SPECTREGRAPH inspo: acrylic ghoulie

I recently read SPECTREGRAPH by James Tynion IV and Christian Ward (lettering by Aditya Bidkar), and GOOD GAWD is it gorgeous!

Since I was nursing a cold the last few days, I finally cozied up and devoured it in one sitting. If you dig horror comics or haunted house stories, please check it out. I was struck by Ward's compositions and use of color, so I pulled out my M. Graham watercolors and acrylic inks and had fun. <3

Began with a wash of Phthalocyanine Blue watercolor with Reflex Rose acrylic ink. For fun, I mixed Reflex Yellow with Turquoise for a lovely green hue. Inks are Amsterdam and Daler-Rowney FW.

I've had my M. Graham watercolors since college. Their binder is honey; you can leave these paints on a palette for years and they will easily re-wet! This was a good reminder to USE THEM MORE OFTEN. They're challenging, but I need to challenge myself artistically. I feel like I hit a plateau ages ago. Life Happens and all that jazz, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't explore or experiment!

UV reactive colors are a BLAST. I'd like to invest in a UV flashlight down the road for artwork and rockhounding. :D

I touched up my painting with Fluorescent Pink and Yellow Posca paint pens. Super easy way to break up shapes and add visual contrast!

Honestly, I'd loved how this gradation turned out—but those chompers were screaming for more contrast. XD Voila!

11" x 15" watercolor and acrylic inks on watercolor paper

*inhales* THIS WAS FUN TO MAKE AND I MISS HAVING FUN MAKING ART!!

I've struggled to connect with my art since dropping it as a career path. Turns out that monetizing creative outlets is a good way to potentially kill them. It's a self-perpetuating rollercoaster. In 2021, I drew / wrote / scribbled 1,057 sketchbook pages across multiple sketchbooks; mostly Brainsick-related scenes, journal entries, and AU shenanigans. I thought I was enjoying myself, but I was terrified of 'losing' my skills! 

(I did enjoy much of it, and writing things down is one of the easiest ways to un-jumble my brain, but it did little to nothing to ease my anxiety.)

In recognizing my mental trifecta of ADHD, autism, and OCD, I've had to teach myself that it's okay if it takes me longer to create / feel UP TO creating than what I was force-fed during college. "DRAW EVERY DAY OR YOU'RE NOT A REAL ARTIST!!" is bullshit. My head worlds grow with me; they're living, breathing entities, and I don't have to publish them to feel like I've accomplished something. I may not fully understand my own characters until I hear a certain song, read a particular book, or even experience something in life that mirrors their fictional lives. 

INKtober 2016, Day 18!

INKtober 2016, Day 18: Comfort
9x12 acrylic and watercolor on Canson XL watercolor paper

A loose painting based off of an unused thumbnail for the first Inktober drawing of 2015!

Aunt Pam's birthday card 2012!

Completed for my aunt's birthday today. I went to bed at 4AM to finish it for her.

I learned that darker Derwent Inktense pencils are a lot harder to wash evenly than the lighter tones. I used Prismacolor pencils to supplement the color and even it out. I also used a bit of Permanent White gouache to fix up some areas and add highlights.

Costumed Figure Drawing Final: Freefall

_{13" h x 17" w
cold-pressed watercolor paper
Speedball Super Pigmented Acrylic (Super Black)
#1 round brush for outlines
2.5" hake brush and 1" stroke for wash and coverage
M. Graham Artists' Watercolor (mixtures of Permanent Alizarin Crimson / Azo Yellow and Permanent Alizarin Crimson / Ultramarine Blue)
salt}

One of my favorite projects thus far.

Costumed Figure Drawing: Freefall template, inks and background!

^ Figure at top is the template (photocopied from sketchbook studies at 200%), and figure at bottom is the finished lineart, inked with a #1 round brush.


^ The background, done separately with M. Graham watercolors and salt.

Watercolor Moleskine, Page 1!

^ M. Graham watercolors on Moleskine watercolor paper. Phoenix-like birds from my head to test out the sketchbook and play with layering color.

My scanner does not treat watercolors that well.

Exercises from Lee's watercolor workshop!

^ This final study, done today at home, is based off of the work of one of Lee's favorite watercolorists (whose name I've unfortunately forgotten). The blue-to-red wash was done first - with some salt added for fun - followed by the ground plane. Next came the tree trunks and branches, and finally the leaves. A really fun exercise!

Paper is Arches Bright White 140lb.; watercolors are M. Graham. They're a blast to use and are my first professional-grade watercolors.

I still need to finish that sphere....

Costumed Figure Drawing: building up from breaking down.

My weakest piece to date (the right edge is cropped). I learned how difficult it is to try to reproduce colors in different media from my studies onto a final piece. I received good crits on it - and believe me, it's good to get crits on something you're not happy with, so you know how to fix it later - but varying factors I experienced Monday night stressed me to the point of depression by the time I got home. I worry too much sometimes about how I'll get myself out in the art world, and it's heightened a bit by my impending graduation.

I skipped my morning class Tuesday and got ten hours of sleep rather than four; the lack of sleep I would have had was a huge factor in stressing me out. Felt infinitely better afterward.

I'll treat it as a learning experience.