Skip to main content

Wasp Wisp

Sort of a success and a failure all wrapped up in one. The concept in my head was, "what if wasps could glow?" I found some excellent reference photos of wasps - I just had to put it all together. I changed the black to a light blue and filled the background with washes of yellow (and a touch of that light blue for harmony).

I wanted a contrasting darkness to surround the light wasp and make the glow more intense. This is where I messed up. I didn't mix enough of the dark color (a combination of payne's grey and purple lake) to evenly color the area. I used a large flat brush to apply the color - which created hard edges. To top it all off, I went a little too far in and destroyed some of the detail in the wings.

Big washes like this have stumped me from the very beginning of my watercolor project. I have a really difficult time knowing how much paint to mix. I never seem to use enough water. If there are obstacles to paint around, I have a tough time keeping everything even. This is just one of those things I need to work on. There has to be something in a book or a video that can help me out.

The best thing about failing in art is that you can always try again. I still have my pencil sketch - I can transfer it to another piece of watercolor paper when I learn how to correct my mistake. There's so much more to paint and learn - this isn't going to slow me down.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inktober Day 3 - "Bait"

Old school pen and ink. I haven't used a crow quill pen since high school - and, even then, I remember struggling to get it to work. This time, I thought I would try to create something using only cross-hatching. The prompt word today is "bait". This word took me into a lot of different ideas, but the one I ultimately landed on is based on the will-o-wisp. In my head, I imagined glowing orbs in front of a copse of swamp trees all created with layers of cross-hatching. Things had to be scaled back a bit. There are still two trees in the background if you look hard enough. Success? Sort of. It forced me to use a different kind of pen and, in doing so, made me want to keep going and get better with it.
Post a Comment
Read more

Fundamentals

I've decided to take a step back and practice the fundamentals of watercolor. I jumped into this daily project hoping to learn by doing: stepping out of my comfort zone, experimenting, sitting down, and doing the work. I've never had any formal training in this medium: just youtube videos and a few books. It's surprising to see just how far that little bit of knowledge and passion has taken me. So today is all about focused practice with color and value. I have been following step by step instructions from Watercolor Essentials . The mountains in the above photo were my first attempts. They are pretty sloppy and uneven, but I learned a lot from them. Most notably: it is much easier to lighten watercolor than to darken it. Back to work!
Post a Comment
Read more

Storm

Attempting to create lightning using masking fluid, glazes, and lifting. White gouache was used for more subtle bolts and rain. When all has been said and done, this was a success in a lot of ways. Watercolor painting is difficult. Learning can be a challenge because it seems like the materials are all working against you. With varied drying times, opacity, flow, etc. I wouldn't blame anyone for turning to other media. I think I stick around because of the perceived challenge - I'm a weirdo like that. This piece was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past comic series by Shotaro Ishinomori . The first chapter of the book featured a lot of lightning, and I wanted to see if I could recreate the effect in watercolor. Little challenges like this keep me thinking all day; they remind me how much I love art. I'll leave you with a preview of my weekend project. Enjoy!
Post a Comment
Read more