dcorsetto

How to Make A Watercolor Portrait

Added 2017-04-13 23:31:55 +0000 UTC

Hey friends! Our regular figure drawing class was canceled last-minute last night, but on Tuesday, Michael and I tried something new (well, new for me): we hired a model for JUST a portrait session. I decided to bring my watercolors for the night and show y'all how I use them.

I should note that I am NOT trained in watercolor! Some of you following me here probably know how to use this medium better (or at least smarter) than I do. ;) Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments!

If I have one useful piece of advice to give about watercolor, it's this: it'll look like shit for 90% of the process. Watercolor forces you to be very self-motivating, because it won't do the motivating for you! You put the lightest colors down first, IMMEDIATELY fear they're too dark (it's all relative; they're usually too light), wait for one color to dry, wait for another color to dry, wait too long and have to re-wet another color (most of the time you just have to come up with a different solution, because depending on the paper, it won't reactivate quite right), and then you have another long wait before you can lay down the final details, which are usually the ones that make or break the piece.

So by the end, when you add (in this case) the eyes and mouth, you have to get them just right, or the whole thing will have been for naught. Even if you have forgiving paper (the kind that can allow the paint to be reactivated so you can almost "erase" a mistake), that purity of a perfect first attempt will somehow be clearly marred on your second attempt. Your failure to get it right the first time will be forever recorded, if even subtly.

BUT... if you manage to get the piece to look good, it's - of course - extremely rewarding.

Watercolor is also a great trainer for opaque paints! For example, I decided to gouache over this painting today, just to see what would happen. :)

I'll post a follow-up process for my usual $5+ figure drawing patrons, so you can see the differences between the two. I'm learning a lot!