A Simple Trick to Transfer a Drawing to your Painting Surface

‘Pushing through’ a drawing onto a painting surface instead of ‘gridding up‘ or sketching directly onto the surface is a quick and easy way to plot out your composition so that you can get on with the painting. There are many types of graphite, carbon and wax-free transfer papers to enable this but we would recommend the humble pastel stick. A soft, chalk pastel stick costs a lot less and will last a long time saving you even more money. It will not ‘muddy’ or affect the paint applied to it and you can chose a colour that matches in with your Artwork to ensure that it will blend in and not be at all noticeable in the finished piece. Conté Sticks work very well as do Faber Castell Studio Soft Pastels.

On the back of your original drawing, a copy of the drawing or even a print out of a photograph, scribble all over with the pastel.

Rub it in and blow away any loose pastel. Place – drawing side up – onto your painting surface and draw over the lines with a pencil – HB is the best. As long as you remember not to drag your drawing hand across the surface, you will achieve a clean clear line drawing.