Bristol board is a type of paperboard made of three or more layers. The outer layers are sometimes made of cotton fibers, and the board is usually finished smooth. Bristol board is primarily used for illustration, drawing, technical drawing, ink, printing, lettering and other two-dimensional art forms. The board is not designed for wet work and may become wavy and less smooth under moisture conditions.
1 Draw on Bristol board with mechanical pencils for fine line work. Larger and softer pencils can also be used, but Bristol board is smooth and will not have enough tooth for very soft pencil work.
2 Ink on Bristol board with a Rapidograph or similar ink pen. Bristol board's surface is particularly nice for detailed ink work, dots and superfine detail. Colored inks can be used to add color with small brushes or other tools. Larger ink paintings may cause the paper to become wavy and less smooth.
3 Paint Bristol board with acrylic paints. Acrylic can be applied to the Bristol with some success if the acrylic is worked dry or without being heavily thinned with water or medium. The moisture in the paint may affect the paper and cause the paper to lose its stability and surface finish.
4 Paint with pens and markers for particularly nice effects. The stability of the paper will tend to inhibit the spreading of many types of paints and marker inks; this gives the artist better control over the placement of the color.
5 Brush with airbrush paints. Bristol board works well with the fine and mostly dry aspect of airbrushed color. The board allows multiple layers of paint to be applied as long as the layers are dry or dry fast. This allows the artist a great deal of flexibility in developing rich colors and depth.
6 Decorate Bristol board by gluing or attaching other paper, plastic, fabric or other media and objects to the board. The board can be used as a background surface as long as the glue is not wet.
