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Your Drawing Companion Tools

When we first start drawing, most of us all get started with a set of pencils, eraser, a sharpener and our favourite sketchpad. But are there any other handy drawing tools that could be helpful in your drawing techniques?

1. The Sandpaper Block

A sandpaper block for pointing pencils or shaping charcoal and pastels can be handy to have. It is useful if you've got larger pencils or strangely shaped charcoal which does not fit a conventional sharpener. With the sandpaper block, you can also create various shapes at the end of your pencil or stick.

Each sandpaper block contains multiple sheets, so when you've worn one out you can just move onto the next sheet. 

2. The Putty Rubber (a.k.a. kneadable eraser)

A kneadable eraser, known by many is the putty rubber, erases well however more gently that a normal eraser. Being pliable and being able to shape into smaller pieces, the putty rubber is good for erasing small areas. It also comes in very handy if you just want to slightly lift off some of the pencil to create a lighter area.

3. Blending Stumps (a.k.a. tortillions)

Blending Stumps are used to blend graphite and charcoal, moving it around on the surface of the paper to create different shades. They are a much cleaner alternative to using your fingers, preventing any of the natural oils on your fingers to be introduced to the paper. 

Paper stumps/Blending stumps are normally made from compressed paper and they come is various thicknesses and sizes. If you want to clean off a dirty blending stump, you can do this by rubbing it on a fine sandpaper or using a putty rubber to remove some of the excess dirt. 

4. The Eraser Pencil

The Eraser Pencil, is an eraser core encased in wood-cased pencil barrel. This makes it perfect for fine detail erasing and it sharpens like ordinary pencils. It's great for precision erasing when a little more control is needed. Think of  it as reverse drawing rather than erasing.

5. Fixative Spray

Fixative Spray is an aerosol spray used on your final artwork done using charcoal, chalk, graphite or pastels. Fixative spray keeps surfaces from smudging, fading, or flaking after the work is complete.