For most of us, drawing on white printer paper is the standard but what about sketching on silky smooth drawing paper? It’s basically a texture free sketch paper that has a smooth, almost reflective surface. You can get away with using different techniques that you can’t normally use on regular paper, like smearing or ink transfer. This is my first time trying this type of sketch pad out. Let’s take a look at some of the art I made using silky smooth drawing paper.

Contents

1. Sketching on Silky Smooth Drawing Paper
2. Yupo Heavy Smooth Paper Sketch Pad
3. Painting with Gouache
4. Drawing with Colored Pencil

Sketching on Silky Smooth Drawing Paper

Using smooth drawing paper can be difficult to get the hang of, depending on the materials you’re using.

I tried using gouache and colored pencil : 1 water-based medium and 1 dry, wax medium.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about how to start drawing, check out this quick-start beginner’s guide on How to Start Drawing with No Experience with materials, easy & quick drawing exercises, and more!

Yupo Heavy Smooth Paper Sketch Pad

I tried a synthetic paper called Yupo Heavy. I picked up a 2.5″ x 3.75″ drawing pad, so pretty darn small. But great for testing out before I commit to a full-sized pad!

This type of silky smooth drawing paper art pad is non-absorbent and the sheets are very thick, 144lb. paper to be exact. For reference, watercolor paper is quite thick and usually is around 120lb or so.

This pad is great for smearing and blending different colors or materials together.

But why can this be an issue?

Well, instead of getting nice flat areas of consistent color, it actually shows all of your brushstrokes. This is great for adding detail and getting ‘happy accidents’ but can look overwhelming, inconsistent, or messy, fast.

Painting with Gouache on Texture Free Sketch Paper

I decided to paint something simple & natural with a relaxed, de-saturated color palette, since I don’t have much space to work with. I chose a type of snail-like shell with a gold band (referenced from Uncharted 4 art) and then added a bit of a washy background to it.

What Worked

I found that adding thin layers of gouache paint gave a nice base for a color wash. But the more water I used, the harder it was to control and get the paint to stick because the surface is non absorbent.

I’d recommend waiting for your base layer to dry before adding more paint, otherwise it’ll erase the paint and details underneath and you’ll have to go back and repaint things!

It was almost like playing ice hockey- the paint just moved around everywhere.

But adding thicker splotches of paint with less water made things easier. I didn’t get the smoothest transition with thick gouache but it stuck to the paper better and was able to get richer colors.

If painting on smooth drawing paper seems difficult, you can try out these easy pen drawing tutorials these How to Draw Easy Pen Flower Doodles for Beginners or How to Draw Clouds with Pen & Ink.

What Didn’t Work

Using more water and repainting areas over again.

• More water = longer dry times and more diluted color
• Repainting areas tends to move the paint around the silky smooth drawing paper, making it difficult to achieve nice flat and solid areas of color
  • The mid-blue areas on the left are a result of multiple brushstrokes resulting in spontaneous but uneven areas of paint
• Hard to make fine details sharp and crispy

*Another important note: You can see in the first shell picture on the right that it ‘records’ your fingerprints. I think I had too many Doritos that day! So when I painted over that area, the gouache didn’t stick, it made my fingerprints instead. Be careful how often you touch the paper with your fingers if you want nice flat areas of color.

Drawing with Colored Pencil

Let’s take a look at using colored pencils on silky smooth drawing paper.

Like all my work, I started with a base sketch and drew it using colored pencil – no graphite.

I referenced the image from Shein because I loved the colors and texture of the dress. Again, an object that’s (seeeemingly)simple to draw, unlike a character or face that’s made up of so many shapes and planes.

Overall, drawing on this texture free sketch paper felt really nice. It really does feel as if your hand is gliding across it, allowing for very smooth and gestural, dynamic strokes.

What Worked Using Colored Pencil on a Smooth Paper Sketch Pad

Drawing with colored pencil on this paper is quite nice. It seemed to stick a bit better than gouache.

• Getting nice smooth transitions of color and blending is quite easy
• You can get nice flat areas of color
• Layering isn’t as much of a pain as it is for water-based mediums
• Great saturation of colors

What Didn’t Work

• Your drawing can get smeared pretty easily if you’re not careful
  • I don’t know much about coatings but I’m guessing there’s something you can spray on it to keep it from rubbing off – if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave it in the comments
• The texture and grain of the colored pencil is prominent
  • Can leave marks and spots of colored pencil which can be distracting and inconsistent with the rest of the artwork
  • Not much of an issue if you like that in your art
• Pencil strokes are more visible the more you keep adding color
• Honestly, not much else

Below is a pic of the final drawing/sketch using colored pencils.

I tried to shade those folds better but tried my best. Fabric can be so difficult to draw sometimes!

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Using silky smooth drawing paper can be intimidating if you haven’t tried it before but the key to great art is to try something new and have fun with it!