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When doing a portrait I find a photo I like then blow it up to whatever size I'm
going to paint it at. Then I light box (trace) it onto the water color paper in
light pencil. When doing a portrait I don't bother drawing. I want the likeness
to be exact. I could work through and eventual get it right drawing it but I'd
rather spend that time on the actual painting.
For paper I use Arches hot press (smooth) I don't know that weight off
hand but it's pretty sturdy. Somewhere in the middle. It comes in big sheets. So
I cut it to size.
Next is the biggest tip I can give to you if you're
not familiar with using water color. After I have my image on the watercolor
paper, I soak both sides of the paper with water then shake off the excess
water. Then I staple all four side of the paper to my board. You can use a piece
of wood for this as long as it's water treated so it doesn't warp when it gets
wet
I use the Incredible Art Board
made specifically for this. It's a light weight foam core board. It's awesome.
Once attached let it completely dry. The purpose for attaching it to a board is
this prevents the paper from buckling when it becomes saturated. Otherwise little
watercolor pools will form on your paper and pretty much make your painting look
like crap when they dry. After the paper has dried I paint a border on with
liquid frisket.
I have a color chart I've made with all the color paints I use. The original color's along the top and down the left side. Then what they look like mixed 50-50 with each other. This took forever to do, was mind numbingly boring and a complete pain to make. But if find it almost indispensable. I hang it in front of my art table.
These aren't the best examples of mixed colors. They get more dramatic down the farther you move from the corner but it gives you an idea how it works.
I lay all my paints out in a general order so I don't have to search for them. I keep a large container of water handy for rinsing brushes off between uses. Normally I use a milk jug with the top cut off. A spray bottle is useful. And of course my mixing palette. And always have plenty of clean paper towels on hand.
I always start with the most important part of the
painting. In this case the face. If I painted the back ground and clothes or
whatever and it looked great then moved on to the face but it turns out like
crap, I've wasted all that time on the unimportant. So I do the focal point
first.
With watercolor you start light and work dark. So I put in all the values and
major shadows. I don't worry about any detail. I'll do this until I get it
pretty good. If it's to dark, I wet it and wipe it off. You can get rid of a
fair amount of paint this way if you need to.
I continue adding shadow and basic detail as I go. If I
want something to blend I leave the back ground paint slightly wet. Or depending on
the effect, I'll have the back ground dry then paint really wet on top of that then
let it dry. Sometimes washing over that with just water. Once the painting (or
specific area) is 98% done I'll add the final crisp details to make it pop. My
background must be COMPLETELY dry for this. I'll use a small brush and my paint
won't have as much water in it.
The paint may look and feel dry but could still have some moisture in it, which will
screw up detail work. Touch the painted area with the back of your knuckles. If
it feels cool, it's still wet. I also keep a hair dryer handy to speed up the
drying process whenever I need an area dry and don't want to wait for it to air
dry.
Next I finish all the clothes and any other figure work.
I did the tree next which was a mistake. I should have saved it for last since it's so dark. It's much easier to paint dark over light than light over dark in watercolor.
I decided to add grass to the ground as opposed to dirt in
the photo. Though I still used the basic shadows from the photo.
I washed the entire background in light yellow. Then worked my way up with
shadowy areas in green. (At this point I'm thinking what have I done? I should
have just painted the dirt in the photo.)
Next I added grass through out.
And finally I added some darker shadows and more detail to
the grass. All that's left is to sign it and remove the frisket.
One final tip; when I'm done painting for awhile, I lean the painting against
the wall at an angle (painting side down.) This prevents dust from landing on
your painting surface which can actually interfere as you paint.
All content © Joshua Smeaton