My New Friend, Watercolor

Me and my splendid husband are taking a watercolor class this fall. So far it has been really fun, and I'm excited to be taking it. I'll be covering the work I do in the class here on my illustration blog, just so you know. It will be a fun little change of pace.

Our first assignment was to create a color chart. I know, that sounds boring, but I must confess, I have a secret passion for color charts. I loved it thoroughly. Mostly I love looking at them when I'm done. I haven't taken a picture of it, because I'm not sure if I'm supposed to. If that's the case, I'll do that in my next post (maybe).

One of the cool things about watercolor that I learned this last week is that some of the colors are opaque, and some are transparent. I thought all the colors were transparent, and if I wanted opacity I had to use gouache (on a side note, using the word opacity makes me feel like a true artist). I'm excited and scared to learn that there's so much to watercolor. I'm not sure if I'll ever understand it all. EDIT: I was just corrected, and learned that some watercolors have pigments that are more opaque than others, but there are no truly opaque colors. I'm still probably getting something wrong, but it's a good start :)

Our next assignment was to introduce us to washes. Here is a picture:

 

I think it might be a little difficult to see in the picture, but the first image (of the three above) is a flat wash, so it's flat as in one solid color. The second is a graded wash. Normally graded washes go the other way, but I liked it better with the light side up, because that's where the light source comes from in a natural setting. So I flipped the picture over before I painted leaves and bamboo on top. The third is a mingled wash. You can see it in the bamboo. My mingled wash was a blend of purple, blue, and green. On top I painted a horrid green wash that is supposed to be flat, but isn't because I had inconsistencies with my water. Hence the stripes. I like the colors, but the stripes are an accident.

The next piece we worked on was using a contour shape and either curvilinear or geometric lines. I chose a giraffe and created a geometric "pattern" on top of it. The giraffe is inspired by the series of iPad apps for children that my husband and I are working on. I'm doing the illustrations, and he's doing all the crazy, complex computer stuff. I'll post images as they come together, of course.

 

As you can see, my flat washes and line work could definitely stand some improvement. Overall though, I feel as though I'm doing a fairly reasonable job with this new and exciting medium. Hopefully you will be able to see improvement as I post new images.

Coming soon to this blog, I'll be working on a cut-illustration book for my advanced book arts class. I'm very excited to work on this project, and I think it will be a great challenge for me. The story I think I'll be illustrating is Rubezahl, the tale of a gnome king who falls in love with a princess. Don't worry, it's a great (although obscure) story, and it involves turnips, so it's bound to be good.

Fin.