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Anja's Artblog

Wednesday 2 May 2012

I watch over you - lines

I started a new painting today. It's so good to work on something fresh after the long bookproject (which still isn't finished but I'm getting there...).
It's for an art trade again - a secret santa kind of thing. All participants had to state their zodiac sign and a personal quality, then each of us got a person's name by mail and now we have to paint something related to the information they had given.
I got 'Sagittarius' and 'shy' - not the most fittig combination I guess.
But it's a good illustrative challenge and I'm going to do it traditionally with water colours.


I stretched the paper for the very first time. I know I should have done this for many previous works but I simply was too lazy I guess.. Anyway, it took me some attempts, because this really is one of the things you have to do completely perfect or it's no use at all. I got there at last and now have a pretty neat surface to work onto. c: Firstly I layed down a soft ochre wash and created some textures with salt; this really gives consistency to a painting.

 I then transferred the sketch I drew earlier onto the textured wash - just the most important lines and with very little pressure.

The last ast and most time consuming step was the inking which I haven't done for quite a while since I mostly work directly into pencil lines lately... But I'm aiming for a Golden Age illustration feel with this, so lines are all important and I actually found great delight in the process. It's really calming.
Now it's all about laying down the coloured washes and I'm really looking forward to that part.

Oh, and tomorrow I'm going to pick up my book from the printing shop... I so hope everything went well this time...

9 comments:

  1. I really like the textures. How do you do this with salt? It seems quite similar to the structures I get when I work with aquarell crayons, as far as I can see from your foto.
    The techniques you're trying out at your university are really inspiring.
    And as always, I like your drawing style *_*

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    1. Thank you very much for your words!
      I basically just sprinkle the salt over the wash when it's still wet. Accidentally the board to which the paper is stuck was slightly tilted and this created the swirls I guess..
      Normally the salt crystals simply create a snowflake effect due to absorbing the paint around them, it's the first time for me it looks like this but I'm really glad it happened. c:

      Oh, but now you tell me please how you create those textures with crayons? I'm really curious about this technique of yours. C:

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    2. Ah ok, I couldn't see these crystals x.x Thats why I thought you apply the salt, then there will be these structures and then you wipe the salt off or something like that... My fault ^^ But I think I'll try out your technique. Can you use black pencils or something like that on the salt, or do you need special ink or something like that?

      Well, I just get structures with my crayons, while using lots of water after applying the color. There'll be lots of swirls or frayed lines etc. A little different from your technique, but I really want to try out if I can combine these two techniques. :)

      It's always so inspiring to visit your blog *_* And I can practice my english ^^

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    3. no no - you DO wipe of the salt after everything is dry!:) it really is a bit difficult to explain....you just have to try it yourself really!^^ but you definitely get rid of the salt afterwards, so there is no need for any special pens or inks.

      thank you for explaining! I think I'm gonna try this as well at some point. combining both sounds brilliant as well.c:

      hehe, thank you very much indeed! yeah..it makes it a bit harder to explain something though..but we're doing quite well i guess.:P

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    4. Ah ok. So you apply the color first and afterwards the salt? And after you got these textures, you remove it from the paper?
      Ok, I'll try this out. I think this technique would be quite impressive if I had used it in my examination last week... I don't think that others use a technique like that ^^
      It is so amazing what you can try out, I mean, this is quite a different to high school lessons.

      Maybe I can try to upload some of my works on my blog and tell you afterwards, so you can see what kind of structures I get while working with crayons.

      Haha. Your english is much better than mine, just because you live and study in England ^^ But how come that you study there and not in Germany? Do you think that english art schools or universities are better?

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    5. Would you like to give me your email-address?
      It would be easier to continue talking that way I guess.:)

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    6. Why not ^^
      angelsunset@hotmail.de

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  2. Replies
    1. Many thanks. I'm glad you like it already!

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