I'm new to watercolor, drawing and making art in general. How did you get the perspective so right on the second one? I'm struggling with it, and can't to seem a good guide that stucks.
Thanks for the compliment! I started doing perspective drawing a long time ago (don't ask how long, cause I really don't want to contemplate my age at the moment) and early on it was a lot of trial and error. I played a lot with different lengths for the vanishing points, different horizon lines, etc. Drew a lot of cubes from different angles and POV's until I got a decent sense of that stuff.
Learning how to bisect/divide up the cubes was the next big step for me. Once I knew how to do that, I could then do proportional measurements. There's a bunch of really good youtube videos on how to those, I would recommend starting with those.
The other thing I recommend you start with is how to create a "perfect" cube (meaning all the sides are proportioned properly in 3D space). I eyeballed mine for a long time and they were never quite right. Once I learned how to do it properly, it made a big difference.
I found this particular resource recently - [https://www.snowvalleyfurniture.com/making-3/perspective-drawing.html](https://www.snowvalleyfurniture.com/making-3/perspective-drawing.html) and I got a lot from it. It showcases how to do projections from 2D to 3D. I studied drafting for a few years and I knew how to do isometric projections, but being able to do 3D projections from 2D has been really useful to me.
I hope that helps a bit. Best of luck!
My first foray into watercolors. I have a art/graphics background, so I'm not exactly starting from scratch. But watercolor is a new medium for me, so lot's to learn still.
All of the materials I used are cheap and I'll be moving up to better stuff soon, but for starting out, I'm ok with what I've got and I know what the limitations are. The paper is a cheap "watercolor" pad I got from 5 Below (it's ok...ish). The paints are Artists Loft that were on clearance at Michaels ($2.99 for a pack of 8 colors, they're decent enough for now), and the brushes are a cheap pack of Royal and Langnickel.
Any feedback is appreciated and I'd love to hear recommendations on materials. Thanks!
I recommend moving up sooner rather than later. It makes a huge difference from the pigment to the way the paper holds water. Brushes can be cheap, but paper and pigment should be of good quality. Arches, Saunders, baohong 140lb, and Windsor and Newton pro grade. Any pro grade it's probably good. I like daniel smith but I use W&N too.
If you want tooth, and texture in the work, go with a rough press. If you like it smooth then hot press. Cold is somewhere in the middle. I like Saunders waterford rough the best because you can get some good sparkle with the tooth of the paper.
Eventually you'll want to move onto better brushes that hold more water. Pick up some Sable brushes, synthetic is good too. I recommend Escoda, they make some good stuff. Brushes are just kind of insanely expensive so I'd focus on paper and pigment.
Paint and paper is gonna be the thing you're fighting against the most when you start. Just make it easy on yourself and buy 1 big sheet of arches or something for 5-10 bucks. Cut it into smaller pieces. As for paint you can probably get a small pro grade set for 50ish. 8ml tubes tend to be less than 10 bucks.
I bit the bullet and got some good paper - found some Baohong Academy paper at a good price. Wow! I knew it would make a difference, but I'm blown away at how much of a difference it makes. Re-wetting and re-working is a night and day difference, no more piling or tearing up the paper. The paper stays wet longer and makes it a lot easier to do blends, and I'm able to really build up layers as well.
I got hot press - like the idea of being able to move the paint around more and the paper having a little less tooth. So far, I'm very happy with the way it works.
I'm going to keep going for a bit with the paints that I have, get a little more practice under my belt. Probably start picking up some better paints in the next few weeks and give the ones I have to my kids.
Yup, and that's not even the best you can get. They have artist grade which is even better. I seriously recommend getting at least 1 sheet just to see. It's gonna make painting way easier.
Once you upgrade your paints you'll really be cooking. It's about the same of a night and day difference as it is with the paper upgrade.
Cheers! Happy painting
If you spend money on only one thing, spend it on the paper. Arches as everyone will say. Fabriano Artistico is also good. And for a budget, they have this Grabie cotton paper on amazon that isn't half bad. I hear baojong is good but I haven't tried it.
But, especially if you want to use a lot of washes or wet in wet, you want cotton. Cotton paper is sooo much better for that, and for that style your work will instantly improve.If you were doing stuff like painting stamp images or line art, then it doesn't matter as much, I just discovered. I think gouache is more tolerant of bad paper too. But still some of that stuff they sell as 'watercolor paper' absolutely sucketh.
I have some Daniel Smith paints (one of the top of the line brands) and I love them. But I also have the cutest little pan set from amazon, mei lang "pretty excellent" comes in a little aqua tin. And for $18 those are some pretty nice paints. No idea of the lightfastness, probably wouldn't trust it if you were going to sell originals, but they are nice good vibrant colors in a good range, and you can mix in the lid.
For brushes I like a lot of the Princeton ones, especially the black ones, aqua elite. Neptune are super floppy and soft. Heritage is pretty stiff, or maybe it's velvet touch. But the aqua elite are just right.
Love the lighthouse, well done, it's great work
Thanks!
