How To Use Transfer Paper For Drawing

How to use transfer paper to trace designs for drawing & painting

You need to strive for perfection every step of the way, drawing and painting realistically. Therefore, you must have perfect outlines to have a good start. A lot of times when your drawing is complex, it requires sketching, erasing, and sketching again. It ruins the paper's surface that must stay nice and clean for even shading in graphite or colored pencil later on. That's why I often sketch on a separate piece of paper that matches my canvas (or drawing) size to transfer these outlines onto my drawing paper. It's called Cartoon drawings in the old master era of painting.

What is it for?

You need the graphite transfer paper for precision tracing of your outlines/ lineart onto your drawing paper, canvas or panels if your art is very complex and you wish to keep the working surface clean.

Graphite Transfer paper brands and features

Saral Graphite Transfer Paper

how to use transfer paper

Comes in 5 colors! Blue, yellow, graphite, white red
Saral transfer rolls are wax-less, non-toxic, and do not contain acid. The paper allows you to transfer your design from a sketch, pattern, template or by hand to almost any surface. May be used with acetate overlays, plastics and enamel, metal, cloth, wood, fabric, ceramic, canvas, stained glass, tole paintings, architectural work, scrapbooking, watercolor, fine art, and more.
Shows up equally well on light or dark surfaces and mixtures of the two, such as photos.
12 inch x 12 foot roll; comes in a roll (similar to a wax paper roll).

Loew-Cornell Black and White Graphite Transfer Papers

how to use transfer paper

Waxless, greaseless, smudge proof, erasable
Doesn't bleed through paint, and it doesn't smear.
Works for drawing and painting but not recommended for fabric and porous surfaces
Ideal for large projects due to its size. You can also cut it for smaller projects.
Reusable! I've been using my two sheets of graphite paper for years, and it still works fine!
Comes in as a single, large folded sheet of paper in one package. You need to buy two packages to have different colors. Package of 4 Sheets— Each sheet measures 9″ × 13″ | Single Sheet Package — One 18″ × 36″ sheet

Royal & Langnickel® White Graphite Transfer Paper

It doesn't smear, having no wax or grease
Comes in one 18 x 36 inch sheet of white graphite paper per package.
Erases similar to a pencil and is very similar to the Loew-Cornell transfer papers.

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Basic art supplies I often use:

Transfer paper: white transfer paper: https://amzn.to/3gAaPFo or https://amzn.to/2XMdBPg
Panels: Ampersand gessobord: https://amzn.to/2WWioP1
Mono eraser: https://amzn.to/3e6SHRw
Kneaded eraser: https://amzn.to/3gaZWtH
Colored Pencils: Prismacolor 36: https://amzn.to/2LUheNS | Pablo 30: https://amzn.to/2A2UhFk | Polychromos: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-9265447-13717235?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dickblick.com%2Fproducts%2Ffaber-castell-polychromos-pencils%2F%3FclickTracking%3Dtrue%26wmcp%3Dpla%26wmcid%3Ditems%26wmckw%3D20561-0369&cjsku=20561-0369
Drawing paper: Colored paper. You must pick the SMOOTH SIDE to draw on this one: https://amzn.to/2yr59wf and https://amzn.to/2Xn0pAr | On Amazon Canson colorline, clementine hue: https://amzn.to/3bUkUJP , On Amazon Canson colorline, turquoise: https://amzn.to/3d0MQwU | At Dick Blick Canson colorline (a wide selection): https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9265447-13717235?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dickblick.com%2Fproducts%2Fcanson-colorline-art-papers%2F%3FclickTracking%3Dtrue%26wmcp%3Dpla%26wmcid%3Ditems%26wmckw%3D11273-5232&cjsku=11273-5232
Spray varnish for drawings: https://amzn.to/2X0GEzL | DON'T buy krylon spray!
I'm an Amazon affiliate.

How to use transfer paper in your art projects

Make a precise sketch

oil painting techniques step by step

oil painting techniques still life with starfish and peacock feather

I sketch out my drawing on a sketch paper and then transfer these outlines onto drawing paper using an HB graphite pencil or a ballpoint pen. You can replace the pen or pencil with a stylus if you want to preserve your original reference sketch/photo for future projects. Check out the Soft-Grip Embossing & Stylus Set Complete by Royal & Langnickel (3 Pack) for that.

A lot of artists, especially beginners skip the sketching step, transferring the image direct from a photo onto the drawing paper. While it's totally possible, beware that many pictures have lens distortion that's especially noticeable in anatomy and photos with linear perspective like cityscapes. So you end up transferring the distortion into your art.

Pick the right color of the transfer paper for your project

Basic steps in scratchboard art. In the first image you can see the use of white transfer paper. 5×7″ scratchboard

For transferring designs to both white and dark paper white transfer paper is ideal. Also, use the white transfer paper for your watercolor painting. Black transfer paper's line doesn't erase completely and is not suitable for watercolor work. Use black transfer paper with caution for your colored pencil work as well. I mostly use this black transfer paper for tracing my designs onto canvas/panels, and I often use white transfer paper for my colored pencil drawing, especially when I draw on colored paper because these white outlines show up well and blend with my subsequent shading. White graphite line will show up even on white paper, but you'll have to observe your lines at an angle. I also love to use white graphite transfer paper to transfer my designs working on scratchboard art!

To buy the graphite paper

Amazon
JerrysArtarama
DickBlick
Michael's & other craft stores

If you draw in colored pencil, I invite you to watch FREE previews of some of my lessons in my course titled "Veronica Winters complete colored pencil techniques in 90 days."