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.

My Watercolor Materials

As promised, here's the stuff I use for watercolor painting. I use 3 brands for my paints as recommended to me and depending on the pigments and price :) as well; namely, holbein which is an artist grade, winsor and newton cotman and talens van gogh which are student grade. All have very vibrant colors but I can tell that holbein has more pigment by its consistency.

List of colors I use:

VG Azo Yellow Light (PY154)
VG Permanent Red Light (PR254)
C Alizarin Crimson Hue (PR206)
C Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
C Pthalo Blue (PB15)
H Raw Sienna (PY43)
C Burnt Sienna (PR101)
VG Pthalo Green (PG7)
H Ivory Black (Pbk9)

I actually wanna add some more paints; cerulean blue, quinacridone rose, neutral tint, cobalt green and particularly holbein's perylene maroon that is almost brownish in color, which I really love upon seeing it. I think it's a versatile and great mixer.

The palette I have is made of plastic from the Sakura brand . I had to prep the surface though by using a sanding paper so the colors won't puddle.

The brushes are taklon nylon which is perfect for small and detailed works. You'll need a mop brush though for bigger washes, I ordered neptune princeton brushes for that.

 

For now, I'm just using Canson 200 gsm watercolor which is good for practice but it easily buckles with wet on wet applications. I'm planning to try montval, strathmore 400 or mont marte which are all 300 gsm.

That's about it hope you learned something!

Stores I bought my materials from:
Deovir Taklon nylon brushes, holbein and van gogh paints: Deovir Art Supplies Philippines
Hans nylon brushes: The Oil Paint Store
Cotman paints, canson paper: National Bookstore
Sakura watercolor palette: Pens Galore Philippines
Princeton Neptune brushes: Jackson's Art Supplies (has free shipment for brushes worldwide)