In this article I will demonstrate how to draw a portrait on a coloured surface. Most artists draw on white paper, but I find that using coloured pencils on a toned ground has several advantages. Firstly, it speeds up the process. If you have patience, you can shade areas for hours, but it can become frustrating filling in large areas. Drawing on toned paper is still slow, but it’s much faster than shading on white paper. It’s also more fun. You’ll find that colours ‘pop’ on the surface. By this I mean that if you were to use the same coloured pencils on white paper, you will notice that they react differently to the paper’s tone, producing novel colour combinations. It’s often impossible to achieve the same level of colour saturation on a white surface. And creating highlights with a white pencil on toned paper is much more satisfying than it is on white paper. The whites look so vibrant.
Choosing the right surface
Coloured surfaces can include drawing papers, pastel papers, matboards and wood panels. Make sure that your paper is suitable for colour-pencil drawing. It needs to be able to withstand erasing and layering, which most sketching paper won’t. Strathmore’s toned grey sketch paper is good for sketching and drawing studies in two colours, but its pages are thin for multiple layering. Similarly, Koh-I-Noor Black Drawing pads are good if you want
