Eraser v. Eraser

In my last video tutorial I recommended using a pliable, or kneaded eraser for the drawing we were doing. I wanted to be more specific about why this type of eraser is so good to use for drawing.

Here I shaded four test boxes with a 2B graphite pencil.

Pliable or kneaded eraser

As you can see, our kneaded eraser can be molded to fit any shape you need. It's also very thorough in its erasing. These shaded boxes are holding a lot of graphite and the eraser still pulls it off with no mess.

Pros:
- flexible and mold-able
- clean and thorough
- bounces when rolled into a ball

Cons:
- will eventually become sticky and useless





Here we have a basic rubber eraser in cube form. I worked at the test box using a good amount of elbow grease, and still it does a weak job removing the graphite. Also, look at the mess left behind (these are tiny fragments of rubber).

Pros:
- easy to get your hands on these for cheap
- they will eventually erase

Cons:
- extremely messy
- not particularly effective at erasing
- awkward shape

Ah, good old Red Rubber. This type of eraser is very similar to the rubber above, but it is slightly firmer and therefore slightly better at erasing. On the other hand, it's just as messy.

Pros:
- most common type of eraser
- pretty good at erasing, especially large areas
- reminder of the good old days

Cons:
- again, quite messy
- takes a lot of effort to get it to work in fine details

This pencil eraser made of vinyl, is pretty excellent for erasing tiny details. However, it takes so much elbow grease to erase that I find I frequently have to re-sharpen the tip, quickly ending up with a tiny stump of a pencil. Vinyl erasers tend to be cleaner than rubbers, but they also tend to glide on the surface of graphite, smearing it rather than erasing it.

Pros:
- slightly cleaner than rubber
- pencil tip gets into fine details

Cons:
- not necessarily excellent at erasing




I think you know where I stand with erasers, and what I recommend and prefer for myself. But you know what they say about opinions. Every eraser will have its place at one point or another, and you should experiment and see what works for you. 

And of course, enjoy drawing! No one says you have to erase anything anyway. Drawings that show every line of progress are extremely fascinating. Go for it!