#DRAFTING VELLUM SKIN#

You can use both wax based and oil based pencils on drafting film, but you will find that you get the best adherence with the oil based pencils such as the Faber Castell Polychromos (best adherence of all the pencils) and the Caran D'ache Pablos.

Drafting film will not absorb wet media and so it tends to sit on top and true drafting film doesn’t buckle at all if you do apply water to its surface. It can look and feel very similar to the film, but it doesn't perform in quite the same way - it is more textured and will buckle with the application of any wet media. Whereas true drafting film is 100% polyester, Vellum (not the leather kind) is usually plasticised cotton. I have sometimes heard drafting film sold and referred to as Vellum. You would be able to achieve the same level of colour saturation with multiple layers of colour and the illustration board will take more layers than the drafting film. In the sample below, I have used the same pencil on HP Illustration board, which has a smooth surface very similar to drafting film, but it shows how the colour is slightly less saturated on this surface when compared to the drafting film. In the image below, you can see a sample swatch of a red Faber Castell Polychromo pencil done on the Dura-lar. Within Australia the Grafix Drafting film is mostlyonly available in the 0.003” weight (75 Micron) and you can buy it in single sheets from Draftex. Within the UK, drafting film is sold under the brand name Polydraw and this can be purchased in pad form on Amazon. The Duralar has a smoother surface than the drafting film which means, on the down side that it doesn’t accept as many layers as the toothier drafting film, but on the upside you will find your work stays cleaner as it accumulates less dust. In the US, Grafix offers either a student grade drafting film in pad form under the name of Dura-lar, or their artist grade film, which can be bought either by the sheet or roll from Dick Blick’s. You can find a range of tutorials on working with drafting film using coloured pencils and other media here. You can also back the film onto different coloured backing boards, and you will be amazed how a drawing done on a white background is transformed when different coloured backgrounds are allowed to show through. Because of the translucency of the film, you can also work on both sides, giving a layered 3D look to your artworks.

#DRAFTING VELLUM SKIN#

Because the pencil pigment adheres so quickly to the drafting film surface, portraits of people can be a little more tricky when trying to render smooth skin tones, but it is still possible with a patient and gentle approach. Drafting film allows for rapid, vibrant colour laydown, crisp and fine detail and gives a luminous, photographic quality to your artworks. Drafting film is perfect for doing fine detail and line work and is particularly effective for animal artworks and portraits. I have often heard drafting film referred to as Mylar, but Mylar is a generic term referring to any polyester film or plastic sheet and does not specifically refer to drafting film which has a special matte coating which makes it receptive to coloured pencil, graphite and some inks.

Drafting film is sold under a range of brand names in different countries. It is archival, translucent, non-yellowing, stable under different temperatures and loves coloured pencil. Drafting film is a 100% polyester surface, used traditionally by draftsmen and architects to do plans on, but these days it is gaining increasing popularity as a drawing surface with artists.

Drafting vellum