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Had a little downtime after work today, so I decided to sit down and practice with Gouache a little bit. I've said this before, but I like to use foxes when testing out colouring stuff- they've got distinct areas of light, middling and dark colour of pretty high saturation, so it forces you to have some idea what you're doing to pull it off. When I started I planned on just doing a generic fox, but then I remembered that a certain smug asshole fox has been popular in the fandom lately...
So I decided to use this smug bastard for a little test. I've been thinking on getting a nice set of high quality gouache paints to start studying with, but I was afraid that they might end up going to waste if I could never get the hang of them, and pro-spec paints are not cheap. The kind of money you don't want to end up just tossing away. What I do have are some very low quality student gouache paints that are many years old, dried up and crusty and terrible, and in very few colours, just the primaries plus black and white.
I decided that if I could put out a painting with my shit gouache paints that I actually liked, and felt somewhat confident about what I was doing, then I could go and get some proper paints. I sat down for a while, and this is what came out. While it's far from perfect- the value range is particularly low for example- it told me what I needed to know. This gouache stuff has potential.
I'm off to go spend $150 bucks on paint. Wheeeee....
So I decided to use this smug bastard for a little test. I've been thinking on getting a nice set of high quality gouache paints to start studying with, but I was afraid that they might end up going to waste if I could never get the hang of them, and pro-spec paints are not cheap. The kind of money you don't want to end up just tossing away. What I do have are some very low quality student gouache paints that are many years old, dried up and crusty and terrible, and in very few colours, just the primaries plus black and white.
I decided that if I could put out a painting with my shit gouache paints that I actually liked, and felt somewhat confident about what I was doing, then I could go and get some proper paints. I sat down for a while, and this is what came out. While it's far from perfect- the value range is particularly low for example- it told me what I needed to know. This gouache stuff has potential.
I'm off to go spend $150 bucks on paint. Wheeeee....
Category Artwork (Traditional) / All
Species Vulpine (Other)
Size 348 x 352px
File Size 225.2 kB
I went through literally the exact same thing concerning pulling out my dry, crusty gouache from my art student days and going, "huh, wonder if I can actually use this" about a week ago. Still not sure if I want to invest in better paint. But I know your struggle haha.
That said, this looks great!
That said, this looks great!
Truth of the matter is, I'm getting a bit tired of putting up with watercolour's bullshit. xD I'm getting a bit tired of feeling like I'm wrestling with every picture instead of painting them. It'd be nice to be able to correct mistakes and add highlights and not have to worry about drying time and all that jazz, but I don't want to completely forget everything I've learned with watercolours... thus, gouache.
There's a very real chance I'm about to waste a lot of money here if I can't get the look I want with gouache, but there's also the possibility it'll make painting way more fun again- and I think that's worth the risk, at least in my case! :P
There's a very real chance I'm about to waste a lot of money here if I can't get the look I want with gouache, but there's also the possibility it'll make painting way more fun again- and I think that's worth the risk, at least in my case! :P
If you think it'll be worth it, go for it! I'm not super experienced with traditional painting, especially these days, but even I was pretty pleasantly surprised with how my gouache experiments turned out, so I would think that a background in watercolor would make it come pretty easily to you. Plus if I remember correctly from art school, there's a lot of ways to use gouache, so I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy it!
(Also, if you get frustrated with it, you could always just remind yourself that you spent a lot of money on it and make it work for you just out of spite xD)
(Also, if you get frustrated with it, you could always just remind yourself that you spent a lot of money on it and make it work for you just out of spite xD)
Just getting really tired of fighting with painting. There's a look and feel to watercolours that I really like, but I can't just enjoy painting with them, it's a constant fight to avoid issues. Despite all the problems this painting has it's probably the most fun I've had painting in a long time, mostly because I could just -do it- without constantly worrying about the paint drying on me and flowing back, or accidentally wiping away previous layers, or... bleh. This was probably a long time coming. Will be interesting to see if I'm able to get a style I like with gouache though...
I liked it about as much as I liked most of these animated family movies, like HTTYD for example- that is to say, I liked it a fair amount, but not enough on it's own to get super excited about it. However, the art behind the movie- the character designs, the animation, even the scenery, all make for such good reference material that as an anthro artist it'd be silly of me not to explore it and learn what I can from it. Literally some of the best artists and animators in the world came together to solve the problems anthro artists face regularly... how could I not pay attention to that? :P
So, while I typically avoid fanart and badwagons, I'm afraid this is one wagon I'ma have to hop on. x3
So, while I typically avoid fanart and badwagons, I'm afraid this is one wagon I'ma have to hop on. x3
Actually it ended up being 200. :D This is not uncommon for professional quality art supplies. The good news is that was only the startup cost, and should last me a while- only needing the occasional 10-20 bucks to replace individual colours as they run out. Still, shit like this is why many traditional painters have very high prices. x3
I used to mix my own formula for painting on the worst surface possible and also having to the whole thing in one layer, (since all your under-painting, corrections and outright mistakes are on the other side) ie glass. I just tried using watercolor for the first time since i was about 12. came out pretty good. what is gouache? I never used that yet.
I've used extremely strong color paint called one shot to do signs and figured out how to use it in doing murals on the sides of buildings to get oil painting-like effects. You need a lot of ventilation to use either of the paints I have used most of my life the first you get burned and high off the ammonia the second has acrid naphtha and petroleum vapors that make you fall off a 60 foot ladder. but the first has 100x the color of anything else and the second has zero brushstrokes showing through and 50x the color of everything else, plus it is permanent.
I've used extremely strong color paint called one shot to do signs and figured out how to use it in doing murals on the sides of buildings to get oil painting-like effects. You need a lot of ventilation to use either of the paints I have used most of my life the first you get burned and high off the ammonia the second has acrid naphtha and petroleum vapors that make you fall off a 60 foot ladder. but the first has 100x the color of anything else and the second has zero brushstrokes showing through and 50x the color of everything else, plus it is permanent.
Is it just me or has every furry seen this frickin' movie already... yup I watched it too XD Not really a fan of disney movies but it was entertaining and great animation. Gouache paint always seems to look a lot more solid than watercolour to me, looks good, you should definitely use them more man. That price though -ouch!
Well, it's been out in theatres long enough to not be in theatres anymore, anyone who wanted to see it already has. I'd be surprised if most of the fandom hadn't seen it already. :P
Shortly after finishing this painting I went and spent way too much money on several tubes of the stuff- yeah, that kinda sucked, but if there's a silver lining, I'm kind of forced to learn it now! x3
Shortly after finishing this painting I went and spent way too much money on several tubes of the stuff- yeah, that kinda sucked, but if there's a silver lining, I'm kind of forced to learn it now! x3
Have to agree with everything you've said about foxes as an art subject, and this piece is another brilliant addition to your gallery. That fur looks like you could almost reach out and feel it. But it's the expression here that makes the smug bastard a smug bastard.
(Zootopia/Zootropolis hasn't been in Australia that long. My first chance to see it was a mere 2 days ago.)
(Zootopia/Zootropolis hasn't been in Australia that long. My first chance to see it was a mere 2 days ago.)
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