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Likewise, watercolor painting poses challenges addressed differently. For example, watercolor is a transparent medium making it unique when compared to other mediums that are opaque. To address this, the following are the watercolor basic painting techniques developed and used over the years and which no watercolor artist can do without.

• Dry Brush – the dry brush technique is good for creating textured surfaces. Samples of dry brush technique are often seen in watercolor paintings of tree barks, rocks, twigs, foliage etc. creating a visibly dominant textures. Dry brush painting relies on painting with a brush that is just about moist and often charged with a thick paint. The dominance or the subtlety of the effect will depend also on the grade and quality of the paper used and the angle and stroke applied.

• Lifting Wet Watercolor – The tools to use when applying this technique are soft tissue paper, sponges, paper towels, or brushes. Lifting is a negative painting tool where instead of applying color, you diminish the color that is applied. It creates a dreamy effect and is widely used when painting clouds where the paint, while still wet is dubbed with the absorbent tool to create the image desired. Twisting is done to create more texture in the paint that is left on the paper as well as scrubbing. When doing the actions though, especially when scrubbing, care must be observed that the paper underneath is not damaged.

• Lifting Dry Watercolor – One of the greatest challenges in watercolor painting is its being a transparent medium which makes it very difficult to remove or blot out. Once it is in the paper and dries, removing the paint is difficult if not impossible. Painting over will hide it partially. Just the same, sometimes a pigment has to be lifted from the artwork and for lifting dry watercolor, what is normally used are acrylic brushes or sponges. To lift the dry pigment, the sponge or the brush is cleaned thoroughly with clean water and applied very carefully to the surface. The process is repeated until manageable tinge of color remains.

Other tools used are razors, sandpapers, penknives, and sometimes X-acto blades. All of which are destructive. Blades are used but then the texture of the artwork is altered. In skilled hands highlights will be created when using a blade but as mentioned it is a risky process.

• Wet in Wet – is another watercolor basic painting technique where the paper is brushed wet before applying pigments. This technique produces a very different texture and appearance that is unique only to watercolor paintings.

 

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As the skill at painting improves though, the differences diminish. In fact most skilled painters are quite comfortable at using brushes and would prefer them to pencils anytime. Watercolor pencils though are excellent painting aids to both newbie and pro. It is applied technology in the true sense of the word and its applications are still developing.

Watercolor pencils are similar to the effects made with watercolor in tubes except for minor differences in effects.

Line definition

The finest line that you could define using watercolor pencil is applying a sharp point on a dry paper. Then you could control the lines by using the brush to redirect the lines according to the design, effects, and images that you have in mind. This is also where you get the most intense color. In comparison, the watercolor dry technique is the most intense color and lines that you will get out from tubes and pans although because of the thickness of the resulting lines, bronzing results.

When you dampen the watercolor paper before applying the watercolor pencil, the lines that results will be broader and softer. The wetter the surface that you paint the watercolor pencil on, the broader lines become.

Techniques at application

Scraping – You could scrape the color off the pencil mix it with water, adjust for temperaments, and use it as you would a regular watercolor. To create textures, you could scrape the color off the pencil directly into the paper and paint the scrapings over with water for textured effects.

Dry painting – watercolor pencils could produce rich detail. Use the pencils, as you would color pencils. Draw the details and shadings and leave other parts of the drawing untouched or touched barely by water. This could produce interesting variations in textures and colors that could not be produced by other watercolor painting techniques. If you do the painting on a moist surface, paint over a dry pencil to create other textures and details.

Color layering

Typically, you could layer as much color as you desire. The danger only lies in muddying up the color that would result to poor color definition. If you should layer and would want to touch only the color that is in the topmost layer, brush very gently. Brushing the layers over and over would tend to mix all the colors layered over creating the same muddied effect.

Finally, keep the tips of the watercolor pencil clean and dry. Wipe the tip of the pencil after using to keep the colors pure. Before starting on another work, scribble the pencils first on a scrap of paper to remove whatever color left on its tip during the previous painting to insure that you get the color desired.

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There are combinations and variants in creating texture some of the most often practiced are:

Splattering textures involves loading a brush with color and tapping the brush at a height to towards the paper. Care is observed when splattering a texture since too much water in the brush might lead to big blots and blobs that will not be as easy to control. Another technique at splattering a texture is to use a pencil or the handle of another brush when tapping the brush that is loaded with color unto the paper.

Spraying textures is very much like splattering although in this technique the artist use toothbrush instead. Since toothbrushes are made of nylon and could therefore not hold much paint and water, charging the toothbrush with paint from a paint brush is preferred rather than dipping the toothbrush in a puddle of water diluted color. Again care is observed that the toothbrush is not loaded with too much water as dripping will ruin the work. To spray the texture, rake the bristles of the toothbrush along the points where sprayed textures are desired.

Sgrafitto Textures. Sgrafitto is scratching a layer of paint to reveal the paint underneath. To do this, use thin plastic materials that you could hold firmly or the angled scrapers built into (some) brushes to scrape the underlying colors. This technique is used for detailing flora, branches, and trees.

