Basic Information about Gouache Paint

If you are unfamiliar with gouache (pronounced GWAHSH), it is typically described as an opaque watercolor, although when diluted with water, it can be used transparently, as well. As with traditional watercolor, it doesn't dry waterproof, so be aware that if you paint over it, you could activate the dried layer if you use enough water. This can be great, as it makes the colors blend easily and gives you the ability to soften edges and spread color. It can also be annoying, of course. Be careful not to get drips or spatters of water on the dried paint surface, as this can create spots.

The opacity enables you to use the paint on dark surfaces, though, which can create interesting results. I painted this nighttime scene of my bedroom with white gouache on black bristol board. I especially like the reflection of the edge of the pillow against the night-darkened window glass. That kind of effect would be harder to achieve with a different medium. 

Gouache paint dries matte, like that tempera paint you probably used in grade school. The two paints actually look very similar in their finished state, but tempera dries permanent and gouache is rewettable/reworkable, as we've discussed. The paints have different binders – traditionally, egg yolk for tempera and gum arabic for gouache. There is also a type of gouache called acrylic gouache that dries permanent, like acrylic paint. I prefer workable gouache, since I already work in acrylic and can use that if I want a more permanent finish. 

Gouache has been around for quite a long time, but it was considered more of a designers' medium (that is, more for advertising and design layout sketches than for finished pieces - even my painting above was just a tonal study for a larger piece). However, it's been getting a bit of a renaissance lately, via art YouTube channels, since it is colorful, fun, and easy to use. I have been getting back into it myself and really enjoying it! I bought myself a set of Miya's HIMI jelly gouache and am in the process of posting some reviews of it showing the different colors and a gouache painting in progress. 

For the initial unboxing: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html 

The reviews start here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

All images are copyrighted property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

The Best Drawing Paper to Use with Drawing Pencils

As I mentioned in this prior article about the different grades of drawing pencils, the paper is an important part of the drawing experience. The way pencils (and other dry media, like charcoal and pastel) work is that when you draw, you leave a trail of the graphite powder that, when compressed, forms the pencil "lead", on the surface of the paper. The various pencil grades indicate exactly how much of the powder you will leave, which determines the quality of the mark you make. 

So, let's talk about that paper surface, which is the other part of the equation. If you've ever tried to draw with a pencil on a piece of slick posterboard, you'll have learned you can't get very artistic with it - the slick surface doesn't have enough tooth (texture) to abrade the graphite particles off of the pencil. It's fine - posterboard is designed for ink, which likes a smooth surface to sit on. For pencil drawings, however, you will want a paper surface with some tooth. How much depends on what hardness of pencil. 

If you are using very soft pencils, use a paper with more texture, like pastel/charcoal paper, which is designed to grab those particles and hold them in their nooks and crannies, allowing you to build up layers of tone. For harder pencils, use a smoother surface, so your pencil won't catch or "skip" on the texture. You'll want to display the sharp, clean line a hard pencil makes on a surface with just enough texture to grab those graphite bits but not enough to dull or smear them. Vellum is a great choice for use with hard leads. 

Just as with any job, having the right tools makes the work a whole lot easier! 

The portrait above was completed with a 2B pencil on Strathmore 400 Series Drawing paper. Strathmore is my favorite brand. It's Scottish, so it's nae crap! 

Other articles about drawing you might like: 

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2016/02/learning-to-draw-first-step-have-right.html

http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/03/i-have-been-professional-portrait.html

http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/03/figure-drawing-101-wacky-secrets-of.html

http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/05/figure-drawing-101-so-you-wanna-be.html 

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart 

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache Color Review #5: Earth Yellow and Burnt Umber

 

This is the fifth in a series of reviews of the individual colors from the Miya HIMI brand 24-color “jelly” gouache paint set. This review will concentrate on the Miya HIMI Earth Yellow and Burnt Umber jelly gouache paint colors and will also include updates on my Star Trek painting and how my swatch chart is coming along.

