The Best Examples of Eraser Techniques for Drawing Highlights

Real-world examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights

Let’s start with what you actually want to see: real examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights that you can try today. Imagine you’ve shaded a portrait in graphite:

• The eyes look dull.
• The hair feels like a gray helmet.
• The skin reads as one flat tone.

Instead of reaching for a white pencil, you reach for an eraser.

You lightly tap a kneaded eraser onto the iris to pull a tiny dot of light: instant catchlight. You drag a thin edge of a vinyl eraser through the hair: now it looks shiny and dimensional. You softly lift graphite from the bridge of the nose and cheekbones: suddenly, the face turns toward the light.

Those simple moves are examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights in action: tapping, dragging, and lifting to sculpt light out of shadow.

Examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights in portraits

Portraits are where eraser work really shines. Here are some of the best examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights when you’re working with faces and figures.

Lifting catchlights in the eyes

Eyes are tiny, but they sell the whole drawing.

Shade the eye area a little darker than you think you need. Then:

• Pinch your kneaded eraser into a fine point.
• Gently press and twist where you want the catchlight.

That tiny dot of brightness immediately makes the eye look wet and alive. This is a classic example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights that you’ll see in almost every strong graphite portrait.

Soft skin glow on cheeks and nose

Instead of leaving paper white, many artists in 2024–2025 prefer to tone the whole face lightly, then lift highlights out of that midtone.

• Shade the face with a soft pencil (2B–4B) using light, even strokes.
• Use a kneaded eraser to gently dab along the bridge of the nose, top of the cheekbones, and the forehead where the light hits.
• Blend lightly with a tissue or blending stump if needed.

This gives you a natural, diffused highlight instead of a harsh white patch. It’s one of the most realistic examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights because skin rarely has razor-sharp reflections.

Hair shine and individual strands

Hair is where the eraser becomes a drawing tool, not an erasing tool.

• First, block in the hair mass with even shading, following the direction of growth.
• Take a vinyl block eraser and cut or tear a sharp edge.
• Pull that edge along the direction of the hair, lifting brighter strands.

For flyaways or tiny details, use a mechanical eraser (the pencil-style erasers that can be sharpened or clicked out in a thin core). This is a great example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights that turns a flat dark area into layered, shiny hair.

Landscape and object drawing: more examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights

Portraits aren’t the only place this works. Some of the best examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights show up in landscapes and still life drawings.

Sparkle on water and wet surfaces

Water looks convincing when it has broken, scattered highlights.

• Shade the water area with soft, horizontal strokes.
• Use a kneaded eraser to tap irregular shapes where the light hits.
• For sharper sparkles, use the corner of a vinyl eraser to make short, bright dashes.

These broken, lifted marks catch the eye and suggest movement. It’s a perfect example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights that turns a gray patch into shimmering water.

Reflections on metal and glass

Metal and glass need high contrast. Think of a chrome kettle, a glass bottle, or a polished car.

• Shade the object with strong darks and midtones first.
• Then carve out highlights with a mechanical eraser: thin, bright edges along rims, sharp dots on screws or bolts, and long streaks where light reflects.

Many artists now share time-lapse videos of this process on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, showing how eraser work alone can create convincing reflections. These are modern, very visible examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights that you can pause, study, and imitate.

Sunlit edges in landscapes

In landscape drawing, light often hits the edges of forms: tree trunks, rooftops, fence posts.

• Shade the tree or building slightly darker than the background.
• Use a vinyl eraser edge to lift a thin line of light along the sunlit side.

That tiny rim of brightness makes the form pop forward. It’s a subtle example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights but incredibly effective for depth.

Different erasers, different effects: examples include kneaded, vinyl, and mechanical

Not all erasers act the same. The best examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights usually mix a few types of erasers in one piece.

Kneaded eraser: soft, gradual highlights

A kneaded eraser is like putty. You stretch, pinch, and shape it.

Common examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights with kneaded erasers include:

• Soft facial highlights: Dabbing gently to lighten cheeks, noses, and chins without hard edges.
• Atmospheric effects: Lifting graphite from fog, clouds, or smoke to create a hazy, glowing look.
• Correcting values, not lines: Lightening an area that got too dark instead of scrubbing it away.

Because kneaded erasers lift gradually, they’re perfect for subtle transitions. Art education programs, like those at major universities, routinely recommend them for value studies and observational drawing (see general material discussions from schools such as the Rhode Island School of Design or Pratt Institute).

Vinyl (plastic) eraser: crisp, bright hits of light

Vinyl erasers are firmer and erase more completely.

Typical examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights with vinyl erasers:

• Sharp reflections on glass: Pressing a corner into the darkest area to create a bright, sudden highlight.
• Edge lighting: Dragging the edge along the contour of a form to create a sunlit rim.
• Pattern work: Cutting or sanding the eraser to a custom shape, then stamping repeating highlights (like tile reflections or sequins).

Vinyl erasers can damage paper if you grind them in, so think of them as chisels rather than sandpaper. Light, deliberate strokes go a long way.

