I have a particular fondness for black paper. Recently I have been using Black Stonehenge paper because it is lightfast.
For this test I used a basic technique of basing in the petal with a single color and adding shading and highlights over that. I do not use this technique often, preferring to lay my colors and values side-by-side, but this seemed like a good way to test.
 Prismacolor Pencils.
I used a layer of Art Stix down first, then used a pencil of the same color for good edges and to refine. Shading and highlighting were added over the top of this base layer. Yellow on black does tend to display a bit on the greenish side, but with a good knowledge of color theory this is easily overcome by using a similar value of a red-orange pencil. I rather liked the temperature change from warm to cool. |
 I used an opaque Prismacolor White undercoat over the entire petal.
When the yellow was added it was particularly bright. Shading and highlights are now being added on layer 4 and was a bit waxy as opposed to the feel of #1. The red turned pink over the white and required 2 good coats to cover. You can still see the white – at least I can, plus it changed the value. This was my least favorite of the techniques, so if I were going to use it, I would only add the white over the light area of the petal, and select different colors. The lack of intensity control bothered me but that might be personal preference. The petal is decidedly bright. |
 I used a Verithin White undercoat only on the light area of the petal, leaving the black paper under the red.
This gave a nice feel, very similar to using plain paper. When the yellow was applied, there was no waxy build up even though it was layer 2. Shading and highlights went on nicely. The reds were true value on the black paper. In conclusion, while this worked very well, I saw little difference from the Art Stix + Pencil on plain paper in image 1. |
