To fight my seemingly eternal/perpetual boredom, I have decided right at the end of January 2014 that I was going to start rekindling my penchant for art. So, after my IELTS exam last February 1, I went directly to National Bookstore to acquire the necessary materials for me to start on my little hobby. A month and a half later, I’m still here painting the hell out of it almost everyday. Seriously, I get bored easily. I remember the first things that I bought were my A4 size watercolor pad which cost me a fortune (like P250 for 24 sheets), my crappy brushes, a Pentel 18 color watercolor set and my two flower pallets. At present, there are quite a number of materials added to the bunch. So, if you are interested in watercolor painting and you are a beginner in it, you might find this entry worth reading.
That’s my work table right there. I don’t have a formal atelier since I am an amateur and I cannot afford one (because I’m always going to be broke, way to live a Bohemian life, Nyms) and this certain area of my brother’s room will, therefore, greatly suffice. My brother only comes home during the weekends since he works in another city if you’re wondering why he’s allowing me to pop a squat in his room (yey for me). To date, I have three sizes of watercolor pads, masking tape, three pallets, two cans of colored pencils, a box of soft pastels, 18 colors of watercolor tubes, a container of brushes and a jug of water. Of course, you don’t have to have as many materials as I have to start off smooth, I’m just an addict like that. Teehee.
My first pad was that A4 size one, cost me P250 (or something, I think it was actually more than that) which was quite expensive for me since it has 24 sheets ONLY. I bought this from Goldcrest at Pabayo St., Cagayan de Oro. My second pad was the biggest one, a 12”x18”, acid free, white finish, 200gsm that is just utterly GORGEOUS. I bought this from National Bookstore at SM Cagayan de Oro. It is my favorite, so far, because it is easy to work with and I can put a bunch of colors in it because of its size. This cost nearly P300, with 24 sheets, definitely worth it. The third one was actually bought by my brother from National Bookstore, Mall of Asia branch. The size is definitely twice the A4 size, acid free, 180gsm, cost the same as the biggest pad I have with 24 sheets but what irked me the most about this is that it is CREAM COLORED. I am not really keen on not-so-pure-white paper. All of these pads perform good, they absorb watercolor well and are just utterly lovely.
I went a little bit crazy with my pallets. Honestly, there is not a decent number of decent watercolor pallets here in Cagayan de Oro. It was quite difficult for me to find one for a beginner like me. So, I bought three. Haha. The first two pallets that I have are those flower pallets on the right. I think each of them cost around P15 from the school supplies section of Gaisano Mall. I love that they can hold a lot of colors. On the other hand, I hate that they have wells in the middle that are impossible to work with because of the short partitions. Seriously, screw the one who designed this. Functionality = IMPOSSIBLE. The one on the left was a great find for me. I bought this at National Bookstore, Centrio branch. Cost around P35 and is worth every penny. I fell in love with this pallet because of its six deep wells which are always great for mixing. However, the downside to this is that it can only house seven colors. Boo hoo. That’s why I use all pallets instead to make my life convenient (because I hate mixing colors where a pure viridian ends up a light green or whatever).
I kind of went a little berserk with my brushes because there aren’t a lot of seriously good brushes here in this small city. Most of brushes are crap, I use them for applying poster color or Chinese ink (therefore lessening my guilt when these brushes get destroyed, mwahahaha). These crappy brushes can be bought at Gaisano Mall and National Bookstore. My favorite brushes, though, can be bought at Goldcrest, Pabayo St. Seriously, they have such a great selection of brushes but their best ones cost SO MUCH. So, I bought the less expensive ones, the BERKELEY brushes which have a distinctive quality of having black barrels and white bristles. I guarantee they are not THAT expensive. My absolute MUST sizes are the sizes: 10, 6, 1, 0 and 000. These are all round brushes, by the way.
