Dragon and princesses

While getting on with some submission pieces I decided to relax a little and practice a bit more with watercolour. I gave myself a goal so it had to be a finished piece (to a certain degree). And to make sure I didn't spend too long on them I gave myself a specific deadline which were based on recent birthdays.

The first one is a Dragon for an old friend.

 I experimented with a off white paper that isn't manufactured as an art paper. It makes the black ink bleed creating an effect that I like but it's not noticeable at this size. Maybe for smaller drawings it might make more of an impact.

Now the Princesses for my daughter

 

I used the same paper but combined the watercolour with liquid acrylic. I found it very hard to manipulate but on the plus side opacity was good and mistakes could be fixed as I was colouring.

I don't think it was as successful as the dragon but it was a good learning experience (and my daughter really likes it, but I suspect it's because of the subject matter).

 

Korky Paul course part 5

Well the course is finished now and I just failed to get the final DPS finished. Something came up and I wasn't able to put in the hours until a couple of days before the final lesson with Korky.

I came close I'd finished the final inks as shown below and also a preliminary wash with watercolours(not shown).



And below the finished one in colour completed the morning after the last session

 

 

The main difference between this and the rough from my last post is that I took out the sloth in panel two, it was a bit crowded, and the frog in panel four is holding it's leg as if something is wrong.

 

On the whole  I'm pleased with the results and using watercolour has also been a lot of fun and I will pursue this medium further. Coming from a background in oil painting I do find a lot of differences I need to get used to, namely the drying time and the way the each medium flows.  I may revisit the mole in the corner of panel three. He seems to stand out too much and could use a darker wash to knock him back a little. He's a character, to be introduced later on, that witnessed the frog's encounter with the witch.

 

Concerning the course it's been a very good learning experience and I feel it's given me a great deal to think about and a lot of confidence to move forward. In fact I already have plans for my next children's book project, but I wont be starting that until mid May. I'm trying to prepare some work in the meantime for the Bristol Comics festival on May 10th.