claquesous:

some tips and tricks that have seriously helped me in excelling at watercolour

1. PAPER WEIGHT. for the love of god do not use any paper under 110-120 lbs to paint with watercolour, a very VERY wet medium that will soak clean through the paper if it’s not thick enough (most paper pads sold at craft stores have the weight listed on them. printer paper is around 20 lbs, sketch pads will be about 60 lbs, IDEAL watercolour paper 140 lbs+). i use only 140 lb paper for my serious watercolour works. canson and strathmore are my favourite brands

2. there’s no need to have very expensive watercolour paints, but it is important to use something better than crayola. my dad gave me a 24-pan windsor&newton watercolour set when i was 8 and these are still the paints i use today (i was a very careful child, but i never even had to replace my paint pans after almost 10 years either, so this brand, while super expensive, lasts and earns my gold star.) some other cheaper options are: x and x

3. if you’re going to be using watercolours, prepare to use WATER. so many people forget this, but it’s so important to realise this media is meant to look translucent, so you should see the paper through the paint. if you can’t see it, then you’re using the paints as if they’re gouache or acrylics, so try using more water and work with lighter colours.

OKAY NOW FOR THE ACTUAL TRICKS

4. SALT

quite overused in watercolour but it’s so freaking cool it can be pardoned. *remember for all of these effects, you have to use lots of water with the paint for it to work!

5. ALCOHOL/VODKA/HAND SANITIZER IF YOU’RE LAZY LIKE ME

you have to be very careful here because the second image can turn into the first if you use too much alcohol and it soaks through the water and paint gets in the spot, so be sure to experiment plenty before using this!!

but yeah you can use whatever clear alcohol you can find and it does p much the same thing

6. LIGHT SKIN TONES

okay while the darker skin tones are more easily achievable with browns and additional yellows/blues/reds to bring out the undertone, light skintones are hard as hell to make with watercolour because it’s hard to even think of what to mix. think no more!

YELLOW OCHRE + ANY PURPLE = perfect skintone you can play around with. adding more of yellow or purple will give you either cool or warm skin tones you can build up on and layer until they’re the proper value. remember to use purple/cool shadows with skin in compositions with normal lighting!

7. PAYNE’S GREY

and finally to repeat my previous post, use PAYNE’S GREY instead of black for a richer, darker colour in your painting. don’t use black unless your entire composition has warm colours, but even then, try to use a very dark brown instead of black.

8. WHITE

finally, it’s very important to mention this: never use the white watercolour they sometimes give you. EVER. EVER. dilute your paint with water instead to get a lighter value, or else you’re not using watercolour to its full extent (which is something you might struggle with if you’re used to using acrylics or oil)

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that’s all i can think of at the top of my head, but if you have any questions or need further brand recommendations etc, feel free to message me!

(via tzarkastic)

phantrashwithdreams:

Portrait drawing tips for amateurs from a self-taught artist

Keep in mind I draw with graphite and charcoal, not color pencils

1. All you need to start drawing is a sheet of paper and a pencil, preferably HB or B graduation. If you are really comitted buy a white paper sketch notebook and at least 3 pencils, 2H, B, and 3B.
2. I work with reference pics 99% of the time and that makes everything easier for me. Just make sure you aren’t violating any copyright policies or anything.
3. Along with #2, using a reference pic doesn’t necessarily mean the drawing has to be exactly like the picture, adding your personal touch makes everything better!
4. I don’t do any of that, measuring the head and proportions thing. It just doesn’t work for me, so I start by drawing the left eye, then the right, nose, mouth, etc.
5. EYES ARE SUPER IMPORTANT! If you want your drawing to really come alive make sure you get the gaze right.
6. Like I said in #4, measuring doesn’t work for me, so what I do is just look at the proportions in the pic itself and apply them to the drawing. For example, if the forehead looks about five times the size of the eye, I just mark the size of five eyes and draw the forhead.
7. If you plan on doing a realistic portrait instead of sketching, blending is key. If you don’t have the tools you can use your fingers, kleenex and q-tips. Grab the softest pencil you have, make a few soft lines where you want to blend and just go to town.
8. Forget what you think you see, and pay attention to what’s actually there. For me this one is probably the hardest but most helpful step: instead of thinking of the model’s features (like okay now I’m going to draw the eyes, the nose, etc) think of what you are drawing as what it is: lines. Study the angles, lenght and wide of the lines, not the actual features.
9. PRACTICE IS EVERYTHING. The only way you are going to improve is by practicing, so try to draw something every day, even if it is some doodles on the corner of the page.

Common mistakes:

1. Eyelashes don’t point all to one direction. The ones on the corner of the eyes point inwards (towards the nose), then they start to point upwards and finally they point outwards.
2. Always remember shading and lighting. This adds volume to your portrait.
3. You usually can’t see every single strand of hair so don’t draw hundreds of lines but rather patches of different tones if that makes sense.

Here’s some proof that I actually know what I’m talking about

(via changkyuh-archive)