Drawing on Rice Paper Without Ripping Your Artwork

If you’ve ever tried drawing on rice paper, you know it’s unlike any other surface. It’s delicate, absorbent, and reacts differently to every mark you make. I remember the first time I used it—I was expecting it to behave like standard drawing paper, and instead it soaked up my ink like a sponge and left me scrambling to adjust. But once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. There's a beauty in the way lines bleed, textures form, and subtlety emerges in each stroke.

I want to walk you through what I’ve learned over the years using rice paper for drawing, whether you’re sketching with pencil, outlining in ink, or experimenting with drybrush techniques. This isn’t a guide for perfection—this is a realistic look at what it’s like to actually sit down and work with this fragile but fascinating surface.

Drawing on Rice Paper: What You Need to Know First

Rice paper isn’t technically made from rice—it’s usually made from the bark of plants like mulberry or bamboo.

The texture and absorbency can vary depending on the type you buy. Some are more fibrous and feel soft and delicate, others are crisper and a bit more durable. You can find it in art supply shops or in traditional sumi-e painting sets.

Before you start, it's helpful to understand that this surface doesn’t forgive hesitation or second-guessing. Unlike standard sketching papers used in drawing, you’ll need to embrace unpredictability. Think of it more like expressive drawing or even messy drawings—there’s beauty in letting go a bit.

Key Points Before You Begin

• Test your tools first—inks, pencils, and brushes behave differently on rice paper.
• Use a support sheet underneath, especially if your table has texture—it will show through.
• Embrace bleeding edges and soft lines; they’re part of what makes this medium beautiful.

Best Tools for Drawing on Rice Paper

I’ve found that soft graphite pencils, brush pens, and black India ink work best when drawing on rice paper.

I tend to reach for softer pencils—usually a 4B or 6B—because they glide across the surface without digging into it. Harder pencils, like H or 2H, can easily tear the paper or leave deep impressions that ruin the feel of the drawing.

One tool I especially love is an ebony pencil—it has that rich, dark quality and a smooth glide that feels really satisfying on rice paper. Just be aware that it smudges more easily on this surface compared to thicker drawing paper, so I often keep a scrap sheet under my hand to avoid accidental smears.

Brush pens are another go-to for me, especially when I want to switch between detailed line work and bold strokes.

And ink—wow. Ink can be absolutely stunning on rice paper, but it takes a bit of getting used to. I’ve ruined more than a few pieces by applying too much at once or not realizing how quickly it would bleed.

These days, I approach ink work more like I’m doing a combination of outlining in drawing and brush painting. I like to use a fine brush or a dip pen with India ink, but I keep my strokes deliberate and sparse. This paper really blurs the line between drawing versus painting, and I’ve come to enjoy that tension.

Instead of fighting it, I like to let the lines feather out and bleed where they want to, then working with those marks instead of correcting them.

Managing the Fragility of Rice Paper

This paper is incredibly delicate—honestly, more delicate than I realized the first time I used it.

Everything matters: how hard you press your pencil, how you rest your hand, even how much moisture is in the room. I’ve had moments where I leaned in too close and the paper slightly buckled just from my breath. That’s not something I ever dealt with on heavier surfaces like how to draw on black paper or when using the best paper for graphite drawings.

One thing I do now is always place a protective sheet underneath my drawing hand. It’s a simple fix, but it makes a huge difference in avoiding smudging and accidental tears. I’ve also learned to be extra careful when taping the paper down. I once used regular masking tape, and it tore a corner clean off when I tried to remove it. Since then, I’ve switched to artist tape or the kind you’d use as the best tape for watercolor paper. It’s gentle enough to hold the paper in place without ruining it when it’s time to take everything off.

Techniques That Work Well on Rice Paper

Drybrush, ink wash, and even blind contour drawing can produce great results on rice paper. I love how each of those techniques takes on a different personality when used on this surface.

With drybrush, I get these scratchy, textural marks that seem to echo the paper's own organic fibers. Ink wash spreads quickly, but if I use just the right amount of water and brush pressure, I can get these soft gradients that feel almost ghostlike. It's never predictable, which I find energizing rather than frustrating.

I’ve been using rice paper a lot when I’m practicing analytical drawing, especially when I want to slow down and study form and structure. Something about how the paper responds forces me to be more intentional with my marks. It’s not like working on smooth sketchbook paper where you can just erase and rework things endlessly. On rice paper, I have to mean it with every line I draw—it keeps me honest.

You might also enjoy doing some non-dominant hand drawing on this surface. That’s actually one of my favorite exercises on rice paper. Because the paper is so sensitive, the natural awkwardness of your non-dominant hand actually pairs beautifully with the medium—it emphasizes those strange, searching lines.

I’ve also found that experimenting with implied shapes on rice paper adds a kind of mystery that you don’t get with more literal drawing approaches. The unpredictability of the surface invites play, and I often end up with pieces that feel more intuitive and spontaneous than anything I could have planned.

How to Preserve and Store Your Drawings

Finished rice paper drawings can be tricky to store. I usually mount mine on heavier backing paper using a gentle adhesive or dry mount technique. If you're working in pencil or graphite, how to preserve a pencil drawing becomes even more important on rice paper.

When you’re ready to put them away, make sure they’re stored flat, ideally with a barrier sheet between each one. I wrote more about that in how to store drawings.

Other Ideas and Inspirations

If you’re stuck on what to draw, check out drawing is imperfect and how to find your style of drawing.

I’ve had so many days where I’ve sat at my desk feeling stuck, not knowing what I wanted to put down on paper.

And honestly, rice paper often ends up being the spark that gets me going again. There’s something about the way it resists control that helps me loosen up and stop overthinking. The texture and irregularity of the surface almost forces me to try things I wouldn’t normally attempt—so even if the drawing isn’t “perfect,” it often ends up being more interesting or expressive than something I labored over.

I’ve even used rice paper as a kind of playground for experimentation. Sometimes I do quick gesture sketches or value studies, other times I’ll try layering soft pencil marks with brush pen lines just to see how they interact.

I’ve used it for anatomical studies inspired by draw like Leonardo da Vinci, where the imperfections in the paper actually help me notice shapes and proportions in a new way.

And when I want to work quickly and intuitively, I’ll do movement sketches like I describe in how to draw movement—the paper naturally lends itself to fluid, fast, expressive marks. It keeps me in motion and prevents me from getting too precious about any single line.