Here’s an update on the new drawing I’ve started. I’ve roughed in the values a bit using complementary colors. The medium I’m using here are hard pastels, called “Nupastels,” now sold by Prismacolor.
I’ve digitally switched the hues here to show you the targeted colors I plan to use in the final. That will be tree leaves behind her. Drawing in complements first gives me more color harmony.
One of the nice features of working on a rough surface such as this Wallis paper is that even lighter values can be used at any point in the process. This happens when the new application knocks off and replaces the top layer of pigment that falls into the lower level of the texture. The rougher the texture is, the more effective this technique becomes. In the picture above I’ve drawn a bright white Nupastel over a dark black. If this were smoother paper, the result would just be a gray smearing of the two colors.