Dragon Dancing WIP

[Mparker]

This will be my first WIP. Lets hope it works out ok. This is a 15x20 on Hot Press illustration board. Attached here is the original sketch and the transferred drawing on the board. Oh, and a small shot of me working out the knotwork sketch.

Michelle

[Mparker]

More pictures ( I had a couple of days' work done on this before I was able to upload these, so bear with me.) Here are the inked drawing,in waterproof india ink, a detail and the grey underpainting in watercolors.

[Mparker]

OK, the rest of the ones I have done up to this point. Here I've started the watercolor work. It was going very slowly. I'm not sure why, because I was enjoying it, but I was being very hesitant with my watercolors on this painting.

Next, I have a detail of the woman. I wasn't very happy with the way her face was turning out, and I was getting a little frustrated.

So I erased down the watercolors in the highlight areas on the woman, and started playing with the colored pencils. This really helped, and I'm starting to feel much happier with the painting at this point.

And a detail of the dragon at this point. I'm making this a white dragon, but am putting a lot of colors into it, trying to balance the warm and cool colors to make it more vibrant than just a "plain" white dragon.

And now I'm off to actually work on the painting some more!


Michelle

[TigerEye]

This is gorgeous!

I esspeciall like the use of colors and how your using so many diferent colors on the white dragon.. it will really make him pop out. I can't wait to see more!

[Maryem]

This is looking wonderful already. I too am looking forward to the final version. I have to say that the underpainting stage looked very interesting, like a painting of a sculpture!

Mary

[tereP]

Cool! great WIP, now I'm gonna have to stick around to see how it developes! *pulling a chair*

[LazyKat]

Beautiful ...you should do a tutorial on fabric folds! Makes me want to go buy some india ink as well.. One question - how come with all the knotwork going on you didn't put it in the project?

[kiwicockatoo]

Wow - this is great - her dress is really nice, you've got a lot of movement in here. I love all the little knotwork touches. The dragon is awesome! Hmmm.... I'm trying to find something to crit here - can't find anything. Looks perfect - I can hardly wait to see this done.

Do you paint the ink on with a brush? It doesn't make the surface buckle? Sorry, I'm not the familiar with the properties of illustration board. Thanks for posting this in stages!

[Mparker]

Originally Posted by Maryem

This is looking wonderful already. I too am looking forward to the final version. I have to say that the underpainting stage looked very interesting, like a painting of a sculpture!

Mary

Thanks. You know, when I was working at that stage I was thinking that I should plan a piece to be finished in that method. It's got a really interesting look to it. And the paper just slightly resists absorbing the color, so it sits on the paper with an interesting texture. It's definitely something worth playing with more.

Michelle

[Mparker]

Originally Posted by LazyKat

Beautiful ...you should do a tutorial on fabric folds! Makes me want to go buy some india ink as well.. One question - how come with all the knotwork going on you didn't put it in the project?

That's a fair question.

I had planned on doing this as a WIP since I started the sketch. Actually, the last three pieces I finished were supposed to be WIPs, but because I'm using a camera that isn't mine, things were difficult to schedule. So, I decided that I would go ahead and do this one as a WIP. (Plus, I was wanting to upload all the pics quickly so I could get back to work on the painting last night, and didn't want to take the time to look up how to submit it to the project. But don't tell anyone.

But I have a couple of ideas that I want to do with knotwork that are a little different from what I usually do, and want to use one of those for the project. I thought it would make me work harder to come up with something good if I didn't use something I already had in the works.

Thanks for asking.

[Mparker]

Originally Posted by kiwicockatoo

Do you paint the ink on with a brush? It doesn't make the surface buckle? Sorry, I'm not the familiar with the properties of illustration board. Thanks for posting this in stages!

The illustration board is very thick, it had a stiff backing attached to the paper, and is designed to not buckle. Though it DOES tend to warp into a curve, I just stick some books on top of it when it's done and it flattens right out. It's probably about 1/16" to 1/8" thick.

I draw the really delicate lines with a pen. I use technical pens in different sizes (the kind you buy filled with ink, not the refillable ones. I used to have a set of those, but they are so hard to clean and refill that they aren't worth the trouble). I only use the pens with "pigment ink" because it's waterproof and does not fade or bleed. Once I have the tiny details inked in, I'll go in with a brush and fill in the larger areas. The ink I use is pretty thick and not watery, so it would be useable even on a piece of sturdy bristol or watercolor paper without a problem.

Michelle

[LazyKat]

Originally Posted by Mparker

That's a fair question.

I had planned on doing this as a WIP since I started the sketch. Actually, the last three pieces I finished were supposed to be WIPs, but because I'm using a camera that isn't mine, things were difficult to schedule.

Heh.. I'm in the same boat with the whole using someone else's camera situation. I know how fun that can be.

I'm really looking forward to whatever future work you post..you are quite the source of inspiration for me. I'm going to try some hot press paper for my next piece.. something larger as well. Do you ever work with cold press? I ask because I'm thinking detail work would be much easier on hot press..do you find this to be true?

[Mparker]

Lazycat,

The camera thing really is annoying. And I'm using someone else's scanner, too. Luckily they live in the same apartment complex that I live in.

As for the Hot-press/Cold press issue, I can only tell you what works for me. Everything I've ever heard or read says don't use hot-press for watercolor or for colored pencil. And I've been using it for both in combination. I did the Shining Light cat piece on Cold-Press and found that too much of the paper texture was showing through the colored pencil work for my tastes. I think it breaks up the flow of the lines too much. It was okay on that one, because the cat was fuzzy, but it still bothered me a little while working.

The Hot-Press takes a little getting used to with the watercolors because it puddles slightly rather than soaking into the paper, which I think gives the colors a lovely mottled look. And they say you can't get as many layers of colored pencil onto it either, but when the CPs stops adhering, I figure I'm pretty close to finishing anyway, finish up what I can, hit it with a layer of fixative, and touch in those last highlights and shadows that I couldn't get to stick before.

I was also told to never make a graphite drawing with a mechanical pencil, and that's the only thing I can stand to work with. Anything else I'm sharpening more than I'm drawing. So I seem to work backwards from everyone else.

On a related note, I found a small block of hot-press watercolor paper on my last Hobby Lobby trip in the discontinued section. It was like 1/3 the usual price and I snapped it up. I'm eager to see how it handles, but haven't come up with any small designs that I want to do on it yet.

Gosh, I can ramble on a bit, can't I?

Michelle

[kitaye]

Lovely piece. I can't add anything to what others have said.

[imperess]

very nice work.. great movement and deatail.. i like it alot.. looks like you have very refined drawing skills !! and a creative imagination to go with them..
this is one of those pieces i see and i am like how come i can't come up with creative stuff like this???

very cool

can't wait to see it finished..

~carol