Sketch and watercolour in mypaint from photo by trams-aux-fils.
Textures in Gimp:
paper fiber texture by me
stained watercolour paper texture by AuroraInk
watercolor splatters by anioleczek
azulejos texture by yougdoo on flickr
Springbok – watercolour in mypaint
Springbok or Antidorcas marsupialis.
Pencil and watercolour in mypaint
Textures in Gimp.
Paper fiber texture by me.
Paper grain texture by MouritsaDA
Reference photo by coda
Gemsbok digital watercolor
Reference photo by Franck Vassen
Amur Leopard watercolour
I shot the reference photo while visiting my grandfather in Lyon. More details if you follow the link to the deviantart page.
A square frame
I’ve decided to do all my new drawings on a square canvas (1024×1024 or 2048×2048). For a few reasons:
- Within a thumbnail gallery, square thumbnails offer the most pixels
- It’s an unusual but not exotic aspect ratio
- I like it
Catching up
I have mainly been publishing on my deviantart account lately and I was wondering whether it was worth it keeping two sites afloat (the deviantart account and this blog). Then I googled “digital watercolour” in google images out of curiosity. And up popped all the drawings I had published here … and not the ones I had published in deviantart. Conclusion: wordpress rules as far as SEO is concerned. And as one of my goals with all this is to pass the word (aspiring watercolourists, go digital!) I’d rather keep the blog and the google notoriety that goes with it. Thanks wordpress. And now for some catching up.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s say I’ll publish here every friday (as a way to get ready for illustration Friday – one day).
Lady Rose Dragon
Another go at coloring other people’s lineart. Digital watercolor in MyPaint, then textures in Gimp.
Lineart: PrincessElemmiriel
Decoration texture: Mouritsa
Grunge texture: Dierat
Paper texture: myself
Wagonized
Peugeot 403 digital watercolour
A tribute to France Belleville-VanStone and her exceptional blog Wagonized.
Sketch from photo by voz on flickr. Digital watercolour in mypaint. Paper texture effect in Gimp (based on Zoe Piel’s tutorial)
Creative commons and collaborative art
I had found the gorgeous lineart by Princess Elemmiriel on DeviantArt.com who kindly invites people to do their color version.
I then tried my luck with digital watercolour in mypaint (open-source painting software). I then added textures added in Gimp (open-source photomanipulation software). The background paper texture is by Dierat and the decoration texture by Mouritsa.
Watercolour re-coloring of freely contributed lineart on DeviantArt
This is a great example of what can be achieved by combining free contribution from various creative-commons sources. This ca only be done with free and open-source licences such as creative commons. I would never have done it if I had to pay for any of these resources, even a single penny: just having to signup for an account would scare me into doing some other project that does not require all that hassle. QED – copyright kills creation – period. Now if I had done the project as a paid commission, I’d be glad to contribute in return, but ex-post, once the work is completed and the customer is happy.
Therefore I want to thank warmly all those who contribute their work freely.
CC – attribution – noncommercial – noderivatives (as per PrincesseLemmiriel’s specs). “please do not redistribute without crediting”.
Arcades, Lauzerte, Tarn-et-Garonne, France
Digital watercolor in mypaint, from an old black and white photo of mine (yes, I had to guess the colors).
Arcades, Lauzerte, Tarn-et-Garonne, France
