More tips:
- The closest I could find on Amazon to the watercolour set I use is the Sakura brand of Koi Assorted WaterColours Field Set.
- Just use any old toothbrush. I used to use the ones that my dentist would give me after a visit, just because those were kind of cheap and I wouldn’t actually use them anyways.
- I use acrylic for flicking and highlights because watercolour-whites tend to fade when they dry.
- Also, remember to keep your hands clean, because nothing’s worse than smudging graphite into your watercolours and then unable to get it out.
- Try to avoid black and white when possible. They tend to dull the colours and it loses that watercolouring lustre.
Since I started watercolouring again for my daily sketches, I’ve gotten a lot of asks/dA notes on if I could give a tutorial on watercolouring and also more specific questions that overlapped each other, so I decided to do a semi guide/tips/answering thing.
I actually started watercolouring before I went into digital medium, so I have a bit of personal experience, but I am essentially self-taught when it comes to watercolouring since there weren’t a lot of watercolour tutorials online back then to begin with, so I cannot promise that these are the absolute correct way of doing things.
Hope it helps anyways :)
Step-by-step process shots for this painting from my upcoming solo show. Digital painting from references, Adobe Photoshop + Cintiq 21UX tablet, approx 16-18 hours.
4 all u kids who wanna study some figure drawing/anatomy
- Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth - Andrew Loomis >PDF download<
- Mastering Drawing The Human Figure - Jack Faragasso >PDF download<
- Figure Drawing Design and Invention - Michael Hampton >PDF download<
- Dynamic Figure Drawing - Burne Hogarth >PDF download<
All the downloads are free they only take a little bit time to download because these are big files!
oh my fuckign god
YES I NEED
from the back, the ear looks like a diaphragm! (Ask your nanna.)
god bless
Today I gave my students a quick presentation on some of the basic considerations for composition, which I am now sharing with you! I’ve given them separate talks about color and tonal value/contrast, which are also super important compositional concerns. (I’ll be sharing those presentations too once I properly format them)
I personally love learning about different compositional techniques. It’s fun to think about the ways that the brain views & sorts images, and how we can trick it into feeling a certain way or looking at certain aspects of an image first! It’s easy to fall into compositional ruts (which I am also guilty of) because a lot of art gets by with mediocre, though serviceable, compositions. If you can generally understand what’s happening in an image then it’s generally fine. However, it’s the truly great compositions, where everything in the whole image has been considered and ‘clicks’ together, that bump up an illustration to a visual slam dunk. NC Wyeth is one of my favorite artists for this reason: his compositions are rock solid, varied based on the image’s intent, and always enhance the mood or action he is depicting.
For extra reading, some online compositional resources that I’ve found helpful or interesting include:
Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis (download it for FREE. Such a great book all-around.)
Gurney Journey (check out the “Composition” tag, but really everything he posts is great)
The Schweitzer guide to spotting tangents
Cinemosaic (a blog by Lou Romano with some truly WONDERFUL compositions captured from various films)
Where to Put the Cow by Anita GriffinHappy composition-ing!
Refresh your knowledge of composition often; you may break some habits you didn’t know you had. (Tangents are not one of mine. I despise tangents so deeply that I became physically uncomfortable while looking at that Schweitzer guide.)
thank you!!