As I have said earlier, the watercolor band that I use is PENTEL: a box of 18 colors cost P300 and so far I have no complaints of its performance. Of course you don’t have to have a lot of colors for starters but I just don’t like mixing colors. This can be bought at any National Bookstore branch (but to make sure, head to the main branch directly). My box of 12 colors of soft pastels was bought by my brothers from National Bookstore, Mall of Asia. It’s from SIMBALION and it cost about P250. Very expensive, for a cheapstead like me. However, I think they perform well but just a sidenote: if it’s your first time using soft pastels, it’s going to be pretty messy. So, make sure if you don’t want to mix colors through your fingers or smudge them in whatever surface, you should have a damp towel on the side so you can wipe the color out from your fingers. If you are wondering why I use soft pastels, I use them to highlight colors which cannot be done with layers and layers of watercolor. Through this, I leave no indentation most commonly noticed when using to much watercolor on your paper. MEANWHILE. The white poster color is my substitute for my white acrylic (since bookstore don’t sell it by the normal-sized tube) which I use for highlights and corrections. Costs around P30 in any bookstore in the city. The Chinese ink is a great substitute for black watercolor (which runs out so quickly, just like the white one) and costs less, around P36.
For me, colored pencils are just so essential to any watercolor piece where you want your sketch to not appear so obvious, just like how lead pencils do it. I have 2 sets of them—the regular colored pencils and the watercolor pencils—all from FABER CASTEL. I think this brand is the only brand found in Cagayan de Oro that has decent color payoff and longevity. Kudos to you. I’m not really that crystal with the prices but I think my colored pencils cost nearly P500 for 36 colors and my watercolor pencils cost nearly P400 for 24 colors (plus they have rubber grips which I think were quite unnecessary and a free watercolor brush which was just UTTER RUBBISH). I also have some additional coloring tidbits such as my 10 color colored pens also from FABER CASTEL (seriously, they should make me an endorser or something) which cost nearly a hundred pesos, can be found at any National Bookstore branch. I also use Correction Fluid (yep, you read that right) or Correction Pen for my highlights. If you don’t get why, here are some examples:
see those white lines? So crisp, so fine? Oh yeah, that is the wonder of the Correction Fluid, perfect for contemporary art.
So, YES, those are the things that I work with when making art. If you are interested in my art, check out either of these blogs (careful, one of these has gay porn in them!):
That’s my work table right there. I don’t have a formal atelier since I am an amateur and I cannot afford one (because I’m always going to be broke, way to live a Bohemian life, Nyms) and this certain area of my brother’s room will, therefore, greatly suffice. My brother only comes home during the weekends since he works in another city if you’re wondering why he’s allowing me to pop a squat in his room (yey for me). To date, I have three sizes of watercolor pads, masking tape, three pallets, two cans of colored pencils, a box of soft pastels, 18 colors of watercolor tubes, a container of brushes and a jug of water. Of course, you don’t have to have as many materials as I have to start off smooth, I’m just an addict like that. Teehee.
My first pad was that A4 size one, cost me P250 (or something, I think it was actually more than that) which was quite expensive for me since it has 24 sheets ONLY. I bought this from Goldcrest at Pabayo St., Cagayan de Oro. My second pad was the biggest one, a 12”x18”, acid free, white finish, 200gsm that is just utterly GORGEOUS. I bought this from National Bookstore at SM Cagayan de Oro. It is my favorite, so far, because it is easy to work with and I can put a bunch of colors in it because of its size. This cost nearly P300, with 24 sheets, definitely worth it. The third one was actually bought by my brother from National Bookstore, Mall of Asia branch. The size is definitely twice the A4 size, acid free, 180gsm, cost the same as the biggest pad I have with 24 sheets but what irked me the most about this is that it is CREAM COLORED. I am not really keen on not-so-pure-white paper. All of these pads perform good, they absorb watercolor well and are just utterly lovely.
I went a little bit crazy with my pallets. Honestly, there is not a decent number of decent watercolor pallets here in Cagayan de Oro. It was quite difficult for me to find one for a beginner like me. So, I bought three. Haha. The first two pallets that I have are those flower pallets on the right. I think each of them cost around P15 from the school supplies section of Gaisano Mall. I love that they can hold a lot of colors. On the other hand, I hate that they have wells in the middle that are impossible to work with because of the short partitions. Seriously, screw the one who designed this. Functionality = IMPOSSIBLE. The one on the left was a great find for me. I bought this at National Bookstore, Centrio branch. Cost around P35 and is worth every penny. I fell in love with this pallet because of its six deep wells which are always great for mixing. However, the downside to this is that it can only house seven colors. Boo hoo. That’s why I use all pallets instead to make my life convenient (because I hate mixing colors where a pure viridian ends up a light green or whatever).
