Silverpoint

Tools

Line + Mass

Paper and tooth

Graphite sits on the peaks of the paper's texture. The grain is a tool, not a flaw.

Drawing paper has a texture called tooth: a landscape of tiny peaks and valleys. A light stroke deposits graphite on the peaks only, so white paper sparkles through from the valleys and the mark reads as airy and light. More layers or more pressure fill the valleys and the mark goes solid. This is why value is built in layers: each pass fills a little more of the valley.

Corot relied on this. His charcoal landscapes keep the grain of the paper showing through the sky and the distance, which is why they feel full of air. He filled the valleys only in the deepest darks under the trees. The etchers worked on smooth paper because line wants a smooth surface; the mass drawers worked on toothed paper because tone wants grain.

For this course: a medium-tooth drawing pad (around 90 to 100 gsm) for everything, a ream of plain copier paper for warm-ups and construction, and a toned tan pad later for the lessons where the paper is the halftone and white pencil supplies the lights.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Alpha sketchbook (150 gsm, medium tooth) your working surface; learn what it does to each grade before you buy anything else.
  2. 2Copier paper, then the Alpha the same swatch on both shows what tooth is.
  3. 3Pitt Matt 10B the pencil that shows tooth most: the hills take graphite, the valleys stay paper.

Visuals

Cross-section of paper showing graphite sitting on the peaks of the tooth, which is why light pressure leaves white in the valleysPAPER TOOTH (MAGNIFIED)light pressure: peaks only, grain showsmore layers or pressure: valleys fillCorot let the grain show for air and light. Fill the valleys only where you want a solid dark.
FigureA cross-section of paper: light pressure sits on the peaks, more layers fill the valleys.
Landscape (The Large Tree), Corot, c. 1865–70
Cleveland Museum of Art

Corot, Landscape (The Large Tree), c. 1865–70. charcoal with stumping, erasing, and wet brushwork on light brown wove paper.

Corot, Landscape (The Large Tree), charcoal. The grain of the paper shows through everything but the darkest core of the tree. That grain is the light.

The Cleveland Museum of Art · Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Pitfalls

What

Blending every area smooth with a stump or a finger.

Why

It fills the valleys everywhere, kills the sparkle, and the whole drawing goes muddy.

Fix

Blend only inside a deep shadow, if at all. Let the grain carry the light areas.