What the eraser can and can't do in Easel by Zaweba

Every paint program has an eraser that rubs out anything at all. Easel by Zaweba does not. Its eraser takes off pencil and pastel but never dried paint, exactly as a real rubber does on a real sheet.

That can be a surprise if you come from other software. This article explains why it works that way, how to use the eraser well, and what to do when you want to remove something it won't touch.

Why the eraser is limited

Easel is built around tools that behave like real materials on real surfaces. A real eraser lifts graphite and loose pastel because they sit on the fibres. It can't lift paint that has dried into the paper or onto the canvas. Easel keeps that rule.

The benefit is honesty. Practising in Easel teaches the same habits you would need with real materials, so it's useful for art students trying techniques before buying supplies. It also keeps layers meaningful. A pencil sketch under a watercolour can be cleaned up after the paint has dried without disturbing the paint.

Using the eraser well

For pencil, rub gently. Graphite in Easel catches on the grain and darkens pass by pass, so heavily worked areas are harder to clean. Light sketch lines come off easily, which is why it pays to start light.

For pastel, the eraser is good for tidying edges and pulling back an area you have overworked.

Don't think of the eraser only as a fixing tool. It also draws. Pull it through a soft graphite tone to pick out light shapes, such as highlights on hair or sparkles on water. Many drawing artists work as much with the eraser as with the pencil.

When you need something else

When you want to remove paint, reach for other tools. Paint that is still wet can be lifted with a rag, tissue, chamois or cotton bud, or scraped back with the metal scraper. Watercolour can be lifted with a clean damp brush.

Paint that has dried is a different matter. Dried paint never moves or mixes again in Easel. To recover from a mistake there, use undo. It works by tiles, keeps at least 50 steps (80 by default), and includes tilt runs and drying, so you can step back past the point where it dried.

For dry media, Easel also has a kneaded eraser and an electric eraser among its lifting tools, which give more control over small highlights.

Protecting what you want to keep

The flip side of erasing is not erasing what you meant to keep. Fixative, workable or final, stops dry media smudging, so fix a layer of charcoal or pastel when you are happy with it.

Ink pencil dries permanent once it has been wet and dried, so it is a good choice for an underdrawing you don't want to lose.

A good rhythm

Sketch lightly in pencil. Erase and adjust until the drawing is right. Paint over it. Once the paint is dry, erase any pencil lines still showing. That is how many real watercolours are made, and Easel by Zaweba lets you follow the same order with the same results.