Watercolor Play

(Hey! Two blog posts in one month??  The world must be ending!)   .... (See what I did there?? ;-o )


Hello again, art friends!!

So, I think I've mentioned before that watercolors are really not my forte. But I've also mentioned that I would really like to improve with watercolors. For many reasons, but the two main reasons for me are: 1, I find it relaxing to lay paint down on paper, even if the turn out isn't the best... xD   And 2, because most watercolor blends well with Copic Marker, and if I could get a feel for watercoloring, I might be able to save some on marker expense.

Sooo...

My biggest problem in watercolor has always been not being able to mix a nice skin tone. And that was frustrating, because most of my drawings need a smooth skin coloring!!! I watched this awesome tutorial by Megan Carrigan, a famous Disney art watercolorist, on how to properly mix skin color. And I had been making the mistake of trying to mix white and pink or yellow to get a peachy color for skin. So after watching her tutorial (which wasn't even very long or complicated!),  I decided to sit right down and try what she was doing, AND IT WORKED!!!!   I was very excited. The tutorial I watched was here...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1LOsq-uh9M


Anyway, I had sketched this piece of Sailor Mercury from one of the manga volumes. It was sketched on watercolor paper, and so it seemed like a good subject to try watercoloring again.

And this picture above is right after I mixed skin tones and tested them.... Once I got the light consistency I wanted, I was shocked how good it looked after I applied it!!!!  I was so excited!!! I love learning new art abilities.. It feels like leveling up in a Mario game or something!!!   <3

The picture below was the finished watercolors. While I thought it looked nice, I knew that adding more depth to the colors would make it even nicer, and I also wanted to give the bubbles more of an edge. But I was afraid to try adding more with watercolor, because it looked nice enough that I didn't want to risk messing up if I didn't really know what I was doing  (and I probably don't xD).

But, I have used Copic and watercolor before, and so I added extra shading and detail with marker!

The finished version really seems to pop now with the added color from the Copics. I didn't touch up her skin much, just added a touch of shade here and there because I didn't want to lose the original color.  I'm very proud of this one, because I really worked to make the watercolors nice and even, and it turned out way better than I imagined!!!

So after I finished this, I decided to try a second one, again with a sketch taken from one of the manga books, this time using Mini Moon as the subject.

My process for this picture was pretty similar to the Mercury one, and so below is the final version after applying Copic!

These have been my projects over the last few days... and learning the new watercolor tips has helped already, because I've been able to apply it to some secret Christmas surprises for people. ;-)  I'm also enjoying using my new watercolor pens that hold water in them... very nice and very portable. We're getting ready to take a family vacation this week, so I'm excited to take these brushes with me and try some painting on the trip!!  ^^

It's always fun to learn something new!!!  I'm excited to start another drawing soon... maybe Sailor Saturn or Sailor V next... I've been on a Sailor Moon kick recently, it seems!!!  ;-)

-Stasia-Chan '15