Posts Tagged "drawings"

My favorite watercolor papers

I recently blogged about my watercolor paints and brushes in two parts — ONE / TWO

However, what good are those wonderful paints and brushes for without beautiful, high-quality paper? For daily practice work, inexpensive student quality pads like the Canson papers with the hot air balloon drawing on the cover that you can find at NBS and a Monologue Sketchbook (which I’ve also been abusing using) are great to have around but for commission work, it’s more appropriate to use paper that will allow illustrations to shine and last for a long time.

Here are some of my staples (so far) along with close-ups of samples of my illustrations using the different papers so that you can see their textures up close as well as how colors respond to them

.comparing watercolor papers

L-R and in no order of preference, these are the paper brands I keep going back to: Arches, Hahnemuhle, Khadi, and Canson. I’ve been hearing good things about Fabriano and Strathmore too but I have to wait for my shipment to arrive so I can try them out. The red, yellow, and blue paint I used for the comparison shot above are Shinhan PWC Permanent Red, Cadmium Yellow Deep, and Peacock Blue (from ArtWhale).

All of the above are acid-free and, save for Canson Montval Torchon which uses 100% cellulose, are fine artist quality papers made of natural fibers like cotton rag and bamboo in Hahnemuhle Bamboo Mixed Media Board’s case. Below are some notes:

arches watercolor paper sample work

Arches Cold-Pressed Cotton Watercolor Paper, 300 gsm (available at NBS and some Fully Booked branches though I got mine from Amazon.com)

I prefer cold-pressed to hot-pressed watercolor papers because I love the rough texture which IMHO lends an organic feel. Arches 100% cotton paper has a nicely coarse “tooth” that seems to absorb pigments easily which allows colors to remain vibrant and intense. I’m also able to paint big juicy washes and draw fine details with minimal buckling, even when I don’t stretch the paper (which I really usually don’t, being lazy). At 300 gsm, it’s also thick enough to handle re-wetting with no visible damage when I make mistakes. 😛

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Hahnemuhle matte watercolor paper

Hahnemuhle Mould-Made Watercolor Paper (Matte), 200 gsm (available at Deovir Arts)

Arnold introduced me to this paper so it was the first “fine art” paper I ever used. (I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that all of my watercolor work from years ago were done on yellow-backed illustration boards and sketch pads). Because of that, this has become my “benchmark” paper. It’s awesome for wet-on-wet painting (the paper drinks up the water & pigments without diminishing color vibrancy) and as you can see above, I can also do crisp-edged drawings on it with no problems. At 200 gsm, I avoid painting large washes though it may be possible if stretched beforehand. Mistakes are also easy to re-wet and “erase,” making it an ideal choice for beginners. It’s very economical to buy big sheets of these and tear them down to a more manageable size. The deckle edge is a nice touch and it’s inspired me to keep the torn edges when I tear it up into smaller pieces for a raw handmade look. 🙂

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Hahnemuhle mould made watercolor paper rough

Hahnemuhle Mould-Made Watercolor Paper (Rough), 300 gsm (available at Deovir Arts)

This one comes in block form and has a rougher, slightly raised and woven texture compared to the matt variant. A block is very convenient since you can immediately apply large washes with no need for stretching. I found the weave-like texture off-putting at first since I was already used to the fine-grained fibrous texture of Hahnemuhle’s matt paper but after using this for a while. I learned to like it as well. It appears that the pigments sink and “sit” in the grooves and so deep, rich colors are preserved.

khadi handmade watercolor paper circle

Khadi Handmade Paper 320 gsm, circle (above) and A5 (below) — (available at ArtWhale)

At 329 gsm, this paper handmade in India is thicker than all the other natural-fiber papers I’ve tried and because it’s made of long-fiber cotton rag (upcycled t-shirt cuttings, anyone?), it seems to be more absorbent than the other papers. The painting above was done on the circle variant (which reminds me of pita bread 😉 ) months ago using ShinHan Korean Colors but because the pigments were fully absorbed by the paper, it looks as if it was painted just yesterday. Also, as you can see almost the entire surface is covered in watercolor but at 320 gsm, the paper didn’t buckle much and actually stiffened a bit once the paint dried — possibly because the rag combined with the pigments.