Mechanical eraser: drawing with light

Mechanical erasers are the precision tools of the eraser world. They come as thin cylinders you click like a mechanical pencil.

Some powerful examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights with mechanical erasers:

• Individual hair strands: Pulling thin lines out of a dark mass of hair or fur.
• Fine jewelry details: Tiny dots and slivers of light on rings, chains, and earrings.
• Texture on fabric: Short, broken lines to suggest weave or sheen, especially on satin or silk.

In 2024–2025, many drawing instructors on platforms like Coursera and university extension programs emphasize mechanical erasers for precision work, especially in realism and technical illustration.

Step-by-step example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights in a small study

Let’s walk through a simple, real example of using eraser techniques for drawing highlights: a shaded sphere.

1. Tone the whole area with a 2B pencil, making a mid-gray base over the sphere and background.
2. Darken the core shadow on one side of the sphere, plus a cast shadow on the table.
3. Use a kneaded eraser to gently lift the light side of the sphere, forming a soft highlight where the light hits.
4. Add a sharper highlight with a vinyl eraser right in the brightest spot.
5. Create reflected light by lifting a thin band of lighter tone along the shadow side, near the edge.

This tiny exercise packs in several examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights at once: soft glow, sharp specular highlight, and reflected light. Repeat it with different objects—an egg, an apple, a metal spoon—and you’ll quickly feel more confident.

2024–2025 trends: how artists are pushing eraser highlight techniques

If you scroll through recent drawing content online, you’ll notice a few current trends in how artists use erasers for highlights:

• Mixed-media graphite and charcoal: Artists layer charcoal powder, then “draw” into it with erasers to create portraits that feel almost photographic. This subtractive drawing approach is a dramatic example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights dominating the entire process.
• Toned paper with eraser and white pencil: On mid-tone gray or tan paper, artists use graphite for shadows, a white pencil for the brightest hits, and erasers to control midtone highlights and transitions. The eraser becomes the bridge between dark and bright.
• Digital-to-traditional crossover: Many artists who learned digital painting (where an “eraser” is just another brush) are now treating physical erasers as painting tools, using them in broad strokes and soft shapes rather than just for corrections.

Art schools and museums continue to encourage observational drawing with simple tools—pencil, paper, and eraser—before moving into more complex media. Institutions such as the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art provide drawing resources and examples that highlight the importance of value and light, where eraser work naturally plays a big role.

Practical tips to get cleaner, brighter eraser highlights

To make these examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights work in your own sketchbook, a few small habits help a lot.

• Keep your erasers clean. Press a dirty kneaded eraser onto scrap paper and stretch it until the graphite is worked in. Trim or rub the surface of a vinyl eraser on scrap to refresh a bright edge.
• Work from light to dark, then back to light. Build your shading gradually, then use erasers to pull the light back out. Going too dark too fast makes lifting highlights harder.
• Use the right pressure. Start with a feather-light touch. You can always lift more; it’s harder to fix damaged paper.
• Think in planes, not outlines. Instead of outlining a nose and trying to erase inside the lines, think of where the planes turn toward the light and lift there.

These habits support every example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights you try, from a quick eye sketch to a full figure drawing.

FAQ: Examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights

Q: Can you give a simple example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights for beginners?
Yes. Shade a small rectangle in mid-gray. Then use a kneaded eraser to tap a soft oval highlight in the center. Next, use a vinyl eraser to add a smaller, brighter spot inside that oval. You’ve just created a layered highlight that can stand in for a light on skin, fruit, or metal.

Q: What are some other quick examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights I can practice daily?
Try these mini drills: pull three bright hair strands out of a dark band; lift a sharp highlight along the rim of a cup; tap tiny dots of light along a shaded chain; carve a bright edge along a tree trunk; or lift scattered sparkles on a shaded water strip. These are all fast, repeatable examples of eraser techniques for drawing highlights you can do in a few minutes.

Q: Is it better to leave the paper white or to use eraser highlights?
Both approaches work. Leaving paper white is cleaner and faster, but using eraser highlights over a toned area often looks more natural and three-dimensional. Many artists combine the two: they reserve the very brightest whites and still use erasers to shape softer, secondary highlights.

Q: Do eraser techniques work with colored pencil, or only graphite and charcoal?
They work best with graphite and charcoal, which sit more on the surface of the paper. With colored pencil, especially wax-based brands, erasers may only lighten slightly instead of going back to white. You can still use kneaded erasers to gently lift and soften, but don’t expect the same dramatic highlights you get in graphite.

Q: How can I learn more about shading and value to improve my highlight work?
Studying basic value scales and light logic will make every example of eraser techniques for drawing highlights more effective. Many universities and museums provide free drawing resources on value and light. For instance, the Harvard Art Museums and the National Gallery of Art offer educational materials that can support your practice in understanding light, shadow, and form.

If you focus on these simple, real-world examples and practice a little each day, your eraser will stop feeling like a panic button and start feeling like what it really is: a powerful tool for drawing light itself.