[Nex]

I've recently found a page with a lot of beautiful watercolor pictures and I thought I might try it.

After some time I ran into the problem that I wanted to make a more or less solid colored/gradient filled shape but it always comes out strange and uneven.

Are there any tips to get an evenly colored shape with watercolors without the use of too much water?

The second Question is:
I get very strange artifacts (colored horizontal lines/bars) when I scan colored pictures recently. Calibration does not change anything. Maybe some of you know that problem and a way (via filters etc.) to make it look less obvious?

Here is the picture, its some surrealistic head/thing [notice the scan-artifacts]



I hope one of you knows an answer-
but I am just as happy about random comments and other watercolor pics too



[This message has been edited by Nex (edited October 26, 2000).]

[Rinaldo]

http://dove.net.au/~jbrasted/Face.jpg



I assume you've seen these already nex. (I'm not blowing my own horn here guys.....honestly)

I have had a bit of experiance with watercolour (though not recently and not to a huge degree). What kind of paper, paint etc. are you using? I'll ask this before I start to blab because I might say stuff that is not relevant.

[Nex]

for my first try I used smooth, sketch/drawing paper. I guess cardboard would be better but I don't have it at home right now.

[Rinaldo]

Well I would strongly recomend getting watercolour paper or a suitable Illustration board. it is almost impossible to get anyhting smooth on rubbish paper unless you have had a lot of practice.

To get a nice smooth gradient I often wet the area slightly with water (just using the brush). this does a few things. if I wet the area that I want to put colour onto before I put the colour on it helps to keep the colour there. the colour can only go where the water is. Secondly if you put the colour down straight away you'll have to do it darn quick, otherwise you'll get it drying and creating an edge that is very hard to get rid of compleatly.
You really have to have the ability to go wet on wet, which makes plain paper very hard to use because it soon buckles and creates all sorts of rivers for your water to run into.
You can wet the entire canvas/paper with a huge brush all the time, and a lot of people do it that way. but it depends on what sort of look you want. If you wet the area you want to colour and then go in you have control and a bit of time to think things through. the water will do a lot of the smooth gradient for you if you know how to control it.
I think a lot of the problems you're having are probably due to the papaer. try somehting better and see what happens. You'll need a good brush as well.

Hope this helps a little. not sure if how much sense I'm making. ask more questions if you want.

[Nex]

Thank you for the tips Rinaldo.

I will get me some better paper and try it out.

But this throws up another question:

how do you transfer a sketch from the sketchbook to watercolor-cardboard?
I think its too thick to have a light under it shine through strong enough to trace a drawing (at least if that watercolor paper is similar to the ones you use in technical drawings for ink), and sketching on this paper would probably come expensive with time.

I had a good example link to show what direction I wanted to go in with watercolors but I lost it.. damn. It was a female asian artists doing fantasy and ornament pictures if that helps..

well, thanks.

oh forgot .. the colors I use are pelikan (I think this is a local brand) opaque colors.



[This message has been edited by Nex (edited October 26, 2000).]

[Nex]

uhm.. tips for removing scan artefacts anyone?

[Waldo]

Greetings Nex,

I've "pulled a few washes" in my watercoloring experiences and I'd like to add a tip or two to Rinaldo's suggestions. I also wet the area and then I'll stand the paper/illustration board on end and drag my brush back and forth, top to bottom letting gravity help along the way. You'll want to load up your brush with paint and the bigger the area you're covering, the larger brush you'll want to use. You do have to work quick and if you stop and load up your brush again, that can be just enough time for the drying you don't want. It's not easy and it took me several attempts to get one that looked half-way decent and I still don't get it right all the time. Pratice on a few scrap sheets and see what happens...

As far as transfering images, I usually xerox what it is I'm going to transfer and then on the back of that xerox, with the long side of a pencil point (does that make sense?) sweep over the areas that I want to transfer. I'll then turn it back over and place that on my paper/board. Then I'll trace over the image with a colored, hard-point pen to transfer it to the board. I use a colored pen because it helps make sure you've covered everything. Also, before you do that, make sure to blow/brush off any loose graphite. It can and will transfer with just the pressure of your hand...

Hope that made sense and hope it helps.

Cheers!

[This message has been edited by Waldo (edited October 26, 2000).]

[Nex]

hey thanks for the great tips.
I'm gonna try this out tomorrow-