May we have a kickass watercolor painting thread, please?

[paperclip]

:mod:

Some great watercolorists for inspiration:

Xiangyuan jie (www.jiestudio.com)
http://bp2.blogger.com/_eVdaHO5II2g/R3F0VmYBbbI/AAAAAAAABFc/66tcpaKZFco/s320/Slide29.jpg

Kazuo Oga (<3)
http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/totoro1.jpg



Hopefully everyone will be sufficiently inspired now to dig out their watercolors and show me just how they do their thing. :yayca:

[drd]

First guy you posted was a terrible example


Such juicy oil paintings he does! ;)

[paperclip]

Xiangyuan Jie? He also does (beautiful) oil paintings, but I thought the watercolor paintings he did for the background of Lilo and Stitch were wonderful!

[HunterKiller_]

I wouldn't mind seeing some tutorials for water colours either.
I'm starting to use it, but have no idea where to start.

[drd]

Xiangyuan Jie? He also does (beautiful) oil paintings, but I thought the watercolor paintings he did for the background of Lilo and Stitch were wonderful!

Hahah, yeah I know; just that I didn't seem to see any watercolours on his website.

[paperclip]

Found a good link::

(from James Gurney's blog)

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/search/label/Watercolor%20Painting

Handprint:

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html

[Parka81]

For those who don't know Kazuo Oga (wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Oga)) is the AD and Background artist as studio ghibli. That guy has amazing talent.

I happen to have one of his art books, Miyazaki's Magical World (http://parkablogs.blogspot.com/2008/09/book-review-miyazakis-magical-world.html).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3095/2826226819_e1311db846.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/teohyc/2826226819/)

And this is Inoue Takehiko, the guy who artist Vagabond and Slamdunk.
The following picture belongs to Water: Vagabond Illustrations (http://parkablogs.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-water-vagabond-illustration.html), a book I bought recently.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/3048860707_207f9caf8b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/teohyc/3048860707/)

[kallisti]

Kazuo Oga (<3)
http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/totoro1.jpg


What's the specific technique that Kazuo employs, does anyone know? This seems like half watercolor, half gouache, I've seen his tutorial on youtube but it's difficult to know exactly what's going on, is it purely watercolor or is there some gouache involved as well? The clouds look like it, there's some overlap happening with the grass on dirt, and the rooves have a look of opaque. Maybe it's just a bit of white gouache mixed with watercolor?

I've probly learned the most from this book, incredible amount of info, color, technique, you can probly find it at the library:
http://bookpalacebooks.com/acatalog/Watercolour.jpg

[Barber]

oga (like many other japanese background artist) uses a korean poster paint brand called nicker poster color,and only that,no mixtures.

its consistancy is closer to that of gouache more so than watercolour.So I wouldn't neccasarly called him a watercolour painter.Although,some pigments of watercolour are naturally opaque (like the cadmiums),and gouache itself is technicaly opaque watercolour. (confused?) lol.

poster paint is known to be used cheaply in schools,thats why its used,because of its cheapness.

But I think it leans more towards gouache because his application of the paint isn't as transparent,which is what we usually associate with watercolour.(but again,the less water you use with watercolour,the more opaque it will appear.

Allot of U.S. animation backgrounds wheres done in gouache.

heres nathan fowkes watercolour

http://bp1.blogger.com/_pbZw476tEsE/SAmqlYNNoZI/AAAAAAAAAq4/RmEFYB8_jjo/s1600-h/yellow-head-bird-lo.jpg

vs one of his gouache

http://bp2.blogger.com/_pbZw476tEsE/R74pZZNVM4I/AAAAAAAAAmc/8PcVjauAKcE/s1600-h/jose-lo.jpg

you can see the very subtle difference in the look.Combining a bit goauche to watercolour would have the same effect.

[paperclip]

Nicker poster color, really? Is that similar to 'regular' poster paint?

[kallisti]

oga (like many other japanese background artist) uses a korean poster paint brand called nicker poster color,and only that,no mixtures.

its consistancy is closer to that of gouache more so than watercolour.So I wouldn't neccasarly called him a watercolour painter.Although,some pigments of watercolour are naturally opaque (like the cadmiums),and gouache itself is technicaly opaque watercolour. (confused?) lol.

poster paint is known to be used cheaply in schools,thats why its used,because of its cheapness.

