I need some pointers...

[thetimesgoneby]

ok... decided to ask my favorite group to help me out a bit...especially since I've seen such beautiful work by all of you. Now, I'm not much of a "painter".... I've always been able to draw things, but I truly need to be looking at them to draw them properly. I notice how so many kind of develop their own little character faces... and all of mine look completely different...does that make sense? I'm thinking I've not developed my own style or something yet, I don't know. I would like to be able to paint better... although, I don't really have the necessary supplies probably. I usually use watercolor pencils if I have to paint something in... but I always draw it out first with pencil. (regular pencil I mean)... Mine don't blend well... what am I doing wrong? They're grainy, liney... that make sense? I'm using watercolor paper...and I've blended with both alcohol and q-tips.. and just with water on my brush, but they never look like everyone else's. I must be doing something wrong. I love altered art aceos.... but I would still like to see some of my "drawings" sell.. or be able to paint them with a little skill. I've never had art classes, so I may be a little art ignorant. I've just always had sketch pad and did lots of doodling...etc. I can't seem to draw a decent man... because he always looks like a woman without breasts. LOL Anyway, any tips would be appreciated!

[pinkshudders]

I never had much luck with watercolor pencils either - I was much happier working with real (wet) watercolors. Cheap out on anything but brushes - the cheap ones leave hairs stuck in your drawings and when you try to get them out you smear your drawings - been there, learned that! If your library has an art section, you can learn a lot from books - you'll have to look at different ones to see what suits you. A lot of the advice (like finding basic shapes in animals and people) doesn't work for me, but contour drawing did. I like looking at books on fashion figure drawing (for proportions) and comic book drawing (for facial expressions). Basically, you get better and develop your own style with practice. You just can't get around that. You can learn as much from what doesn't work as from what does! However, no matter how good you are, it doesn't guarantee sales. Unfortunately! Vena

[thetimesgoneby]

Thanks, Vena! I appreciate the advice, and will put it use. 🙂

[readingsully]

I can't offer advice cause I am a beginner as well. But I am looking forward to seeing your paintings. 🙂

[valkyrie09]

There is a book called "drawing from the right side of the brain". Its a REALLY good book. You begin to learn to unlock your own potential. My drawing professor told me to master realistic drawing to improve my fantasy and surreal drawings. Guess what, it worked! That was a golden piece of advise. ~Stepha

[artistjillian]

I will recommend 'drawing from the right side of the brain' also.

[artistjillian]

I'll try to put up more lessons. See the WIP threads, search on WIP - I think there are at least 10 here.

[thetimesgoneby]

Thanks All! I will have to head to the book store! lol Will do, Jillian.

[imeldasart]

And I must add, treat yourself to the art store/Michaels/hobby store/Craft aisle at Target or even go to an art store online. For me, it's like a candy store. Feel all the brushes...look at the wide variety of tips! Prices! A little set of Crayola watercolors would be a fun and inexpensive way to start. Dipping into a pool of color, is a very different feel than using the watercolor pencils. THEN feel all the papers! Coldpress--textured, Hotpress--smoooooth, bristol, charcoal paper, drawing papers in different thicknesses. Sigh. Try a new "something" every couple weeks. For less than $5 bucks, you can pick up a pen (like a micron pen for detail drawing) or pencils (hb--6b is the rating for how soft the lead will be--HB is average, then 2b softer, 4b--more soft/dark, etc). Pretend you are taking artclasses, but instead of an expensive class, you are trying one media every couple weeks: sculpy clay that bakes in the oven ($2), Acrylic starter set, chalks, even crayons! They come in such colors now! Flesh tones, metallic, etc. This is getting too long, but you get my idea--play with it all.

[drawdog5]

great ideas Mel :) I think we all get a kick out of buying art supplies!!! Someone said don't scrimp on brushes and that's so true! But although sables are supposed to be the best for watercolor, I don't happen to like them - not just because of price, but I prefer the feel of good synthetics or synthetic blends. Try a couple different kinds of brushes before buying a whole bunch of the same type. cheapjoes.com has a good selection and good prices. -Ann

[jb5710]

