@jungwatercolor’s “BeLikeWatercolor II” contest : My entry - Manta rays gliding on tiny paper.
I did it! I was able to complete a painting for @jungwatercolor’s BeLikeWatercolor contest! I had a lot of doubts because I’m really bad about finding the time to participating in contests but I couldn’t let her down!
There is still a little bit of time to participate in @jungwatercolor’s contest! For more information you can click here and check out her original post.
A few days prior, I dug out some mixed media paper that I had tucked away. I left it someplace where I’d see it so I wouldn’t forget about the contest. I had some time today so I took out a paper cutter to make small sheets of paper because the theme for this week’s contest was tiny watercolor paintings.
I packed all of my supplies and headed out to @caffetto with @kommienezuspadt, @guthrie, and @mtbmondo (who’s flew in late last night).
I attempted my first sketch with a regular pencil but it didn’t feel right. I also felt embarrassed after catching myself using two fingers to double tapping on the paper. 😅 That’s how you know I’m now a digital artist. In Procreate (which I normally use) you would double tap with two fingers to undo.
I switched to watercolor pencils in colors deep cobalt and sap green for my manta ray outline sketch.
I decided to pick some of my favorite colors to paint with. I’m in love with the wild rose color from Dr. Ph Martin’s radient watercolor. I tried to paint carefully but a little speck flicked of my brush, oh well.
I added an ultra blue color for the shadows.
Then I started to play around with the paint application.
Adding more depth...
..and more details with each dry layer.
I was a little worried about the background color. I had a test sheet for mixing color combinations and double checking my paint brush strokes.
Here’s the finished background. I started with a wash of daffodil yellow before I added a light wash of ultra blue and april green.
I completed the painting with some white ink and some darker shadows for contrast. I hope the painting is tiny enough! I’m really happy with the result since it’s been 3+ years since I’ve painted with watercolors and used any form of traditional medium.
Materials
Strathmore Mixed Media Paper
Dr. Ph Martin’s Radiant Concentrated water color
Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleed Proof White Ink
Lowe-Cornell Watercolor Pencils
Windsor & Newton paint brushes #2, 6, and 8.
Awww This is so amazing! I literally jumped when I saw this. And they are purple! <3 Lovely!
I know! They’re my favorite colors! I was waiting to see if you’d notice this since I know you do watercolor stuff. :D
I knew you’d do great with the traditional materials (and that it would be a finger tapping good time)!
Awww, thanks! It was most definitely a finger tapping good time. Lol. Do you accidentally double tap while sketching too?
Just for the first couple days after I recently picked up the actual pencil again. It’s pretty much subsided now!
I am so proud of you! I knew you will do it great. Saw your post earlier but been so busy and could't replay sooner.
There is so much potential in your watercolor work and i hope you will continue doing it :) Your work looks like you are already done many watercolors.
Hope you had fun and thank you so much for participating 💖
Thank you for hosting the contest. Without it then I might never have started watercolor work again. It was really fun and I’ll probably take the time to paint more often. :) 💜
Very lovely! I need to do some watercolour soon. I've got a piece that I started sometime back and haven't ever finished. Being that most of my commisioned work is B&W ink I don't every have the time and energy to play but I should just knuckle down and do it. Stuff like this inspires me to push on!
Thank you so much! I’d love to see your watercolor work. I could see how other’s constantly commission you to do b&w inking since you’re so good at it!
That's really cool shott!!
Gorgeous!! I love watercolours so much <3
Thank you! It’s always been my favorite so it was nice to revisit it after so long.
I like that you include a step by step process depicting how you created your manta rays which look great :)
Thank you so much! I’m used to taking screenshots of my progress since I usually paint digitally. It was interesting to force myself to stop to take pictures.
hahah i understand that , i too recently began doing process shots from my digital paintings . A great tip I do is to screen record your drawing process that way you are free to clip /screenshot any part of the recording you desire :)
I usually make little gifs with the time lapse recordings since it’s a nice teaser leading up to the full video.
ayyy another great idea :) thanks for sharing that one
Very cool, and yes, you should! :) LOL about the undo tapping. 😂 I am NOT a digital artist - bought a Wacom tablet way back when they were new to try it, and felt like a kindergartener again. I admire people who can use things like that!
Thanks for the feedback! :) I think I’ll push myself to use up all the sheets of paper that I cut. I’ve actually never tried a Wacom tablet before. It looks really hard. I use an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. The stylus feels real enough to trick me into drawing/painting like I normally would.
I thinks you should give a mini class on something simple to paint!
I’m not sure if I’m confident enough to teach something just yet but maybe in the future. :)
Emmm i like this art
Thanks!