Since Winter break ended, I haven't been doing a lot of art. Not just because I've been busy with school (which I have, actually) but also because my sketchbook is full! I use my sketchbook not only for sketches, but for watercolors as well - like the following one.
Unfortunately, it's not the best for watercolors. It's nice sketch paper, but not nearly heavy enough to support a good watercolor picture. The pages get warped, the paint breeds through, and many nice watercolor techniques cannot be used because of how flimsy the paper is.
If I was careful with the amount of water used, I could not only draw in my book, but paint random squirrels as well.
The pages absorb too much of the pigment to produce a properly vibrant painting, but it kind of worked. And for sketches, it worked quite nicely.
I recently realized, however, that my sketches would turn out even better if I used proper drawing pencils. You know, the kind that come in different hardness levels? Obviously, I need to go art-supply shopping. Being that I'm busy with school, however, I don't have a lot of time to go to an art store. |
Thankfully, I found a good online place to get art supplies. Dick Blick has really affordable prices, and a large selection of supplies. No, this is not a sponsored post, I just want to share the great resource that I found.
I'm having a lot of fun picking out supplies to get. That place even has canvases! And I must say, they are much more affordable than the ones that I normally pick up at supply stores. What do you think I'm planning on getting when I place my order? Let's put the clues together:
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You guessed it! I'm getting some proper watercolor paper, a sketchbook very similar to my current one, and a drawing pencil set. Hopefully my new pencils will work better for shading than the mechanical pencil that I used in the piece to the left. I am getting some other fun items as well, but I'll tell you what those are when the package arrives. |
Another great resource that I recently discovered is the Paint My Photo site. There, you can access royalty-free reference photos to use in making your art. I've used a lot photos from there to reference while painting and drawing, and it is so useful!
I used two photos from the site to do the above watercolor sketch. The best thing about photos on Paint My Photo is that you can still sell the paintings you do from photos there - you don't even have to give credit! You need to make an account to access the photos, but it's completely free. You can also share the work you do with the people who took the photos, but you don't have to.
You can also use Paint My Photo if you want people to paint your photos. When you share photos, they become available to any member of the site. If people like your photo, they might paint or draw it and share the result with you. I've shared a few photos, including the one that I used to do the oil painting below.
If you get an account, you can access it here.
Thanks for reading my random ramblings and looking at my work! Or maybe you weren't reading, but just looking at the pictures. That's okay too, and completely understandable. ;)
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