But I think it leans more towards gouache because his application of the paint isn't as transparent,which is what we usually associate with watercolour.(but again,the less water you use with watercolour,the more opaque it will appear.

Allot of U.S. animation backgrounds wheres done in gouache.

heres nathan fowkes watercolour

http://bp1.blogger.com/_pbZw476tEsE/SAmqlYNNoZI/AAAAAAAAAq4/RmEFYB8_jjo/s1600-h/yellow-head-bird-lo.jpg

vs one of his gouache

http://bp2.blogger.com/_pbZw476tEsE/R74pZZNVM4I/AAAAAAAAAmc/8PcVjauAKcE/s1600-h/jose-lo.jpg

you can see the very subtle difference in the look.Combining a bit goauche to watercolour would have the same effect.


Very interesting! I have watercolors and some white gouache to try this technique out with so I don't know if buying the actual thing would be worth it, but rather just try to emulate the technique?

Doing a quick google search I found this place that sells them by the jar: http://www.artistsemporium.net/product.asp?dept=&catid=7414

Some other questions I have on watercolors in general. I'm curious to know what colors are in everyone's palette, what colors you enjoy the most and why? I thought I'd share mine, mostly based off of Handprint.com's suggestions:

Hansa Yellow Light
Winsor Yellow
New Gamboge
Cadmium Scarlet
Quinacridone Magenta
Perylene Maroon
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Pthalo Blue (gs)
Curulean
Pthalo Green (bs)
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Sepia
Indigo

All these being single pigment besides the sepia and indigo for better control. I'm really loving the warm effect Yellow Ochre has as a base wash to lay other transparent colors over.

I guess I'm trying to find a logic with color choices despite having read books and understanding warm and cool, complementary and such, it's still a big mystery of where to start with nothing to do than mostly dive in. Is it just a matter of finding what colors you really like to play with and how they react with other colors that create the desired attributed results? That being for example I choose a warm yellow and a cool blue to give nice contrast keeping in mind the properties of whether the color is transparent, semi, or opaque and how this will affect the mixture. Or I want to do a layered painting so I stick mainly with the most transparent colors and consider the color change the layering will give.

I'm personally wondering what else there is to consider when making a color choice. Right now I'm really all over the place, soaking up everything I read. I tend to use watercolors in an illustration manner, so not always true representational color, rather more focused on the range of value, using limited palettes for better control. Right now I'm playing with Indigo, Sepia and Yellow Ochre. On top of that, there's also the matter of keeping in mind the value of the colors and translating a value study into a colored painting. So I like to do a few value scales with the paints I'm planning on using. So much planning.

Sorry if this is convoluted, but it's basically what's running in my head at the moment!

[Churamhija Khan]

nicker poster color is Japanese brand.
http://www13.ocn.ne.jp/~nicker.c/co.h.pdf (history of nicker)

[Barber]

I stand corrected.

kallisti the link you gave isn't the nicker brand btw.

http://www.huitula.com/Suzuki-san_big.jpg

http://www.ghibliworld.com/images/oga_kazuo_umigame_1b.jpg

"We amateurs imagine that it might surely need many professional paints or brushes to paint backgrounds. How about that? "Basically, I use poster- color. Because as we have to paint much, we can't use expensive paint. Poster colors can show brightness or depth of color and, above all, it is easy-to-use. Talking about brushes, I use only two kinds of brushes, hira-fude (flat brush) and sakuyo-fude (pointed brush). For example, a sky or feathering clouds, misty distant mountains, rocks, plants… everything rough is done only by this large hira-fude. Old TV series anime used to be done in this way only. The last finish is done by sakuyo-fude carefully. I paint leaves roughly with hira-fude and add a few detailed leaves on it. Which is enough because the backgrounds of anime are shown only 3 or 4 seconds."

Anywho,I wouldn't bother forking out the cash to get them sent overseas from japan,its not worth it.It would be the same price as good watercolours in the end.

Palletes should be limited to start with,then you can add some new colours,and get rid of some as you progress.

usually a warm and cool version of each primary works good for starts and maybe some earths colours.It really is what suits you,no one can really tell an exact colour to buy,they can only list their pallete and its up to you to experiment.get a hand painted colour chart to see the different choices (i think winsor and newton do them)

[Equality72521]

cool to see other water-based enthusiasts in here. gouache is my main forte, you can really get some good effects with it. Im just starting to learn colors and color theory with them, trying out limited palettes and whatnot. Most of my beginning adventures with gouache had been heavily influenced by Alex Ross, laying down a black and grey to get tones, then applying color. But recently Im trying to apply knowledge of oil painting to gouache. Im trying to emulate this guy (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99774)

I have some of my stuff in my sketchbook, and also a little step process for a small painting on the second page, if anyone is interested.

