Monday, May 19, 2008

Process: Dreadbaby 3. Painting

I wanted to get some color on her today because tomorrow is going to be rough. There are outside forces at work, trying to derail my 365 day goal. More about that tomorrow, I hope.

Something I completely forgot about when I started this: I don't have everything I need for airbrushing. I usually rent a CO2 tank, hook up a regulator I have and I'm on my way. But since moving I just never got around to renting a tank. So I am doing this by hand and brush. Normally I spray the colors, just kind of blocking them in. I don't use any guides so the color tends to overspray in other areas. I like that. I am using gouache as my medium of choice here. Gouache is an opaque watercolor. And unlike acrylic, I can remove color with water and a brush or paper towel. Very important to the process I use. Also important, the paint is still transparent enough for the pencils to show through. This is just the first layer of paint for her skin. There will be a few more layers to build up color to where I want it. We still have a ways to go. I will see if I can shoot some photos to go along with this too.

Since I have never done a tutorial and because for the most part I am self taught, I will probably miss an explanation or two. If you have questions, just shoot them to me and I will try to come up with an answer. :)

4 comments:

Mika Star said...

Looking good!:)

Royce Thrower said...

As mentioned before, I am really enjoying this series. Can't wait to see the colors you chose to use.

Gary M. Peiffer said...

Gene,

When you add the additional layers of paint, do you do it at one sitting (if you have time), or do you add a layer, set the piece aside, then add subsequent layers later on?

Thanks for sharing this process!

Gary

Gene Gonzales said...

Starlady - Thanks! And thanks for sticking with me on this slooooow process. :)

Royce - Thanks!

Gary - I have to let the paint dry between layers. Since these are water based paints, it doesn't take long. Using a blowdryer can speed this up too. The more dry it is the better I can lay a transparent new layer without lifting the previous layer(s). Thanks for the question.