Drawing on the work

[pmace]

I know this has been asked and discussed many times before but my search isn't coming up with anything.

I know Chinese white is the go-to medium for applying to a metal surface to give some tooth and some contrast for your pencil drawing work. When I use it I have difficulty with it scratching off as I draw, even with a soft lead pencil. Then it flakes off even worse when cutting through it. It won't stick at all to my wax models that I use for casting.

I've tried applying hair spray first, then the paint. White shoe polish, spray paints and primers and all manner of stuff and they either won't stick, won't accept pencil or flake off when drawing or cutting. The best I've come up with is a workable artist's fixative for charcoal/colored pencils. It sticks to metal and wax, accepts pencil and allows you to erase a little. It doesn't flake off when drawing on metal but is fragile on wax. The problem is that it is clear and you can't see the drawing very well.

What am I missing? What special spells and incantations must be uttered while working or is it a simple concoction of mermaid's tears and ground bat wings? Or is it another "Welcome to the club" moment?

Thx.

 

[monk]

i have found black or dark blue magic marker takes pencil well. doesn't flake when cutting. if you like white, there's a number of white markers for glass windows. i have a couple but have never experimented with them as yet. they may work in concert with the spray you already use. there's probably a lot of info in the tips section. take a look there. don't forget plain ole transfer wax.

 

[John B.]

I'm with Monk, Magic Marker is hard to beat.
Quick to apply and dry, easy to touchup.
Use a broad tip for large areas and a narrow point, in the same brand and color for touching up mistakes.
Easy to cut through and easy to remove with a swipe if acetone.
I mostly use the blue marker but also the black and the green depending on the color of the work surface.

 

[FANCYGUN]

I just draw directly on the metalwith my pencil i also at times dab the metal with modeling clay and then brush on some talcum powder i draw through that
also if you use a marker, it is easily removed with some alcohol. I dont use chemicals like acetone unless i absolutely have to i keep a tiny spray bottle of alcohol on my bench to just clean off the metal as i work and after i sand

 

[DKanger]

As I read it, he's trying to draw on wax castings, not metal.

 

[monk]

I just draw directly on the metalwith my pencil i also at times dab the metal with modeling clay and then brush on some talcum powder i draw through that
also if you use a marker, it is easily removed with some alcohol. I dont use chemicals like acetone unless i absolutely have to i keep a tiny spray bottle of alcohol on my bench to just clean off the metal as i work and after i sand

in my reply, i mentioned wax. i forgot to add talcom powder. i don't recall using plasticine for that purpose. the transfer wax is easy to work with, no runs, drips, or errors.

 

[Chujybear]

For wax I use fine point felt tipped drawing markers. I think the brand I use is micron, or something like that.. there is also one I’ve used that has a grey casing.. one works as well as the other, i use a 005.. even that is a bit big sometimes. I adjust on the fly, if I can’t make my lines fine enough, sometimes I draw the negative space.
The other thing you can do, a variation on what monk is telling you, is you can color your whole piece with a sharpie, and then scribe through it to illuminate what you are trying to illustrate.. obviously a bit more drastic, but also, you will find that you can scribe a lot closer to your finished line, then you can draw.. sharpie comes in white too.. you may be able to draw right on the white, but i think that it may slip right off the wax with not too much agitation.. if you are happy to scuff up your waxes with a bit of emery first, they may have the tooth to hold your sub straight for drawing

 

[sam]

I dab transfer wax to the surface and draw through the wax with a 9H pencil sharpened to a needle point. I've done it that way for 40+ years. Not saying it's the best or better than anything else, but it works for me.

Churchill used white watercolor paint in a tube and would draw on it with a softer pencil. His lines were soft and blurry. I can't work that way, so I draw lines as sharp as possible, which would probably be next to impossible on a whited surface as it would remove the white as you draw.

 

[MRoyse]

I know this has been asked and discussed many times before but my search isn't coming up with anything.

I know Chinese white is the go-to medium for applying to a metal surface to give some tooth and some contrast for your pencil drawing work. When I use it I have difficulty with it scratching off as I draw, even with a soft lead pencil. Then it flakes off even worse when cutting through it. It won't stick at all to my wax models that I use for casting.

I've tried applying hair spray first, then the paint. White shoe polish, spray paints and primers and all manner of stuff and they either won't stick, won't accept pencil or flake off when drawing or cutting. The best I've come up with is a workable artist's fixative for charcoal/colored pencils. It sticks to metal and wax, accepts pencil and allows you to erase a little. It doesn't flake off when drawing on metal but is fragile on wax. The problem is that it is clear and you can't see the drawing very well.

What am I missing? What special spells and incantations must be uttered while working or is it a simple concoction of mermaid's tears and ground bat wings? Or is it another "Welcome to the club" moment?

Thx.

I have had alot of success with acrylic paint, the brand is called BASIC, you can get it from Michaels, found this out when my son spilled the paint on one of my practice plates so for the heck of it I let it dry and was drawing all over it with a med pencil. now if I want to draw directly onto metal I clean it a bit with acetone and then apply the paint in thin coats.
Best Wishes!

 

[pmace]

Thanks everyone. It seems metal is not too hard to do. Magic marker is great because it's quick and sticks really well. I've got some colored markers coming from Amazon to see if I can get some contrast. I'm curious to try Sam's transfer wax so I've ordered some of that too.
Wax is another matter. Magic marker sticks but a pencil scratches through. I'm going to get some fine markers and see what they do. Pen and Pencil brand colored pencil textured fixative works well if you are careful when applying. It accepts pencil and you can erase a couple of times.
Just like doing transfers there is no "one size fits all" solution. Thanks for the advise.

 

[jerrywh]

If you use Chinese white you are only supposed to apply a very thin coat. You are applying too heavy of a coat. You only want a thin grey looking coat. Personally I never use it. I just put a very thin coat of regular motor oil on the surface and draw with a .010 pencil. I learned this from Frank Hendrix. You probably never heard of him.

 

[pmace]

If you use Chinese white you are only supposed to apply a very thin coat. You are applying too heavy of a coat. You only want a thin grey looking coat. Personally I never use it. I just put a very thin coat of regular motor oil on the surface and draw with a .010 pencil. I learned this from Frank Hendrix. You probably never heard of him.

Jerry...you are absolutely right. Just tried it and a thin coat worked in until it gets tacky sticks great. And like you say it's grey, not bright white.
The oil makes the pencil show up better and makes "erasing" easier but I can't keep my fingers off of the work so the lines disappear. Thanks for the tip on the white.