It wasn’t to happen for us either. But then my dad died in Greece last year, and I’m pretty sure that I could have saved him if I was there (he was living alone in the mountains and he was not seeing doctors regularly). So I said, that’s it, I still have a mother. We’re going. And (French) husband agreed.
I understand. The one and only one time in 50 years that we ever had any family visit us it was my grandmother and on like the 3rd day she was here, she fell and broke her leg. For the remaining 3 weeks she was mostly holed up in the house because she couldn’t move much. If you need to head back to take care of family, no one can argue with that.
I’ve been subscribed to this community because I love the way watercolors look and I’ve been admiring your posts greatly.
I was wondering what your approach to these paintings is? For example, what prompted you to create this image? When you begin, do you see them in your mind’s eye just like they come out? Do you make rough outlines in pencil or light colors before you flesh then out?
Keep up the good work and good luck moving your house.
Thank you! So, I usually browse a lot, and I also have a large collection of (mostly vintage) children’s books that I use for inspiration. Other times, it’s just learning to do things. So for example for my recent knight illustration, I thought to myself that I never played with reflected metal before, and I should try to illustrate it.
I use pencil on paper to sketch it, then I use a waterproof gray-colored ink pen to create the clean lines (usually 0.3mm Copic Multiliner or 0.5mm Uni Pin Fineline – sometimes a Winsor & Newton sepia-colored ink pen), rub out the pencil, and then I color it, usually using very muted colors or a limited palette of just 2-4 colors (otherwise they come out too garish).
After coloring it, I will use a white gel pen, white posca pen, Caran D’Ache Luminance white pencil, or white gouache to create extra highlights. Sometimes a Faber Castel white soft pastel pencil too. Anything to provide highlights, that make the painting look more dynamic. I find this is needed with watercolor, even if I leave empty regions unpainted to provide highlights. There are some very small highlights that you just can’t paint around (or use masking fluid that usually makes its edges ugly), so I add these highlights at the end.
For more texture, or to give some more emphasis somewhere, or to create patterns that are difficult to actually paint, I’d also add some muted colored pencils too. Never too colorful colored pencils, because they will jump out too much.
Thanks! I have already an idea for a book for children that I can write and illustrate, but the problem is that now with AI, that market has disappeared.
I post here only so other people would feel encouraged to post. I’m flattered, but… no, no website. I’m just someone trying to paint their anxiety away.
I’ve used almost everything under the sun. The best papers are the well known 100% cotton brands, not much to say there.
However, if you’re after more affordable, cellulose options, the best I’ve found are these (I’m not affiliated with any of them btw):
Jackson’s Art own brand papers: jacksonsart.com/…/jackson-s-watercolour-paper-300… These really behave like cotton paper, except the drying time, which is a bit shorter. Still, longer than other cheap cellulose papers. I was surprised how well that paper behaves.
Everything else I’ve used that was cellulose, not only the drying time was almost instant (so you could never fix mistakes or do lifting), but most importantly, when you were going for a second or third layer, the paint would “spill” to places where you didn’t put the brush on (and we’re talking about layers that have had completely dried up). So basically, these cheaper cellulose papers don’t have “sizing”, among other problems, like how non-organically the paint spreads, or how dull the colors are. So now I’m limiting myself to either the two brands above for cellulose paper, or to 100% cotton paper. The rest kind of the brands I’ve bought over the years have become scrap paper and tests now…
I ordered half a dozen blocks from Jackson, thanks for the recommendation! It’s as good or better than any other cellulose paper and pretty inexpensive. Cold press and Rough finish is nice, have not tried Hot press. Definitely recommend this paper.
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