Blending Tools for Drawing

Blending tools are great for a variety of art applications, but they are especially great for working with graphite, charcoal and soft pastels. They are most often used to move material around on a drawing surface to adjust the values. With blending tools, you can make smoother transitions between darks and lights and create different textures.

While you can use your fingers to blend areas in your work, your fingers contain oils that can contaminate the medium, leading to smudges or areas that are difficult to erase. Using a blending tool prevents the oils from mixing with the medium.

Blending Stumps

The most popular tools for blending drawing media are blending stumps and blending tortillons. Blending stumps are compressed cylinders of paper that come to a point at the end. They come in a variety of widths, but the tips are consistent in sharpness. Blending stumps typically have two pointed ends and when one end becomes dirty, the other can be used. Blending stumps are very inexpensive and can be disposed when they become too dirty to use. However, rubbing the soiled end against sandpaper will clean them to a degree.

Blending Tortillons

Blending tortillons are tightly rolled cylinders of paper that come to a point. Tortillons, unlike stumps, have only one end that is sharp. Like blending stumps, tortillons come in a variety of widths, but the ends are similar in "sharpness". Tortillons cannot be cleaned with sandpaper and are often disposed of when they become too dirty for use.