Instead, try to blow it away before it gets too much.
Complete Guide to Drawing on Black Paper (and 5 Black Paper Art Ideas)
With nothing more than black paper and imagination, you can create incredible artwork that gets people talking. Black paper is magic for art because it provides instant contrast, a detail that ordinarily requires effort to make.
This article will explore five black paper art ideas, so if you’re an aspiring artist, read on for some great ideas for your next project.
Things to Draw on Black Paper
Drawing on black paper, can completely transform what would be an ordinary drawing on white paper into an incredible sensory scene. Obviously the black paper influences what colours you choose. We find high contrast colours the best – the most obvious being white. Light blues, reds and greens all work well too. Here’s a list of things you could drawing on black paper to start you off on your creative journey:
- Sunsets
- Reversed sillhouettes
- Spooky faces
- Facial features such as eyes
- Animals such as wolves, horses and cats
- Translucent creatures such as squids
- Object outlines using negative space
That’s just a start. The sky’s the limit!
Easy drawing on black paper with white pencil
White pencil is absolutely the best choice of colour when you start drawing on black paper. It provides the greatest contrast, and the pencil is ideal for controlling how heavy you apply it. It gives an enormous amount of scope for putting as much detail into your drawing as you want.
The best way to start is by drawing a standard shape, such as a circle, triangle or square. Then adding turning it into a 3 dimensional drawing by adding different variations of shading. Once you’ve mastered that, try drawing a full moon or sunset to apply what you’ve learned on a piece of art.
You soon get the hang of it and find how easy it is to draw on black paper with a white pencil.
Why You Should Draw On Black Paper
Why should you draw on black paper anyway?
Black paper, in general, is nothing special. It’s just another tool in the toolbox of an artist.
Most people draw on white paper. Quite a few people also draw on special drawing paper that is grey or tan (and obviously more expensive).
- It’s especially useful for drawing dark settings or night scenes. The black of the paper already represents the dark parts, which means that you only have to draw the lit parts of the characters and objects in your composition. Depending on what you want to draw, you can finish a drawing in much less time than one on white paper. And it will probably look very atmospheric.
- You have to think in reverse: On white paper it feels like the whole canvas is lit and you are drawing all the shades and shadows. On black paper it has the unique feeling that your scene is in darkness and you are painting the light.
Try it out, you can learn a lot.
How Do You Start Drawing On Black Paper?
If you’ve decided that it’s time to try your hand at drawing on black paper – how do you start?
What do you have to pay attention to?
The most important thing is to stop overanalyzing and just do it. Just start drawing on black paper and get your feet wet. Make your own experiences to familiarize yourself with the medium.
That said, I’ve compiled a list of tips that will give you a good grasp of what you have to focus on while drawing on black paper.
Below, I go into much more detail, but for a quick overview, you can watch my video:
Want to be able to draw like this?
2. Jessica Lebo
Jessica Lebo draws stunning animal portraits on black paper.
Like these two for example:
3. ruzanna.air
ruzanna.air draws everyday things like legumes with great precision and makes them look really realistic.
A simple flower or a pepperoni look amazing like this:
4. K I B A R
K I B A R is a big comic fan like me and has created great black paper drawings.
Check out these of Batman:
K I B A R is on Instagram.
5. Jelisa
Jelisa often uses black paper for drawing and has created these fascinating eye drawings, for example:
6. Ilojleen (Dominika)
Ilojleen (real name Dominika) draws on black paper quite often and likes to draw characters from movies or tv shows.
She has, for example, created these two amazing Game of Thrones portraits:
How To Draw On Black Paper – 4 General Tips
Here are some helpful tips for drawing on a dark surface.
1. What Can I Draw On Black Paper? (Black Paper Drawing Ideas)
- a wolf in the moonlight
- a portrait (with „studio lighting“ from behind)
- a zebra (draw just the white parts)
- colorful bubbles (really, google that!)
- use a white pencil like you would use a normal pencil on white paper (just think in reverse!)
- superheroes (what I like to draw the most)!
- a moon
Now, what are some other good ideas for what to draw on black paper?
Just go google black paper drawing for amazing examples.
If you are currently not that creative, check out my 15 Drawing And Painting Ideas To Spark Your Creativity or my article on how to get inspired to draw.
Picking the right motif is really important because you want to maximize the use of the black paper.
