Watercolor WIPs- Sharing and Learning

[screenpainter]

It has taken me an inordinate amount of time, but I have learned so much about layering colours and attempting to emulate a watercolour/painterly feel. I am really pleased with the result, and will now revisit a set of black and white fairy prints I did in hard copy years ago, and colour them in!! Thanks for making me think! :0)

amazing piece of watercolor work. you nailed it perfectly!!! excellent.

[Steve B]

It's been a long quiet Fall for me with art, but I took the time tonight to just play. I love how gritty Artrage can feel. Texture is what it's all about to me.

[D Akey]

Again another great offering of getting the watercolor to look right on the page. What I particularly am intrigued by is the calligraphy of the signature. It's getting really interesting and hand done looking.

[chinapete]

well, this is a dramatic return ... have to agree with D Akey about the calligraphic feel, it's in the bridge too ... the texture and weight of the paper can be felt ...

[justjean]

Great drips and runs

[gxhpainter2]

Steve , wow you certainly have gained a mastery of the watercolor look and feel.. this has the look of Arches 140 cold press and nice Windsor Newton colors....

[Steve B]

Thanks guys. It was fun.

Re: the calligraphy "style"-- this came from a technique figured out in a thread from a year or so ago. I choose a good bumpy Layer Texture, use the Watercolor Brush, set the Thinners to 0% and check IntraDry to "on". Choose black or a color close to it, and you get a nice, consistently dark line with textured edges. Reduce Loading to somewhere in the 20's or 30's and you'll get that nice "trail" at the end..... This works nicely, but you have to lift your brush between letters, as it "runs out of ink" pretty quick with the Loading that low.

Re: "drips" and drifts- I love grabbing the Blender and using the Hard Out Smear setting. I turn up the Smudge to a pretty high %- maybe the 70's or so, and pull the water down the page. This lets me pull farther with my drifts, and uses less cpu power than when the Smudge % is lower. I like how it mixes the colors as I drag as well.

This was done over about 30-45 minutes. Quick and playful, on 5-6 or 7 layers. Used an overlay like normal. Tried out lots of stuff for fun-
the "Triangular Chaos" brush for that veination of yellow in the upper middle/right
the "Airbrush Splats" and "Blooming" from the Art Brushes Sticker Spray-- painted with white on an upper layer to make erasures
"Veins" from the Series 81 Big Brush Set, to create granulation
Spongy Flat, from the Someonesane's Sponge set
plus some other stuff....

I tried out using Chalk too-- mostly on the left-- for texture on top of another color.

Fun! Lots of tools....

[copespeak]

I love your Smudge Blender, it works really well. The more you work it, the more interesting the result. You certainly can get some real watercoloury effects there. Thanks for sharing.

[chinapete]

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? ...

[screenpainter]

wow. loving the bridge. big winner!