The Unforgiving Watercolor

“Watercolor is hard”
“Watercolor is unforgiving”
“You no op controlling wuterkulor, wuterkulor control you”
“Watercolor is one of the hardest mediums to master”

Those are the quotes that I encountered. Almost no one worked with it, or even dared to work with it. Most of us are graphite artists, inclined to anime, or acrylic painters. For most of us, this plate is our first encounter of watercolor myself included. 

Our first exercise plate is to color in the primary and secondary color in three types of washes: Light – little pigment, most water
Medium – even balance between pigment and water
Heavy – little water, more pigment.

The second part of the first exercise is to make an ombre effect, light to heavy wash with primary and secondary colors.

Side note: Those taking Interior Design at University of Santo Tomas, this might be one of your freshman plate (depends on who your professor is)

The plate:

Details: Watercolor (Prang) on 12x18" Canson watercolor paper

Yeah I know I screwed this plate big time. I am keen on my work and I am flabbergasted that I cannot even perform properly, especially on my first plate. The blending is rough. I hate how streaky it is and how I have my dead spots there also mixed up paints.... My performance here is not up to par.

(I call the second picture, a deadspot, because when things go too well then it felt inconsistent suddenly, to me that's a deadspot)

Now for the flood of feels....

Now enough for the feels, any watercolor rookie will screw up. Watercolor is so unpredictable.

Opinions on using watercolor:

          Likes:

• It is interesting
• You just let the paint and water flow to create something that's new and exciting
• A little goes a long way
• You can easily map out mistakes as long as it's not dry
• It is diverse in techniques (Dry brush, wet on wet, etc. etc. I might post a vid of an artist I adore as a water-color artist she mentioned good things about watercolor and I learned a ton from her.)  
• Once you mastered this media, you can really have tons of tricks up in your sleeve, not to mention, impression.
  
  Dislikes:

• You can easily screw it up.
• Hard to master. 
• Unforgiving. 
• (If you are solely relying on water color) You cannot layer a lighter paint over it. DEFINITELY NEVER, you just can't, not easily, why is that? Watercolor is basically working from light to dark. The pigment is not concentrated like how poster paints, acrylics, and other freaking media. (not unless you are a mixed media artist well screw this rule up). 
• If you painted an area that is supposedly white, you're gonna have a hard time. One, once the paint is on the paper, you have to remove the paint while it's wet or damp. Two, If your paint is dry and you neglected to leave that area white you can't just remove that part without a price. Either you make it damp again by adding water and removing it but certainly the paper cannot be restored to its original color also you might overwork your paper. 
• It has to be on a certain ratio of water to paint. Too much pigment will make your paper sticky like a gum left on its wrap. However, you can definitely make it pale or translucent if that's what you aim for. Another tip I would stress on, if you plan to make watercolor uber pigmented, just use poster color or acrylic instead so it won't be sticky especially using Prang watercolor.
  
  (From what I use as far as I can remember, Prang is the only brand that makes highly pigmented portions sticky, mainly because watercolor had honey as an ingredient and unfortunately I don't have a source or ingredient list of Prang because I misplaced my watercolor set I don't know why but hopefully it is stated there. Some say that it is edible because kids use it (still unconfirmed info, if I did have internet source and a book or at least have a breakdown of its' composition I would gladly update this.)
• You have to be patient and work in a certain pace, not too slow or too fast. 

That's it for today's post :) I hope you will find it helpful on what to expect on using watercolor and some base knowledge on how it should be. Although I am not a fan of tutorials, I might give out advice or reminders. Comment below for requests and I might consider on covering a post about that :)

Credits to wikipedia for the watercolor information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting

Freshmen Year, First Semester Artwork: Part 3

As far this would be the last part of my first semester works that I would like to share :) I still have a ton of plates that I can share but this would do for now :) 

Ah, the long awaited Finals Week, we are really excited to get some rest, to let go of the excruciating pain of plates and stress, and to let my bed hug me... I miss you bed!

I did not sleep much on Finals Week, I really have a ton of things to do and it really bothers me because I still have my last plate waiting for me. We have a choice to do whatever shading style we want. Most of my blockmates chose to cross-hatch and I think I'm the only one who did pointilism (Since I saw most of my batch's plates). The reason why I went with pointilism is because I got a low score on my hatching plate. So I have a choice: To go with my gut or do something I know I will fail at. 

I chose, to go with my gut and execute it well.

This is one of the longest plates I did that time, It took me days to finish it and passed it at night that day. 

The University of Santo Tomas' Main Building
Photo From: www.pinoyphotography.org

The Main Building, it was mistaken as a church, but it's not XD. People are fooled by this building and I'm one of them. UST Main Building be like: 

My Finals Plate:

Main Building

Details: Main Building in Pointilism; Techpen on 12x18" Canson Sketchpad Paper.

