Cassowary Experiment - Part 2

Okay, here it is. The long-awaited final result of my little experiment. First I'll post the picture, then add my thoughts.

I didn't crop the scan as much as usual specifically to show the amount of warping of the paper. Clearly it did not enjoy getting wet. However, it appears like the warping is worse along the top right where the clouds are and with the grass along the bottom. That's where I used the bigger, wetter brush. In fact, there were some places in the sky where the paper was starting to turn gray and spotty from the absorbed water, but that went away as it dried. The warping doesn't look as bad around the head. That's where I used the very fine brush to do a small patch of color and then immediately dab it dry with a paper towel. Next time I'll probably try wetting and stretching the paper before painting, just like a real watercolor artist would do.

Looking at the color itself, it blended together nicely when wet but ended up very pale. I'll have to remember to color darker with the pencils, or maybe I can do some interesting effects by layering (color with pencil, brush wet, let dry, repeat).

Finally, I'm very happy with how the ink wasn't affected at all by the water. It stayed completely black and didn't run or smear, even while gently scrubbing the wet brush over it. This means I should be able to do my ink drawing and then wet and stretch the paper (so if I mess up on the sketch, I can just redraw it on untreated paper rather than wasting another day doing another wet and dry paper conditioning cycle).

In short, it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to this time, but I've got some ideas to make it better in the future.

Cassowary Experiment - Part 1

Tonight I'm trying a little artistic experiment. I have this old set of watercolor pencils that I've never used, so I figured this was as good a time as any to try them out.

These are the questions I'm trying to answer:
- Will the ink run when it gets wet?
- How will the paper react to getting wet (how much will it curl/wrinkle)?
- How vibrant will the final colors be?
- How well will the colors blend together? Will they look like a real watercolor painting?
- And basically, how good are the results from this technique?

Here's how it's going to work. First, I'll draw something with my good old standby Staedtler pigment liner pens on the nice, white 5x7 cardstock I typically use. I chose to draw a cassowary. (I didn't put much time into this step, I just needed something for the experiment.)

Next, I colored it in with the pencils. I started with the lightest colors filling large areas, then added darker, more vibrant colors on top of them. I wasn't trying to be particularly careful with the coloring or blending the colors because I wanted to see how the water would affect it. I also added the clouds and grass to see what it would look like without the ink outlines.

Finally I got a cup of water, a couple of brushes (one medium-small, one very fine) and some paper towels and started wetting it down. I used the very fine brush on the head and leg details, and with wetter, broader strokes on the feathers. I used the medium-small for the clouds and grass. It's drying now, and you'll get to see the final result tomorrow! Stay tuned!