I've heard it said that one should not use a common lead pencil to do the drawing which is the basis for an oil painting bec the lead or graphite will 'bleed' into the oil paint. Anyone have a thought?

I don't know if that's true or not..I used to draw under paintings a bit when I was younger...because I didn't know another method being self taught.
But a teacher I finally spent a little time with instructed me to throw the pencil away and draw the outlines of my painting with my brush.
I use a color blend that I feel will be part of the over colors of the painting so that there is no need to hide all of the orriginal brush/ sketch. It feels odd for a few minutes but you will get to love the freedom of it. Detail is for the end of a painting ,not the beginning.
Does that help?

Well I'll give it some thought. I am really wedded to pencil drawing so it would be hard. I think I heard once that Sargent said you should draw with your brush. So there. Many thanks for your thought...

Try it on a less expensive canvas and tell yourself you
don't care if this painting comes out well or not...it helps if you say...ok this is a learning
curve. Use a stiff brush for drawling...(and you
should probably paint the canvas first...something else I'm bad at remembering...then if you like what you've done
you don't find yourself saynig...but there's no paint in some places. Worth a try...you can always try something else if you don't care for it.

I've used pencil on the canvas before and yep, it did bleed into the paint. I found a harder pencil worked better but now i use a grey or umber wash and brush to do my drawing on the canvas. It works fine and if you make a mistake it wipes off easily with a cloth dipped in some of the spirits.

.. thanks. I guess I'm getting answers I don't like! Maybe I'll drop back and do pen and ink or perhaps spray pencil w/ a fixatif. As I say, it is hard to break away from a pencil drawing. CE

. .and what brush do you use for the drawing part?
CE

it's true that graphite shows through the paint, I'm using a pencil to draw the underdrawing very lightly and then
I redraw with ink (deluded with water). afterwards i remove the graphite.

That's a thought...will give it a try
Thx ChefEd

I USE SOFT VINE CHARCOAL TO DRAW ON MY CANVAS AND WIPE OFF WITH A CHAMOIS CLOTH IF I AM NOT FEELING LIKE SKETCHING WITH MY OILS TO BEGIN. I THEN USE TWO COATS OF SPRAY FIXATIVE.
-LISA ZOOK
WWW.LISAZOOK.COM