Whenever doing watercolor, or acrylics in the watercolor technique as I do, the paper is the most important thing. A good "rag" paper as Arches (the only one I use) but also Strathmore is another many use and I'm sure there are other good ones out there. Buy by the sheet from a store such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels. I've always bought mine from either Jerry's art o rama or dick blick but then you have to buy a minimum amount. 140lb is very good - and I use the cold press which I find for myself is also good for pen and ink. I like a little tooth to my paper so that is why I choose the cold press. Remember, if your painting doesn't work out & if you have a good quality paper you can wash most of it out and start over, but you can also turn it around and use the opposite side. Using a good paper means you can use an inexpensive paint and also the brush quality doesn't have to be the most expensive. My 2 little brushes that I use for my aceo's are Plaid brand that I get from Wal Mart for just under $3. They come as a pair - the size is 2/0 and 10/0. I can't do without them. They are brushes that Dewberry uses in her painting. As everyone states, going to the library and getting books is a great way to learn - I'm, for the most part, self taught except for taking some classes and workshops. It's just a matter of practicing all the time. Go to it and good luck. By the way you don't want your paintings or figures to look like anyone else's but your own, and don't worry about them looking different each time, your style is just evolving and as you go along will kick in. JudyB

[thetimesgoneby]

You are ALL so full of information!!! Thank you! I keep printing out everything you've said so I won't forget it all! Acrylics to me are easier than watercolors to blend... I don't know why, maybe because they remind me more of oils because they are thick... and you can move 'em around... But, I've mainly only painted on canvas with acrylics, scenery, flowers.... but tonight, I did try to do a face..so here 'tis. Not the best face, but turned out better than I thought it would. Hard to paint a tiny face on an ACEO if you ask me. It probably won't sell... LOL but I've listed it anyway.

[*colorific*studio*]

I use detail brushes, the kind that are used for model cars and such. Those are my best friends! They're a bit pricey, but I feel a great investment and with care, they really last. I've never used water color so I can't help on that. I'm legally blind so I have to look at things as shapes at first and then gradually build upon them until they look right to me anyway. It also helps me to separate a picture of something I want to paint into just colors-not sure if that makes sense or not, but I once stared at a beach painting and realized the sand colors were made up of about 20 different streaks of different colors, once I mimicked those colors and looked back at what I had painted, holy crap, it really looked like sand! lol as you can see, I'm self taught too heehee I don't know all the artsy lingo sometimes used on here. I don't sketch either, just open the tubes and start painting away 🙂 if I sketched something, I'd pick it to death and never end up listing anything. Believe me though when I say, the more that you can paint, the better you do get! You'll look at things you did a month ago and wonder why didn't you put a shadow here or a highlight there and it will look bland as heck to you. THAT's when you know you're learning. 🙂 Good luck my friend, skyM

[thetimesgoneby]

LOL Thanks, Sky... I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one that doesn't know "all the words", but loves to do it anyway. 🙂

[lightxposure]

Ok I'll pitch in here... Hi TGB although I use watercolour pans and tubes for bigger work from 6x4 to 20x16, I've been using watercolour pencils a lot for the aceo's I've done. What I found very important was to use sable brushes (cos they hold more paint and water, and you can get a real fine point on even a big size brush), then I wet the brush fairly wet, and take the colour directly from the watercolour pencil. I don't try to draw with them dry and then add water or solvent on the paper for the very reasons you quote! Doing it the way I do it, the sable brush holds enough paint/water mix to paint in an area in the one go, although like with all watercolour, you need to work fairly fast. Then if the colour isn't deep enough I'd do a second wash in exactly the same way after the first one has dried. I use a small craft knife to sharpen my watercolour pencils as it allows me to expose a larger area of the colour pigment, which makes picking up the right amount from it, with a wet brush, much easier. Also, whilst Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and its sequel are excellent books, don't be scared to look in the bookstore's childrens department at art book and the How to Do.... type of art books for kids! They're very illuminating! And books on doing cartoons and/or how to do animation books are good as well, especially for understanding ways in which the bodies of humans and animals move. And there's nothing wrong with a line drawing style which you add colour to. I'm actually more proficient in pen and ink than I am in colour, probably as a result of having had a camera in my hand for almost 50 years and taking loads of B/W photos. 😄 so when I use a sketch book (not very often) I draw in pen and ink and do the same in my diary journal and add little dabs of colour afterwards. I was actually looking through some of my books on pen and ink last night and thinking I'd like to do some again. Especially as I've now got achival quality pigmented ink in a pen where the nib size is .oo3 millimetres. If you look what Albrecht Durer did with pen and ink in the 14th century..AMAZING :D And the paper you use will matter as well... I tried working with watercolour pencils on Langton 140lb smooth and hated it 😞 It was like using an everyday blotting paper.. yuk :( You could try a good heavyweight cartridge paper ..Windsor and Newton do a lovely smooth cartridge paper at 100lbs weight which would be fine for aceos. For economy I buy big pads or sheets and guillotine them to the size I want. 🙂 Just experiment :) Good luck!! sue in UK