of lifting. In that case, lighter pressure and shorter, controlled strokes help a lot. You’re right to avoid using your palm, the natural oils can make things worse. A clean scrap paper or tissue is better for cleaning. And instead of sanding too much, try gently reshaping the tip to keep it sharp without breaking it down too fast.
Overall, you’re on the right track, it just takes a bit of control and frequent cleaning. Keep practicing, it will start to feel much more consistent 👍🎨1 -
Thank you for asking that question as I had the same struggles. And Ali, Thank you for your great explanation.
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