We all were introduced to the eraser with our first pencil. After that pencil met the paper and we realized we could flip the pencil, rub and remove the mark we made, things felt safer. We had a way to obliterate wayward lettering and "bad" drawings of one sort or the other.

You learned that all erasers don't work the same. You learn that you can't really remove really dark lines or ink that well without damaging the paper.

Maybe you learned the technique of bracing the paper with your other hand and erasing away from that anchor point so you would'nt rub a fold into the paper or rip it altogether.

Remember that over time any area of the paper that was erased may slightly gray due to the mild abrasive and slightly high ph qualities of most erasers. The overall brightness of the areas will be affected with age also.

Packaged as gray plastic wrapped squares, kneaded erasers hold true to their name. To soften a kneaded eraser knead it with your hands, stretching and folding, twisting and shaping as you go. Good for cleaning up, shaping, or creating smudges, picking out soft highlights and gently removing swaths of tone. You can remove the pencil lines from your thoroughly dry watercolor with a soft kneaded eraser. A kneaded eraser leaves no virtually no debris and is abrasive but less so than Pink Pearl or ArtGum erasers. Kneaded erasers are composed of vulcanized vegetable oil (factice), natural and synthetic rubbers, pumice, and coloring agents.

These are the original solid factice erasers which may contain modifiers and chalk. Art Gum erasers are about as abrasive as Pink Pearl erasers and will erase softer leads very well. They crumble easily as they erase and leave the most debris to brush away.

These are the fairly abrasive pink rubber based erasers with the chiseled ends used for decades in schoolrooms everywhere. The main ingredients are the same as those for the kneaded eraser with variations in ingredients and formulation. The firmness allows you to use the edges to erase single lines and cut highlights into toned areas. Most yellow barreled pencils incorporate a form of this eraser on the ferulled end. Leaves a moderate amount of fairly tenacious pink debris and sometimes colors the paper.

White vinyl erasers come in a solid white rectangle and erase thoroughly with a high degree of edge control. The Mars Plastic eraser used here is composed of polyvinylchloride (PVC), calcium carbonate (chalk), chloride, and coloring agents among other ingredients. On softer leads they tend to smudge up the pencil line a bit before cleanly rolling it away. Low to moderate eraser debris is easy to clean up. These are the least abrasive erasers, have a neutral ph, and do not abrade sized papers at all.

These are the other rubber based erasers with the chiseled ends used for decades in schoolrooms everywhere. Usually divided into a white and gray halves with different abrasive qualities. Because they are so abrasive they really have no use in drawing unless utilized as a tool for working on clayboard or scratchboard.

These vibrating wonders can be fitted with a variety of grades of eraser heads. Commonly found in an architect's office, electric erasers can be used as part of your drawing kit if that's what you need to do what you do.