[MephistoLV]

http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=2167
Steve Hanks

[kallisti]

I have some of my stuff in my sketchbook, and also a little step process for a small painting on the second page, if anyone is interested.

Yes please do. :)

[Equality72521]

Yes please do. :)

okay here it is.

1) Pencil rough on Strathmore 400 series. Used reference from a National Geographic. I dont use a lot of of shading because I use thin layers of paint and the pencil lines show through.

2)Laying down black for tones. I use Holbein Gouache Ivory Black. I primarily use gouache, mostly because of its opacity characteristics. I paint all the black first, then add the gray washes to it, pulling the black out.

3)Laying down color. I can't remember the exact colors, something like Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Lilac Purple, Naples Yellow, and Venetian Red. I started with thin washes and built up to the darks.

Hope this gives some insight to some of you guys!

[Me,Myself & Me again]

My favorite watercolourist by far http://www.paulbonner.net/load_colart.php?section=1&imgid=1&imax=20

I dont know how he does it but they are amazing!!!

[Me,Myself & Me again]

Actually some of em might be acrylic? But most of em are definatly watercolour :D

[carlosranna]

One of the greatest watercolourist in Brazil is Mario Zavagli. Luckily i had the great pleasure of studying with him. Unluckily i can get nowhere near his feets....

[paperclip]

This thread needs more art!

Sargent:

http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/A_Tent_in_the_Rockies.JPG
http://attachments.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=950919&stc=1&d=1270776128

My watercolours:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs281.ash1/20858_535635540294_37302266_31653724_8207575_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs221.snc3/20858_535635550274_37302266_31653726_2367777_n.jpg

(I think Sargent wins)

Your turn.

[chris bass]

http://www.djcurtis.co.uk/david_curtis/watercolour_gx.html

david curtis has also a very good watercolor gallery.

[Vaejoun]

I just love watercolor. I spent like 4 years on digital paintings, when I discovered that I am way better in the traditional stuff.
Pual Bonner, John Howe, Bodo Meier... there are a lot of great pieces out there.

Some of my own works: (More on my thread and Blog)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N2YygTObjlI/TaAITsi_4xI/AAAAAAAAAlo/XvD2Wqeu8H4/s1600/dino-child.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v5xMNtBhdZU/TZWwk6yNcBI/AAAAAAAAAjU/t-j1wRRU3lw/s1600/coelophysis.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F6H8LhWcfFo/TcuYsBIQdLI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/oVL9sO6p7d8/s1600/cuba.jpg

[mossbotelise]

Any updates on possibly ordering Nicker brand paints in North America?

I know the shipping will likely be murder, but I'd love to know if the option is even available! After viewing Kazuo Oga's and Shinji Kimura's work it's an intriguing product to say the least... :sungod:

[dpaint]

Can't have a kickass watercolor thread without Iain McCaig.

[Dile_]

Great stuff in here! The only good thing I took from the 3 or so months I spent in art-school was the name of Lars Lerin! One of my favorite painters who does mostly, if not exclusively, work in watercolors!

To bad there is only a very limited number off paintings online, and most of them are very old. ANyhow.

http://www.vastsverige.com/ImageVault/Images/id_8683/conversionFormatType_WebSafe/width_680/height_320/scope_0/filename_O4Rstl6mZnm3gUGjDLAt.jpg/storage_Edited/ImageVaultHandler.aspx

http://iloapp.zbornak.se/blog/blog?ShowFile&image=1213866352.jpeg

http://www.laxholmen.org/files/23.jpg

[FourLeafClover]

GUYS, YOU CAN FINALLY GET STUDIO GHIBLI PAINTS.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=992752

whoops it got deleted since they thought i worked for the company?
anyway you can bid on it here www.google.co.uk

"Anywho,I wouldn't bother forking out the cash to get them sent overseas from japan,its not worth it.It would be the same price as good watercolours in the end."
Yeah, I wish. I tried every alternative there is and nothing comes close to them.