These drawings are made in the metalpoint technique. Here you can find my tutorials in which I explain how exactly I make my metalpoint artworks.
A metalpoint drawing is made by dragging a piece of metal (usually a wire) across a surface prepared with an abrasive ground. As the metal is drawn along the surface, tiny particles of metal are left behind, creating a mark. Unlike with graphite pencils, marks made by metal cannot be erased except with careful sanding or scraping of the ground (of course, doing so damages the surface, hence it is better for the artist not to make any mistakes in the first place).
When reading about metalpoint drawings, you may also encounter words like “silverpoint” or “goldpoint.” These words are used, when a drawing is made with silver or gold, respectively. Since I make my drawings with various different metals, I will be using the word “metalpoint.” I usually use aluminum, gold, and palladium.
A silverpoint stylus is the closest predecessor to the graphite pencil. The technique was commonly used among European artists up until the discovery of graphite deposits at Seathwaite in Borrowdale, England, in the early 1500s. The increasing availability of graphite in a pure, soft and erasable form is what caused silverpoint’s decline. My drawings somewhat differ from the ones made centuries ago, because I use different grounds for my metalpoint drawings. Historically, artists used bone ash and rabbit skin glue for their grounds, I prefer using acrylic polymer emulsion instead.
