Figure Drawing with ACTUAL REAL WATERCOLOR!! (nsfw) (Patreon)

As soon as I walked into Michael's studio tonight, I told him I was going to try not to forget anything this time. The last several times I've met up with him for figure drawing, I've left a tool, a drawing, or my water bottle behind.

Well, this time, I forgot something before I even arrived: my paints. MY PAINTS!!

I'm gonna be real fun when I'm old.

Michael's partner Emily teaches art to kids in the same studio, so he told me I could borrow one of the palettes she uses to teach them watercolor.

Colorful!

Well, more on that later. First, five minute warmup poses!

I took my time planning out the layout for the final pose.

The one on the right was actually much smaller, to be used as the final reference for my final painting:

I liked the angles on the sketch more than the final, but oh well! I dabbed the final pencil lines with a kneaded eraser and replaced them with colored pencil, and then... acquainted myself with those kiddie paints.

So uh... you know those paints I forgot, that I usually use? The "Inktense" ones? That "ink" part must be pretty accurate, because when I place a brushful of it onto the paper, it does not BUDGE afterwards.

This stuff that I played with today - regular watercolors - was more fluid and flexible on the page, and flowed in a more uhhh watercolor-y way. I really enjoyed it!

(Also the colors are very Easter-appropriate.)

I LIKED THE KNEEEEES!

There's something more glowy and light about watercolors - while I love my Inktense set, they always get heavy quickly. With watercolor, it was hard to overdo the dark areas.

Maybe I'll forgive myself a little for being forgetful, because improvising around my bad memory sometimes reveals novel solutions. I think I'm gonna go back to watercolor. :)

Here's the original in the store, in case you'd like to own the glowy, pastel-y drawing I completed tonight! Use ARTNERD50 at checkout for your 50% off, as always, and thank you for continuing to make this practice something I can afford to do regularly! <3