Black and white kitty in coloured pencils

Feline good. Coloured pencils on Canson black drawing paper.

This black and white drawing is a departure from my usual full-on colour mode, but I wanted to play up the simple contrast of light and shadow without colour being a distraction. Sometimes, going back to basics is refreshing.

I used only five coloured pencils for this. Four Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils in black, white and two greys, and the Derwent Lightfast white pencil (because the Polychromos white pencil is so translucent it might as well be grey!)

As I mentioned in my black paper post, drawing on black paper requires a mental shift of sorts. Instead of leaving the white bits and drawing in the dark areas, you need to leave the black bits and draw in the light areas. It takes some getting used to, but it's definitely interesting!

Another adjustment to make is that black paper tends to suck up all the light in pigment, so you need to go lighter than you normally would on white paper. But there's something very pleasing about seeing white marks on black paper. I don't get the same satisfaction seeing black marks on white paper.

The Derwent Lightfast white coloured pencil is pretty bright, but I still couldn't get that bright toothpaste-white shade that I wanted, so I had to go over the brightest highlights with a white Sakura gel pen.

 This picture sold very quickly to a friend whose daughter loves cats. So kitty is off to her new home 😊