There is a difference between sketching and drawing and both have their place when it comes to creating art and both are important.
Sketching is a way to get an idea down on paper so you can better visualize what the image is you have in your head before you start painting or drawing. It really doesn't need to be much more than lines and rough shapes because you don't want to commit so much energy into it that you feel obligated to make it look like something when it really is just suppose to be a way to plan the actual finished work. Like an outline for a story: While it has information about time, place and characters and may guide you as you write, it is more road map than destination.
Sketching lets you figure out what will work best for your subject. Do you want it to be a vertical or a horizontal? Do you really need that trash can or that person walking? If you are working from a photo you can move mountains if you have to like I'm going to do in this painting.
Why? You might ask. Because when I took the photo I didn't have any other options but to take the photo that you see. I could not find a place to take the photo that didn't mess up the "V" shape the tree line made, or not put me behind a tree or get me wet, as a photographer I didn't have many choices other than take the photo. However, as an artist, I can move that mountain to get it out of "dead center" to create a bit more movement or eye flow in my painting. I am also going to remove that structure under the trees because I don't want to have to explain that it leads to an observation deck in the trees every time someone looks at the painting, it is unnecessary and confusing. These are also things I can work out with simple sketches.
I can't tell you how many times over the years I have heard a student say: "I can't draw but I want to paint." The thing is, and this is especially true for watercolor, drawing is important, in many ways, to all forms of art. Drawing is the basis for most art because it lets us plan our art as well as help us learn basics of value (light and dark), composition, shapes and perspective, drawing is the beginning, painting is the end result.
In watercolor we need a good road map whether it is a landscape, a portrait, flowers or whatever, because we need to know where our light and dark areas are going to be on our subject. We work from light to dark in watercolor and need to save our light areas, that's where drawing comes in. A drawing is the a refined sketch or it can be worked into a detailed piece or art itself. If you understand how to get the values with just a pencil and to get the composition and structure of your subject down, painting is a piece of cake.
Do your drawing skills need to be perfect before you can paint? No, perfection comes with time and practice, you do need to do your best and hone your skills as you learn, just understand you won't get the results you were expecting if you skip over an important step. If you have success in drawing, you will also have success in your painting. Take it from someone who had to learn that lesson myself, don't over look the drawing it is your guide.
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Watercolor Plus - Basic Techniques for the Project.
The Monday intermediate class had the week off this this post is for the beginning students on Wednesday and can be used as a refresher for all watercolor students.
When you are learning there are good practices to get into: Drawing and sketching is one but also practicing techniques you are not familiar with is another.
If you do not have the experience with a technique you cannot expect yourself to do it correctly the first time or even the 10th time especially if you are worried about ruining your "masterpiece". Take the time to be familiar with what you are going to be doing by practicing the technique or a new brush - liners are a good example - or mixing colors, this will make your efforts more productive when you do get to your painting without the worry of "making a mistake". Most mistakes can be corrected, even in watercolor, or can be made less obvious so concentrate on what you do well, the rest will come with time and practice.
We went over a couple of things in our last class the first was using the wet into wet technique to create our sky. This is a great technique that can be used in many ways, this is just one of them.
The first thing I did was to mix a color on my palette for my sky which consisted of my ultramarine blue and a tiny touch of burnt sienna and quite a bit of water to create a light, gray blue. I want to keep this painting rather pale - high key or in the lighter end of the value scale - so I will be using more water to lighten the washes of color I will be using.
Next I wet the area of my paper with just water and using a big brush, my 3/4" angle brush, to cover the area quickly so one part isn't dry before I start painting. You should be working with some slant to your paper so you can let gravity help move the paint.
Using the same brush for the same reasons, I applied the color I mixed starting at the top with a couple of strokes of that color, rinsed my brush and with just a clean damp brush, helped the color to move down my paper. This is called a graded wash, it should be darker at the top and almost disappear at the bottom.
Back to the paint in the palette. I want to make a lavender color so I added a tiny amount of Alizarin crimson to create a soft lavender color.
Your paper should still be wet. Turn your paper 90 degrees and drip this new color in from the sides in the area near the bottom of the blue and let it run. You may need to flip your paper 180 degrees to get color on the other side but once that is done, don't mess with it. The biggest problem new students have is messing with the watercolor to force their will on it and the results are usually not good. learn to work with the watercolor and let it do its own thing and you will be a lot happier with the results. Let this dry, we use it for the mountain.
Next we practiced with the liner brush and how to do dry brush.
The liner brush is the round brush with the very long bristles. The long bristles hold a lot of paint and can do some wonderful things but it does require more practice than other brushes.
You want to hold the brush at the very end so you can get some good motion using your thumb, index and middle fingers to control the brush and your wrist and arm to control pressure and motion.
Next is loading the brush. You want the paint to be very ink-like in consistency and you want to roll your brush around in the color so that the entire length of the bristles have paint, then roll your brush as you lift it from the palette to form a point.
To start the tree, you start at the base and press the brush on the paper to get a wider make, holding the brush at the end and lift the brush as you move the brush. Try to see how long a line you can make with your brush working up to the very tip of the bristles before it lifts off the paper. Don't worry, you have a lot of paint left in the brush.
To form branches, start back in either the trunk of the tree or a thicker part of another branch, follow it a bit then "branch off" to form a new branch. Remember to lift as you move. This does take practice but it make some wonderful trees.
Reeds and grasses with the liner are done by getting your wrist going in a circular motion then touching the paper on the upstroke of that motion. Big circles make tall grass/reeds small circles make short grasses/reeds.
Dry Brush is exactly what it sounds like: Very little water on your brush. This technique can be done with most brushes the key here is to dry your brush after rinsing, load the brush with color then take your paper towel and squeeze the brush near the metal ferrule and expand the bristles so they split at the end. We will be using this to create grasses and reeds but dry brush can be used to create water or wood grain, hair or fur... It is a great texture technique. Again, practice.
To create the grass, get your brush ready (see above), then lightly press it to your paper, lift and flip. The longer the brush stays on the paper the taller the grass toughs will be practice make tall and short toughs. Then you can use the liner along with the dry brush to create a more realistic clump of grass or reeds. I also used this dry brush near the tops of the trees to suggest tiny twigs.
Back to the sky we painted and the same blue we used before, add a little burnt sienna and a bit more water to the color (it is the lightest color you see on the mountain) this is wet on dry: Wet paint on dry paper. I then used the angled end of my angle brush (I'm still using the same brush I started with), I made the shape of my mountain, reloaded my brush then following the angles in the mountain I see in my photo, I fill in the rest of the mountain. Do not paint it like a wall, look at the image and see all of the bumps, lumps, angles and debris flows and make your brush suggest these elements. The brush stroke can tell a lot of your story so use them to your advantage. I went back in with some of the earlier blue to suggest shadows but for this class, the first wash is okay.
We will start working on the actual project next class so please have your drawing on your paper if you can, I will help any who are having problems then we will get started.
Keep painting and I will see you in class.
