Kevin

[Mike McCarty]

Patricia,

My way up north buddy, Juan Martinez, offered this regarding drawing papers. I don't know where in the forum it resides, I have it in my personal archives.

Juan writes:

For more finished drawings in pencil (graphite) and/or charcoal, you'll probably end up finding that you will need a couple of different papers. For example, the Stonehenge I am familiar has a relatively smooth texture and takes graphite well. And, as Peggy said, it is tough. I find it too smooth for charcoal, however, so for that, I use a paper with more tooth so that the charcoal has something to grab hold of.

My favourite papers for finished drawings of the non-graphite variety (charcoal, carbon pencil) are all from Fabriano. Some of them are normally sold as watercolour paper, but they are superb drawing papers. The best all-round one is Fabriano UNO. It is double-sized so it is tough. I use the one they call "soft press" which is not as heavily textured as the cold press. (Hot press is too smooth generally for finished drawings. It can be done, but it takes way too much work). Anyway, UNO is 100% cotton and acid-free. I also use Fabriano FA5 which is a less expensive version of the UNO. It is only 50% cotton content, but is also acid-free. Both are very tough and can stand a lot of abuse, although perfect erasure is nearly impossible.

Finally, for purely charcoal use, the Fabriano Roma line is excellent. It is not quite as tough as the previously mentioned ones, but because of that (maybe it has less sizing) it seems to accept more charcoal and it does erase almost perfectly (be gentle, though; use a kneadable eraser). The line has names such as Roma Michelangelo or Roma Tizziano, etc. These designate different colours.

Hope it helps.

Juan