To Electric Eraser users: how valuable is it to you?

[Zirngibism]

I'm about to buy a cheap one because I heard it can be useful in drawing, though nobody went into specifics.

But more importantly, I'm making this thread because I have a team graphic design project where we have to market an electric eraser, and are thinking about targeting illustrators/fine artists as opposed to the draftsmen these things are usually associated with.


I was wondering if I could get some testimonials as to the usefulness of this product to you or other people you know who use one. (We're specifically doing the small Staedtler battery-operated one, for its portability and low cost, but if you don't have that particular one, it's OK).

I saw it's a good tool for comics artists, so I'm guessing this could apply to other art involving graphite... How well? Can you render well with it, or is it only good for cleaning up unwanted lines?

Do you think electric erasers are underrated? Should more artists know about and use them?

Thanks!

[nonie]

I have that Staedtler eraser and love it. I certainly don't use it every day but using blue-line pencil a lot, even Col-Erase is really difficult to erase by hand but you can lift a lot more of it with a powered eraser. The powered eraser can lift up a lot of even a waxy pencil like a Prisma.

Really I use it a lot more for the heavy lifting, getting back to white of the paper, than for rendering at all (occasional highlight is really the only rendering I do with it). It's nice for drawing lighter into a lot of graphite, things like spiderwebs or rigging. I use a kneaded eraser for rendering, the Staedtler really just lifts way too much for getting convincing form.

In a shared studio though, there's nothing better for annoying your coworkers

[Jem'ennuie]

I have used it for CAD design, for electrical plans. (I used to study mechanical engineering).

It's quite handy on thin CAD plotted cad paper because you don't tear your paper up so easily because the electrical erasors are sensitive (well the good ones are).

But specific for arts? Hm, I'm using a kneeded and standard eraser now. I guess for vector art or very precise art you could use it. The advantage of not tearing up very thin papers would still apply.

I think they're overrated a bit. They do have their advantages for CAD design and electrical plans / building plans / architecture.
You could classify architecture design under arts in a way.

But for traditional arts, to me at least, they offer very little benefits over a regular eraser.

[HunterKiller_]

It's very useful as a 'white pencil'.

[Maxine Schacker]

Is it good for delicate paper?

[rpace]

I like my little battery-powered Sakura - with the small eraser I can do finer clean up than with traditional rubs.

My plug-in is a joy to work with whether I'm pencilling ot inking. I like cutting into it with an X-acto when I need razor sharp cleaning and a shield isn't fine enough. The high-grit ink eraser is great when working on bristol board since I can grind off the ink and still have a decent surface to re-ink over.

~R

[Gokoi]

We're using electric erasers in school for correcting ink drawings (bugs etc.). As rpace already said, the good part is that you can ink over the erased parts of the paper without quality loss, but it depends very much on the paper you're using. I've only used some schoellerhammer airbrush paper so far, but there are other suitable papers on the market, sorry can't remember them atm.

[CesarNostradamus]

Fucking Technology. Fuck paper. Ill draw in my mind.

[Elwell]

Fucking Technology. Fuck paper. Ill draw in my mind.

How about you just post in your mind too?

[Jem'ennuie]

Fucking Technology. Fuck paper. Ill draw in my mind.

haha

I'm going to look up how they make normal erasers now.

[Zirngibism]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! Having a mix of both positive and somewhat negative is very helpful for us to figure our how to structure our ads and what about our product to emphasize.

Mine's coming in a few days so I'll see how well (or not so well) that particular type works.

[Viridis]

Okay, this might sound crazy, but... what is an electric eraser? (I mean, I assume it is an eraser which is powered somehow, but beyond that.) O_o I have never heard of such a thing before. Where do you even find such a thing?

[Jem'ennuie]

Okay, this might sound crazy, but... what is an electric eraser? (I mean, I assume it is an eraser which is powered somehow, but beyond that.) O_o I have never heard of such a thing before. Where do you even find such a thing?

It's like a small drill like thingy that turns around the gum piece you put in it. You fill it just like you fill a filling pencil. Some work on bateries, some on the outlet.
You can refill the gum. The little engine inside it just spins the gum around.

I got mine from a utility store. I don't know if you even call it that in the US, but the store where you would normally find technical craftsmen material, like measuring tapes, drills, sandpaper..those kinda stores. Art shops might have them too, but the one I go to never has them.

[rpace]

Info and pictures here.

I bought mine at art supply shops.

~R