Level: Beginner to Advanced Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8.4 Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 64.6 Drawspace Curriculum 1.2.A5 6 Pages and 4 Illustrations Transfer an Image to Drawing Paper A three-step process for transferring the outlines of a drawing or a photograph to a new sheet of drawing paper Supplies: image to be transferred, drawing paper, 4B, 6B, 7B, or 8B pencil, pencil sharpener, sandpaper block, kneaded and vinyl erasers, tape This tutorial has three sections: Step 1: Preparing a Drawing for Transfer Step 2: Taping the Drawing to New Paper Step 3: Transferring the Drawing A preliminary sketch for a drawing often becomes messy or damaged by pressing too hard with pencils and/or flattening the paper s tooth with erasers. Once you ve finished a sketch, you may struggle with erasing the outline of a drawing space or grid lines after an underdrawing is finished. Wouldn t it be nice if you could just save the good parts of your drawing on a new sheet of paper and continue on from there? Well, professional artists have devised a little technique for transferring such a drawing to another sheet of clean drawing paper. ArtSpeak Charcoal powder: A powdered form of charcoal that works well for shading large areas of a drawing or preparing a base for drawing with erasers. Drawing space: The specific perimeter in which a drawing is rendered. It can be the shape of a sheet of paper itself or a shape outlined on paper, such as a square, rectangle, or circle. Grid: A precise arrangement of a specific number of squares of exact sizes proportionately drawn on both a photo and a drawing surface. Line drawing: An artwork created with only lines. A line drawing aims to accurately outline the contours of the various shapes and/or forms of a drawing subject. Renaissance: (from the French word for rebirth) A period in European history from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century. The era is defined by great advances in education and intellectual pursuits as well as great social and political upheaval.
2 1.2.A5: Transfer an Image to Drawing Paper ArtSpeak Drawing powder: Tiny loose particles of a dry drawing medium that have been broken down from a solid into a powder. Mechanical pencil: A drawing tool with an internal mechanism that pushes a thin graphite lead placed in a tiny tube inside the holder upward through the tip. Sandpaper block: An artist s tool with tear-off sheets of fine sandpaper used to sharpen the points of pencils. Sketch: (noun) A simple representation, outline, or drawing that captures the integral aspects of a subject quickly and efficiently. (verb) The process of rendering a sketch. Softness: The numerical rating of B-grade media according to their ingredients. Softer mixtures have higher numbers. Stick: A type of drawing tool in which a medium is compressed into a block or cylindrical sticks. Sticks come in various sizes, which make them highly adaptable for diverse mark-making styles and techniques. Large sticks are great for large sketches, and smaller sticks work well for smaller works. Technique: A well-known method (e.g., a specific way to do shading) that is used to accomplish a particular activity or task. Tooth: The surface texture of paper. Paper with a smooth tooth is flat with a silky texture; medium tooth is uneven with a slightly rough texture; and coarse tooth is bumpy with a very rough texture. Underdrawing: A loosely rendered sketch or drawing created as a guide for a final artwork. Weight of paper: The thickness of individual sheets of paper. Thin paper weighs very little but is easily torn and damaged. Thick paper (with more weight ) is more durable. Wood-encased pencil: (also called a wooden pencil) A drawing or writing tool with a thin cylindrical stick of medium held inside a wooden casing. Woodless pencil: A thick cylindrical stick of graphite wrapped in a vinyl casing. Woodless pencils are ideal for large, bold graphite drawings that require wider strokes than regular pencils can provide. When sharpened, they can also make thin lines. Step 1: Preparing a Drawing for Transfer You can turn your messy drawing or a printed copy of it into a sheet of old-fashioned carbon paper by applying a coating of graphite to its underside (not the side on which the drawing is rendered). This transfer process will ruin the photograph or drawing used. If the image to be transferred is valuable to you, scan and then print a copy to use instead of the original. If the drawing you want to transfer was rendered on thick paper, this technique won t work unless you scan and print your drawing on printer paper. Then, you can use this technique to transfer the printed image to a clean sheet of drawing paper. Do not use any type of commercially manufactured transfer paper. Your transferred image will remain noticeable and will not blend in with the graphite you use for your drawing.
