Here are a few variations that I personally use to draw on toned paper. In no way is this all encompassing. It’s just the way I use it, and how it works for me. For reasons why and what kind of paper I use scroll to the bottom of this article.
Traditional:
Black & White Charcoal
Graphite & White Colored Pencil
You can interchange these traditional mediums but just keep in mind how each one reacts to one another. For example, if you use white colored pencil for your highlights with charcoal for your darkest shades, then you will want to start with your highlights first and add shades over top of them. Otherwise, if you start with your charcoal first you will get a dirty blueish-gray tone to your work when you start adding all your highlights. If you are worried what tools to use and are just starting out, sticking with the tried-and-true, black and white charcoal. Once comfortable you can try to interchange them.
Mixed Media:
Pencil, Pen, Colored Pencil, Charcoal
One of my favorite ways of using toned paper is with mixed media. I’ll work with pencil first, to lay down my outlines and work in some shading. Once I’ve sculpted out my figure or object, I start to add some dark line work to really finalize composition. This also lets me know where I should add some heavier contrast later on. I then use white colored pencil for highlights and use a mixture of pen and pencil for the darker value ranges.
My Own Experiments:
Everything and the kitchen sink
Of course, just like any artist we always have to push ourselves and try new things. Like Bob Ross says, “There are no mistakes. Only happy accidents.” You can experiment with washes of acrylic, water color, colored pencils, whatever you like.
Why use toned paper?
Every drawing from life class throughout my college career the instructor would make us draw on brown craft paper straight off the role. You would rip a length of brown paper and use mediums such as charcoal and vine charcoal to get started. The instructor would instruct the model to set up for short poses, 5 to 10 minutes at a time at first for warmups, then later have the model sit for a good 30-to-40-minute pose. It was a great system and drawing on toned paper got you to work fast. I’ll explain why here in a bit. But after college It was tough to find subjects to sit for that long for free.
Over the years, I reverted back to the same old non toned sketchbook paper I had always drawn on. But over the past 2 years or so I have gone back to toned paper for sketching, and it reminded me of all the magical little nuances that drawing on toned paper can create, just like it did so many years ago in my drawing classes. It does several things that strengthen my drawing skills:
- Makes me really study the wide range of value of the one thing that I am drawing or sketching in a sitting.
- Its easier to establish that value range when you mid-tones are set in stone.
- Makes me work faster since the mid-tones are done before you even start.
- Since mid-tones are already set this makes it ideal for me to take when traveling and I have to sketch something really quickly.
- It hides my mistakes a lot better! If you think about it, any mark or smudge on white paper can be seen a mile away, but on toned paper that same mark or smudge is subdued and is harder to see.
- It makes me a better painter. When you get the foundations of your values down in your drawing, transferring it to color is almost seamless for me.
If you have never worked with tone paper before let loose and give it a shot. If you don’t want to spend extra money on toned paper just yet you can always give your white paper a quick wash of yellow ochre, light red, or green. Who knows what awesome creations you will make.
Here are some of the papers I use:
Strathmore Series 400 toned tan paper, medium surface
https://www.dickblick.com/items/strathmore-400-series-toned-sheets-tan-19-x-24/
Strathmore Series 400 toned gray paper, medium surface:
https://www.dickblick.com/items/strathmore-400-series-toned-sheets-grey-19-x-24/