intro to watercolor

watercolor, along with other color rendering media, can add a lot to your plain contour drawings. as with anything else, it does take some practice and getting used to, but don't be discouraged. the best watercolor renderings are ones that aren't perfectly inside the lines, and have personal style and character. it is also a media that is meant to be light, to add quick depth and shadow. below we've compiled a bunch of examples, a few tips and techniques to try, and a some external links for extra help. give it a try!



Suzanne

Pete Scully

Victor Martinez

Ascender Rises Above Studios

Anita Davies ( ^ some good vignette examples!!)


Terry Banderas

Jason Das

quick tips/techniques:
-dark negative spaces pushes the positive space forward.
-watercolor dries approximately 3 times lighter than the color you see when it's wet.
-clean brushes thoroughly to avoid hidden paint in your next drawing.
-to show light, or very bright areas in a drawing, simply leave that area blank.
-keep paper towels/cloth on hand for blotting overly large puddles.

external links for extra help:
watercolorpainting.com (really great tutorials section)
handprint.com
danny gregory also works with watercolor quite a bit.

places to buy watercolor sets (as well as other decently-priced supplies):
dickblick
jerry's (store in raleigh)
daniel smith
cheap joe' art supplies

markers!!!

this is a scan from the book "color image" by michael e. doyle to give you an idea about what kind of colors of markers to buy. the chartpak name is listed on top and the prismacolor name is in the parentheses. don't go out and buy all of these colors, you don't need 5 different pinks! but do get muted colors such as these. right now dick blick has the lowest price but jerrys artarama also has good prices.

first post!

perception and communication-
we are all really excited about being your t.a.'s this semester! we know the opus project may seem intimidating at first. (but you will love it once you get into it!) to give you a little push in the right direction, we've picked some pages from one of our favorite books that suzanne showed us last year, the creative license by danny gregory. we highly recommend buying this book, as it is truly an inspiration in drawing, journaling, learning, and designing daily. we really hope you all will enjoy this semester, and please feel free to come to any of us with any questions you may have!