Stamped Textures. Stamping is applying color using just about anything except the brush. Organic materials are the favorites like leather, sponges, laces, leaves, cross section of tubers; possibilities are endless as textures are. The most commonly used though are sponges and tissue papers. Sponges for example are dipped into the color and applied into the paper to form shapes that are intended.

Back Wash Textures remains the widest used texture in watercolor painting. Backwashing involves the laying of a predetermined area with color and while still wet lays another color that creates and interesting mix as the color merges. The texture is influenced by the natural conduction of water to leave different marks on paper depending on its degree of dryness, wetness, and texture. After that, the brush is dipped in water and flicked over the painting further creating textures and shapes of interesting value as the colors merge.

Alcohol Textures creating this texture is very similar to the backwash and the splatter except that instead of water, alcohol is flicked over the artwork. The chemical composition of the alcohol creates interesting patterns on the paper very different compared to pure water flicking.

Salt Textures. The natural action of salt when it is sprayed in small amounts of water is that it tends to absorb it. This absorption creates patterns different from that of flickering alcohol of pure water. Salt however will accelerate the rotting of the paper over time. In creating textures with similar effect, some artists use saw dust instead that will be brushed off when the painting dries.

 

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• Do not start drawing with a hard pencil. Hard pencils are good for light shading but if you must start sketching use instead pencils with darker values like a 2B or a 4B.

• When you are a beginner, do not use flash photography as reference. Flash photography because of the nature of its lighting gives you no depth to work on. Aside from that, perspective points are located behind the head that tends to flatten the features and expressions more. Even professional artists find it very hard to duplicate the expressions on a face when using flash photography. Making it harder is the fact that there is often a smile in the snapshot. The sketches from snapshots are more likely to produce faces that grin without a lively mirth to it.

• If you must sketch a face, the model should face slightly to one side. This way you could have a good evaluation of skin tones, lights, and shadows that are natural and the natural expressions of the personality behind the sketch that you are working on.

• Sketch for balance. Focusing much on a person’s feature especially those that stands out will tend to overemphasize a particular feature drawing them too big making the rest of the head out of proportion.

• When starting to sketch, start with light stokes and ensure that the features of the model are in the correct angle with the rest of the head. This mistake is one of the most common as we are used to looking at a face straight on that when an angle is done, twitching and distortion of features occur.

• Most sketches are not shaded past grey, when you shade, do not hesitate to go darker. It will add more strength and expression, give your drawing more depth and drama. Limiting your shades to dark grey decreases your tone range. So experiment with darker values. To get a better idea, have a dark colored (even black) paper at the edge of the drawing and use it for tone reference.

• Choose the paper well. Papers that are manufactured with sheen on the surface will result to pale drawings, as the paper is too smooth to hold pencil particles. On the other hand too coarse a paper will hold too much of pencil particles that your application of shades will be off. Select a paper which is neither too coarse not too smooth.

• When sketching foliage, do not use circular hand motion and strokes. Use instead crescent shaped marks. That way your foliage and trees will appear more natural and realistic.

• Among the common mistakes in drawing grass or hair is to draw every blade and every hair leaving a mangled wiry effect. Use contrast instead. To avoid this, apply also feathery light pencil strokes.

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When applying watercolor though, an important thing to remember is that the color will tend to be lighter when the color dries. If you want stronger color, you can make adjustments by applying slightly stronger hues before application or you can dab some more color to the object when the paint is already dry.

Creating test sheets

Before attempting to mix watercolor pigments, it is advisable to test out the colors first on a clean paper to get a good grasp on how it behaves and the color when it dries. Paint on a damp paper the colors that you will use. Maintain a uniform brush stroke starting with the lightest color to the stronger ones. Label the color and maintain a clean brush while doing the strokes. When the paints are dried compare it to the colors in your color well to judge how the final outcome of the colors will be.

Mixing a Puddle of Color

To start your puddle, wet the brush in clean water. This opens up all the hairs in the brush up to the ferrule. At this point, your brush would likely be fully loaded with water, if so, remove excess water by thumping the brush a few times or run the brush across the rim of the mixing well.

Add the first color (blue for example) by touching the tip of the brush across your pigment and dilute it some more with your puddle of water. Start painting and continue the process until you get the color value that you desire.

You do not need to wash your brush if you want to add another color for combination. Touch the tip of your brush to a new color (Green for example), dilute it with your puddle of water, and apply it over the blue or parts of the blue that you painted previously. Continue adding strokes until the correct color is achieved.

To keep tube and pan colors pure, place small amounts of the pigments in a separate well. This way, all your colors stay clean and will not intermingle with another.

Practice mixing primary Colors

To achieve a very good grasp on how colors behave and how it will affect your work, it is advisable to practice with primary colors. Primary colors are the colors Red, Blue, and Yellow. Combining these colors in different degrees will give you infinite color combinations. Most professional artists use only these colors and have created masterpieces out of them.

This is the best practice that you could have in mixing color and making color combinations. Try to produce different color hues. The experience that you will derive here will be priceless.

