Sunfest Errata

[zon14]

One thing I forgot to mention during my last post was for a moment I felt my namesake had channeled a question to his sister that unfortunately never got a definite answer, at least not to my knowledge

Comments

[algeh]

I can give some tips on various watercolor techniques if you want. I find that my knowledge of technique outstrips my motor control on a pretty regular basis so I don't do much art anymore, but I grew up with a mother who painted watercolor so she taught me a lot about it to keep me busy so she could paint

[zon14]

Some of what you mentioned was already in that booklet, like the trick with the plastic wrap and trying out different kinds of paper and all. From my days with plain and colored pencils I can certainly draw lines that are thin enough.

My difficulty's always been to get things to look at least reasonably realistic. Usually I'm forced to start with a photograph(usually an ad of some kind) to get the general look down, then modify and adjust from there.

[algeh]

I think most people need some kind of model or reference to get things looking reasonably realistic, particularly for living things (anatomy is hard to get right off-the-cuff). As a kid, I remember lots of trips to flower gardens so my mom could photograph flowers to paint later, and lots of flower arrangements that she'd set up and paint from directly when seasonal (she spent a few years doing a lot of floral paintings in the 80s). I also remember lots of scenery photos whenever she went on vacation for later use as references, and earlier this spring I had to help her do a photoshoot for reference photos of her dog in Multnomah for a series she wanted to do (it's hard to dog-wrangle and take photos at the same time). I should really help her organize all of her years of reference photos into a searchable digital collection someday. Before we had photographs, I think most realistic-style artists used live models. This gets tricky when you want to draw something you have trouble finding models for, obviously.