A tortillon is a piece of compressed paper you can buy in the shop or can make yourselves. It’s used to pull the pigment over your sheet of paper.
I’ve used it ones to find out what I could do with it. But I was a little disappointed. I thought that it should be possible to create a nicer effect. After some experimenting I’ve found that an ordinary piece of (single sheet) toilet paper works wonders.
Nova
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If you’ve ever looked at the texture of drawing paper you’ll know that it isn’t completely flat but kind of bumpy.
When you hold your pencil almost on it’s side when you draw, you only grace the bumps. The lower parts of the paper texture stays white. When you first start with drawing you learn to see the white parts as an disadvantage but actually it isn’t.
By using a piece of kitchen or toilet paper you can spread the pigment evenly accros the paper and get a kind of glassy feel.
You’ll have to try it for yourselves to see it because it doesn’t scan that well.
For this drawing I used a second sheet of paper as a kind of painters palette and a piece of toilet paper as a brush. I colored the edge of the “palette” and used the “brush” to pull a little bit of pigment onto this sheet. Then I moved the “palette” and pulled some more pigment on this sheet.
To be fair there is one exception to the rule that blending with (toilet) paper gives nicer results then blending with a tortillon and that’s when you’re in a tight spot. A (commercial) tortillon has a pointed top which makes it ideally suited for small spaces.
A problem with tortillons is that pigment will stick to the top. If you don’t want to buy a tortillong for every color you’ll ever use you can use a blank piece of drawing paper to rub the pigment of the top.
While drawing this picture I accidentally found a new technique. I’ll try it as soon as I have the materials I need and I’ve thought of a picture to draw.
(I’ve send this drawing off to a source of inspiration.)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
A great post Henk, with a very nice and well working drawing indeed!
I often use toiletpaper when painting. Either to remove paint to get a very thin layer of it or simply to paint, dipping it into paint and then on the painting itself, for example for random leaves or clouds.
I haven’t tried it when drawing yet. It sounds good. I often use my fingers or a tortillon as it apparently is called. I was in need of one yesterday but didn’t took the time to try to make one. Following your link I now saw how to make them and made 4 myself. Thanks for pointing me to it.
Yes it is a nice picture isn’t it.
Henk
I’ve enjoyed looking at your work very much! I am a retired art teacher. Speaking of tortillions and ways of blending, toilet paper does work very well as does paper towels. The cheap paper towels that schools often use are also wonderful to use. They are heavier and more sturdy than what we usually buy in a store. You can also make your own tortillions from things like butcher paper, the brown, heavy kind. I have some paper from the wrappings on a package that was mailed to me, and I’m going to cut it into strips to use for tortillions. The strips are rolled at an angle. At one time, I had a pattern, but I don’t really need a pattern. You can also use paper to polish certain materials, like crayon and pencils that have a waxey feel to them, like Prismacolors.
My favorite drawing pencil is what was a Berol #314 Draughting Pencil. The last ones I found were labeled Sanford #314 Draughting Pencil. I haven’t been able to find them for a while, but, I do have a few left to use. I know where I can buy them when I run out!
I found it interesting that you have difficulty focusing on more than one thing at a time. I do that, a bit, myself. I need to work straight through on something until I finish, even if it takes several days. If I put it aside to do other things, I may never either find it again, or I have lost the same feeling for it and find it very difficult to go back to it. I have things from months and years ago that need to be finished! I lose my mood, or even the object itself, if I move it over and try to do something else.
Good luck to you with your work! You have some very nice things, and it is so nice to read about the process you use in creating your pieces, and your blog. I haven’t done my blog very long, myself, so I’m learning!
Hi Cecelia,
Thanks for commenting. I never knew you can use tortillon with crayons. I have to do some more fireworks drawings with crayons somewhere in the next two or three weeks. I’ll see if I can use it.
regards Henk