In this process the artist draws directly on a copper plate with a sharp needle with great force. This leaves two burrs of copper, one on either side of the scratched line. It is mostly the ink caught in the burrs that forms the image on the paper in this case and not so much the ink in the shallow line.

Since the burrs wear off rapidly under the pressure of the printing press and the abrasion of the wiping, only a limited number of copies can be made, often as few as only 10 or so, before the plate wears out. This technique is very rapid and produces an image very like a drawing. Dry point lines are often incorporated into etchings and aquatints to add variety of line and texture to the image.