The A5 variant (below) has a slightly finer grain. Since my first artwork is almost opaque, I tried to see how the paper react to a transparent wet-on-wet technique and it performed beyond my expectations. 🙂 The paper was able to soak in a lot of water and it never once buckled. Also, just look at how rich the colors stayed even after the paint dried (I used ShinHan PWC paints for the test below). The A5 size is perfect for portraits too and the deckle edges add a beautiful handmade touch.

khadi handmade watercolor paper a5

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hahnemuhle bamboo mixed media board

Hahnemuhle Bamboo Mixed Media Board 265 gsm (available at Deovir Arts)

This is an all-in-one artist-grade paper made from 90% bamboo fibers and 10% rag which can be used with watercolour, gouache, acrylics, colored pencils, chalk and oil pastel, stamp pad inks, etc. It comes in sheets at Deovir (for around P118 per 19″ x 25″ sheet) which is great value since you can cut it up into smaller pieces and it can handle almost any media. The surface is smooth and watercolor glides on it with ease. I like using this paper with the wet-on-dry watercolor technique since colors seems to maintain brilliancy that way.

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Canson Montval Torchon watercolor paper

Canson Montval Torchon Watercolor Paper, 270 gsm (available at NBS and Fully Booked)

Among relatively inexpensive student-grade papers, this is the closest I’ve found that can mimic the behavior of premium watercolor paper. Made from archival cellulose, the texture is similar to that of Hahnemuhle Bamboo’s — smooth but grainy enough to absorb paint and give paintings a “watercolory” look, meaning it won’t look like the paint is just sitting on top of the paper. At 270 gsm it’s not prone to much buckling unless you’re doing heavy-duty washes. Remember though that this isn’t fine art paper and drawings might eventually fade so make sure to use this only when you will scan and digitize your work.

I would love to know what brands and kinds of paper you like using. Please do share in the comments section. 🙂

See also:

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Comparing Watercolor Brands (Using Tomato Drawings)

A few projects are keeping me on a food-drawing blitz and, encountering some downtime last night, I thought of painting a tomato using all the brands of watercolor that I have on hand. This Tomato Watercolor Chart™ (LOL) should prove useful as a reference since it clearly shows (1) color/pigment intensity; and (2) paint dispersion or how they spread on wet paper and into other colors. Let me share my findings with you.

comparing watercolor brands

For consistency’s sake I used a sheet of Canson Montval Torchon (280 gsm) for the exercise.

Prang (student grade) – colors are bright and the paint itself is fluid and easy to blend. Very transparent too so glazing is not a problem. Just look at that smooth finish — very impressive for a student brand. The only downside with Prang is that the colors will fade over time so it’s really best for practice work and illustrations that will be scanned/digitized anyway. (Available at NBS branches)

Van Gogh (high quality student grade, in the league of W&N Cotman) — as with Prang, Van Gogh colors are bright, fluid, transparent, and very easy to dilute and blend. The reds and greens are more intense though and from experience, the color intensity lasts pretty long. (Available at Deovir Arts)

Louvre (student grade brand by Lefranc & Bourgeois, in the league of Reeves and Pebeo) — colors come in tubes and are very bold and bright for a student brand but are more on the opaque side. It took me a while to get the colors to blend correctly (which explains the splotches) so I guess Louvre is best for artworks that are rendered in a more “painterly” or impressionistic style where strokes are intentionally pronounced and visible. (Available at NBS branches)

Gansai Tambi (high quality student grade brand by Kuretake and IMHO in the league of ShinHan Korean Colours) — very radiant colors that are more opaque than usual — but look at how bright the colors are! A little difficult to blend and produce a smooth finish though as you can see, my attempts to blend the colors yielded interesting results. I think the Gansai Tambi is more suited for flat, gouache-like renderings. (Available from Zig Philippines though I got mine from Amazon.com
)

