Watercolor Journey 2016

Hi guys! Happy 2017! I just want to make a compilation of my artworks last 2016 and maybe use it as a gauge this year if I'm improving (or not) >_<. Hope you like.

That's just about it. Happy New Year everyone and wishing all of us positive changes and happiness!!!

Watercolor Portraits Update

Here's an update of my watercolor portraits for the past few months. My inspiration mostly are from fashion photos I really like; references from photographer Marta Bevacqua,whom works I first stumbled upon in Deviantart and french fashion brand Promod, which designs I find unique and beautiful.

If you haven't seen my portrait artworks before when I was just starting, you can see it here and here.

Without further ado, here are my Marta Bevacqua-inspired works:

and here are my Promod-inspired works:

All of these are made on a (4.5"x 6") 200 gsm canson watercolor paper with exception of the monochromatic one which was done in fabriano with the same dimensions and weight.

Thanks for viewing and wishing  to add some more next year. Hope you liked it and before I forget, happy holidays everyone!

Trying Oil Painting

Lately I'm feeling a bit frustrated in painting with acrylic, it just dries so fast. Mixing paints is a challenge and  working faster is the way to go but sometimes you just want to work a little slow and focus on your painting. Because of that one characteristic of acrylic, I thought I wanna try oil but seriously I have no idea what materials and medium to use and how to go about painting with it.

It was suggested for beginners to try oil paint sets, just to get accustomed with it. I'm actually eyeing two as they are both cheap (about $10 or less) and readily available in our local store (Deovir Art Supplies). The Talens Art Creation and Nevskaya Palitra Sonnet, both are from reputable brands although of different grades. Art Creation is considered craft/student grade while Sonnet is artist grade.

Both are lightfast (albeit from few colors) and have very good color choices in case you want to buy tubes individually.

Talens Art Creation

Nevskaya Palitra Sonnet

Now, with oil painting they said that you'll also need oil mediums and turpentine or mineral spirits. I guess I'll just get me some linseed oil and turpentine which are inexpensive but of good quality since I'm just a beginner. These ones look good and are also available in Deovir:

 I'll just update you guys when I get a hold of these things and what I think of oil painting, whether or not it meets my expectation.

DIY Watercolor Palette for Plein Air and Urban Sketching

Plein air and urban sketching is all the craze nowadays for watercolor artists and enthusiasts. So, I said to myself, I wanna try doing it too and I'm gonna start by having my pocketable watercolor palette. I looked online for any small metal palettes but found them to be expensive for my liking, around Php 1000 or $20 and it doesn't come with paints or empty half pans for that matter. By chance though, I came upon an online seller who sells one for Php 100 or $2. An empty Pebeo watercolour metal palette that can house 12 or even 14 half pans.

it's around 2.75" x  5"

 

This one has minimal scratches and doesn't have any thumb ring but still looks great nonetheless. For its price, it's already a steal. Now, I only have to look for empty half pans and found them at The Opinionated Art Store selling only for Php 16 a piece.

I bought 12 half pans

time to fill them up with some of my old tubes

I'm still thinking and finalizing the colors to add for those empty ones. The other colors, on the other hand, are the same as the ones posted here. Now, I also need to have travel or water brushes and some pens, pencils and papers, etc...whew still a long list before hitting the road :( No worries, I'll try to gather 'em all up and update you guys!

Well, until my next post and until my first plein air!

Acrylic Titanium White Comparison

liquitex basics, nevskaya palitra ladoga, grumbacher academy

I, for being a cheapskate, am always on the lookout for affordable yet quality acrylic paints and art materials for that matter. As you can see in the pic, I've almost used up my liquitex and grumbacher titanium whites and was about to stock up but all stores are out of stock with these paints. I went to a favorite art store and came upon their new stocks of Nevskaya Palitra Ladoga paints instead and it has white and quite cheap too so I bought it without second thoughts.

Ladoga is a russian brand. The store clerk said it's artist grade. Anyways, it says in the container that it's opaque and has *** lightfast rating which is really good. It comes in 220 ml bottle and costs Php 285 or about $6.