Pros of Pointilism:

• You can cover your shading mistakes easily by balancing out your shading then do the details again. 
• Since it is done layer by layer, you have a lesser chance of making mistakes.
• It is easy to see or understand by a person that you did a lot of effort. (Even someone who is not artsy might feel it too)

Cons of Pointilism:

• You might have a time where you don't want to add more drama since it is tiresome (but if you are committed to it then go! Push for it) 
• Most of the time you will end up on light looking work on photos. 
• You cannot cheat easily for the sake of speed because your hand when out of control has the tendency to be shaky, and when your hand is shaky your point might look into a stippling motion thus ruining the consistency of the work. 
• It need a lot of time, energy, patience, and consistency. 
• When doing lines in freehand (without any special aid of rulers to help you with pointilism), you'll end up with curved or bent lines if you lack in concentration. 
• If you lack in self-control you can easily screw up. 

Freshmen Year, First Semester Artwork: Part 2

Moving on as I promised ^_^ Part 2!

Preliminary Examination week is coming up... This is equivalent to midterms in foreign countries. Ms. Anxiety attacks! I am still anxious regarding my consistency and performance as I do not want to disappoint my family. I'm the only one who's studying since my older siblings graduated years ago, the legacy of our family and lastly, Interior Design grew on me. It is my dream :) I like it, I'm happy with it and I'm having fun with it. 

I am stoked to know what's next, I'm excited on what area of the campus we'll draw. We went to the Benavides Park, and we stopped at the Fountain of Knowledge.

University of Santo Tomas' Fountain of Knowledge
Photo from vivasantotomas.tumblr.com

"Before your prelims you are going to draw the DEER that's on the fountain." That's what I heard from my professor. O_O A DEER!? Seriously :'( CREI. (I know you may find my whining to be a bit overboard well that's how you would feel as a rookie and someone who still lacks inequalities of a great artist) What I observed is the deer, it is sooo Fab I made a meme...

By the way that's my reference photo too :) But Yay! It is due next week so I have time. However a typhoon struck that week and our local city hall suspended classes for all levels (that includes college students) for almost a week. So yes I really have time to finish it on time. 

Final Work: 

Fountain Deer

Details: Graphite Pencil on Canson Sketchpad 12x18" paper. 

Another one of my works is my Preliminary Exam plate:

Arch of The Centuries Plate
Details: Graphite on 12x18" Canson Sketchpad Paper

I am not really ecstatic on my works, I'm just glad I nailed it and got a nice mark, what I noticed on my works though, It needs darkness, it looked dull because I'm trying to really make my tones match up accurately on how bright or dark it is on my reference photo. Aside from lacking drama, I didn't push further the details.

When I self-critique my works, I take a good look at it. I also check my reference back and forth to see if it matches in proportion and in shading. Sometimes when I have time, I also take a quick picture of it to see how it looks when it is photographed, as photos take away 10-20 percent of color. I like my works to be spot on, both in person and in photo. Lastly, I observe it on its own if it lacks drama or sharpness (unless a simple work is what you're going for then it's fine). Lastly give attention to your paper, an intense pencil grip might curl your paper making it cast unwanted shine effect, relax when shading and use the most suitable graphite pencil to do the job. For instance, do not force a 2B pencil to create an intensity that cannot be attained as each pencil has limits in tonal value. Take that as a tip from me ;)

Forgive me for my lack of vocabulary and grammar correction, I did what I think is right as far as what I would know (in grammar). I just want to help people ^_^

Freshmen Year, First Semester Artwork: Part 1 :)

Here it is... It was a year ago when I entered college, and DAMN! I entered fine arts without having enough skill. I can't draw something realistically. I just draw Anime and I craft things, lol might as well be an Industrial Designer or an Advertiser (since it's more into crafting) but heck Interior Design is all about executing visual arts realistically. (I might post my past works in a separate post) Also, UST-Interior Design is one of the TOP Design schools in the Philippines; especially when I heard UST topped 9/10 on the board exam that year, and that sums up my anxiety.

We have a freehand drawing class wherein we well, draw still life art in Realism. We did basic exercises on a few meetings and after 2-3 meetings, my professor surprised us that we need to sketch a bench outside our campus. Note that we draw outside, and it's HOT! Not fun.

My first realism plate: progress

UST Beato Angelico Bench

Finished Plate:

UST Beato Angelico Bench

Thankfully, I got good remarks which surprised me :) I did not know I could nail it. That was the plate that gave me confidence to push my abilities further and to learn more. That's about it for part one :) stay in touch for my other works.

Cheers to My First Official Post!

Hello Internet ^_^.

First off lemme introduce, my name is Ann Marie Naguit, but I would like to be called, "Ann" for short. Since I when was young I like to draw, sometime sing, a bit of cooking, a whole lot of EATING, and play video games.

My childhood made me who I am today, I mean profession wise.

I am currently taking BS Interior Design. At first I don't know what path I should take, or love. I wanted to be a fashion designer; I love how you can live your style and construct it. I really love clothes :) however; I chose not to be so narcissistic over my parent’s wallet. Since I’m in a middle-class family, I thought well, I’ll just study Interior Design at University of Santo Tomas. It’s more practical that way because I’m two jeepney rides away. That’s it about me :) I will post artworks, gaming, some personal stuff, fashion (If It’s worthy why not?), and a bit of my travel or Dora the Explorer moments.