Art: Ginny, Snape, and more Snape (all G)

[sigune]

I did a few pictures last weekend, trying out my new (and tiny) box of watercolours. It's a Cotman set - that is, the cheap line of Winsor & Newton. The main difference seems to be that these paints are made with substitutes for some of the more expensive pigments. My watercolour handbook strongly advised against buying anything that is not the professional standard, but I thought I should get a feel for watercolour first, and I always feel guilty when I make a mess with what is essentially very good material :/.

sscrewdriver warned me that the cheaper watercolour paints are usually less transparent than the expensive ones. Because I haven't any real comparison, I guess this is something I may see with my own eyes in the future, when I am confident enough to start using the Winsor & Newton set that is as yet stashed in my cupboard... The only thing I can say so far is that I do see a difference with my (even cheaper) watercolour pencils. The pencils' pigments appear to my untutored eye more luminous than the Cotman set's (?). But to be honest, I don't think the paint is to blame for anything that went wrong with my pictures - it might just be my lack of skill :P.

Anyway: my recent exploits are below.




I guess this is just less good a picture than "A Scarlet Ribbon" was, but I do think the skin tones I used for Eileen were really more luminous and transparent than those I got out of my Cotman set... Hm.

I'm not too happy with this picture, for some reason. Part of it is that I think I set the eyes off too much. It seems I will really have to make a choice between my comics-like style and realism, because I feel uneasy about the combination that I get here.




Again, mixed feelings about this. I dropped all attempts at realism and using the paint as anything more than just colour. All the colours are of my own making, except for the Cadmium Red of Ginny's hair and the Burnt Umber of her shoes. Unfortunately I don't think I did a very good job :/. Also, the skirt's folds aren't particularly well-done.




This was fun. I do adore my marten and petit-gris brushes; this was an improvisation with them, drawn directly with paint. All went well as long as I stayed with the Snape figure. Then I had to cook up a background, and I think it is quite obvious that I hadn't given it any thought :P. I drew a tree, but it looked stupid, so I covered it with broad brush strokes, but you can still see some of it, and the result isn't particularly clever or good either *g*. Ah well. I enjoyed myself, and I do like the hues.

...I really should take classes, shouldn't I? But I have no time at present, and I can't keep myself from pottering around until I do...

Comments

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed, particularly the Snape. I can see what happened with the tree on the third, now that you mention it, but I like the effect of the figure dividing a light and dark background anyway. It means the profile is emphasized, which works well here. Well done! Maggie

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thank you! With a picture like the third, the thing I found myself wondering about was how I could use the darkness to offset Snape's face while not losing the shape of his cloak... This is what I came up with :).