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So far in this series, you've been learning to observe and draw the proportions of most everything around you: still lifes, landscapes, etc. You've drawn these subjects in regular drawing media such as office pencils, charcoal, charcoal pencils, and Conte pencils. Now I'd like to introduce you to some new drawing media: watercolor or wash, as we'll call it in this series, opaque watercolor (called gouache by the French) and acrylic.
Since brushes are used to apply this media, they aren't usually classified as drawing materials and don't usually appear in a series like this. Watercolor, gouache, and acrylic are usually employed for the colors they are capable of producing. However, here we will use this media only in a drawing frame of reference - black and white. The reason I stress only their black and white forms is that I want you to concentrate on training the eye and hand to capture the solidity of things and their correct proportions. The introduction of color would only get in the way of the learning process. You can add color later, since it is a phase unique in itself. I think that all artists no matter how many media they fool around with finally settle into one favorite. It is good to try as many media as possible. It's the only way to find out which one best suits your temperament. |
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WASH TECHNIQUES
There is always a cry about watercolor being a difficult medium, better left to the hands of a master. Any student attempting it will only find grief and disappointment. What nonsense!! No one, no matter how talented, is born with a brush in one hand and a pot of paint in the other. In truth, watercolor is an easy medium to handle once you get acquainted with its characteristics. Pigment & Mixer The phase of watercolor that we are studying here is called wash. It requires only a tube of black pigment and water; that's all. With Gamma Black or lamp black and varying amounts of water as a medium, you can get any tone you need from the palest gray to the darkest black. The more water you add to the paint, the lighter the tone; naturally, the more pigment and the less water, the darker the tone. But even for black passages, the paint needs to be thinned down since it's too thick for easy handling as it comes from the tube. Surfaces Illustration board provides a good surface for a drawing. A good board at your stage of development is Bainbridge #80, single thickness. A good size would be about 11" X 14". I recommend the single thickness at this time; later you can graduate to the double thickness and more expensive boards. As a matter of fact, for the exercises in this project, you could use a pad of Aquabee #664H bond paper. It's thin and will crinkle, but if you don't find this annoying, you can save a substantial sum compared to the price of even the cheapest illustration board. Brushes The brushes I use and recommend for the exercises in this project are Winsor and Newton #3, #5, and #7 pointed, red sable brushes, as well as a 1/2" flat sable. They're the best. I've told you that you can skimp on other materials, but I suggest that you always get nothing but first-rate brushes. They do your bidding without coaxing and last longer, if you take care of them. Always rinse them thoroughly in clean water when you're finished; dry them on a rag and reshape them to their original point before you place them back in the brush pot. Never store ANY brush on its side, flat in a box or on your drafting table! Additional Materials You'll need a large tray, like a butcher's tray, in which to mix a large puddle of wash and to flatten and shape your brush. A palette is also needed, one with slants and wells which easily keep your various tones separate. You'll also want a container of water that is large enough so that you won't have to change the water too often. You'll find that a roll of 1/2" masking tape is useful. You can stretch it along the borders of your drawing for clean, even edges. Rags, of course, are necessary to wipe off your brushes after rinsing. A kneaded eraser is used for lightening areas that come off too dark. More about that later! |
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PROPERTIES OF WASH
With watercolor, or wash, you must begin with the light and work down to the dark values. A tone can always be darkened, but it cannot be lightened, at least not effectively. Like all transparent watercolor, washes use the paper itself for the white shapes. Whatever areas you want to have white in your drawing must be left untouched. The necessary tones must be applied around those white shapes (Fig. A). Once your wash is applied, you can "pick up" or lift out a shape with your damp brush. However, it will be a lighter gray, never a pure white (Fig. B). There are times when, through a miscalculation, an area turns out too dark. Then you can make it lighter by the laborious process of rubbing it with a kneaded eraser (fig. C). Even though you can get somewhat the desired lighter tone, I don't recommend this. Its contrary to the properties of the medium. The other alternative - which I have never liked - is to throw the entire drawing away and start again! |
Dissolve some lamp black (or Gamma Black) with water in the slant or well of the palette. Use a brush to mix it. For your first exercise, mix and match the four grays that appear in Fig. D. With the white of the paper and black, you'll have a tonal range that is wide enough for the drawings coming up in future projects. When you've tested the four grays, take the #7 brush and load it generously with wash. Tilt your illustration board about 6 inches from the horizontal. Begin at the top of the board, and without lifting the brush, bring you puddle of wash down in a zig-zag manner (Fig. E). What you've just executed is called a flat wash. Wet-in-Wet Technique An indefinite blending of tones can be obtained with a wet-in-wet technique. First, lay your drawing surface down flat. Wet your paper or illustration board thoroughly and let the water spread over it. Load your brush with pigment and apply it to the wet surface. Experiment with different degrees of wetness - from a flooded surface to just barely damp. You can force a certain pattern into the blends by picking the paper up and tilting it in the desired direction. Graded Wash You can achieve a gradual change in tone from light to dark, or vice versa, by using a graded wash. Squeeze a dab of pigment on the butcher's tray. Dip your #5 or #7 brush in clear water. Dissolve part of the black into a large puddle. Rinse your brush. Dip it into clear water again and work your brush into the outer fringes of the puddle. Begin in the upper left hand corner. Zigzag your brush about a half inch down your paper. Dip into a denser part of the puddle and continue downward another half inch, slightly overlapping the first strip. Repeat the process adding darker grays until you dip into the black itself. To do a graded wash from dark to light, simply reverse the process. Begin with the darkest value and add more water as you zigzag your way down the paper. To do a vertical graded wash, you turn your paper. Drybrush There will be times when, for textural reasons, you'll want some drybrush passages. These effects are created when a brush that's fairly dry (not loaded with pigment) is rapidly skimmed across paper. The brush deposits pigment only on the ridges of the paper. The effect produced is that of pigment with many gaps through which you see the paper's surface. Dip your brush into whatever tonal value you want to produce on the paper. Empty it by discharging most of its load of pigment on a piece of scrap paper. Work the brush in any direction that will flatten and fan the point.
Flat Wash
There will also be times when you'll want some linear definitions over a graded or flat wash. simply by varying pressure, you can do the thinnest lines or thickest strokes with the same (#5) brush. Thin lines can be done with the tip of the brush; as you apply pressure thicker lines will appear. Practice the strokes shown in Fig. G. I just cannot urge you too strongly to practice the exercises demonstrated here until you can do them with ease and spontaneity. Please don't be timid. Let yourself go. Relax and splash away. It is marvelous to see the various effects that you can get with only black and varying amounts of water. I promise to be back with the next lesson in just a few days. Then, we'll will begin to tackle actual subjects. In the meantime, if you practice what we have discussed here, you won't have to struggle to grasp the subjects we will be attempting.
Linear Effects