Hand coloured prints

#1 - This is pretty much the first time Ive used watercolours. They have never appealed to me before. I am starting the understand how they work, they layer up and smudge when you apply water to them. Sounds really simple but its hard to put into words.

#2 The shadows are better in this one as Ive used a blue tinge I think. and the different coloured stone work has a good effect. Ive tried to have the colours be more intense in the foreground.

#3 I put a gray wash on this first and it just looked murky. I didnt like it so I didn't spend long on it. I started messing about with bleeding as the paper was damp.



#4 - A freind suggested I try a different colour scheme entirely so Ive used bright colours on the building and neutral colours on the characters and some detail so they stand out. I like how the bright colours look against all the gray and white.


#5 - Started with a yellow wash then built up the colours on top of that.

I plan to have 18 of these done (thats how many prints I have...) in the next 2 days.

Update:

Ok so what with going and doing some filming and lighting I'm behind on these... I'll aim to have them done over the weekend.


#6 - This is a continuation of the colour pallette developing in numbers 1 and 2. I like how its coming along especially in the stone walls.


#7 - This was trying out a new pallette. No comments here really.
#8 This is a continuation of number 5. I liked the yellow wash so I decided to do it again but better.

Print-making

I went to the print-room with the idea that I would take the line drawing of the street and replicate it onto good paper in order to colour them 20 different ways.

As directed by staff in the print room, I took the drawing, photocopied it making it as dark as possible, cleaned a screen using the chemicals available (b-strip and i forget the other one,) painted the screen in light sensitive emulsion, exposed the image onto the screen in the exposure unit, cleaned off the unhardened emulsion, let it dry and then began to print.



First off you register where you want your paper to be and mark it off with masking tape. This is only really necessary if you are going to print more than one colour which I wasn't but I did it anyway to show the process. You then print your image onto the plastic sheet which sits over your paper initially, this is so you can line up for a second colour. Its not shown in the image above unfortunately...

This is an image of my screen attached to the printing table. This wasn't a difficult process, you just have to clamp and make sure its fixed in place.



The first mistake I made was to use a screen made for fabric printing, this means the mesh is slightly wider. The above print is a result of using a fabric screen on paper and not turning the suction on on the table to hold the paper down. The lines are too think and its double printed.


This image is a result of not being fast enough in printing more, the mesh became clogged and the printing here is faint and broken, I think that might be a higher risk with fabric screens too. But when I got it right with the paper printing screen I made as many copies as I had the paper for as fast as I could and this didn't happen.


This is the final result and a satisfactory print.

Interim Crit and Pushing Forward.

After a truly terrible interim crit I've had to have a rethink. There was no where near enough work on my blog and the truth is I really hadn't done nearly enough work. I was distracted by other projects and probably being slightly lazy...

So in order to improve for the remainder of CommTech I have looked on other peoples blogs first off.

I noticed that people have been putting down anything that inspires them so Ive started doing that.

I also noticed that people were really just giving anything a shot. I think I've had tunnell vision slightly, Ive felt studious with my book on perspective and technical drawing but I'm really not yielding enough work.

My plan for today, is to get the line drawing of the street replicated in the print room (I prepared a screen yesterday) and begin to experiment with different methods of colouring. Especially water colour. I will document my progress through photographs and writing.

Other processes to try:

printmaking with multiple colours

using perspective now to create something large and organic looking. IE a city scape or similar.

possibly try large model making as this relates to character design and public art.


In regards to what I want to be moving towards I'm considering animation, illustration and making as these things are skills I can use in the foreseeable future working with blaize community arts and on the festival circuit.

Paul Kidby - A method of working

I found this when looking for information on how Paul Kidby goes about his paintings. Theyve always really appealed to me ever since I read Terry Pratchett books in school and this style of painting is something I would love to be able to do.
Not just like Kidby obviously, but the ability to portray my own fantasy characers in situe with such bold colours and a strong pallette is something I envy.

My p lan is to start on some prints of the line drawing of the street I did in water colour, maintain a colour pallete and do about 10 of them experimenting with each one.

Paul Kidbys breakdown of an illustration

The above link shows how he goes from pencil sketch to finished article.

Inspiration for perspective drawing

I stumbled across this mans work looking through other students blogs.

I find this work really impressive, the perspective is right although it still looks natural and organic instead of cold and clinical which is how the drawings in the book look.

I also find myself appreciating the fact its screen printed which is happening more and more. I've started started to experiment in the print room, so I think while experimenting with colour, print maybe something to do after reading week.


Josh Cochran

Watercolour

I'm going to use some of the clean line drawings I've done, make prints and experiment with colouring them.

On reading a chapter in a book Ive realised some of the possibilities.

First off, watercolour needs to be built up in layers, its transparent, so you apply alot of the darker areas first. The paper, where standard sketchbook paper is fine, is important as absorbancy plays a part in the finished image. I could also press my own.

Dry brush techniques and soaking paper for wet brush on wet paper technique sound interesting, you can also lift wet paint off with a dry brush and scratch paint off when the image is dry exposing bright white paper underneath.

French writer Victor Hugo mixed coffee, burnt toast, soot, dust and blood in with his.

There is a process called Limning where you mix it with egg white to get a shiny finish.

Anish Kapoor mixed earth in with gouache.

This image by Peter de Wint includes the processes I was talking about where you lift off paint with a dry brush, the hat of the woman washing in the river is done by scratching or cutting a layer of paper off and the reeds are scratchings too apparently. Interesting stuff.


This is the process of Limning, where you mix egg white into the paint. Its by Issac Oliver and it was painted on "velum" which is prepared animal skin. They prepared it by pasting it onto a playing card or similar, then burnishing it to make the surface smoothe. I think burnishing means to polish.

Life Drawing at LUU

So I went to a Life Drawing class at LUU which I will contine to do every wednesday. I've always struggled with it.

Today I produced around 9 images in 2 hours, some in 10 minutes, some in 20 minute stints. I surprised myself. They are nothing special but still they are better results than Ive ever had drawing from a live model. This highlights the fact I should be drawing constantly, and drawing people and scenery around me rather than wierd doodles that come out of my head.


This is one of three I selected to post up. The picture is poor, I should probably invest in a decent enough digital camera. I've photographed it then used photoshop to mess with the levels, I quite like the contrast and you can still see the line quality and sketchyness of it all. The above image I struggled with the length of the leg but using a pencil held at arms length, you can work out the distances quite fast.

I started using the principles I learnt from the figure drawing book as well. Now I look back I notice the far shoulder is protruding too much, Ive exxagerated the height of it by accident becuase I know if the weight is rested on one shoulder the other will be higher.


The above pose was difficult to draw. I started the use straight lines to sketch out the position. For example, by looking at the model from where I was stood I knew the bottom of the foot was in line with the shoulder. There is also a line going from the centre of the head to the left thigh and from the breast to the right knee. These seemed to help greatly, its something Ive never done before but came to me from the perspective drawing Ive been doing.

Lines, Grids and Marks are key for quick life drawing I figure.


Theres something about this last one I like. I think its becuase I sketched it lightly and then used solid black line to cover all the important parts to make it look like the figure it should do and it worked. I know its not perfect, the abdomen is too long, the hands and fingers are too small, everything is slightly out of whack but its working for me as a drawing.

I'll keep this up, doing small sketches while out and about.