Why do I color paper at all? There are many different reasons why you should draw on tinted paper. Our art store has a huge selection of papers, most of which are white. When drawing, this means that the lightest areas of my drawing remain as light as the paper. So I can "only" go darker. Gray-tinted paper is a neutral tone, and I can work in both directions: in the dark shadow areas and in the bright light areas. The result is a lively drawing that conveys a lot of depth and three-dimensionality.
For our students, as well as for all those who learn realistic drawing and painting at classical art academies, drawing on tinted paper is preparation for painting with oil paints. Drawing with charcoal and white chalk on tinted paper is practically the end of the training in drawing before moving on to oil painting. The first works in oil are created in grisaille - this means painting in black and white. The student can thus concentrate primarily on the new medium of oil paints and work with a small palette, i.e. with just two colors and their nuances.
But now to the action…
What materials do I need:
a wooden board as big as my paper as a base and for stability
Tape to stick the paper to the board
Sheet of paper, we recommend Arches watercolor paper rough (grain fin) 300 g/m² 56x76cm
Soft, wide brush for working over large areas
A slightly larger plastic bowl filled with approx. 1.5/2 cm of water
Black ink (e.g. Chinese)
Pipette to drip the ink into the water
A small piece of the paper extra
The process:
Step 1: Carefully stick the paper onto the board using the adhesive tape. We recommend wrapping the paper around the entire board so that it doesn't slip.
Step 2: Now use the pipette to take some ink and drip it into the plastic bowl of water.
Step 3: Mix the ink a little with the brush and pick up some of the mixture and test it on the small piece of paper to see if the color is good.
Step 4: Take enough water-ink mixture with the brush and spread it evenly and quickly on the paper. First with vertical brush strokes and then again horizontally.
Step 5: When the result is uniform, the process is finished and the paper remains glued to the board for 24 hours to dry.
The next day you can start drawing on tinted paper. You only need about 15 minutes for preparation and tinting. In total, including the drying phase, you need 24 hours.
For the tutorial, watch the corresponding video on tinting paper: