Moments in Bucharest

Bucharest, filmed with my little cheap action camera. Happy summer!

Watercolor Sketchbooks

Even though the watercolor is a wide spread subject across the Internet among artists, you've probably been fooled once by choosing the wrong sketchbook that’s supposed to work with watercolor. Too often people fall into a trap here so it's no surprise. But why is that?!

To simply answer the question: it’s all about paper. If this doesn’t make sense to you at all, keep reading…

You find it everywhere, in any art store that you come in, at least one paper offer that seems to be the perfect deal for your next watercolor project. There is a watercolor label on every shelf with products you see around. Spiral binding pad sheets, nice looking sketchbooks that holds intricate printed motifs on their covers, fancy logos and attractive prices, and all that seems to hypnotize you and get you to the point where you’ll spend money for just too little satisfaction in return. Unfortunately, you end up buying yet another one wrong product. And thus, your project will disappoint you because it's to a far distance from what you've been initially thought it’ll be. No matter if the paper isn’t holding well water or if the colors aren’t vibrant enough on the surface, it soon become clear that almost every aspect of your painting process is more of a fight against your senses.

So, why is this happening?

To simply put, the real deal in watercolor technique, one that set you free from troubles, is a paper made of 100% cotton fibers (aka rag paper). But this simply means that such a paper is not cheap. The process involved in creating a paper like this is just above the normal standard, so added costs are necessary for making it.

That’s being said, as you may already guess, getting cheap route and thinking that someone will make an offer for a nicer stitch binding sketchbook product, made with 100% cotton fiber sized paper in it, is just a dream! If such thing exists, it’s most probable due to a limited edition directly derived from a special demand, like a private need or a group effort. It won’t be easy to find a deal like this from your typical local art store materials. I’ve already seen a lot of products made from cellulose paper that people think they’re too pricey. And these were just spiral binding blocks with some generic cheap cardboard cover and nothing more. So to wait for another expensive product to happen it seems a bit odd and therefore I don’t think the quality will increase anytime soon on such products.

So, what’s the fuss with all these wood pulp made paper, aren’t these supposed to be good enough? Why bother for more? It says watercolor, it says acid free, it shows great thickness and promise to last forever. Can you expect for more than that? Is using wood pulp fiber paper wrong if it's used with watercolor?

Well, there are some watercolor approaches that do not require plenty of tricks to be done, but a more traditional orientation on this technique require a fair amount of knowledge. There is much to control at this level in order to comprehend the entire spectrum of a watercolor technique . In the opposite direction is to think, I need to put a light glaze to an outline ink drawing... In this type of scenario, it wouldn't be really necessary to seek for more than what a wood pulp paper has to offer. For that, it may be best for you to land on a cheaper paper rather than spending extra cash with a rag paper.

The rule here is knowing your tool, learn how to use it, when to use it. You can rescue more errors on a cotton paper, it holds glazing and water very well, the colors blends nicely on its surface and it’s durable against multiple erasing attempts. In contrast with that, wood pulp fiber will play a less forgiving paper role in all of these key aspects, and that's why it is necessary to be a more experimented artist to master it. A cellulose paper works best if you do your paint with alla prima state of your mind in front of your eyes all the time. There’s no room for big mistakes with this paper because will break more rapidly compared to cotton fiber.

So, is this paper so scary, so bad when using it, that you'll need to avoid it for the rest of your life? Definitely no if you ask me. To say you only need cotton paper to deliver beautiful artworks is simply not true. You already know that focus on a technique is the key for developing your skills, but again, thinking of watercolor is also true to say that paper is the first thing you should pick wisely. Using a bad sheet of paper, you simply throw out the potential of your color to behave like it really should. You simply stop them expressing their greatness. That’s why you always need to keep a distance from something that is just too low in quality. It’s a waste of time, a waste of energy and a shortcut to failure if you begin with poor materials right from the start.

