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Katarinu — Watercolor.3
#bush #landscape #leaves #plants #scenery #traditionalart #watercolor #traditional_art
Published: 2018-08-11 19:20:43 +0000 UTC; Views: 275; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 0
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Was brave and used green... and then put on some blue at the very end :’D
Although I've been asking for critique on most original work I submit here, I don't think I'm going to do so for a while with these, since this is just me messing around and trying to get a feel for how watercolors work (and don't work). Feel free to share your thoughts (and tips!) if you have any, though!
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Comments: 10
-slides in- Whelp, I've never commented before, but seeing as you're asking for help with watercolor I thought I might offer some assistance. Though, just so I don't explain a bunch of basic stuff, what is your level of experience with this medium?
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My level of experience is pretty much the three watercolor illustrations I've uploaded onto here, and that's it. :'D There's some older stuff I've done when I occasionally messed with the medium in the past, but this is the first time I've really attempted to understand it and improve with it.
(Many thanks for your future advice to come. I really appreciate it!)
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Alright, I'll just give you a bit of basic info then!
So from what I can tell of the work you've posted it looks like you're trying for textures and detail like I've seen in your other art. This is fine and can be done with watercolor, just not with single brush blots. When you start a watercolor image it's almost always best to wet the entire page before placing any color down. You don't want a thick layer of water on the paper, just enough to make it shiny. This lets the paint move in a smoother fashion, as well as getting more of those traditional watercolor shapes and patterns.
When you place the color on the page, you can't just put your brush down and take the shape that it leaves. If you do this then the brush strokes are too obvious and disrupt the flow of the painting(unlike acrylics, which can basically do anything). Think of it more like drawing, if you want those teardrop shapes then guide the paint into that form, otherwise you wind up with pale patches and rings of color. Once you have whatever base you want and your paper is wet enough, then you can go back in to further saturate areas.
I'm not sure if you're using tube paint or those little blocks(hopefully tube, as it's better in my opinion), but if you're using tube then I have tips for that. Don't take the paint right off the whatever you took out of the tube. You want to make a pool of water on the center of your pallet and then mix in however much paint you want. Now, honestly I hate having to mix the colors this way, but you have far more control over what you're putting on the page. Once you want to go in for more detail/saturation, then I usually take straight from the paint dollop.
I really like what you have on your watercolor.1 image, as it shows you've already figured out quite a lot on your own. I'm not the best at explaining things, but hopefully some of this made sense. If you ever want to know how to do anything in particular feel free to give me a shout.
If you just want some fun stuff to try I suggest:
1) Salt: once you're done with an image sprinkle salt on it and let it dry, you get some cool starburst patterns. Note that the paint must still be wet and I find that you usually need a fair amount of salt.
2) pool water on the page and then drop paint into, you want blow on it through a straw to get cool branch/web patterns, or you can hold the painting up and let it drip down the page for streaks.
3) Mark on the page(before water or on a dry image) with a pen that puts out a lot of ink(I find cheaper pens work better), then run a brush with just water along one edge of the mark. It pulls the ink in the coolest way and is great for shading.
4) Really saturate your brush with water, roll it in paint and then flick it at your painting, this also works wonders with a toothbrush if you run your finger across the bristles.
5) Okay this one really works with any paint, but it's still fun! You can get a leaf or bottle cork, dip it in paint that doesn't have much water and then press it to the page to make an imprint.
That's all I can think of at the moment, hopefully it's coherent and maybe there's something you haven't heard before!
Oh, and if you just want to see some epic watercolor, go check out this person: www.deviantart.com/shadeofshin…
EDIT: Ack, I forgot to say if you are going for detail and want to saturate the color more, let it dry first! If your page gets too wet and you put your brush down then it will just spread all over the place. You don't have to let it dry completely, just to a point where it's damp. Oh, and make sure your brush isn't too wet when you're painting. The water should be on the paper or in the paint, not help entirely in your brush. Unless of course you want it to go everywhere, which is great when you want to cover large areas with a pale color.
EDIT2: Because I can't shut up: if you want to add watercolor to those amazing ink drawing you do then I have a tip! You'll have to use the watercolor paper, which I know is bumpy, but hopefully isn't too hard to ink on? I've never done detailed inking before so I apologize if I'm wrong. If you sketch out your image first and then only place water on the areas that you want color it will keep the rest of the paper from warping. Once it dries you should be able to go over it no problem. Just keep in mind that pencil lines will always show through watercolor, only disappearing if you layer pretty heavily.
If you want to try painting over an inked image you already have then you can try covering it in masking tape over the ink and dropping color onto the white areas. If you wear jeans then it's a really good idea to press the masking tape against your pants a few times so it's not so sticky, or else it might rip your paper. I would just try it on a test sheet first to see if it works, as like I said, I haven't really worked extensively with ink. There's also this coat you can buy that protects your paper, but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called, I'll edit the comment if I remember.
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Oh man -- I CANNOT emphasize enough how helpful all your advice is! I've probably read through it 5 times by now, and I'm sure I'm going to keep coming back to it as I continue to practice. Seriously, thank you so, so much!
If you can think of anything more to add, don't hesitate to throw more feedback my way!
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oh goodness this is super pretty!!! the colors are very calming,,
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