 

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…Unlike other mediums then, decisions at the start of the painting must be done where the whites are placed and apply the lightest of shades first. Common practices of watercolorists are to leave the white areas for later.

To paint in watercolor, observe the following.

Center of Interest

Creating the center of interest is the heart of an artwork. When you paint in watercolor, unless the theme is formal or static, avoid having the center of interest right in the middle of the painting. To solve this, break the vertical and the horizontal axis on a ratio of 1:2. Keeping the center of interest of the painting at an unequal distance between the sides will correct the subjects positioning.

Thumbnails sketches

When the subject of the painting is already determined, drawing thumbnail sketches will help manage the canvass and prevent you from making mistakes later. The thumbnail sketches will allow you to arrange and shuffle the subjects around. Having thumbnails sketches also provides you with a good idea on creating lights and shadows to have the maximum contrasts at the center of interest

Applying the color

Having the center of interest in mind, start the painting by applying the lightest washes in the background working towards the darker hues and details later on. Having too many colors in the palette often result into a work that looks muddy and discordant. When starting the painting, have your color palette limited to two or three colors working your way towards tight details later on as dictated by the subject and the atmosphere that you want to create. Introduction of intense colors could be done later in the work. When starting to color, cover large areas loosely but do not forget to leave the white areas blank. This will enable you to create very good detail and tonal contrasts.

Harmonizing the color

While coloring and the choice of colors to be applied basically rests with the artist, a color wheel is a good tool to use to get a better idea on how the watercolor painting will appear in the end. Harmonizing the color rests on tastes and preferences and so there are no rules to that. However, the one thing that is best avoided when unsure of which color to use is to avoid neutral darks. Watercolor painting will tend to have more character if the dark color choices are either warm or cool darks. If a discordant color appears in the painting (like for example a purple lily that seems to jump out of the canvass), apply the discordant color to other areas of the painting as well.

Finally, as with all artwork, when you paint in watercolor, do not overdo details. Creating too much detail in one single work will tire the eye. Create areas of relief as well.

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If you are going to be drawing cars there are some tools you will need. Just like drawing anything else you need to have the proper tools on hand to do the best job possible. Unfortunately having the proper tools will not make you a better artist, they will only help you translate the image to paper.

For me having good light is very important as it should be for you. If I can’t see properly I find myself shifting around for a better view and it really sucks. Get a good light and you will find yourself not struggling to see. I personally like using a full spectrum or daylight style bulb, colors stand out better with this kind of light. If you have trouble placing the light so you don’t get shadows try using two lights from different angles.

You will need a good surface to draw on like a sturdy table. You need some elbow room so have a large enough surface for that. If you get a drawing table make sure it does not wobble or move around on you, you need a sturdy surface.

As far as pencils, pens and markers and etc. you will have to find what your happy using if you are new to drawing. You can buy pencils with different hardness’s to give light or dark lines and shading. A good gum eraser or one of those that looks like putty that you can roll into shapes for erasing and knead it to clean it are great. Different papers have different textures and again you need to try them to see which you prefer.

One you have your tools on hand you can start to draw your cars. For more info on how to draw like a pro the fast and easy way check out Draw Cars Quickly.

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Cover of Junk Mail Origami

Junk Mail Origami is a book by Duy and Tramy Nguyen that sounded great but really disappointed me. I ordered it, thinking it would be a great way to make use of the colorful junk mail that I hate to throw away—sort of recycling it into something fun—cheap origami paper.

Since most origami patterns use square paper, and junk mail is never square, I figured there would be some interesting and useful patterns that could be used with letter-sized paper without tedious trimming. There are, but…

The first disappointment was the size of the book. It is only about 5 x 9 inches, closed. Open it, and you see that it is spiral bound. So the pages are only about 4 inches wide.

It appears that the book illustrations were designed for a larger book, but the publisher decided to make the book small instead. Big mistake.

Worse, most of the illustrations have dark overlays of color, often completely obscuring the now-tiny markings on the illustrations. The publisher has done the authors (and themselves) a real disservice in making the book too small and dark to really work with. Even the index has a dark overlay of color obscuring the tiny text.

The book is not completely useless. There are some folds that I could figure out. And the full price is only $5.95 USD.

Still, Junk Mail Origami could have been a much better book if it had been designed for actual use instead of just to look small and cute.

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When I describe my teaching method for drawing as a “directed drawing” exercise I sometimes get the comment that directed drawing stifles creativity. Another comment is that “directed drawing only encourages the student to mimic the teacher”. Not only do I disagree with these comments but I would go so far as to say that, in most things that we learn as children, we learn as a result of direction and mimicking our teacher, parent or siblings. [Read more →]

What Laughter Does

They say laughter is the best medicine. After all, there’s no better feeling than laughing your heart out at something that’s really funny. What’s more, the funny things tend to stimulate your brain and make you think more actively. That’s because humor and laughter also take a certain level of intelligence. However, with all the jokes getting old these days, it might just be a little harder to find something that’s comical enough to make you laugh or even just smile. So how about trying out something new by learning to have fun with visual stimulation? [Read more →]