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Earth Yellow 050

With the background finished, it was time to start on my figures. Animal bits aside, this was still Kirk and Picard, so I needed to ensure they were recognizable. The easiest way to do that was by including their uniform jackets. Despite the whole green/gold controversy surrounding Kirk's uniform, I always saw it as gold, so I needed a yellow ochre-ish color. The HIMI set has a color called Earth Yellow that is the right shade, so I busted that out and swatched it, then painted the base color of Kirk's jacket. It was a very straightforward match – no color-mixing necessary. 

As you can see from the swatches, Earth Yellow has a strong opacity with some marked granularity, typical of earth tones.

Miya HIMI Jelly Gouache color Burnt Umber 046

Next, I needed a brown color for Kirk's goaty lower body. I also needed to mix a shadow color for his jacket and some brown for his hair. Burnt Umber, a slightly cool, dark brown, blended well with the Earth Yellow gouache to create a neutral, mid-range brown to create the shading on Kirk's jacket and his brown hair. 

Then I flipped the script and used the Earth Yellow to create highlighted areas on Kirk's satyr legs and hair. The colors mix very well and application was smooth, as with the prior colors. 

The Burnt Umber was a lovely chocolate pudding color – very tempting! As with its fellow earth color, Earth Yellow, the Burnt Umber had strong opacity and granularity. These are also probably the most lightfast hues in the collection, another feature of earth tones.

A look at the swatch chart shows several of the color mixes as well as the comparison of the lighter and darker and warmer and cooler colors. I've only done a few 50/50 mixes so far, as I was focusing more on getting the painting done for my friend's birthday, but I did swatch a mix of the Earth Yellow and Burt Umber, which appears halfway down the right edge, where the two colors converge on the grid. As you can see, it makes a lovely golden brown. 

The birthday card was starting to take shape - as you can see above, I filled in the lettering, since the background was complete. 

For the original post describing the unboxing of the Miya HIMI jelly gouache paint set, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

For the first review in the series and an explanation of the painting and its very particular subject matter, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

First Look at the Sketch Pad from the Artownlar 72-Piece Art Set

 

This is a follow-up on the blog post about unboxing the Artownlar 72 piece art set (here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/unboxing-artownlar-72-piece-art-supply.html ). This is a first look at the sketchbook that was included with the Artownlar art supply set. At the time, this sketch pad was shrink-wrapped, and so the only thing that I could tell you before opening it was what I could see from the outside.

It was labeled as a 60-sheet book, 8½ x 11 inches, with a paper weight of 80 pounds. I was pretty excited about that because most sketch pad paper is only 65 lbs, but 80 lbs is the same weight as my favorite drawing paper, Strathmore's 400 series. I could also see from indications on the cover and from looking at the side of the pad that the paper came in three colors: 10 pages of tan paper, 10 pages of black paper, and 40 pages of white paper. I've never seen a basic sketchbook with a variety of colors before, so that was fun.

 

Now I have unwrapped the sketch pad and have had a chance to examine it more closely. I have discovered something interesting: Not only do the pages come in different colors, they also come in different textures, according to color. The white pages are textured very much like drawing paper, with a fairly light “tooth” on each side. Good for pencil or colored pencil, and perfectly okay for media like pen or marker, too.

The tan sheets, however, are different: Unlike the white pages that are textured on both sides, the tan pages are extremely smooth on one side and have a texture on the other. 

The smooth side probably would not be good for the charcoal pencils that are included in the set and perhaps not for the softer drawing pencils; maybe the harder ones. I think these might be best suited for a medium like pen and ink or marker; possibly a somewhat dryer and thicker paint like gouache. As for the textured side of the tan pages, they have a lot more texture than the white pages, and so this might be ideal for a medium that gets built up in layers, like charcoal or colored pencil. Since the the set is very colored-pencil-heavy, then that might be a good thing to try.

