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The modelled drawing in water color is a continuation of the previous modelled drawing exercises (see Modelled Drawing and Modelled Drawing in Ink). It uses yellow, brown and black watercolour paints instead of crayon or ink.
You start by building up the basic shape in yellow and then add the darker colours to model the form of the object.
It is quite a challenge to keep the paint wet enough so that the darker colours soften into the yellow but not so wet that you end up with a meaningless brown mess. (The two pictures on this post are amongst the best that I produced – you can imagine what the bad ones looked like.)
The change in medium is intended to shake you up and force you to really experience the objects you are drawing. At times, it seemed to have exactly the opposite effect. I spent too much time looking at the paper making sure the paint was behaving, but then there were times when I suddenly realised I was observing subtle changes in the surface of an object in far greater detail than before.
The two paintings on this post are our enamel teapot and a rear view of the Sailor Jack model from the original modelled drawing post. I seem to have brought him up to date by giving him a pair of low slung trousers – perhaps I should try this again after I have completed the exercises on body proportions.
Yesterday, I finished Section 6 of the Natural Way to Draw. That is 24% of the course and I am still on schedule. My sisters Sarah and Rachael posed for some gesture drawings over the weekend for which I am grateful (and so is Elaine).
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Tea Stains Modelled Drawing - 23 July 2011 Watercolour on Paper 33cm x 30cm (13" x 12") |
Good day, Mark!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all - thank you for this wonderful blog - it really helps to see results and thoughts about the book :)
Recently, I've started to work through The Natural Wat to Draw, and I've got a question regarding watercolour - Nicolaides strongly advises to use watercolour in tubes, but in my neck of woods "dry cakes" (as seen here - http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/cuvette-watercolor-22859176.jpg) are MUCH cheaper and more readily available.
Can I substitute dry cakes for tubes? What is Nicolaides's logic behind the choice of tubes instead of dry cakes?
Best regards,
Michael
Hi Michael,
DeleteThank you for your comments. I am glad the blog is useful. Writing it was helpful because it provided me with time to reflect and organise my thoughts about the exercises.
I don’t think I could have used the dry cake watercolours for the exercises.
The paint needs to be quite thick so you have some level of control. If it is too watery, it has a tendency to spread out on the paper and all the colours merge into one unpleasant stain.
I’ve always struggled to get a thick enough consistency from cake/pan colours. It is quite time consuming and for these exercises, I needed to be able to alter the consistency quickly.
I hunted around and bought the cheapest student grade tubes I could find.
I hope things go well with the book. It was hard work, but rewarding.
All the best,
Mark
Hi Mark!
DeleteIt's me again and with the same question. I'm still trying to find cheaper alternatives to watercolours in tubes. I'm reading the schedules and I see that watercolour studies are present quite deep in the book.
Have you tried acrylic paints? Can they be a substitute for watercolour for the purpose of the exercises in the book? Acrylic paint is VERY cheap here. For the price of one small student-grade watercolour tube about 14 ml. in size, I can get 100 ml. of student-grade acrylic paint.
But though I'm a cheapskate, if the acrylic paint is not suited for the book, I'll bite the bullet and buy watercolour tubes :-) In the end, correct experience is more important.
Best regards,
Michael
Hi Michael,
DeleteAcrylics are not ideal. The trouble is they dry too quickly. You need to keep the whole surface moist for the duration of the exercise, so as you add paint it merges with the paint that is already on the paper.
This is likely to be difficult with acrylics. You could try spraying the picture at regular intervals with a misting bottle, but this may end up distracting you from the real purpose of the exercise.
Can you find any slow drying acrylics like:
http://www.chromaonline.com/products/au/atelier_interactive
or a slow drying medium like:
http://www.winsornewton.com/products/oils-solvents-mediums--varnishes/acrylic-colour-painting-mediums-texture-gels--varnishes/galeria-acrylic-mediums/galeria-fluid-retarder/
It is probably worth trying acrylics to see how you get on, but you may not get the same experience as with watercolours.
All the best,
Mark
Hi Michael,
DeleteThe slow drying acrylics and the slow drying mediums may make acrylics work better in these exercises, but they are intended to make acrylics more like oils not watercolours.
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark!
ReplyDeleteThanks again and again for answering my questions. Looks like you're the only one who's done the book and is still open for discussion.
Frankly, I've completely forgotten about the acrylic speed of drying. Slowly drying acrylics pretty much kill the purpose - they're too expensive (the price more than doubles if you account for the shipping).
Surprisingly, I've seen the acrylic retardant, and I have access to it for testing (my friend likes to do some model painting), so I'll definitely try it.
Regular spraying WILL distract me from exercise. I don't have an access to live models (and envy Elaine's dedication! :) ). Thus I'm limited to videos and photos for gesture drawing (I try to use real 3D objects for contours). It's very inconvenient and I almost double the time for the exercises because of the searching for image or exact frame of the video.
The time I spend "hunting" for material (images or frames) is AT LEAST equal to that of actual drawing. Worse than that, it divides the gesture drawing session into small bits.
Only after I've done some gesture drawings from objects (abundant in my room :) ) have I understood the importance of concentrating. The experience of my "object" gesture session was MUCH better - I was able to concentrate properly throughout the exercise. Next time I'll try to look for the images beforehand to facilitate continuity.
So, spraying the paper will most certainly deny me the correct experience and take my attention from the subject.
Best regards,
Michael
P.S. Oh, and another "small" question. As far as I understand, the colour of watercolour tubes is not important, as long as I use "close pairs" of colours plus the black?
Nicolaides contradicts himself in the book - firstly he says that students must use only ochra, sienna and the black, then he says that the colour itself isn't important and students must think in terms of weight (just like in crayon studies).
My interest is in the monetary side of it. In Russia, the student-grade watercolours tubes are found almost exclusively in sets. If I can use more tubes from the sets it will cut from expenses :)
Hi Michael,
DeleteI hope your test with the acrylic retardant is successful.
Elaine’s commitment to the exercises was fantastic. It would have been a less enjoyable experience without her support.
When I was away from home, I used posemanics for some gesture drawings:
http://www.posemaniacs.com/
There are a couple of other pose websites that seem quite good:
http://www.onairvideo.com/Croquis_Cafe.html
http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/
If you need to, I think you are okay swapping other colours for yellow ochre and burnt sienna. You need a light tone, a mid tone and black.
My interpretation of Nicolaides’ remarks is he strongly recommends yellow ochre and burnt sienna because they approximate flesh colour. I think this is a crutch for students that aren’t ready to use completely arbitrary colour.
All the best,
Mark