As I said, black paper is especially suitable for dark settings and night scenes, because the dark parts are kind of already there and you only have to paint the illuminated parts on your characters or objects.
Depending on your motif this can save you a lot of time. You can finish a black paper drawing in much less time than a drawing on a bright surface.
2. Picking The Right Paper Size
Black paper is generally rougher than normal paper and it can be hard to draw details on it.
The larger the piece of paper though, the easier it becomes to draw details.
Don’t make your life extra hard by choosing a small piece of paper, if you want to draw lots of details. Choose an appropriate paper size.
Colored pencils aren’t as sharp as normal ones and they get dull faster.
I’ve tried drawing with them on an A4-sized (21 x 29.7 cm) piece of black paper, but drawing details posed a little bit of a challenge for me.
A joker drawing in A4 I created.
Recently, I’ve drawn another piece on black paper (the one with Dr. Doom in the article thumbnail) which was 30 x 40 cm in size. With that one, it was a lot easier to draw fine details.
I would recommend using a paper that’s at least as large as this.
3. What Can I Use On Black Paper?
Choosing the appropriate medium can make or break your black paper drawing.
On black paper, you should use a medium that has bright and vibrant colors. Good examples are colored pencils, a white pencil, chalk or gel pens.
Graphite pencils don’t really work that well on black paper. There’s just not enough contrast between the grey lead of the pencil and the black of the paper. (They are okay for the sketching phase though.)
Colored pencils, on the other hand, are a very good and popular choice.
You can even use just a white pencil, which is kind of the opposite of drawing dark on white paper. Here the surface is dark, but the pencil is bright.
3.1 What Colored Pencils Are Best For Black Paper?
Wax- and oil-based colored pencils work equally well on black paper. The most important thing is that the colored pencils have vibrant colors that contrast enough with the dark paper.
So, which colored pencil brands do work well on dark paper?
The most popular ones are Prismacolor Premier and Faber-Castell Polychromos:
3.1.1 Prismacolor Premier
They have a large variety of colors (up to 150) and they aren’t very expensive.
They offer the best bang for your buck.
You can get them on Amazon here.
(UK – CA – GER)
In fact, I use them and am very happy with them.
Consider checking out all the other art tools I use and recommend.
3.1.2 Faber-Castell Polychromos
They are a bit more pricey than the Prismacolors and only offer up to 120 different colors.
But they have a solid core and don’t break easily. They make layering and blending easy, too.
4. How Do You Sketch On Black Paper?
Sketching on black paper is essentially the same as doing it on white paper. It’s a bit harder because you (almost) can’t erase your lines.
Using a normal pencil for a preliminary sketch is fine, but, as I said above, for a finished drawing the grey of the pencil isn’t visible enough.
If you want to do some loose sketches, I’d recommend using a white pencil instead.
Subjects and Scenes for Drawing on Black Paper
You may find greater success drawing on black paper with a few specific subjects.
You may consider composing a scene with one intense light or strong contrast. Only light the areas that you wish to draw, leaving the rest of the scene dark. This can be accomplished using one soft spotlight on your subject. This will lead to stronger, easily-recognizable areas of lighter value with dark shadows.
Brighter or colorful subjects, set against a dark or black background, will also make great subjects. When you start with high contrast on your subjects and then use a medium that accentuates high contrast, then you’re setting yourself up for success.
Specific Black Paper Brands
There are a ton of paper options out there and many of them are high quality surfaces. I’ll share a few of my picks with you here.
Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper – This paper is extremely versatile. Featuring two distinctly different surface textures, this paper is great for applying soft pastels, oil pastels, and colored pencils. Both sides of the paper are suitable for drawing, but each side does feature a heavier tooth.
Strathmore Artagain – This paper is smoother than Mi-Teintes paper making it suitable for white charcoal, colored pencils, and white ink.
Black Ingres Paper – This paper is nearly identical to charcoal paper, its biggest difference being color. Featuring a laid pattern as its tooth, this paper is best suited for white charcoal but it could also be used with colored pencils and soft pastels.
Let’s Wrap It Up
So when was the last time you created a drawing on black paper? Maybe it’s time to revisit this wonderful surface or start a new drawing adventure. Either way, black paper provides some fantastic benefits but also a few drawbacks. It’s not right for every subject or every medium but it may be right for your next project.
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