I don't even remember the last time I used watercolours

I've been using brushes everything, my toothbrush anyways. It's been a while since I've picked up a paint brush, but yesterday I bought 24 pack of Artist's Loft watercolor pencils and was excited to test them out.

I used regular Strathmore Sketchbook paper, and it's like pretty thin so the paper warped, surface rubbed off, and the colour bled to the other side. This explains the dark wrinkles on the paper. I used a lot of water to create the blotting effects, way more than the paper could withstand. Ah, maybe next time I should use watercolour paper, but it's so expensive! Anyone know a cheaper alternative?

It stared off with the head sketched in with blues, purples, and greens. When I painted that in, I decided, on a whim, to add wings, because wings are cool. I soon noticed I would need to lay down more colour than I liked if I wanted it blend in with the head. Here comes my Talens water color set my sister bought in Hong Kong, mint condition.

For my first picture with any kind of "paint", it didn't turn out as bad as I expected. I enjoyed the generic, run-of-the-mill colours offered by my watercolour set than I expected. When it comes to markers and coloured pencils, the more colours, the better. I forgot you can mix with paints. Also, I found out that pans/cakes is way more convenient than tubes. Have you ever noticed that when you mix colors together, you get less than what you started out with? Weird.

Don't ask me about the white oval in the bottom of the dress. I don't know either.

So, interested with the new media, I tested it out again today. This time, I drew in a pencil outline as well as trying to get the colours to what it's supposed to be. Oh, and less water.

The hair turned out great, albeit a bit plain, but for the most part I had kept it to the outline. "Alright," I thought, "the rest should be great, too!"

Well, the skin turned out pretty horribly. The pink I intended for the the fingers, cheeks, and joints spread everywhere.
Oh, and I also found out that the "black" I was using actually was a purple, and my jar of water was actually blocking the real black!

I added in some white highlights with my new brush, the Nobel round short-handle in size 5/0, the finest brush I own. I was hesitant with it, though, as I intended it to either be used with masking fluid or or white ink, and the white-ness would make it a real pain to clean.

Excited to explore some more.


Made on Strathmore Sketchbook paper
Coloured with transparent watercolors and Artist's Loft watercolor pencils
Second picture also used Derwent metallic pencils and Liquitex ink in Titanium White