Drawing in metal point

Artwork by Gilberto Mello

I’m taking a great pleasure in managing my very first silverpoint! which unfortunately is not very easy material to find in the US, but I did find it.

I prepared a heavy paper pretty much according to instructions in the Drawing Academy video, except I did not have gum Arabic and used powdered plaster of Paris as a ground. I sanded the first coat with sandpaper and applied a second one, sanded again to smooth out. Then I transferred the contour of a Great Master drawing to the surface and started experimenting with the metal point.

I found it initially hard to control the pressure, in fact in some instances I did not see any line marks at all unless I pressed a little harder.

That also caused the medium to scratch off in some locations.

In the end I was quite pleased with the result, but I also enhanced the final drawing using white and brown chalk sticks.

All the best,

Gilberto Mello