Howard seems pretty real and he sure knows his pencils! Allen, copying pencils to bristol board by copy machine sounds like it could have some very useful applications, are lines printed that way still erasable? If so, do they not smudge when erased like graphite would? Damaging the inkwork when cleaning up is definitely a problem, the reason, I guess, many, not me, are lightboxing their pencils. I've been looking for a better eraser, but a way around that problem would be a relief.

What I do now is, draw layouts on pretty much anything. Scan them in, composite in Photoshop. If they're not tight enough, lighten them to around 15% (typically all I need to do is run AutoLevels, then select light Gray as the foreground color and White as the background color, then run Filters>Adjustments>Gradient Map), print it out on regular paper and tighten up the pencils some more. Scan that in, do the Gradient Map trick again and print on Strathmore for inking.

I tried printing in light Blue for a while, but that makes it too obvious what you've done even after inking. The Gray disappears behind the inks so much better. And yes, inkjet printing is erasable, but you shouldn't need to do much erasing at all with this method.

Very cool and thanks! You've really got your process working for you.

No, I'm not a spambot. Just spreading the love.

Can a spambot do this?

No you can not erase anything printed.

Keep the love coming! Tech and artistic expertise are definitely appreciated around here.

But you can scrape the toner off with an exacto, without damaging the bristol board if you are really really careful. I'd practice it a few times before trying it in earnest.

Nice Eastwood. (but it did take me a second to figure out what that was, that it wasn't coming out of his nose I mean.)

Oh, is that a cigarette in his mouth, casting a shadow down his chin? At first I thought it was some kind of half-fu-manchu-mustache kind of thing. But other than that, great image!

Yes, you can. Inkjet ink does not set permanently right away. Very light tones are especially easy to erase. I also often laser print 10-15% gray on card stock, and that is easily erasable.

Ever apply Silly Putty to the newspaper? Notice how much lighter the printed image is after you do that?

Ever erase things out of school texbooks and draw in your own details?



You most certainly can erase printed items.