Best Paper For Graphite And Charcoal

The best paper for graphite drawings should have a weight of 80lbs or more significant.

Best paper for graphite and charcoal.

A guide to drawing paper surfaces graphite charcoal ink by phil davies on 17th september 2018. This refers to the rough textured surface that drags the particles from the stick or pencil and holds them to the paper. The key to a good dry medium paper is tooth. Reviews of the best drawing papers with examples.

Similarly to graphite the hardest charcoal will give you the lightest values while the darkest charcoal will give you the darkest. Charcoal comes in soft medium or hard consistencies. Rough texture is more suited to charcoal or pastels. Choosing paper for charcoal and pastel drawing is a personal matter depending on your working method and the hardness of your preferred medium.

There s a huge variety of choice in surface texture weight colour size manufacturing process and that s just within a single brand. I used strathmore 300 series bristol board pads 9 x 12 smooth for this ink drawing. The surface of the paper determines the fineness of detail and the range of value a draftsperson is able to create. I used strathmore 300 series bristol board pads 9 x 12 velum for this graphite drawing.

The best paper for graphite drawing should be over 80 lbs. Paper surfaces are probably more confusing to newcomers than anything else in the supplies list. Drawing painting courses on my website. Most drawing paper has a coarse texture and that will work against you.

For graphite drawings with a moderate degree of realism a drawing paper like strathmore series 400 is a good place to begin. Charcoal however is made from burning wood until the resulting substance is the correct consistency for drawing. Like graphite charcoal is a form of carbon. Because charcoal is not a precision implement like let s say a sharpened graphite pencil or ink pen the best suited surface for it is one with a lot of texture akin to pastel.

For graphite or colored pencil a medium texture is best. It will give you good results without breaking the bank. Printer copying paper generally has a weight of 20lbs 75 gsm. Over the last 30 years i have used several different kinds of paper for my graphite drawings and have found each one to be unique.

Here are my reviews of several of them.