(Stencils) Realistc Watercolor Presets for ArtRage

[Mellian]

Thanks Nekomata,
This is the first time I have looked at anything on the Forum.
Your images were amazing and I have never thought of using Stencils like this
Thanks again for your generous support and inspiration.

[Pop Alexandra]

Really cool and realistic work.
How long does it take to finish one of these pieces?

[nekomata]

Thanks Nekomata,
This is the first time I have looked at anything on the Forum.
Your images were amazing and I have never thought of using Stencils like this
Thanks again for your generous support and inspiration.

you're very welcome, and I hope you find a way to integrate those into your own art! introducing stencils really makes the artrage watercolor shine.

Really cool and realistic work.
How long does it take to finish one of these pieces?

thank you! not very long, they're small demonstration images created for web-use in a fairly small image resolution. I would say between a quarter hour and an hour for those.

[nekomata]

I'm slowly working on a follow up for the first stencil pack, this time done with better variety of papers, different watercolor and brush set-up, and I'm finally using an artist-grade scanner that captures exponentially more depth in the gradations of paper texture and paint washes.

I hope to finish it by 15-ish because it's fairly a lot of work, and I can't commit a lot of time at the moment.



depending on how this year goes there might be another update later on since I have an interest in making more of those, but we have massive import troubles with art supplies over here, and I'm not sure when this will get resolved, so it's hard to make any specific plans given the so and so.

[markw]

Oh, now that’s exciting news!
Thanks for the update nekomata! Loved the first set so really looking forward trying the new ones when they’re ready

[nekomata]

Oh, now that’s exciting news!
Thanks for the update nekomata! Loved the first set so really looking forward trying the new ones when they’re ready

thanks, Mark.

I have 15 large-sized wash scans scanned and cleared-up for this now, but I'll see if I can bump them up to 20, or so...

still a bit on the fence as far as future plans go, we only have regular restocking of the local Russian brands here, and while they're higher grade and better pigment purity than whatever I own right now quality-wise, I'm iffy about supporting... they also don't really granulate that well, which is something I think a lot of digital watercolor engines tend to put emphasis on, the running, gritty pigment look.

in the worst case scenario I'll just wait until the autumn with paint stock purchasing, and will plan from there on.

[nekomata]

A Frosted Forest - semi-abstract sketching exercise with watercolor, gloop pen, glitter, and inking pen tools to show some of the scanned samples in action

my plans for the rest of the month got reshuffled a bit, so here we go - 20 new paint wash scans to enhance your watercolor process with artrage tools

🎨🖌💦 download here

those are mostly very large images, averaging between 4 and 6 thousand pixels wide, and they can be scaled up even more once placed inside of an artrage document

there’s a lot of crisp paper texture (which sort of was the point), and a lot of captured pigment detail all around, but some of those are done on pretty texture-neutral paper, too.

painting tip # 1:

stack stencils for even more variety, see image:


when using large stencils that overlay the screen, pull up the canvas positioner tool, it will make things like panning canvas around easier - when stencils get too big, you can't use the "space" shortcut over the canvas area occupied by the red stencil boundary.

painting tip # 2:

if you are painting with the watercolor tool in wet mode, I recommend using low thinner values (0-20 %) and high pigment load (70 - 100 %), but if you’re using dry watercolor brush setting, the reverse proportion (under 20 % loading and 60 - 80 % thinner values, or higher) would look more natural.

I still can't believe how fast stencils are from performance standpoint. I hope they'll enhance your painting experience, and will help you create more organic looking art easier and faster.

[Perendale]

Thank you Nekomata, that’s very generous of you!

I haven’t worked with these yet but I will start experimenting soon. I love to experiment!

Brett