Watercolor WIPs- Sharing and Learning

[Steve B]

steve, the Pen-Only ToolBar must be increasing your fun quotient if you can get glancing effects like this so quickly:) ... any chance it will ever come to the iPad? ...

Never say never, right? But the Pen-Only Toolbar is written in a language that isn't currently compatible with Macs or iOS, as far as I know. That's a mighty big hurdle.

There is another completed version we've been working on though, that I need to share. It's got some audio-feedback improvements for the visually impaired, as well Tool Tips, a completely revamped and infinitely-easier-to-understand Menu system, and (most interesting to me) an entirely new drag-and-drop method to make Hover Icons that is waaaaaaaay easier understand and manipulate. After the bar itself, the Hover Icons provide the greatest leap in general Artrage functionality, IMO. These new Hover Icons should allow a lot more to explore their usage more easily. I need to make videos though, so I'm waiting for some free time this week.

Life is actually slowing down a lot, recently, as I've removed a great many things from my plate (that I put there myself). I anticipate new AR videos in general over the next few months. The little YouTube channel has been watched a lot more than I had anticipated (200 subscribers, and about 15,0000 views!.... THAT'S COOL!), and clearly people find the videos useful. So, I'll probably share more.

:D

[chinapete]

steve, that's all very good news! I'm a big fan, as you know:) ... well, I won't say never, but I'm thinking that a ToolBar could solve or go a long way to minimizing the lag problem on the iPad, and that would be welcome for AR users and I would think the AR dev team also ... the innovation you bring frees up the movement of the hand, and this, apart from being a technical UI improvement, allows the artist to connect hand (brush) and eye (mind) more immediately ... congrats on the YouTube channel success! ...

[chinapete]

steve, since I just posted something in mixed media, I'm looking at your "Bridge" painting again, and wondering how I would print it ... In my first blush comments I mentioned the texture and weight of the paper (and Gary, I think, called it out as Arches cold press), but although there is giclee for watercolor -- I think a spray technique is used there -- I'm guessing it wouldn't look right, and since it might not be possible to put Arches paper through an inkjet printer, would you consider (assuming you wanted to print it) using a lighter weight paper, maybe even a rice paper ... disclaimer: I use rice paper because I work in digital inks :)

[kenmo]

A very informative thread.... :)

[Steve B]

Pete,
I'm a little confused. Are you looking to print the Bridge painting at home? or remotely (through a service)? Are you concerned about the AR canvas texture printing? I can remove the canvas texture background and repost the image sans that. I will say that this one was not done at print res. It's a small image currently-- 1280 x 800. More a doodle than a proper print dpi image. It's possible it could be scaled up though-- watercolors print better at lower res than oils anyways.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're looking for?

[chinapete]

hi Steve, sorry for any confusion ... I know your "Bridge" is mostly for display ... I was just speculating aloud how to preserve the delicate washes and the texture of the paper -- which is noticeable even in your low-res image -- if it were printed (assuming of course the image was print ready) ... Could it be done on Arches paper? Or would it be better to use an absorbent rice paper, for example, Chinese Xuan paper, some variations of which have enough tensile strength to allow gravestone rubbings -- sorry for the morbid reference :)
ps: I would at least have a chance of getting the Xuan paper through my Pixma iP100 printer ...

[Steve B]

Ahhhh... I see. That really depends on the printer, in my experience. For example, last year I bought an Epson Workforce 1100, and it's been a fantastic purchase for only 125$. I can easily feed it full 140 lb watercolor paper. It's wide format, so 12 x 18 is easy, plus the ink is water-safe and doesn't bleed. It's a great printer, though a bit finicky if not used regularly.

[Steve B]

Hey Pete,
what happened to your last post? I was talking to my wife about how you printed it out on rice paper. She wanted to see it, but the post is gone. Can you post it again?

[chinapete]

oh, okay ... after I'd posted it, I had second thoughts about messing around with your original (cropping it a little and so forth), but I really like the printed version, and am going to work with my somewhat limited Pixma iP100 and different papers to get something closer to your original, or at least as it appears on my screen ... anyway, here it is again ...

[chinapete]

Steve, I'm taking the liberty of posting this to your thread, because I think it exemplifies some ink-as-watercolor effects that can be gotten with rice paper ... Here, I'm just laying in the groundwork, the ultimate goal is to complete a Chinese-style horizontal scroll mountains and mists ink painting ... Everything was done digitally on the iPad, so this is digital inks on digital rice paper ...

I imported a special Xuan rice paper (with a greyish-blue tint) as ground; then created a second layer at 25% opacity for the gold-ochre washes in the sky, except for the whiter cloud areas; then a palette white is used at 25% opacity to blend the rough edges (at this point, the second and base layers can be merged); then a third layer is created for additional washes and whites; subsequent layers contain drawing overlays for calligraphic brush effects, and finally the darkest washes are applied ...

The main thing that interests me is the uniform, almost silk-like texture to support the washes ... I wonder whether you can see that too (you have to look at it for a while for the forms to emerge fully) ...

