Here’s another time lapse video. This one shows the watercoloring part of this piece. The lighting was not very good at all, but I hope you can at least see how I work with the paint. I used three different brushes, each a different size.
I suppose what I would point out is that I use the water just as much as I use the paint, and I apply the paint on damp paper and then just let the pigment do what it wants. I try not to fuss with it too much!
Those are Prang watercolors by the way.
Ink bleeding into water, sped up x2.
Here it is, a time lapse of the drawing Cloud Eater. I did this with Photobooth, sitting in front of my laptop with the screen tilted way down, so the quality is not super duper great. For the next one, I’ll try to borrow a good video camera.
The ridiculously talented May Ann Licudine (Mall) shows us how she made this gorgeous, very detailed doll, which is named Rabbito by the client who commissioned it. Not only is the doll lovely, so is this video. Hop over to Vimeo to watch it in HD.
Also, here’s her blog post showing process sketches for the doll, and here’s a photo series of the completed toy.
A process video of Jacob van Loon making one of his most recent paintings. This is really beautiful and meditative, and almost reminds me of aerial landscape videography sometimes. Jacob’s process photos and videos always make me wish I was a “real” artist.
Video: The Making of Madison & Kohlhase
Please share, watch and enjoy.
Thanks for your question! I get questions of this nature somewhat frequently so I figured now’s a good time to do another watercolor info post. (You can find more info about the materials I use in my FAQ and a previous post about watercoloring here.)
I learned what I know about watercolor mostly by just playing with it on my own. You’ll need the right materials to start. I use Prang watercolors which are inexpensive and easy to find, but are still of decent quality. Synthetic brushes are fine as long as they’re not scratchy. For paper I always use watercolor blocks. If you try to paint on drawing paper, it will disintegrate. Blocks are great because the paper is adhered on all four sides so it won’t warp when wet.
I do have some watercolor pencils, but I mostly only just use them for details or for small spaces where I’m afraid I’ll mess up if I use paint.
As far as watercolor tips or resources are concerned, I can give you some tips but I don’t know of any resources beyond what a google search will find you. I made the above time lapse video of me painting a little thing (when I should’ve been sleeping and not photoboothing and bourboning) to illustrate some of the things I do when I paint. If you watch it, you’ll notice a couple things besides the terrible quality of the video:
Leaving paint alone is essential to achieving a certain look, and it can be really hard to leave something alone! That’s why I often have two pieces going at once; then I can work on one while the other dries a bit.
I hope that’s all helpful. You’ll learn the most by doing and making mistakes. I didn’t learn all of this overnight. I’ve been paint-doodling for years now, and I know there’s still room for growth and improvement. Have fun experimenting!
