If you’re thinking about starting with watercolors, there are two types of things you’ll need. You’ll need items you have to buy at an art store (or of course online), and items you can get elsewhere. The latter, you may already have.
So let’s go over these.
To buy from the art store
You’ll need three things – watercolor brushes, watercolor paper, and watercolor paints.
Can you use other types of brushes for watercolors? Sure.
But watercolor brushes are specifically made for watercolors. You’ll notice that watercolor brushes matter. Of the three though, they’re the least important expenditure. I’d suggest getting cheap watercolor brushes in the beginning if you have a limited budget.
Watercolor paper? Once again, start off with cheap watercolor paper. Your first ten paintings will be throwaway anyways. Watercolor isn’t an easy medium by any means.
And last, the paints.
I’ve seen artists get by with cheap watercolor paints and make some pretty cool stuff. The artist is more important than the tool.
As you get better though, you’re going to want better tools. It’s the same thing with anything.
For now, you’ll be fine with cheap watercolor paints. You’ll learn the difference as you go. It’s way more important at first to hone your technique than it is to use professional grade tools.
You may already have
You’ll also need pencils, erasers, a surface, jars, scratch paper, paper towels, a sponge, and clean water.
Kimchi jars are the perfect size for everything
Save your jars. My wife and I eat a lot of Kimchi. It’s supposed to be good for your gut flora. I actually like the taste too, especially the spicy stuff.
These jars are the perfect size for both storing your brushes and also for the water. You’ll need two jars for water. One jar, you use to clean your brush and the second one, you use as the final rinse.
Do both matter? Yes. Unless you want to have the previous paint in what you’re painting next. I’m very religious about rinsing from two jars.
Water obviously. Tap water does the trick unless you live in a place with really bad tap water. If so, you’ll have to buy water. You don’t want to have muddy watercolors.
Paper towels and a sponge. You don’t absolutely need a sponge. But now that I have sponges, I use them.
You use the sponges to get the perfect amount of water on your brush. Some artists also use them for effects (like clouds for instance).
You’ll use the paper towels for everything from cleaning up messes to more effects. Always keep paper towels handy. Murphy’s Law states that the one time you forget the paper towels will be the one time you really need them!
Scratch paper for testing colors. You’ll do so much work with colors. How much water you use changes the colors. Plus, you might do a lot of color mixing as well. You’ll need to test the results before they go onto your real painting surface.
Pencils and erasers obviously. You don’t have to, but a lot of watercolor artists will draw their ideas on the watercolor paper before painting. I actually ink my watercolors, but that’s after drawing with pencil first.
As for your surface – I literally paint on the floor because I have a bad back. You may prefer an easel. Up to you.
Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to get back to you on a timely manner.
Hello. My wife and I are back from a Costa Rica and Panama cruise.
It’s our fifth cruise, and first time doing Winstar. They have smaller ships – about 220 passengers plus crew. Much smaller than those large cruise ships that we’ve always taken before.
Not all our vacations are cruises. But my wife loves them so we go on them often.
My wife and I have a hard rule that every year, we have to leave the country to a country we haven’t been to before. This year started out with Costa Rica and Panama.
Costa Rica and Panama have gorgeous beaches and wonderful weather in January. I got a slight sunburn as I stayed in the water all day. I’m pretty dark so it’s not easy for me to get burned. I pretty much have to stay in the water all day.
But it’s hard not to. It’s so warm and lovely.
We saw dolphins, monkeys, sloths, toucans, parrots, and macaws. I didn’t bring a good camera. Just my cell phone. So these pictures aren’t great.
I’m more into having a good time anyways than taking pictures.
However, I did take a lot of jungle shots. I’ll be using them for my tropical mermaid paintings.
A monkey in Panama
So, I also learned a few things. Do you know the difference between African monkeys and South African monkeys? South African monkeys have prehensile tails, meaning that they can use them like an extra limb.
Pretty cool to see them doing it live. I didn’t get very close as these shots were taken in the jungle.
A Jesus Christ lizard in Panama
Do you know why it’s called a Jesus Christ lizard? This lizard can literally run across the water.
No, I didn’t get any video of him doing that. However, at least I got a picture of him chilling.
Jungle in Costa Rica
A pair of dolphins
All in all, had a great time. Definitely ate and drank too much. Looks like I’m going to have to hit the weights harder and incorporate some running in there to work some of that vacation weight off.
But, had a great time.
We finished the vacation crossing the Panama Canal. Highly recommend for people who like technology as for its time, it was an engineering miracle. France begun the work in 1881 but had to abandon it due to a high mortality rate for the workers. The USA took it over in 1904 and completed the work in 1914. The American Society of Civil Engineers lists it as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world.
I primarily use two models for everything – Allie and Roxy. Allie is the blonde. Roxy is the brunette. Both of them are some of my closest friends on the planet.
I worked with Allie throughout her pregnancy and regret never doing a pregnant painting of her. I really should have, just to do.
She’s already looking great, despite her baby being born earlier this year. How did she recover that fast? I’ll leave that a secret, just in case Allie wants to write a book or sell a course.
