Every little kid that thinks at age five, "I want to be an artist when I grow up!" envisions themselves at a canvas with their palette and brush in hand, creating Bob Ross type masterpieces.
What they didn't tell you on that episode of Sesame Street where Ernie paints Bert's picture, is that painting is HARD.
I was always afraid to try paints... I dabbled a little bit with some cheap acrylics in Junior High grades, trying to paint tree scenes that were Bob Ross-esque. (Bob Ross's name will be dropped frequently throughout this post. That dude was the bomb diggity when it came to paint.) I remember getting to watch the artist that came to paint the mural on our church baptistry and thinking, "wow, he makes it look so easy!!" Well, as I am finding out, just because you can draw or have an eye for how colors should go together, DOES NOT mean that you naturally have the knack for painting. It is definitely a talent that is to be prized, and if you have it, share it for the rest of us that don't possess it!!!! PLEASE!!!!!
..... So anyway. Water Colors are preferred mediums in manga art. Especially in shoujo, girly manga. The softer, splashy colors add to the romantic, fluffy feel of the genre. I held off from attempting those for awhile, but after seeing so many beautiful posts from artists I follow on various social sites, I bought some cheap ones at Joann Fabrics and Michael's, and after watching several tutorials, I had an idea of how to use them. I feel comfortable with them now, but I still have a long way to go before I reach the level I want to with them.
Below are a few watercolors I've done this year...
I wasn't really thinking about trying acrylic again, until I started following an artist on instagram that makes her living painting acrylic Disney fan arts. And they turn out really cute, and her WIP posts looked like she was having fun with it!! So I bought some canvas when it was on sale, and attempted a "Lion King" painting...
This is the finished product (BTW, I'm still very unhappy with Simba's facial expression.... -_-)
All in all, the end product turned out better than I thought it would, but in the process, I learned several things. They are:
1.) Acrylic takes way longer to dry than watercolors do. Even when you think you have put down a very thin layer... Think again. It won't be dry for a lonnnng time.
2.) There are not as many helpful tutorials on acrylic painting on YouTube as you might think. I looked. Most videos were "speed paint" type ones that didn't offer any pointers or tips. (Even the instagram artist I mentioned before didn't offer any tutorial videos on her channel)
3.) Mixing colors is trickier than water colors.
4.) Doing bold lines was the worst... I wanted bold black lines around the lion cubs because they need to look animated among the background. I did happen to find a video on YouTube that helped me fix this problem... The trick is to mix your paint with water to the desired thinness you need, and for smaller lines, to use a thinner brush, which is how I ended up getting the black lines like I wanted.
5.) It's hard to fill in the canvas. I had to go back over several times and apply more coats because there were blotchy white areas that just were not coating for some reason!
I admit that I made the mistake of thinking because I know a little bit about water coloring, that painting with acrylic would be easy. That was a poor mistake to make, because I know that mediums vary. Once I got over looking at it as "this should be just like water coloring!", the process became smoother, and I had fun with it. I do enjoy getting to try something new, and painting especially is a sort of relaxing process once you start feeling comfortable with it! The hardest part was doing Simba and Nala, but I had so much fun with the background scene... I even used glitter paint for the sky and stars, so this sparkles!!
So I decided to start working on a new one,and for some reason, Eternal Sailor Moon was the inspiration this time. I actually have not seen many acrylic manga paintings (and I think I know why now!), so I'm working blind on this one. I've just laid down the main background colors over the last two nights and started laying down some colors on Usagi tonight. I'm excited to use the glitter paint again... I'm thinking on the crystals and moon, and maybe some stars in the background too...
I really had a hard time with those crystals and figuring out the right blues to use, and the whites, and etc., but when I look at it now, I can see it coming together, so that's promising!!!
What have I learned through all this?? That I need to go watch all of the Bob Ross episodes that are currently on Netflix. Because I have no idea what I'm doing. Lots of passion and heart... no brains.
Until next post... Painting when I can...
-Stasia-Chan '16
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