So, to sum up, you should always buy a good paper if you are serious with watercolor technique. If you aren't experienced enough, practice more on cotton paper and than try also the cellulose pulp, too understand the differences. Learn what's to expect. There are brands that sell poor paper, decent paper and amazing paper. Get samples when you can. Choose wisely, because even the cotton paper can be strangely made and therefore can lead to frustration. Some companies are well respected for a reason, but other brands are rising just to grab some money.

In the end of this article it’s time for what I think it is a great tip. If you need a good sketchbook filled with just the paper you like, buy a pack of sheets from that paper brand and make your own justice in a world were a good watercolor sketchbook is hard to find. This is my friend, the most economical method of doing it. To craft your own sketchbook from raw materials is to explore new possibilities. You learn more, you get confident with your tools, and it’s a moment so uplifting in the end. These days, you have no excuse to look for more, you get plenty of information on how to do it properly for yourself, just search the Internet and start the ride. I encourage you to do it!

I made my own books as you can see in the pictures I posted in the article. I hope you find this useful, I hope to back for more. That's for today!

Cheers!

Munch Brushes

This is a painting I made to test the Munch Brushes.

This set of Photoshop brushes was created by the same Kyle T Webster I was talking in the past here, but it's now offered for free to anyone interested in joining a great contest offered by Adobe. Read the rules and get the brushes from here if you want to participate and feel free to experiment with this amazing tool set. 

I could not participate to the contest, but that shouldn't stop anyone to have some real fun moments with such a challenge. I love Edvard Munch art and now I was able to experiment with "oil" digital painting technique. See this like an exercise more than anything else, I have a great respect for the original artwork painted by Munch. It was the pursuit for achieving a traditional vibe in a digital environment that's caught my attention with this, especially when I saw that my country wasn't on the list of eligible countries that can participate into the contest.:(
So, for those bounty hunters out there, read the rules to get the glory folks! :)

Anyway, thanks to Kyle for this wonderful share! Painting with his tools is always the right way when going digital and it's so much fun! 

Good luck to anyone who participate into this competition!

The old rebel

A great french comics western hero was in my head when I've done this but it's just that, just what I remember, no reference used, so it came out a little different than the old rebel I miss... But it serve well to my purpose and I think it's a good test to see if digital watercolor can hold a pretty convincing feel against the real deal. To me, I think it's great for sketching, coloring comics or for book illustrations and if you take on that road it'll be faster and also a trouble free route.

Still, the watercolor technique is something you must consider understanding on paper first, it's a great medium to experiment with and this can have a huge impact on you as an artist. So, do not lost in a digital mist, always get reality first!

Having fun with The Animator

I’ve already said it how great is for me to draw with real tools on paper. This time I want to write about the magic you could get if you go the other way around. So, let’s be digital now but with the same pursuit in finding the traditional medium look.

And to do so I decided to take a close up look on a pencil designed by Kyle T. Webster, one that works really well once it’s imported into Adobe Photoshop from the tool panel. You can get The Animator pencil by visiting his shop, please have a look and decide for yourself.

I’ve already made some tests and you can clearly see from the posted image the overall look you can achieve with this tool. You get quite some fun using it, it feels great in action and a it's a pretty convincing emulation if you ask me. I find it great especially when sketching and building shapes, when erase and reconstruct forms. It feels very responsive, looks natural and it's inspiring. In almost any case scenario this is all you need when you draw digitally. You need a pencil to sketch, to articulate your ideas in the first place. That’s why, a pencil like The Animator can be a great weapon added to your arsenal and make you feel confident knowing it’s on your side in a digital battlefield. It’s definitely a keeper and makes your life easier.

Is this a substitute for drawing with real pencil on paper? Well, it depends on how far you dive into the unknown. If you try to stay 100% close to reality, maybe you’ll be a bit disappointed. There is always some learning steep curve interfering into the process of how to successfully transfer your emotion from the real instrument to a digital emulated one.

