My marker projects I showed Monday came out… okay. I suspect I could touch them up with colored pencil, and that would help. I was pleased with them at the time, but now… not so much.
So, thinking of colored pencil, I remembered that one of my favorite artists, Lioba Bruckner, does watercolor with colored pencil over it.
And I thought, hey, I haven’t tried that yet.
The upside is that it’s a very, very pretty result. Even with rough watercolor sketch paper.
The down side is that I was trying to draw a black Sailormoon-type-princess, and I layered, and layered, and layered my water colors until the page was pilling and she still looks just tan.
There’s a learning curve with watercolors, and I’m a little too hesitant to paint with what looks like too dark of a color on the brush and pan… but I always forget it will dry a lot lighter than it was wet.
I had problems with how pale the hair was too.
BUT… using colored pencils over it saved the painting.
Here’s the final:
I was able to build up her skin tones a bit with colored pencil, and I am SO HAPPY with how her face came out, especially the lips.
And, yes, I totally used gold and bronze pen to brighten the image. They only show well in person though, so boo.
Do you use watercolors? Do you have any advice for working with more saturated colors? Even when I swatch, they still dry much paler than the swatch. Inquiring minds want to know!
