Jenny Dolfen

Maedhros in progress (with art tips)

Added 2022-08-23 18:12:01 +0000 UTC

I'm still smacking myself for not doing this mixed media thing sooner! (As always, it's smoother than this in real life.) I'm deliriously in love with the textures and colour transitions here.

Steps:

I did the background first, with normal watercolour, then added gradients with watercolour pencils. Here I'm putting down watercolour pencil for the hair.

This is what it looks like when you dilute watercolour pencil. It gets HUGELY more vibrant - so definitely take that into account. (Also, use a good brand. The cheap ones don't fully dissolve and are generally less pigmented. If it costs less than 1,50€/$ per pencil, it's probably no good.)

Switching to Polychromos (which are waterproof) for fine detail in the face. This is what I always struggled with in pure watercolour and it's so EASY now.

Probably my favourite mixed media technique: Hair! I put down detailed dark brown shading that will be visible through consecutive colour layers.

Hair detailed. Next (without a pic): Putting down watercolour pencil on top of this shading, much as in the first wip picture.

After diluting the watercolour.

I've also decided to give videos another go, out of a possibly very selfish missionary zeal: If I'd ever seen a tutorial that really showed me what this wonderful medium can do, I'd have been all over it ages ago! I've ordered an overheard phone holder specifically for art and cooking, so with some luck, I can position the camera in a way that lets me record without my magnifying glasses getting in the way. (I now have a set that looks like night goggles and goes over your head. That's great unless the doorbell rings and I forget I have it on!)