Shin Han Korean Colours (high quality student grade brand) — I already did a lengthy review here but based on the tomato test, the colors are creamy and very intense — shockingly so that I had to water it down a bit. It was fairly easy to blend the colors but the thick quality of the paint makes it more suitable for painterly and gouache-like renditions. (Exclusively available from ArtWhale Philippines)

ShinHan PWC Extra Fine Premium Watercolors (artist grade) – straight out of the tube, these paints look bright and saturated and once you add water to the colors, they just flow into each other like butter — not kidding at all. I looove how fluid and juicy the paints are and when I use them for portraits, I can just feel the painting paint by itself LOL. And because it’s an artist grade paint, there is very little chance of fading especially if you use archival paper. (Exclusively available from ArtWhale Philippines)

Holbein (artist grade) — in my portrait painting experience Holbein is as radiant and flows and behaves almost exactly like ShinHan PWC and I can’t tell the difference, even when I use them together. The tomato above looks slightly more orangey since I don’t have Permanent Red in my Holbein set, but the colors are bright and wonderful for if you want to achieve a true “watercolor look.”  (Available at Deovir Arts though my pan set is from an independent seller I met on IG)

Examples of how I’ve used some of the brands in portraiture —

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on


Prang

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on


Van Gogh Watercolors

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on


Louvre

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on


ShinHan Korean Colors

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on


ShinHan PWC


Holbein

You can also check out my previous post My watercolors, brushes, and other painting tools for other notes regarding the brands, plus there’s so much more example work to be found (in real time!) on my IG @arncyn 😀

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Please join me in my Watercolor Portrait Workshop

After a year of practicing watercolors almost non-stop, I’ve decided that I’m now ready to hold my own watercolor workshop. I’ve thought about it for months — some generous people have already offered their establishments as venues — but I didn’t want to commit until I was 100% ready. But then I got such a high from teaching the shrink art workshop and from giving a talk to young creative ICA girls last year that something inside me clicked and said “ok, now na.”

Since Mansy of Hey Kessy has been very supportive of me & my art journey, I wanted to hold my first watercolor workshop with them. 🙂

watercolor portrait painting workshop

You can sign up for a slot here.

In this class I’ll be teaching you how to paint simple and loosely expressive watercolor portraits from live or photo references. Don’t worry, even if you have never drawn a face you will learn the basics. We also won’t make anything too involved or “overworked” since I want to highlight the spontaneous quality of the medium. (And to be honest, I can appreciate them but I’m not a big fan of hyper-realistic paintings because if I wanted “realistic” I’ll just use a camera. ;))

The fee is inclusive of snacks & a workshop kit consisting of a zine, a 12-tube watercolor set, a 3-pc round brush set, watercolor paper sheets, a mixing plate, a pencil and an eraser.

Here are some of my sample practive work. Can you tell that I’m both nervous and excited?

Hope to see you then though if you can’t make it on Feb. 20, I promise there’ll be more soon. I’ll announce when the dates are final.

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Update on our coloring books: they are now available at select Powerbooks and NBS branches in Metro Manila, Hey Kessy in Katipunan (Flutterby only), and Laruan Atbp, in Maginhawa St. QC along with Arnold’s graphic novels and Nautilus Comics / Chamber Shell Publishing books.

Some local award winning comics brought to us by Arnold Arre and Nautilus Comics. #laruanatbp #laruanph

A photo posted by Laruan Atbp. Cafe (@laruanph) on

You can also buy them directly from our publisher at Chamber Shell, via orders@nautiluscomics.net, or by clicking the button on the sidebar — >

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Happy 2016! Sorry, I’ve been a little remiss in updating these past few weeks… BUT! If you’d like some bite-size news, I recently reactivated my Twitter so you can peek in there every now and then if you like. 🙂

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I'm Cynthia Bauzon-Arre, a Filipino watercolor artist & graphic designer. I live in QC with my graphic novelist husband Arnold and our friendly marmalade tabby Abbas. This blog has been chronicling my life, likes, and loves since 2001. [ more ]

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