Last but not least, the black pages are actually smooth on both sides and might not be receptive to any dry media. Again, these would kind of be like the smooth side of the tan sheets, but since they are black, perhaps they would be best used with gel pens in white or neon colors. I could possibly try white colored pencil and see if that goes anywhere, but with no tooth to the paper, I don't think trying to layer colored pencils as usual would work. I do have a silver Sharpie that might make some fun marks, but I would really prefer trying to stick to the supplies that are included in the set just for consistency sake and also it might be kind of fun to limit myself – it might force me to be more creative in figuring out what I can do.

I'm pretty sure that the black pages cannot be used with the watercolor pencils, but who knows? We'll see. I feel like the only possible page for the watercolor pencils might be the tan paper, because I think watercolor would probably just wrinkle up the white pages. Even though all the pages are supposed to be 80 lbs, the tan paper seems more sturdy, like maybe it would be okay to use watercolor pencils. Maybe I'll just try to use not very much water. I'm trying not to destroy things, here!

Anyway, I did end up using some supplies from the set, including one of the sketchbook pages, to make a picture, so I will write a more detailed review on that in the future.

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

Inktober 2024 Prompt List and Some Updates

 

I haven't written about Inktober in a while, and it's under way again, so first things first: There is the prompt list, above. Yes, I know they release it in September, and I know it's already the second week of Inktober, but...you know how I am. By the way, if you follow my Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart ), you will note that I shared the prompt list when it was released, so this is just kind of, let's say, reinforcement.

The last time I blogged about Inktober was in 2022, when I was writing about Inktober 2021 (again, completely on brand), right here https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2022/09/inktober-2021-thrilling-conclusion-kind.html . I'd actually had a cracking good year, producing well more of the prompts than usual, owing a lot to the fact that I ended up doing a few drawings later in the month that combined three prompts each.

Inktober 2021, Day 9, “Pressure” - I mentioned this one at the end of the last Inktober article as having been pencilled (believe it or not, prior to the start of Inktober that year) but not inked. Happily, I did manage to finish the inks on it – this year!!!

I wasn't very gung-ho about Inktober 2022 (still tired from the prior year? Anybody's guess), but I did produce work for the first two prompts, “Gargoyle” and “Scurry”, but, uh...not in that order. Really very much not. Not even in the same year, actually. I produced “Scurry”, a cute sketch of a stressed-out businessrodent, running (literally) late for an important meeting. Scurry, cute lil dude! You'll make it!

The Day 1 prompt, “Gargoyle”, was a classic example of my shooting myself in the foot by deciding that I was going to do a portrait (nooooo!) of one of Notre Dame's famous beasties, from photo reference. This is as far as I got that year:

Decent start, but whew, look – I shouldn't try that nonsense on Day 1. So when did I finish? I'll get back to that.

That was it for 2022, but I managed to do even less for 2023. This time I changed things up by mostly ignoring that it was happening at all, until I happened to notice that the Day 19 prompt was “Plump”, and I got inspired to scribble this cute gal:

And that was all of Inktober 2023 for me. I mean, so far, at least. I do have the idea that someday, I will actually go back and complete every single one of the prompts I missed. I mean, I have many months during which it is not actually Inktober, for corn's sake. At least I scored one, which is one more than the Australian women's Olympic breakdancer scored. I didn't even have to fly to Paris on anyone's dime.

Oh yeah – here's my drawing for “Gargoyle”, which I finished THIS YEAR. And upon posting it, I found out it's not even a gargoyle, dang it. It's a grotesque (they're to scare demons away – the gargoyles are downspouts, to drain the water away). So anyway, tune in next time or sometime to find out how I'm doing with this year's prompts. Spoiler: I am participating again, so there's that.

Here are the other Inktober articles, if you would like the full coverage:

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-little-backstory-on-inktober.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2020/10/inktober-2020-is-under-way.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2020/11/more-fun-with-inktober.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2021/03/another-shot-of-inktober-so-what-if-its.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2022/04/inktober-restrospective-2020-part-two.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2022/08/inktober-2021-starting-off-with-bang.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2022/09/inktober-2021-did-i-start-unraveling.html

All images are my original art

Color Theory: What is Chroma?