I kind of went a little berserk with my brushes because there aren’t a lot of seriously good brushes here in this small city. Most of brushes are crap, I use them for applying poster color or Chinese ink (therefore lessening my guilt when these brushes get destroyed, mwahahaha). These crappy brushes can be bought at Gaisano Mall and National Bookstore. My favorite brushes, though, can be bought at Goldcrest, Pabayo St. Seriously, they have such a great selection of brushes but their best ones cost SO MUCH. So, I bought the less expensive ones, the BERKELEY brushes which have a distinctive quality of having black barrels and white bristles. I guarantee they are not THAT expensive. My absolute MUST sizes are the sizes: 10, 6, 1, 0 and 000. These are all round brushes, by the way.
As I have said earlier, the watercolor band that I use is PENTEL: a box of 18 colors cost P300 and so far I have no complaints of its performance. Of course you don’t have to have a lot of colors for starters but I just don’t like mixing colors. This can be bought at any National Bookstore branch (but to make sure, head to the main branch directly). My box of 12 colors of soft pastels was bought by my brothers from National Bookstore, Mall of Asia. It’s from SIMBALION and it cost about P250. Very expensive, for a cheapstead like me. However, I think they perform well but just a sidenote: if it’s your first time using soft pastels, it’s going to be pretty messy. So, make sure if you don’t want to mix colors through your fingers or smudge them in whatever surface, you should have a damp towel on the side so you can wipe the color out from your fingers. If you are wondering why I use soft pastels, I use them to highlight colors which cannot be done with layers and layers of watercolor. Through this, I leave no indentation most commonly noticed when using to much watercolor on your paper. MEANWHILE. The white poster color is my substitute for my white acrylic (since bookstore don’t sell it by the normal-sized tube) which I use for highlights and corrections. Costs around P30 in any bookstore in the city. The Chinese ink is a great substitute for black watercolor (which runs out so quickly, just like the white one) and costs less, around P36.
For me, colored pencils are just so essential to any watercolor piece where you want your sketch to not appear so obvious, just like how lead pencils do it. I have 2 sets of them—the regular colored pencils and the watercolor pencils—all from FABER CASTEL. I think this brand is the only brand found in Cagayan de Oro that has decent color payoff and longevity. Kudos to you. I’m not really that crystal with the prices but I think my colored pencils cost nearly P500 for 36 colors and my watercolor pencils cost nearly P400 for 24 colors (plus they have rubber grips which I think were quite unnecessary and a free watercolor brush which was just UTTER RUBBISH). I also have some additional coloring tidbits such as my 10 color colored pens also from FABER CASTEL (seriously, they should make me an endorser or something) which cost nearly a hundred pesos, can be found at any National Bookstore branch. I also use Correction Fluid (yep, you read that right) or Correction Pen for my highlights. If you don’t get why, here are some examples:
see those white lines? So crisp, so fine? Oh yeah, that is the wonder of the Correction Fluid, perfect for contemporary art.
So, YES, those are the things that I work with when making art. If you are interested in my art, check out either of these blogs (careful, one of these has gay porn in them!):
czarnyma.deviantart.com
Some quick tips before you actually start with your art (and you're a beginner):
- Don't be disappointed if your first work is kind of a "MEH", you're going to improve. Trust me.
- When sketching using a lead pencil, use light strokes.
- I use yellow ochre + white for light skin tone and brown + white/purple for darker ones.
- Always pay attention to the amount of water your brush has. Dab the brush on a towel if it has too much water.
- If you want your paint to dry faster, use a blower.
- Mistake? ACT FAST. Dab it with a tissue before it dries.
- For more tutorials, go to youtube. Or email me and I'll teach you for free. hahaha.
When should you start making art? Well, honey, you should start NOW. STAT. You’ll never know how talented you are if you don’t start off with a single stroke of that brush. Oh yeah.
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