For one of my art class's assignments, we were to capture the reflective surfaces of a metallic or glass object. My teacher challenged me to try this in color, and I pushed myself further by doing both a metal and a glass object.
There was one more thing I wanted to try - colored pencil on black paper. I had done white charcoal on black paper several times, and I had seen others use colored pencil on it, so I had been wanting to try it out for a while. I tested it out on a small scrap of black paper to see how the colors would show. Most of them were quite dull, which works well for parts of the project. But some areas I wanted to be more vibrant. So I tried putting a layer of white charcoal under the colored pencils, which helped.
So I began by picking my subjects: a Turkish teapot and a tea glass. They fit perfectly for the two surfaces I wanted while also making sense together. I also found the reflection of the glass on the metal surface pretty interesting.
I lightly sketched it out with graphite, then began to add the white charcoal. I treated it almost as a black and white piece at first, as the white charcoal would be under the brighter spots anyways.
Since the paper is so textured, I used a brush to smooth the white charcoal into the grooves in some areas. I also used a kneaded eraser to darken areas I made too light and to polish some of the edges. I thought this already looked pretty cool, so I was excited to see what the colored pencils added to it.
I started with the teapot, coloring in the reflections of the desk, bookshelf, doorway, and tea glass. The colored pencil actually helped to further smooth out the shading on the paper too. The darkest parts I left blank so the black would show through, and the lightest parts I also left so that the white charcoal would pop out.
I finished the piece off by coloring in the tea glass and the background of the desk, and then I added more white charcoal in some areas to bring back any highlights that were lost, and I used the kneaded eraser to make some of the edges and darker areas crisper and darker.
I think this turned out pretty neat! I exaggerated some of the browns in the reflections, which I think gives the whole piece a more coppery or older feel. The reflections in the metal add interest, and the highlights of the glass make it appear delicate. I'd love to use colored pencil on black paper again!