A dermatograph is a colored pencil made of rolled paper and is used in block printing instead of a lithographic crayon when doing lithographs.

A dermatograph is made of paper wound into a pencil shape. Unlike a conventional pencil, it is unique in that the composite core is largely comprised of wax. This allows it to demonstrate similar characteristics to the hard lithographic crayons when drawing. However, because they have less oil content than lithographic crayons, when using a printing plate, tincture is needed to strengthen the sensitization sections (tincture replacement).

Dermatographs were first sold by Mitsubishi Pencil in 1955. The word comes from a combination of the Greek words, “dermato”, meaning skin, and “graph”, meaning to draw: Literally, draw on skin. As the name suggests, the dermatograph can be used to draw on surfaces such as skin, glass, metal and film which is difficult with a conventional pencil. Today, the features of the dermatograph are used in a variety of applications.

Dermatographs can be purchased at general art supply and stationery stores.