Liquitex Basics is the cheapest costing only Php 150 or $3. It comes in 118 ml bottle and has a lightfastness rating of I which is also really good, the highest rating same as with Ladoga. It's also opaque but most of it's other colors that I have are quite transluscent which  I don't like since I like texture and layering in my work, so you have to keep that in mind when buying paints. Although what I like about liquitex is that their paints are usually made up of single pigments giving clean mixes.

The last but not the least, Grumbacher Academy that comes in a 90 ml metal tube. Its about Php 275 or $5.50 which makes it a bit pricey than the other two but I'd gladly pay that amount for a reason I'll show later. It's opaque and also has excellent lightfastness.

Now for the real comparison; I had placed a dollop of each paint side by side to see the texture. I don't know if it's visible but both Liquitex and Ladoga are both glossy and seem to have less pigments than with Grumbacher that has visible small granules/ pigments.

L: Liquitex C: Ladoga R: Grumbacher

And here's the reason why I'd choose Grumbacher over the two;  I swiped each paint once on a black ink to see its coverage. You can clearly see that the ink is still quite visible on the two paints while its barely visible on Grumbacher.

L: Liquitex C: Ladoga R: Grumbacher

If anything, I think Grumbacher Academy is a step higher and would give you more bang for your buck. I wasn't sponsored or paid to do this review and this is my honest opinion but ehheemm, it wouldn't be bad if I could try the other paints :)

For the sake of fairness though, I think Basics and Ladoga would be nice for beginners especially if you're still learning color mixing and for other intermediate artists who are not much into impasto style. I'd still use them though for practice and also some finished work depending on the style I want.

Well, that's it. I hope I made sense, until next time!

Art for Halloween

Halloween; time for ghosts, monsters, zombies and whatnot, 'tis one of my fave times of the year. So, I thought I ought to make a tribute and with silent hill as my all time fave psp game, it is only proper to make a fan art of it. I chose the nurse cause it's my fave character together with pyramid head, which I might also do a painting of.

Here's my process and stuff I used:

I used liquitex basics and grumbacher academy acrylic on illustration board primed with gesso.

I sketched the outline first

liquitex raw umber curdled up which I was not able to use much anymore

raw umber and titanium white base

brown underpainting

highlights

and voila! finished, which of course took a lot of layering. I mainly used naphtol red, yellow oxide, ultramarine, titanium white, mars black, alizarin and pthalo green.

Hope you enjoyed my painting and Happy Halloween everyone!

Sakura Koi and Micron Pen Review

I first bought this Sakura Koi 18 watercolor so I could use something as a palette and maybe practice a bit with color mixing. I had it second hand and the previous owner exchanged the waterbrush with a smaller one, hmmmph!

with detachable mixing palette

Anyways, I thought the colors are quite vibrant, easy to wet although not as transparent and a little bit chalky especially when layered. I made a chart that I keep inside just to be reminded of the colors.

I practiced with it a bit and I think the colors lose its vibrancy when mixed and layered but still give out a decent finish. Here are some of my works:

 

I think it shines with simple line and wash and maybe with urban sketching and wet in wet applications. For this I tried sketching with 01 and 03 sakura micron pens and putting on simple washes.

 

 

I think this is perfect for hobbyists and beginners alike but if you're considering getting serious in watercolor, you should try cotman or van gogh which are both student grade.

For the second half of the review, the sakura micron pens are nice for sketching and line and wash as they are water-proof and archival. I bought 4 sizes:

and this is how they look when applied:

I like the 005 and 01 for sketching, they are not too thick and it feels comfortable using them. If you like darkening your work or having heavier strokes, 03 and 08 will be good for the job.

That's about it, hope you enjoy my review!

Portrait Studies

Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski, Edge of Tomorrow

It's been a while since my last watercolor portrait post and here's my progress so far. I like to practice with some actors and models.

Cara Delevingne

Chloe Grace Moretz

Daisy Ridley as Rey, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Daisy Ridley

Alicia Vikander as Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth

Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Alicia Vikander as Gaby, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I'm trying to practice different watercolor techniques like wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry but I still find it a bit hard cause it's so uncontrollable, aaarrgghh! The thing is I have to let go in watercolor and let the water do its trick.

Nikola Jovanovic

Josephine Le Tutour

Sean O' Pry

I will add some more in the future. For now, I'm gonna leave you with the skintone mixes I use. Au revoir! A bientot.