In reading or hearing about color, you may hear the term "chroma" and wonder, what exactly, does chroma mean? It sounds kind of like chrome. Is it related? Something shiny? 

A simple explanation is that chroma=intensity, or how bright the color appears. Not bright as in "shiny", like chrome, but bright as in very highly pigmented, very highly concentrated color. In painter's terms, "straight out of the tube". 

Another term you may see for this is "saturation", which is used often in filmmaking - more saturated (bright) colors have a higher chroma, and less saturated (muted) colors a lower chroma. 

The three characteristics of color are: hue (what color it is), value (lightness/darkness), and chroma (intensity).

For example, the predominant color in my sketchbook drawing below is pink (hue), medium value (value is measured either on a 1-10 scale where 1 is equal to black and 10 is equal to white. I'd give this a 5 or 6) and a high chroma. It's a very intense color.

So the highest chroma is dazzling, intense color. As the color gets more muted, the chroma becomes lower, until the lowest chroma is just grey. And how light or dark the grey would be depends on the value of the original color.

Note that these three attributes - hue, value, and chroma - are all separate; you can have an intense light pink or an intense dark pink, a dull light pink or a dull dark pink, an intense dark blue, a dull medium purple, etc.

To read more about color and its practical applications: 

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2014/12/want-to-use-color-in-your-home-learn_93.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2014/12/using-color-in-your-home-getting.html

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2014/12/vincent-van-goghs-irises-shows-how-to.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart

Image credits (top) https://www.pexels.com/photo/color-shade-samples-276267/

second image is my much less professional photograph

HIMI Jelly Gouache Color Review #4: Jade Green, Grass Green, and Yellow Green

 

This is the fourth in a series of reviews of the individual colors from the HIMI brand 24-color “jelly” gouache paint set. This review will concentrate on the HIMI Jade Green, Grass Green, and Yellow Green jelly gouache paint colors and will also include updates on my Star Trek painting and how my swatch chart is coming along.

Setting aside the mint green grass debacle (see the review of HIMI Gouache color 005 – Pale Green for that https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/09/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-3-pale.html) for a while, I turned back to working on the background of the painting. I needed a line of trees in the background, and so I was looking for a green that was darker but very cool, since cool colors recede.

HIMI Jelly Gouache color no 002 – Jade Green

There was a color in the collection called Jade Green - this is HIMI gouache color 002. It is a very dark color with a very cool cast, kind of like the green version of the Acid Blue that I discussed in a previous post (https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/07/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-white.html). 

As with the other colors, it was very creamy in consistency once I had given it a good stir to get it well-blended. It was very dark, but gouache is easily lightened by diluting it with water or by mixing it with white or lighter colors. Since this was for the background and it's best to work thin-to-thick, I chose to simply dilute with water for the lighter bits. It made a good color for the background trees, so I went ahead and painted in the treeline and then added the Jade Green to my swatch charts.

HIMI Jelly Gouache color no 072 – Grass Green

Now that the trees were established in the background, I went back to working on the grass to complete the background of the picture. The obvious choice at this point was Grass Green, at which I had turned up my nose before. Not surprisingly, it ended up being an appropriate color for the grass, as you can see in this picture.

HIMI Jelly Gouache color no 018 – Yellow Green

I also added the color Yellow Green to highlight the areas where the sun would naturally be striking the grass, so that I could have a nice sunny meadow to compliment my bright blue sky. As you can see from the swatch chart at the top of the page, the Grass Green and the Yellow Green are extremely warm - that is, they have a lot of yellow in them - in contrast to the Jade Green and the Pale Green colors, which are extremely cool, meaning that they have a very blue undertone.

Now the background of the picture is pretty much complete, and I can move along to painting my characters!

For the original post describing the unboxing of the HIMI jelly gouache paint set, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

For the first review in the series, go here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart