Mid-tone papers

If you desaturate a photograph of a face you’ll see that the majority of its surface is mid-tone, varying in value with the local colour of the model’s skin and the play of light and shadow. When you are working aux trois crayon on mid-tone paper, the support itself does much of the tonal work for you; warm, neutral or cool papers of lighter or darker mid-tones can all work well, depending on your preference.