posted March 11, 2013 08:54 PM            

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Originally posted by swampys:
My sense of art is strange.

Post your art!

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posted March 11, 2013 08:57 PM            

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Originally posted by peregrine:

it's like an astro-fied murakami.

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posted March 13, 2013 01:34 PM            

Lonake, they are awesome! & one of my fave subjects to draw too. Well done!!

Kerosene, I saw yours briefly yesterday, but I was running late on my way out and couldnt comment. Loved the loose style of the portrait. Really nice!

posted March 13, 2013 06:03 PM            

Have you tried using watercolor pencils before? I rarely use them, but do love them moreso than regular colored pencils. You can used them just as you would regular colored pencils, but then go in with a wet brush and smooth things out and make some or all areas blend. I like them alot and now want to find mine and pull them out for some things i'm working on....

posted March 13, 2013 08:01 PM            

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Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 – August 9, 1919),[1] was a German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and the kingdom Protista.

The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures (see: Kunstformen der Natur, "Art Forms of Nature")

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posted March 13, 2013 09:32 PM            

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Originally posted by Lonake:
...But funny I was eying some Faber-Castell watercolor pencils from Blick last year and they look swoon-worthy but haven't bitten just yet ~ just got a new sketchbook and looking to fill it up with nature things before moving on,

I've heard that watercolors are very hard to manipulate, to satisfaction? The pencils make it easier I presume? I hope!

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I had a set (can't find them and it's bugging me *scratching head* did i give them away?

For someone who likes to draw, I think they can be a godsend. Since I am more comfortable with brushwork at this point, i tend to never use them. When I do, it bugs me - the strokes, or grooves they leave in the thick watercolor paper, not to mention the never match up with the watercolor pigments I use - the are too weak and less controlable for blending. I used the black pencil once in awhile, on a couple of pieces, but for me the didnt not come in handy because i got comfortable in my painting groove.

Yes, that's the comment I hear most about watercolor and it's true. It's tricky to get ahold of and "control"....you can't really. but that's what i like about it. You have to run with what happens. I love how it flows, i love blooms and splatters and other mishaps.

When you learn the basics and get comfortable with the pigments you are working with (whether opaque or transparent watercolors) you can really start to get good. Knowing what colors to lay down first, letting layers dry, not going back into them too soon, knowing when you are about to overwork something.....comes with time and experience.

I'm completely self-taught and believe me, many tears have been shed, and paper shredded and wasted paint, in the process of finally getting used to this fluid, trickster medium. I've bought and rented so many books in the library over and over again in my determination to learn this medium. I've done alot of homeschooling with myself. I'm still not anywhere close to where I'd like to be and still have fits, when something doesnt work out the way i envison it, or spent hours on it and eff it up after all that work. It's not fun, but when you produce something decent, it reminds you of why you love the medium so much and is almost addicting, makes you want to get into it more. I love it and hate it at the same time.

Best thing about being a Virgo moon painter is i don't worry about critics. Anything they could say, i could say worse - or critique harder. lol Believe me, i'm my own worst enemy in that way. I'd join right in and be like "Oh yeah? Well, look at this, that....etc...and point out things they never even noticed."

anyway, rambling.

I'd say get a set. From what I see of your awesome drawings, i bet you'd learn to love them once you got used to them and they might take your art to another level.

More to say, but I don't want to take over the thread. Maybe I"ll start a new thread in the art forum.