I’ve spend quite some time now trying to find a special pencil that's acting more like a real one but in a digital world. A real pencil is a very simple drawing tool but can make a very distinct signature from person to person because of the large scale of expression it has. I guess it’s very hard to have this complex behavior at a full splendor level with the actual technology. It’s a trade-off, you need to trick some aspects more than you could actually get from a computer controller device, to comprehend all the details you could gain from a real pencil experience. There are some physics resulting from the use of a real paper, real graphite, real movements, real pen tip, real boards... Some of these are lost in the process of digitizing life, but the The Animator pencil I think it’s quite amazing in it’s on right. And it’s also fast for our times and all you need is just a computer to work with.

If I were to point on a negative aspect of digital pencils (generally speaking), I may say they’re not quite versatile enough when compared with real drawing tools. I can create tons of accidents, effects, lines and shades and tilts angles, types of grains and textures, plenty of blending techniques using just a single graphite pencil, were the same goal it seems to be harder to get if it’s about digital process. That leads to a little more effort that's need to be done in finding some additional tools and to use them in such a way to fit well balanced together and also to boost more authenticity in your drawings. I think it's fair to say that making so, always seems to end up in a much convoluted method of doing things. That’s cost time and time is…precious.

Fact is, aspects like these are often defeats the purpose of creating digital art, where the audience seems more interested in the final rendered stage of your artworks (like matte painting, vectors, photo manipulation etc.) rather than how you get there and maybe just a few people that really cares about drawing on a computer device from the traditional perspective standing point of view type of approach. These are just some speculations and nothing more...

Those of you who are really interested in how well your classical skills can be translated into digital art, I say Kyle T. Webster is the answer you’re looking for. Just grab some of his brushes and begin to develop your own digital technique. I promise you: a lot of them will make you smile!

World Instruments (vector pack). The inked version

The world musical instruments graphic design (as a vector eps file format) is now available for sale directly from my Shutterstock portfolio. Follow this link if you want to purchase this collection.

World Instruments. The pencil step...

I'm working on a new vector collection of acoustic instruments from all around the world. Here is my initial pencil sketches from this series but it's still a work in progress...

I'm experimenting lately with digital versus traditional medium and the verdict finally came after hours of sketching and testing. The real pencil is still...king! No matter how many digital tablets and brushes you'll gone get, nothing compares to the real feel of a pencil on paper! The feedback, the whole aspect, the speed, the control, the tonality and the logic way of archiving your ideas. I've spent many time trying to create a convincing pencil look in software but in the end, it was so much easy to sketch on a real paper.

It's always tricky with digital, you always tend to think it's a more flexible way of doing things... But this isn't always true ! If you want your tool to look and feel like a real pencil there's no substitute via computer apps, or at least I cannot find a satisfying one that has a great dynamic control, one that has a good tilt angle to behave like the real deal and one that has the right amount of grain with no repetitive and boring gradation. Not to mention the way that pencil interacts with the paper textures, which is another topic in it's own right. On almost all the aspects I'm writing here, the digital emulation somehow fails to deliver. To simplify, I'll say a real pencil has more dimensions and depth compared to the digital corresponding one. Some people may say I'm wrong, but keep in mind that using software you always need some kind of skills for "how to get there", where real tools are more generous right from the start and dictate their own behavior to the artist. This makes ideas travel faster between mind and execution, because there is no need to reinvent the wheel.


That's being said, maybe there's a reason why many artists today, still prefer to draw with traditional mediums instead of using software. They choose apps more for coloring tasks, for layout or for post processing. Strange words, especially when it comes from me, a person who seems to create vector images, isn't it? True, but not entirely true. Creating vectors is a honest task if you ask me. There are some advantages when printing, the format is versatile and you can do a lot of things with your design and even other people can do something new with your artworks. It's a great way of thinking the illustration and also it gives more creative power to your clients. As long as I'm concerned I've always try to achieve some real feel in my vector drawings, something to keep them away (when that's possible) from the sterile look of digital.

My initial purpose with this blog was to make it a place where traditional and digital mediums coexists. Now, I'm thinking this article will be the cross step to a more traditional way of doing my works. I will post here more sketches and real paper drawings in the future, that for sure!