Tag: watercolour

Taran

This is Taran from the Museum by Sktchy app, painted with watercolour and finished off with coloured pencils. I really enjoyed drawing and painting that fabric but I’ve had enough of trying to work with the paper in this new Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

I’ve been very happy with them in the past but the paper in this one is different. The paint is drying differently, it’s not layering well, and it’s not responding well to multiple layers as it has in the past. So I’m going to abandon it (something I almost never do) and move on to a new sketchbook.

Vanessa

This was one of those portraits where I just could not get Vanessa’s likeness. I knew absolutely where I was going wrong but no matter how many times I redrew it i couldn’t get it right. In the end I just decided to go with what I had and see if I could correct it with colour. I couldn’t. Some days it’s a struggle.

David

It always takes me a little while to get used to the change of paper when I start a new watercolour sketchbook, especially if I’ve changed from one brand to another. My last one was a Fabriano Venezia and this is only my second painting in my new one, a Moleskine, so I’m still making that adjustment, but I’m pretty happy with how David’s portrait turned out.

Rines

I was playing around with some watercolour brushes in Procreate on my iPad for this portrait of Rines from Sktchy.

Tomoka

First portrait in my new watercolour portrait sketchbook – a large Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

Jasmine

Struggling a bit with heavy pigmentation of Stuart Semple watercolours making this portrait of Jasmine from the `Museum by Sktchy app. If you like strong colour then they’re definitely for you! I’ve only used them once before and I was struggling to get the lighter wash that I wanted – I need much more practice with them.

Em

This portrait of Em is an example of one of those drawings/paintings that goes wrong from the beginning and I just had to resolve to keep going and learn what I could from the process.

I made a huge absentminded error once I’d finished my line drawing by forgetting I was working in my watercolour sketchbook and intended to use watercolour for my base colour. I started to add shadow with a Copic marker and realised my mistake as soon as I’d drawn a line – you can see that line moving down the forehead above the right eyebrow!

My initial instinct was to abandon the portrait at that point but then I decided I would carry on, enjoy the process and see what I could learn from trying to disguise my grey-pink Copic line. So I painted on with watercolour and then added coloured pencil. I don’t think you would see that line unless you know it’s there and look for it so I’m happy with what I did in the end.

But the entire portrait is not quite right. That error early on was a sign of my mind being not fully focused on my drawing, which is how it is right now.

Star

I was gifted some new watercolours for Christmas and this portrait of Star from Sktchy is their first outing. They performed beautifully and I’m looking forward to working with them a whole lot more.

Richard

Quick portrait of Richard from Sktchy with watercolour and coloured pencils.

Sydney

I was recently gifted some Winsor & Newton watercolour markers. I’ve never used watercolour markers before so this portrait of Sydney was my first experiment with them. I was a long way out of my comfort zone but it was fun to play around with the colour and see what the markers could do. The most interesting thing I learned was that some of the colours respond much better to the addition of water than others – it will take me a while to remember which ones!