Best paper for coloured pencils?

1

Hi again. I just wondered which paper is good for coloured pencil. I use Pastelmat but wondered what else to try too. I think Pastelmat is best to work from dark to light (i saw in a youtube demo once, not Matts) whereas normally its easier to work from light to dark pencils which i guess you could do on different paper. Thank you for any suggestions. I think Strathmore 500 has been mentioned along the way but I’m a bit confused! :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
2

Hi @mand

I have used a variety of papers including hot press watercolor paper, but I always regret the decision and go back to PastelMat because nothing can take as many layers as that one.

I never heard anyone say go from dark to light. I just let the specific drawings guide me. And it is more likely that I use lighter first and then work my values darker.

That’s probably not the answer you were looking for.

Terri Robichon

3

Thats really helpful thank you Terri. I am a new artist so havent experimented with many different papers so that will save me some time thank you. I do like Pastelmat very much so maybe i will stick with it :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
4

I use smooth Bristol paper.

1 Like
5

@mand

Hello Mandy,

I like to use Strathmore 400 series multi-purpose paper. It also comes in white, grey, steel blue, and tan. I have used colored pencils on all of these colored surfaces.

I also really like to use colorline paper by Canson. It comes in two weights and takes many layers, it comes in a whole rainbow of colors including white.

Recently I did a colored pencil drawing on Strathmore 400 series drawing paper with Polychrome colored pencils, and I thought I would never fill in the truth. I had doubted the project would even turn out and didn’t want to use a more expensive paper and to my surprise it turned out wonderfully.

It was just critiqued on the member’s minute a couple weeks ago, a portrait, in case you want to take a look at how the paper worked out. On the background it has 6 to 7 layers of colored pencils and still has more tooth.

Just a few other ideas to try out.

Teri (with 1r)

1 Like
6

So sorry Teri, i meant to reply earlier. Thank you so much for your advice, this is so helpful. I will try these papers out for sure :slightly_smiling_face: