Watercolor Tutorial #1 - Tools and Materials

Hi There...

Still remember my last post about watercolor experiment? if not you can read it here watercolor-experiment-for-children-book. Many friends asked me to give some tips and tricks using watercolor as illustration or painting. Ok then, I will post several tips in watercolor painting and I will post it in several parts. This is our first part. So keep on following.

"nothing quite compares with the transparancy, luminosity and sheer beauty of well-painted watercolor" (William Newton)

Watercolor is really difficult to learn for some people. As people always says, Practice make perfect ^^. I will write this post (and next posts) based on my own experiences.

To make a beautiful watercolor painting we have understand our tools and materials first.
1. Paints (cat air)
watercolor available in tubes and pans, I prefer to use tubes since it is wetter and easy to mix.

2. Pallets (palet)
Pallets is really useful to mix some colors. I use to mix every colors with yellow ochre to get a nice color scheme.

3. Brushes (kuas)
Yes, brushes definitely is a very important tools that you cant ignore. Never pick a wrong brushes, it will cause failure in panting. A good quality brushes will hold water very well and joy to use.

a. Cotman from Winsor Newton
I pick Cotman form Winsor Newton. It is quite expensive since it cost over IDR 27000-45000 in 1998. But It will give you a very excellent results. 

 b. non branded
synthetic brushes are also enjoy to use and relatively inexpensive. It is only IDR 5000 (in 2013).

c. Flat Brush

I need flat brushes to lay a wash, to wet the paper or to apply sky.

4. Papers (kertas)

watercolor paper is quite different with other papers. It is made in different kind of thicknesses and texture. I use Canson for average usage and Fabriano for advanced usage. I prefer fabriano than canson.

5. Fresh Water (air)

It is important to have two bowls of fresh water. First bowl for washing your brush and second for dilute your paints. Adequate water will determine best result. Remember, always keep your brushes clean.

6. Pencil and eraser (pensil dan penghapus)

I use sketches pencil B or 2B for drawing outline. Keep your drawing light. 

For guiding you to learn more about watercolor i suggest you to read some books about watercolor, one of them is Painting with Watercolours (William Newton)

I think it is enough for today... will post second part soon.

(to be continued)

warm regards'

Dini

watercolor experiment for children book illustration

Sudah lama rasanya saya tidak pegang kuas :) 

Rasanya sudah sekitar 4-5 tahun lalu sejak anak-anak lahir saya tidak pernah lagi menyentuh kuas dan cat air. Saya sangat-sangat suka dengan media cat air, karena kesannya yang klasik dan elegan. Apalagi kalau digunakan untuk bangunan aristektur.

Nah, tiba-tiba saja hasrat untuk membuat gambar cat air muncul kembali saat sebuah naskah saya di ACC salah satu penerbit. Hmmm... saya tidak akan banyak cerita mengenai naskah tersebut, biar penasaran :D

Saya masih menyimpan kuas-kuas merk Cotman dari Winsor Newton, dan kertas cair merk Fabriano dan Canson. Tapi saya kehilangan tube cat air saya yang notabene cukup mahal harganya :'( Akhirnya untuk cat air saya gunakan merk Maries 12 warna, kepunyaan Keni anak saya :D.

Semoga kemampuan cat air saya belum hilang dan masih bisa menghasilkan gambar yang layak untuk dijadikan ilustrasi buku anak.

Kapan-kapan saya akan share sedikit mengenai tips-tips cat air ya, jangan bosan.

This is it!!

Hope you like it.