Drawing on Black

I love to experiment and trying out different types of drawing tools and materials. One of the types of paper that I like is using the black paper. Drawing on a black paper could create very interesting effects for your drawing. Especially when you use bright colours such as white or yellow, to contrast against the dark background. Although most drawing tools can be used to draw on a paper, not all work well against black paper. They might appear translucent or even invisible. So today, I'll be showing you guys some tools that I usually use for this type of paper, and the kind of effects that you would be able to achieve with them.

The paper I'm using here is Derwent Black Drawing Paper.

To start off, these are some of the tools that I owned, and how they appear on the paper.

Some tools are more visible than others. And there are 3 marks that you could barely see. They are the regular blue ballpoint (third on the left), pen-zai penciltic liner by zebra in green colour (fifth on the left), and red snowman marker (first in the middle). In general, ink-based (regular ballpoint) , and markers (snowman markers, comic markers, highlighters), even the bright colours would appear translucent against black. 

On the other hand, gel-based pen (uniball sign, pentel k108, aqualip) creates the best result as the colour appear very solid, bright and contrasting. Take note that dark colours such dark blue or green might appear slightly translucent depending on the types of gel-pen you used, Bellow are two works that I created using gel pens.

This first drawing was made using Aqualip in orange (Sakura) and Gelly Roll Metallic in purple and green (Sakura) pens. I bought them at a local stationery shop, but you can also purchase them online.

Aqualip

If you want to achieve a glossy-like effect, this is the tool that you should consider. They don't appear too solid though, slightly translucent, but you can still see the colours clearly on black. They're available in pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black and white. Not a huge colour range but at least they have all the basic colours. The downfall of this tool for me are the unpleasant smell when you use the pen, and that they don't dry as fast. If your hand accidentally swipe against it while it's still wet, it would leave a weird mark on it. And sometimes when you draw too thickly, it would create a small lump. Take not that the darker colours such as purple and black, and also white would appear translucent against black.

Gelly Roll Metallic 

I believe that the brand also has non-metallic colours available, but the ones that I owned are only the metallic pens. They come in a slightly similar colour range as Aqualip. If Aqualip gives off a glossy effect, this one gives off a slightly glittery, metallic effect. I personally like them better than Aqaulip because the colours appear to be more solid and vibrant. Just like Aqualip, dark colours such as purple, might appear more translucent than the brighter ones, and it also has the same unpleasant smell, though not as strong.

On to the second drawing.... I used the Pentel K108 Hybrid roller (white, gold, silver) and Uni ball Signo (pink ) pens for this one. Personally they're my favourite tools to use for drawing on black, because of how solid and vibrant the colours look.

Pentel K108 and Uni ball Signo
Both pens create similar result, but they come in different colour range and thickness. The Pentel pen is in 0.5, while the Uni ball Signo is in 0.7. I usually use the Pentel pen for my outline, and use the Uni ball to fill out the drawing. Sadly, it's very difficult to find the Pentel pen now that I'm back in Indonesia, so I have to opt them out with the Uni ball Signo pen when I have used up all of them. The Uni ball Signo has a bigger range of colours than Pentel, but Pentel has a range of metallic colours. They dry faster than the Aqualip and Gelly Roll, but try not too smudge them when they're wet.

For the last drawing,  used different types of colour pencils to draw Mint. If using gel pens creates a solid, vibrant, contrasting effect, colour pencils creates a softer effect. You can also use chalks or pastels to achieve a soft effect, although I prefer using colour pencils over them because they're less messy.

Faber Castell - Polychromos, Classic Colours, and Derwent Studio
Between the three, Faber Castell Classic Colours creates the most vibrant result, Polychromos creates the smoothest result, and if you want a more rough effect use the Derwent Studio colours. But overall, they only have slight differences in everything, so it does not really matter which type you're using, it's more of a preference matter.

These are some of the tools that I like to use, but of course, there are hundreds of other tools that I've never tried before. If you guys have some particular tools that you like to use, please do tell me about it, I would definitely like to know!

~Jess