Different Types of Erasers Artists Use

In the ancient world through the Middle Ages in Europe, erasing meant destructive abrasion. When vellum or parchment– prepared animal skin– were used for manuscripts and illuminations, previous work could be scraped off with a blade, making what’s called a palimpsest, which included the ghost image of previous work.

Image (left): 10th c. Greek palimpsest

In Renaissance workshops, artists-in-training learned to draw using a metal stylus on paper or board coated with an abrasive, chalky ground made of powdered bone. Corrections could be scraped off, but sometimes a wet finger was all it took to wipe an errant mark away from the soluble coating.

Image (right): Holbein the Younger, Studies of the Hands of Erasmus of Rotterdam, silverpoint, ca. 1523

For much of the history of Western art, drawings on paper were often made just for the purpose of composing a painting, rather than as standalone works of art. Instead of removing corrections, revisions and process marks were often left in plain sight, right alongside holes poked along contours for transferring the design to canvas or panel. Corrections were often drawn over rather than removing them.

Image (left): Detail, “A Seated Saint Reading from a Book” with visible perforations, Alesso Baldovinetti , late 15th c.

Bread was more of a “dry cleaner” than a drawing instrument, which is how we think of erasers today. To make erasing as precise and sensitive as drawing, it took a different material, caoutchouc: a condensed polymer from tree sap. Use of natural plant latex goes back as far as ancient Mesoamerica and the Olmecs, who used it for both ceremonial and practical purposes, but not for erasing.

Image (left): Tapped rubber tree

It took until the mid-1700s when French scientists identified that solidified natural latex could be used to remove graphite from paper. In 1770, English chemist Joseph Priestley saw that it worked so well for rubbing out corrections, he gave it the name we use today: rubber.

Image (right): Portrait of Joseph Priestly

The first rubber erasers were pretty much just chunks of natural latex. Later on, vulcanization made erasers more shelf-stable. Soon, gritty ingredients like volcanic pumice helped erasers abrade the top layer of paper, making them more effective. Other compounds were added to make erasers softer, stickier, and more friable. Factice, a solidified vegetable oil material, is added to many types of erasers to make them crumble and produce dust, which makes erasing more effective.

Image (left): Faber Castell catalog images

New materials and processes helped manufacturers design erasers for a wide range of drawing and writing mediums, and for different papers and films. Form factors for erasers started with a simple chunk, but it didn’t take long before specialized erasers for drawing diverged from those paired with writing instruments, and specialized tools for drafting and precision drawing emerged. Stick erasers were developed for mechanical drawing techniques, where erasing was a considerable task requiring clean removal with minimal impact on paper or vellum. When it was necessary to remove ink, however, the older solutions persisted a bit longer.

Metal scrapers called “erasers” were still used by graphic designers and illustrators in the 20th century for making corrections in India ink, but with the adoption of polymer pencil leads and polyester drafting film, vinyl erasers were introduced. Some vinyl erasers were “imbibed” with solvents to loosen ink binders and soften the polymers and waxes in pencils.

Image (left): Steel ink “erasers” used to abrade India ink from drawings

Motor-driven, mechanical stick erasers can remove miles of lines, alone or with an eraser shield when pinpoint accuracy is needed. Drafting software eliminated much of the manual work behind this type of drawing, but mechanical erasers are still used by fine artists and illustrators, especially for removing preliminary pencil lines from ink drawings.

While most erasers work because they become more adhesive through friction against the paper, Kneaded Rubber erasers have the unique property of being sticky enough to pick up drawing media with just pressure. Pliable enough to mold and shape, kneaded erasers can be formed into a precise instrument for creating lines and contours. When pressed and lifted without rubbing, a kneaded eraser can lighten a passage without smudging work or abrading paper.

Gum erasers made almost entirely of factice break apart and crumble so readily that they’re sometimes called “bread erasers”, which seems fitting when we recall the crumbly, stale bread that’s the ancestor of all modern erasers!

Soap erasers offer all of the great properties of gum erasers, but with the addition of a mild abrasive for tough-to-remove mistakes. These erasers will not crumble or crack when used, and they remove marks thoroughly from all types of paper.