2D Pieces: Materials and Reflection

In this post I will share some details of the material that I used for my 2D outcomes as well as my overall opinion on these. 

The materials

As I had already mentioned before and as you can see in my previous posts, my 2D outcomes were made with watercolours. Although my progressing route is Fine Art, I never felt comfortable using watercolours. I always tried to run from it and in the majority of the times I would paint with india ink instead. For this reason, I decided that this would be the project that would make me lose this 'fear'. These were the watercolours that I used:

These 18 watercolours are from the brand "Daler - Rowney". I don't have much experience using watercolours, so these were okay for me. However, once they end I would like to buy my next watercolours in tubes. I believe this will help me to understand my preferences in terms of watercolours and of course change the brand. Nevertheless, I liked to use them and the range of colours was more than enough for me. 

In terms of paper, I used a block of sheet from the brand "Canson". I choose one that was specific for watercolours or tempera and had 10 pages, this allowed me to do each painting two times (as I mentioned in my posts, I needed it). It had 370 of grammage:

Overall, I liked the paper, especially the texture and thickness. However, I had some problems that I was not counting on since it was a paper made for the use of watercolours. At a certain point some parts of the paper started to curl and it was even peeling. I tried not to damage the paper but this happened through the process and there was nothing that I could do about it. I guess next time I will have to be extra careful.

In terms of brushes, alhough I had some I had to buy new ones. Normally I would buy from the brand "Milan", which is, on my opinion, a good and affordable brand, but for the largest one I had to buy from the brand "Van Gogh", which is a little bit more expensive but still worth it.

I used different sizes and even shapes. For the largest areas I used the brush number 14, this would save me time and give consistency to the area painted. In contrast, for little details such as the features of the faces, hair and hands I used the brush number 4. For the straight lines I used the flat brush, which I believe that is also a number 4 but I am not sure since the number has already fall. For the rest of the paintings I would normally used the number 10, which is neither too big nor too little.

Finally, for the drawings, I used my mechanical pencil and my kneadable art eraser, which I already use for several years now.

It is the only art material I have from the brand "Petel" but it is also the one I use and like the most. My mechanical pencil has the right weight for me and I had never found one has good as this one. The eraser is also very good and because it is malleable I can erase little details or erase little amount of graphite. 

2D Outcomes: Reflection

Overall, I happy with the final result of my paintings. It is not perfect, it is actually very far from it, but I am finally comfortable using watercolours, which is what I wanted the most. Furthermore, I was bale to give consistency to the collection and created something with my own style, which I tried to develop throught the several sketches I made as well as the several attempts of final pieces. 

My favourite piece is of the collection is the one which represents the kami Amaterasu. I believe that this one is the best in terms of colour palette, composition, technique (using the materials) and even in terms of clothing.