Watercolor challenge -- take 2
Still on a roll with the Shading Zentangle® Facebook Group "Watercolor background" challenge for this week. Here is the background (I almost forgot to take a "before" picture):
Except... I'm not quite sure this one ever "left the ugly" stage.
Let me explain: I have a theory that every drawing goes through an "ugly stage". It's that moment when the drawing is halfway done, it's not complete, a turning point when some artists say "Oh, I give up, this is just no good". It's like a teenager -- it's far from being new, but not yet mature. My theory says that, if you can get past the ugly, it can eventually turn into something really amazing.
This is the point when I almost gave up:
Ugh, I thought it would never move from this stage!
mmm... I am not quite sure it left the ugly anyway == it's a bit of a frankenstein -- maybe my theory failed there! ;-)
Well, then perhaps I can use it as a lesson on what to do (or not) when using watercolor backgrounds:
- Avoid 3 colors that are completely different from each other for the background wash, it might make it muddy;
- Don't overlap said contrasting colors with each other during the wash, or they will turn muddy brown;
- Avoid using a super strong ink pen over said 3 colors, preferably use sepia or gray;
- Use paper that is really friendly to watercolor paint;
- Try to shade using markers that match the colors of the watercolor -- using sepia brown did not help!
I don't dislike it entirely. The gems are nice, the line-art is super fun. The shading is alright. It's the coloring.... Ugh.
Well, that's that, on to the next!
Copyright 2016 Eni Oken