Fun with Frottage: Draw a Textured Portrait with Bridget Clutten
Bring texture to life with a playful, tactile technique.
In this inventive lesson, artist Bridget Clutten brings texture to life with frottage—a playful, tactile technique that captures pattern by rubbing graphite over textured objects hidden beneath your paper.
You’ll start with a sensitive graphite portrait, then turn to the hair, layering in texture using leaves, stencils, stamps, foil, or whatever you can find within reach. The result? A striking contrast between realism and abstraction, control and chance.
Students have called this lesson “a burst of creativity” and “a fun new tool” to carry forward. Some reached for cedarwood blocks or lace doilies, others for grill grates and Lego mats. What matters is the curiosity—and the permission to let loose.
Ready to go where your graphite leads? Let's get started!
