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littledeadybear — in the beginning
#moon #princess #usagi #queenserenity #sailormoon #serenity
Published: 2019-02-26 08:54:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 353; Favourites: 44; Downloads: 0
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Description
My attempt to revive my passion for watercolor. Sailor Moon characters always seem to inspire my inner creativity. Do you think there is such a thing as a mutual spirit of love for series that touched so many young women? Like, somehow through so much love and adoration that fans pour into show, that something of a spirit is created and helps create extra inspiration? I don't know if I'd believe in such a thing, but it is a nice belief...Done with a mix of Daniel Smith gem tones and Winsor Newton Cotman palette. On shitty watercolor paper and taken with my phone.
If you feel up to critiquing I have several questions in mind: (1.)When photographing a watercolor piece or any traditional medium with a basic phone camera, what tips do you have on getting a better shot that helps convey all the more subtle gradients? I feel the picture came out grainy.. (2.) Does anyone have any advice on how to achieve glow with water colors? I think I managed to create some luminosity with the yellows but I want to feel that same sort of luminosity that I can get with photoshop without having to touch up in photoshop. Which I know is bizarre but I really prefer how traditional art feels to digital art in the making of. (3.) Does anyone have any good ideas on how to get into the more abstract type of washes and backgrounds for watercolor? Or a person who does it well that they can link me up with? Maybe I can do studies of their work.
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Comments: 9
This piece is beautiful! It really gives the viewer a feeling of magic/fantasy, calmness, and nostalgia for those who know of the subject. One thing you could work on is anatomy. Her fingers are very sharp and pointy instead of rounded at the end. Her head looks a bit too bulbous in the back where her hair meets her neck. Her hips look to be placed a bit too high shortening her stomach area. I don't mind the sketchiness of the linework because I personally think it looks great with watercolor. Your moon is a bit wonky and i wish it fit more inside the purple area or that it wasn't colored into the white border. If you crop it or frame it to cover that area it won't look so noticeable. Your paper looks a little warped (which happens with watercolor) Are you taping the edges of your paper to a flat surface? If you tape all around the edges of the paper it usually helps keep your paper flatter. After painting I will also put my painting in between two pieces of paper to keep it safe and put something heavy on top of it to flatten it out. I really like the colors you've used in this piece. They really tie everything together. For example, using purple in her skin tones and in the background was a really good idea. The purple and yellow are complimentary colors and look really nice when paired together. For your question #1 - I also have to use a phone camera to take pictures of my art. I put a couple lamps right above my piece to really light it up and don't use my camera flash. I also keep it taped down for picture taking. After I will edit the photo to get the colors as close to the original as possible. I think for the most part the picture doesn't look too grainy. The purple background looks a bit textured if that's what you mean? If you use too much water and do too much "scrubbing" on the paper it can cause the paper to look pilled and grainy. Buying better paper can help as well as not scrubbing too much. Sometimes if you have low quality paints you may feel like you have to keep adding and adding to get the color you want, but Winsor Newton is supposed to be pretty decent #2 -If you wanted the crystal or moon to glow then you can't go over the dark purple with another color to make a glow. You have to leave the glow area as free of paint as possible and make a gradient from purple to light yellow to show a glow. #3- I personally like to look at youtube art tutorials. www.youtube.com/watch?v=foc8o1… That video has some good basic ideas for adding textures. I haven't done a ton of watercolor painting as i've just gotten into it not too long ago, but i've tried a few of these and have had good results. I especially like the plastic wrap idea, I wouldn't have thought of that one myself. There are a lot of other videos that are helpful too and it might even help to see another artist go through the process of painting to see what they do and learn from it. I personally really enjoy your watercolor pieces and think they're lovely. It's a difficult medium to work with and learn, but a very fun process 8) Also, I completely agree with your first statement and feel the same way!
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Why the title is - in the beggining - ? Is it look like sailormoon ? Btw, i like the picture, between combination moon and the girl, goddess, always.
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Thank you so much for your detailed reply! I see and agree with everything you're saying about the anatomy--to be honest, the fingers are like that because I am lazy and have not done very many hand studies... And I knew the anatomy was some how off with the main body, but I just couldn't tell what--it's funny that it happened to be the hips, because I think the torso is one of my worst areas for proportion areas! My characters either get super compact waists, or long and stretchy... I've recently been doing the 100 heads in 10 days challenge with my sketch book, but maybe I should switch to hands and bodies instead.
It's difficult to explain what I mean by grainy, because I have the original picture and I can see the distortions the camera made with the original... But essentially, there are a lot of finer waterline edges where the color intermixes that the camera didn't capture, and then it looks like in some areas the camera invented colors. 
Also I went through your gallery and I saw your first watercolor piece!! Jesus christ, that Fox and woman portrait is so beautiful! So good! I sincerely hope you do more watercolors portraits. What watercolor set are you using?
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I used to draw fingers the same way. I think it's a pretty common thing actually since hands are difficult to draw in general.
Ah, I dunno how you would fix that besides maybe trying someone else's phone to take pictures or getting/using a scanner. If you're in school you might be able to find a scanner there.
Thanks! I used a mix of Reeves and Royal Langnickel watercolors because someone gave them to me as christmas gifts. I just received the Winsor & Newton pallet I ordered on amazon though, and I plan on trying those out from now on. I plan on doing a lot more watercolor paintings 8) I find it really fun, though I draw better digitally haha
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This is lovely! I love the colors and the anatomy~
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You are such a sweetheart! I wish the camera wouldn't have distorted everything so, but maybe it worked in my favor by making the colors and rough shapes take predominance over the finer details!
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You're welcome and don't worry about it! Your painting still looks fantastic~
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Thank you so much dear heart. <3
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