I'm trying to find good-quality, acid-free paper for drawing with charcoal and graphite—but with the ability to easily erase. I've tried several different kinds of paper, but none of them erase cleanly. I'm a beginner, so not only do I need to erase my many mistakes, I also want to be able to add highlights to my shading by erasing with the kneaded eraser. Currently, I use smooth newsprint for my practicing, which erases easily and cleanly. But newsprint is flimsy and eventually gets brittle and yellow. I want a permanent paper, but something I can erase on. Any suggestions? Thanks. Rich

One confusing thing here.. at least from what I can find on sale in the UK at the moment... Conte Pierre Noire 1710 isn't actually charcoal, it's pastel (the fusian 720 appears to be their chacoal range). Even more confusingly though, the fusian is the one with the gold ring around the end (pierre noire doesn't have one, at least not the b or 2b). It might well have charcoal in it, it's just not what they sell as their charcoal pencils, and feels very different to other charcoal pencils I've used. Not that any of it matters that much, I've bought a bunch of both, and the 1710 really is a lovely pencil (definitely acts more like pastel than charcoal.

In the Proko Facebook group I saw others who, like me struggled finding newsprint for sale in their countries. I found using thin craft/wrapping paper (I'm sure it has a more accurate name) OK to use, but after a while it gets wrinkly. I would however recommend it as an alternative for others who are looking for cheap paper to practice on. I feel it helps mentally to know that the paper is cheap and thin so I can blast through quick sketches without thinking of wasting paper. Does anyone else have any tips for cheap+good drawing paper for practice? I feel it should be A2 or at the smallest A3 size...