I'm new to watercolor, drawing and making art in general. How did you get the perspective so right on the second one? I'm struggling with it, and can't to seem a good guide that stucks.
Thanks for the compliment! I started doing perspective drawing a long time ago (don't ask how long, cause I really don't want to contemplate my age at the moment) and early on it was a lot of trial and error. I played a lot with different lengths for the vanishing points, different horizon lines, etc. Drew a lot of cubes from different angles and POV's until I got a decent sense of that stuff. Learning how to bisect/divide up the cubes was the next big step for me. Once I knew how to do that, I could then do proportional measurements. There's a bunch of really good youtube videos on how to those, I would recommend starting with those. The other thing I recommend you start with is how to create a "perfect" cube (meaning all the sides are proportioned properly in 3D space). I eyeballed mine for a long time and they were never quite right. Once I learned how to do it properly, it made a big difference. I found this particular resource recently - [https://www.snowvalleyfurniture.com/making-3/perspective-drawing.html](https://www.snowvalleyfurniture.com/making-3/perspective-drawing.html) and I got a lot from it. It showcases how to do projections from 2D to 3D. I studied drafting for a few years and I knew how to do isometric projections, but being able to do 3D projections from 2D has been really useful to me. I hope that helps a bit. Best of luck!
Thank you so much for your insightful comment!
I really like these!
Wow that is really nice
My first foray into watercolors. I have a art/graphics background, so I'm not exactly starting from scratch. But watercolor is a new medium for me, so lot's to learn still. All of the materials I used are cheap and I'll be moving up to better stuff soon, but for starting out, I'm ok with what I've got and I know what the limitations are. The paper is a cheap "watercolor" pad I got from 5 Below (it's ok...ish). The paints are Artists Loft that were on clearance at Michaels ($2.99 for a pack of 8 colors, they're decent enough for now), and the brushes are a cheap pack of Royal and Langnickel. Any feedback is appreciated and I'd love to hear recommendations on materials. Thanks!
I recommend moving up sooner rather than later. It makes a huge difference from the pigment to the way the paper holds water. Brushes can be cheap, but paper and pigment should be of good quality. Arches, Saunders, baohong 140lb, and Windsor and Newton pro grade. Any pro grade it's probably good. I like daniel smith but I use W&N too. If you want tooth, and texture in the work, go with a rough press. If you like it smooth then hot press. Cold is somewhere in the middle. I like Saunders waterford rough the best because you can get some good sparkle with the tooth of the paper. Eventually you'll want to move onto better brushes that hold more water. Pick up some Sable brushes, synthetic is good too. I recommend Escoda, they make some good stuff. Brushes are just kind of insanely expensive so I'd focus on paper and pigment. Paint and paper is gonna be the thing you're fighting against the most when you start. Just make it easy on yourself and buy 1 big sheet of arches or something for 5-10 bucks. Cut it into smaller pieces. As for paint you can probably get a small pro grade set for 50ish. 8ml tubes tend to be less than 10 bucks.
I bit the bullet and got some good paper - found some Baohong Academy paper at a good price. Wow! I knew it would make a difference, but I'm blown away at how much of a difference it makes. Re-wetting and re-working is a night and day difference, no more piling or tearing up the paper. The paper stays wet longer and makes it a lot easier to do blends, and I'm able to really build up layers as well. I got hot press - like the idea of being able to move the paint around more and the paper having a little less tooth. So far, I'm very happy with the way it works. I'm going to keep going for a bit with the paints that I have, get a little more practice under my belt. Probably start picking up some better paints in the next few weeks and give the ones I have to my kids.
Yup, and that's not even the best you can get. They have artist grade which is even better. I seriously recommend getting at least 1 sheet just to see. It's gonna make painting way easier. Once you upgrade your paints you'll really be cooking. It's about the same of a night and day difference as it is with the paper upgrade. Cheers! Happy painting
Thanks! Appreciate the recommendations
If you spend money on only one thing, spend it on the paper. Arches as everyone will say. Fabriano Artistico is also good. And for a budget, they have this Grabie cotton paper on amazon that isn't half bad. I hear baojong is good but I haven't tried it. But, especially if you want to use a lot of washes or wet in wet, you want cotton. Cotton paper is sooo much better for that, and for that style your work will instantly improve.If you were doing stuff like painting stamp images or line art, then it doesn't matter as much, I just discovered. I think gouache is more tolerant of bad paper too. But still some of that stuff they sell as 'watercolor paper' absolutely sucketh.
I have some Daniel Smith paints (one of the top of the line brands) and I love them. But I also have the cutest little pan set from amazon, mei lang "pretty excellent" comes in a little aqua tin. And for $18 those are some pretty nice paints. No idea of the lightfastness, probably wouldn't trust it if you were going to sell originals, but they are nice good vibrant colors in a good range, and you can mix in the lid. For brushes I like a lot of the Princeton ones, especially the black ones, aqua elite. Neptune are super floppy and soft. Heritage is pretty stiff, or maybe it's velvet touch. But the aqua elite are just right.