Hey everyone! I am back with a new video and this is going
to be another real time video. It’s also a sketchbook video because those don’t take
much time to do and film, so it works well for a real time video that isn’t hours long.
For this drawing or painting I should say, I am working on my Moleskine sketchbook and
I will be using gouache for the colouring part. Right now I’m just sketching very
lightly might I add. I am using a 2H pencil so those go on very light, which makes it
very hard to see on screen and even in real life, which is what I like about it. This
actually doesn’t affect the drawing’s outcome later when I add layers of paint.
Because for example if I use a 2B pencil or any pencil that’s soft, it could smudge
when I layer paint on top it, and it could make the drawing look dirty. So I like working
with 2H pencils when I know that I’m going to add colour. I also no longer have to erase
the pencil marks which I’m too lazy to do, especially when sketching, because most of
the time I just really want to get into the colouring right away.
I am also using a reference image for this drawing, which I commonly do for my sketchbook
drawings anyway because they’re just forms of practice. In this case, I was practicing
how to use the gouache paints, therefore I wanted to focus all my attention on the techniques
and methods of using the medium, and not so much on the subject matter. So I picked something
that I was fairly confident at drawing, and that’s a face. I draw those all the time
pretty much. And before I lay down the paints, I go over
the pencil marks with a fineliner, just very roughly. The thing is, this will eventually
disappear once I’ve painted over this, but it just allows me to know the different sections
of the face when adding the base layer of the paint. For example, where the eyes are,
the shape of the nose, lips, neck, etcetera. I just get kind of like a finalised idea of
how this drawing might turn out. And of course after those steps, I then start
painting which is the fun part because I get to experiment with the medium and just over
all enjoy using it. I first used gouache back in high school when I was doing this class
called Studio Arts and I really liked it. Some people say it’s kind of a cross between
acrylic and watercolours, and I think that yeah it is, because it’s opaque but can
be watered down to become translucent like watercolours. But for some reason I much prefer
working with gouache than I do with acrylics, and I think that has to do with the texture
or the consistency of the paints. Gouache for me seems to be smoother, but then that
might be because I do add a bit of water. But I just really like working with gouache.
The only thing I hate about it is the same thing I hate about paints. It’s the preparation
before hand: for example, preparing the paints, water, towel, or like a mat so that the paint
doesn’t go on the table’s surface. And then there’s the tidying up afterwards,
which is the cleaning of brushes, palettes and stuff like that.
I’ve kind of changed some of the materials that I work with in order to make it more
convenient for me, so that I can paint more often, but it’s still a bit of a struggle
because I’m just really lazy. Which is why I prefer working with media like markers and
pencils because they’re easy to set up and to clean up. And the thing is whenever I do
sketchbook drawings, they’re more spontaneous than planned, and markers just really suit
that kind of situation better than paints. So when I do major artworks, those actually
are planned and thought out, so it’s not really a problem for me to set up my materials
then, but it rarely happens that I will use something like gouache or acrylic even for
a major art piece because I don’t have much experience with those because I don’t do
enough sketchbook drawings with them. Like with anything that you want to do confidently
– whether that’s to paint well with gouache – you have to use it multiple times to familiarise
yourself with the medium; how it reacts with another type of medium, or the various techniques
and effects that you can create. So I’m gradually trying to tackle that.
Like I’ve been more consistent with watercolours, which was one medium that I was also not using
very often in the previous years because I was lazy. But I think it was last year that
I kind of started to use it more. And so for this year, I am hoping to do the same with
gouache, because I have the materials that I need, but I’m not really getting much
out of it. It’s just sitting there, so I plan to practice more with it and hopefully
one day I’ll be able to use it for a finished artwork.
For the gouache, the brand I am using is by Reno Art I believe. I don’t remember mostly because
I’ve had them for ages and I actually transferred the paints from the tubes to a plastic container
because the paint started leaking. I don’t know it was just really sticky and grotesque
so for me to save the paints, I had to get them out of the tube and into a separate container.
But I do remember that I got it from the dollar store because I am not about to spend loads
of money on paints I rarely even use. Though when I get more practice out of it, I’ll
decide whether to invest in archival paints, but I’ll leave that up to future me. For
now, I am just using a cheap brand, though the quality is actually pretty decent.
So the thing I really like about gouache is that it dries matte, but that’s if you use
water with it. For example, if you use it just on its own, no water or anything, it’s
a bit shiny when it dries. But don’t take my word for it; I haven’t used it for that
long to really make this a fact. It’s just an observation in the times that I have used
it. So yeah! When I use gouache I also tend to just layer
colours and avoid blending them. I mean, you can blend the colours together to create smooth
shading, but I much prefer a painterly approach when using the medium. That’s just my preference
I guess. It also makes it more freeing to paint this way. Like when I’m using markers,
my first instinct is to blend the colours, but when I’m using gouache, my first instinct
is to layer colours. That might be because the layer of paint dries pretty fast and I’m
still here mixing colours on the palette that by the time I lay down the next layer of paint,
it’s hard to get the same shade of colour, therefore it’s not as easy to create that
gradation of colour. But that’s what I like about it anyway, like the varying tones I
get with mixing the colours as I go creates this depth in the painting. It adds something
to it. So I suppose that’s like my first impression
of gouache since it is my first time talking about this medium in my channel, and without
having much experience with it. I’ll have to see and try other techniques with this
in the future; so don’t expect a tutorial from me anytime soon regarding this medium.
Just a heads up. And yeah! I think that is it for this video!
I hope you enjoyed watching this video. If you did, please do give it a thumbs up and
subscribe for more videos. I have in the description box, links to my social media such as Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. I also have linked my Society6 shop in the description
box. That is where you can buy reproductions of my art. And yeah! That is it! Thank you
so much for watching, and I will see you in my next one!