[Caesar]

Big claps to Your bridge too!

[Steve B]

I've been quiet here for a few months, but I've recently been playing with the Stylus Properties and making some new Presets. I hope to eventually make a Watercolor Artpack.... we'll see how it goes. In the mean time, here is one of the results of my experiments--

"The Phoenix"

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[D Akey]

Ah. . . like a soap bubble. Neat colors. Nice effects.

[Caesar]

It's fantastic to have You back ,dear mate!

[copespeak]

Yummy watercolour effects! :cool:

[Ulla]

I discovered this thread yesterday and I am fascinated. Up to now I haven't paid much attention to the watercolour tool - but now I definitely will!

[Steve B]

Hey Ulla,
I hope the thread is of use. That's why I started it. I was hoping people would share their thoughts and processes, and we could all learn something. There are also lots of helpful links and info if you follow the links in my signature. :)

Steve

[Ulla]

Here's my latest watercolour painting:

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I forgot to mention that I am an absolute newbie with the watercolour tool. So far I've been using the felt pen and the oil brush. This thread however encouraged and inspired me to to have a go at watercolours... I am looking forward to comments and critique!

[Steve B]

Ulla,
This is not a bad start. I think you have the "motion" of watercolors here.

One of the things I think people are most surprised by though is that a great deal of what can make watercolors "watercolors" is the blending. If you take the knife and use more of the watery Presets, while using different layers for each color (with each layer set to Multiply), I think you'll begin to see different results. Currently, I think the issue I see most is that the colors are opaque, and look more like Acrylics than Watercolors. That would be what I would try next.

[Ulla]

Thank you, Stephen, for taking the time to look and for your detailed comment. I'll follow your advice and play around with the settings and the layers!

[drawing4art]

I have to say that I was totally useless at Watercolour in the "real sense" but loved the idea of the beautiful effects that could be achieved with it. This is a great thread and I hope to be able to learn something from it, so thanks for sharing :)

[Steve B]

No problem at all Ulla-- thanks for sharing! :)

There's definitely more than one way to skin a cat, as you'll find out if you go through this thread, but if you're interested in how I approach things, my series of YouTube tutorials on Watercolors in Artrage is a good place to begin your own experiments. I made them just to share and educate and introduce people to as much as I could about the concept. They may be of some use to you if you're starting out with Watercolors in AR.

If you do another experiment, please share it again. It's interesting to see where people take things.

[Orkhan]

Thank you for this thread! Watercolor is my oldest secret love and my newest digital challenge. As a kid I had a neighbour, few years older than me who was painting in watercolour, always mesmerizing me. I could say my love for art in general and painting in particular is his "fault". Now I considered that is time for some proper learning of the tehnique so a grabbed David Bellamy's "Watecolour landscape course" ...aaaaand.... I'm child again. I keep starring at the pages, wondering if I ever would be half that good. But now I want to do it with AR.

[Orkhan]

Not easy... I must say, here is one of my cats, I used a photo to outline it. What do you think?

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and here is the photo

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[Mendota]

I am new so I found this for the first time today. A lonely still and dramatic place. I really like it. I enjoy watercolors so much when it is done by others. I don't seem to have the knack. Lovely painting, I'll be looking for more of your work.

[Marilyn Anne]

I am with Gary as I worked in watercolor for many years. Very authentic looking. I love to go to watercolor shows such as the National exhibition in Old Forge , NY at the View. Used to live in Rochester , NY and they had excellent classes at the Memorial Art Gallery with some artists from these national groups. Such opportunities. I have done very little watercolor work on art rage but you inspire trying. Marilyn

[D Akey]

I did not see this when first posted either. Pretty nice dive into watercolor. Very fun angle on the cat too!

:):):):):):cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::):):):):)

[cartuneman]

love all of your works great stuff!

[Kikipotamus]

Hi, watercolour gurus! I just got my Wacom Intuos and downloaded ArtRage 4.5.10 Lite 64 bit on my MacBook Pro running OX X Yosemite 10.10.5. I am doing the tutorials one by one (watercolour, pastel, etc.) and even though Barbara says she is using ArtRage Lite, she seems to have a preset that I do not see. She calls it "heavy bleed." I see it on her screen. I can't find that. I have scrolled to the very top of the watercolour brush presets list and to the very bottom. I have "wet on wet," but it's not the same effect. I'm not getting any bleed. In fact, my sky stroke looks more like it's airbrushed than wet on wet watercolour. By the way, your painting above is stupendous. My mother, an award-winning watercolorist, will not believe it was done digitally. Unbelievable. Hope you guys can help me! Thanks. Kelly M (Kikipotamus) P.S. Let me know if I posted this to the wrong thread or forum. I'm new.

[markw]

Hello Kikipotamus and welcome to the ArtRage forums:)
I don’t have AR Lite to check if the Heavy Bleed brush is included but I would have thought it was as it’s in the video.
Still, if you really don’t have it this screenshot shows the settings for it so you could setup your own and save it as a new preset.
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