This tutorial is going to be a step by step guide in which I explain how I made my “Snarling Wolf Tribal” metalpoint drawing. This drawing was made with 24 karat gold, palladium, and aluminum, but the same instructions would be applicable also for making a silverpoint drawing (the word “silverpoint” is used when a drawing is made with silver).
This is a metalpoint drawing of a snarling wolf in profile. Image size is 8×10 inches. It is made with 24 karat gold, palladium, and aluminum. The more commonly used name for this drawing technique is “silverpoint,” but since I didn’t use silver for this artwork, I’m using the term “metalpoint” instead.
This is a metalpoint drawing. It’s size is 8×10 inches. It is made with 24 karat gold and aluminum. Metalpoint drawings are made by dragging a piece of metal across a surface prepared with an abrasive ground. It’s somewhat similar to drawing with pencils except that the drawing surface must be akin to a very fine sandpaper. This drawing is a commission, my client wanted me to draw his portrait.
Silverpoint (or metalpoint in general) is a somewhat rarely used art technique, therefore only a few companies offer ready-made art materials for this technique. In this article I am going to review and compare two ready-made silverpoint grounds: Golden Silverpoint/Drawing Ground versus C. Roberson & Co Silverpoint Drawing Ground. Both of these drawing grounds are acrylic based, but they use different abrasive powders, hence the differences between them are very pronounced.