Best Paper For Graphite And Charcoal

Weight of drawing paper.

Best paper for graphite and charcoal.

Printer copying paper generally has a weight of 20lbs 75 gsm. There s a huge variety of choice in surface texture weight colour size manufacturing process and that s just within a single brand. Here are my reviews of several of them. Charcoal however is made from burning wood until the resulting substance is the correct consistency for drawing.

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. Charcoal comes in soft medium or hard consistencies. The best paper for graphite drawing should be over 80 lbs. Choosing paper for charcoal and pastel drawing is a personal matter depending on your working method and the hardness of your preferred medium.

It will give you good results without breaking the bank. For graphite drawings with a moderate degree of realism a drawing paper like strathmore series 400 is a good place to begin. A guide to drawing paper surfaces graphite charcoal ink by phil davies on 17th september 2018. Most drawing paper has a coarse texture and that will work against you.

This refers to the rough textured surface that drags the particles from the stick or pencil and holds them to the paper. Like graphite charcoal is a form of carbon. Rough texture is more suited to charcoal or pastels. Similarly to graphite the hardest charcoal will give you the lightest values while the darkest charcoal will give you the darkest.

Paper surfaces are probably more confusing to newcomers than anything else in the supplies list. I used strathmore 300 series bristol board pads 9 x 12 velum for this graphite drawing. Reviews of the best drawing papers with examples. When we talk about the weight of the paper we are referring to the papers thickness.

Drawing painting courses on my website. The surface of the paper determines the fineness of detail and the range of value a draftsperson is able to create. To select the best paper for charcoal drawing you have to keep in mind the characteristics of the medium as well as what you desire out of the drawing as a whole. For graphite or colored pencil a medium texture is best.

I used strathmore 300 series bristol board pads 9 x 12 smooth for this ink drawing.