Watercolours are not my strength. I did practise them over the holidays but I do not think I got much out of it.
However, I brought my watercolours with me to Abbey park on Monday planning on giving them another go. The weather was not really the best for studying lighting, good for taking pictures of textures though. So I thought I could at least work on some compositional thumbnails rather than moan it was cold and make an excuse to go home.
On Tuesday the sun was could not make up its mind whether it was going in or out. Sometimes though it was out. I decided to take my chances and go back.
This year (so far) there have been no distractions. I find the peacefulness of solitude a better atmosphere to get things done not that I have much of a choice anyway.
I am going to post a few bits of work up that show my progress over the day, trying watercolour again with no fear or apprehension as I know if I keep at it it wold get better I know this now. I even find my quick thumbnails are better because of more confidence.
I am happy with how much better the third ink sketch is than the first two. I think the biggest improvement is that there was more contrast and this showed the lighting conditions better. Sitting down and painting the world around you is so much better than painting from a photograph because a photo just doesn't quite cut it (not the photographs I take anyway)
They were suitable for there purpose to show the light and dark. Which is good enough for me, for now.
As far as the watercolours go I feel I have achieved quite a lot compared to the nothing I was. I have learnt the technique to build up layers and not to use to much water at a time so the paint doesn't splatter everywhere. The wind didn't help either but painting outside is character building. Sitting in duck crap is not.
I learnt through trying that you start out with a really watered down colour and then just build over the top in layers. Changing the brush size also helped.Just keep layering. I still need to carry on with this and improve it is a new way for me of getting information and inspiration down on paper, see, I do get the concept of finding new ways to do things.
As we will be doing the final piece in photoshop I feel I will make a better job because of what I have learnt through using traditional media. I haven't finished yet though. I will be going back and doing some more to focus more on colours and lighting in other areas of the park, Then I will be able to decided on a composition that works well and crack on with that digital painting that doesn't exist in the real world. Til then.
However, I brought my watercolours with me to Abbey park on Monday planning on giving them another go. The weather was not really the best for studying lighting, good for taking pictures of textures though. So I thought I could at least work on some compositional thumbnails rather than moan it was cold and make an excuse to go home.
On Tuesday the sun was could not make up its mind whether it was going in or out. Sometimes though it was out. I decided to take my chances and go back.
This year (so far) there have been no distractions. I find the peacefulness of solitude a better atmosphere to get things done not that I have much of a choice anyway.
I am going to post a few bits of work up that show my progress over the day, trying watercolour again with no fear or apprehension as I know if I keep at it it wold get better I know this now. I even find my quick thumbnails are better because of more confidence.
I have presented the ink sketches below together although some of them were bigger than A4. If you look at the lines, the value and even technique you can see how they have gotten better as my time there progressed. Though I admit that sometimes they got worse (image 4 pic 3) most of that was down to my own clumsiness than my skill.
I am happy with how much better the third ink sketch is than the first two. I think the biggest improvement is that there was more contrast and this showed the lighting conditions better. Sitting down and painting the world around you is so much better than painting from a photograph because a photo just doesn't quite cut it (not the photographs I take anyway)
They were suitable for there purpose to show the light and dark. Which is good enough for me, for now.
As far as the watercolours go I feel I have achieved quite a lot compared to the nothing I was. I have learnt the technique to build up layers and not to use to much water at a time so the paint doesn't splatter everywhere. The wind didn't help either but painting outside is character building. Sitting in duck crap is not.
I learnt through trying that you start out with a really watered down colour and then just build over the top in layers. Changing the brush size also helped.Just keep layering. I still need to carry on with this and improve it is a new way for me of getting information and inspiration down on paper, see, I do get the concept of finding new ways to do things.
As we will be doing the final piece in photoshop I feel I will make a better job because of what I have learnt through using traditional media. I haven't finished yet though. I will be going back and doing some more to focus more on colours and lighting in other areas of the park, Then I will be able to decided on a composition that works well and crack on with that digital painting that doesn't exist in the real world. Til then.
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