To join me on a virtual sketching trip, download a travel sketch-journal here.
I add tutorials to them so you can learn the techniques and details you see in the sketchbooks.

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Monday, June 15, 2009

Watercolor Pencil Demos ~ Kate's Spring Class

I should be blogging the last workshop I had -- it was a hummer and I WILL get to it. But first I need to put up a demo I promised to my classmates in Kate Johnson's Watercolor Pencil Class of a painting I did: "Daniel by Firelight" (see at left). This has to be fast, so mostly the words are on the pictures.

So, here they are. Click on the picture for a bigger image.













I'm starting to work in the upper left corner since I am right-handed. By starting there and working toward the lower right as much as possible, I can avoid smearing or mussing my work. Where I must put my hand on a finished area, I tape a piece of clean paper over the finished part. If you use a piece of loose paper, the PAPER can smear the work, so tape it down.























To clarify #4, the white crayon layer was wet, then dried with a hair dryer before intensifying it with the pencil.
















































The photos were used only for inspiration. The final result did not look like either photo.












Cleaning the brush on Daniel's jacket made the perfect semi-transparent stroke needed for the barely visible cloth.













It was tempting to color yellow or orange into the white because everyone knows "flames aren't white, they're orange" but I mostly resisted.













The paper is taped right over where the face would be. It doesn't look like it in the picture here.













Always let a picture "rest" as long as possible before saying it's done. When you come back to it after a pause, you can see areas that need improvement.


































And the final result, with the edges trimmed in Photoshop and globally corrected for color to make it as close as possible to the original, but no other computer improvements. Daniel likes it a lot.

11 comments:

MaryO said...

Oh my! Is this ever helpful, Irene! You are very generous in sharing these techniques and I'm sure we will all benefit from them.
Thank you!!
MaryO

Dorothy said...

Hi Irene, Thank you for posting these step-by-steps!!! You must be a wonderful teacher; this work has turned out to be beautiful and impressive! Thanks again!

Dorothy

Renie said...

I'm happy to help any way I can. The hardest part is remembering to stop now and then to take the photos.

Timaree said...

Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize the white could become so dense on the black. I like seeing your process.

suzan Q said...

I liked that
well done !

Pamela said...

Thank you. It really helps to see the process. That painting is the best. Pamela

Kate (Cathy Johnson) said...

what a terrific WIP, Irene! Thank you for sharing it...

Alex said...

Superb work, and really like how you do the flame and the background!

Renie said...

I'm so delighted y'all got something out of my work-in-progress! That makes doing it a double pleasure for me. Kate, I was just a little nervous that you would think I was trying to horn in on your party, so I'm glad you didn't mind.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing your process. I never would have understood without the photos.

Mary McAndrew said...

This is Great Irene, it's cool to see how WC pencils work on a dark ground, I wondered about that. It must bring back nice memories too just looking at the painting, peaceful time on the beach.

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