1.2.A5: Transfer an Image to Drawing Paper 1. Turn the image to be transferred over so the side without the drawing is facing you. 2. Coat this surface (or a section of it) with a layer of soft graphite (4B or 6B). You can use one or a combination of the following techniques: Use the side of a soft grade of a graphite stick to cover the surface. Use the side of the point of a soft wood-encased or woodless pencil to cover the surface. You may need to sharpen your pencil a few times. Make graphite powder by rubbing the point of a soft pencil or a graphite stick over a sheet of fine sandpaper or a sandpaper block. Then sprinkle the powder onto the paper and use a small, soft brush to spread it evenly over the surface. Figure 1 3. When the surface is coated with graphite, shake the paper over a garbage container to get rid of the extra graphite crumbs. 4. You can then cover a finger (preferably your own) with a piece of paper towel and gently blend the graphite so it covers the entire surface (Figure 1). If the drawing you want to transfer is small and/or without a lot of detail, you can save time and graphite by taping the drawing to a window (in the daytime) or a light table. Then, add graphite only to those sections where you see the lines of your drawing instead of the entire surface. Make sure the side with the drawing is facing the glass. Step 2: Taping the Drawing to New Paper The art of taping a drawing to another sheet of paper is not as easy as you may think. The most common problem is accidently transferring unwanted fingerprints to the new paper so be careful! 3
4 1.2.A5: Transfer an Image to Drawing Paper 5. Gently place the drawing on the new sheet of paper with the drawing side facing you (Figure 2). At this stage, you can move the drawing around a little to make sure it s exactly where you want it to be positioned. For example, if you prefer to have the subject tilted a little, you can simply tilt the drawing before you tape it to the new paper. 6. Cut off two pieces of acid-free artists tape (or another type of tape without a lot of glue that might damage the new paper). Try to have as little of the tape on the new paper as possible without sacrificing its adhesive qualities. If your drawing moves while being transferred, you may have to start all over with another sheet of new paper (or the other side of that sheet). Figure 2 Keep a damp cloth or paper towel handy so you can keep your hands relatively clean. Powdered graphite works a little too well at capturing and then transferring fingerprints. Graphite mixes with the natural oils in your skin, making them very difficult to erase. It s a lot easier to avoid putting fingerprints on your paper than it is to erase them. 7. Attach your drawing to the new paper at two places along the top or one of the sides. Tape only one of the four sides, so that you re able to occasionally lift the drawing from the new paper to check that the image is transferring properly.
1.2.A5: Transfer an Image to Drawing Paper 5 You can take preventative measures so you don t need to start all over if the tape lets go and your drawing moves. After the drawing is taped in place, use a 2H pencil to lightly trace its perimeter on the new sheet of paper. If the drawing accidently moves, you can place it back on the new paper inside the outline you drew. You can simply tape it back in place and carry on where you left off. If your drawing was rendered with a grid, do not transfer the grid lines or the drawing space outlines to the clean sheet of drawing paper. Figure 3 Too much pressure applied to a pencil leaves dents in paper. When you add shading over dents, you end up with white lines that are hard to repair. Step 3: Transferring the Drawing Now comes the tedious part transferring every line of your drawing (except the outlines of a drawing space, grid lines, and fingerprints) to the new paper. 8. Use a mechanical pencil or a fine-tip ballpoint pen to gently go over each line of the drawing, beginning at the top and working your way down toward the lower sections. After you draw the first few lines, check to make sure the image is transferring. An ideal image is just dark enough so you re able to see the lines. 9. When you re all done, check the transferred image carefully to make sure that you didn t miss any sections of your drawing. 10. Wash your hands and gently remove the drawing. Be very careful removing the tape so you don t damage the new paper. 11. Use a kneaded eraser to gently pat the newly transferred image to remove any graphite crumbs that may still be clinging to its surface. The transferred image should be very faint (Figure 3).
6 1.2.A5: Transfer an Image to Drawing Paper Figure 4 If you find any dark lines, lighten them with a kneaded eraser. A darker version of this drawing was created in Photoshop so you can see the transferred image (Figure 4). A fine-tip ballpoint pen with red or blue ink is excellent for transferring a drawing to new paper. You never have to guess which sections have already been transferred and you can easily find lines you missed (those without the colored ink). Admire your blueprint for a new drawing on its fresh sheet of paper. Then get ready to create a clean, neatly-rendered masterpiece! As an Aside This process for transferring images to another surface evolved from a similar technique (pouncing) that has been used by artists for several hundred years. Pouncing was most popular during the Renaissance for transferring the outlines of an image to another surface (such as transferring a drawing on paper to a canvas, ceiling, or wall). First, the outline of the image is perforated with a series of tiny holes and placed on, or taped to the final surface. A fine powder (such as charcoal powder) is sprinkled or sometimes gently rubbed over the image outlines, causing some of the powder to fall through the holes onto the new surface. The original image is removed to reveal dotted guidelines on the new surface for creating another drawing or painting of the image. This technique is still used today by artists who create art on large surfaces such as walls or the sides of buildings.