Seriously. I should encourage her to do just that.
Occasionally, I’ll use other models. I’ve use Jin n Tonic before a few times now. Jin modeled both for my selkie painting and also for my homage to Mel Ramos.
As we speak, I’m taking a break from finishing up Alicia, a character from my Humpty Dumpty story. Roxy modeled for this one, and I’m going to sell it in an eBook form since it will have a shitload of illustrations, mostly really cool doodles.
If you’re wondering how to find pinup models, that’s an entirely different topic. I actually put a paid ad out. This isn’t my ideal way to find them though as I like to know people really well. I knew Allie and Roxy before they were my models and I knew Jin from working on music videos before from a failed band.
This weekend, I’m working with two new models. If they’re the right fit, I’ll keep one or both of them. If not, then I’ll keep looking. I want to have more than two regular models to work with. Of course nothing against Allie and Roxy, they’re the best, but for variety’s sake. I simply can’t have the same two women for every single character I come up with.
Fit – Can she be a Muse?
More than everything else combined – fit. We have to get along. And she’s got to fit the part.
Getting along is huge. I’m an artist. I’m probably more emotional than most. Some people I love to death. Some people, I’d never work with again.
I’m very loose. I don’t like structure. I don’t like rules.
If you come into a relationship and immediately lay down your laws, I’m going to roll my eyes and it will be a one time thing.
However, if you’re super cool, I’ll be more than happy to work with you for years. I’m like a dog. The people I like, I like forever.
Body
I’ve seen a lot of overweight pinups. That’s the new thing nowadays. Love your body no matter what.
More power to you! Seriously. If you’re happy being you, I’m happy for you.
But, I’m not going to work with someone without the body shape I like. I like a woman with more 1950s curves. Like Bettie Page. Or Marilyn Monroe.
Sure, not everyone can have a body like Marilyn Monroe. Allie and Roxy both do though. And Allie just had a baby.
I’m an artist, not a doctor. But, I lost 15 pounds by cutting carbs and eliminating processed foods entirely. If you go through our house, we have pasta, rice, and everything else will spoil. We eat mostly meats, fruits, and veggies.
No more sugars. The only sugars we get are from natural foods, like apples, bananas, grapes, etc. We also try to eat organic when available and free ranged meats when available. Our eggs are all either organic or at least free range.
Once again, I’m not a doctor. But, I myself lost a lot of belly fat by changing my diet.
Every once in awhile, we’ll order a pizza. I’ll only eat cake if one acquaintance of ours makes it. Her cakes are the best cakes I’ve ever had in my life. She’s a friend of a friend, and super talented. She even used to do sculpture and I really hope she gets back into it.
If it’s not her cake, I don’t eat it.
And yes, I drink alcohol. But no more beer for me. Usually whiskey or red wine.
Proud of her femininity
Femininity has power. A lot.
Wars were fought over beautiful women. Cleopatra. Helen of Troy. Then, you got your femme fatales that bring men to their doom because we simply can’t resist their beauty.
The pinup queen knows this. She wields her femininity with great power. It translates well to the canvas, or in my case, the watercolor board.
Attitude
Pinup models are pinup models. They’re not shy, although sometimes they’ll play that role for certain poses. But no, they’re not shy.
They’re by no means socially retarded. In fact, they’re social creatures. You know they’re there. Which leads to…
Presence
The very first time I saw Jin in real life, she was singing karaoke in Vegas. And you know what? Everyone in the whole fucking room was paying attention.
She wasn’t even dressed up. She was wearing street clothes. Yet, she had this presence that despite not looking that much like she did in her pictures, I knew that had to be Jin.
Most pinup models I’ve known drank. Not a requirement, but it’s part of the culture. For obvious reasons, Allie can’t drink too much just yet but she promised that when her kid is old enough to leave him with her parents, we’re getting plastered together.
Aura
And speaking of presence, whether you believe in aura or not, I’ll mention it. Good pinup models definitely have an aura. Olivia de Berardinis is so good as an artist that you could practically feel their aura from her paintings. Olivia is who I want to be when I grow up.
Can play different roles
If you look at pinups from the Golden Age of Pinups, they play different roles. Sometimes, the pinup model plays the shy girl. She’s often embarrassed or in a compromised situation.
You’ll also see her play the femme fatale. Or, she’ll play a seductress for the sake of seduction, without luring the everyday man to his doom.
Roxy
She could play the party girl or the naughty housewife. These are just examples. The thing is, my ideal pinup model can play multiple roles and pull them off well.
What I don’t want
I can’t play poker. If I have a good hand, you’ll know it. If I have a bad hand, you’ll also know it.
I’m an open book. And I like people who communicate.
I don’t like soulless people, people devoid of life. Whether you believe in Heaven, reincarnation, or absolutely nothing, you get one shot at being you. I can’t speak for you, but I’m going to make the best of my shot.
More than half the models I’ve ever worked with didn’t have that pizazz. They weren’t full of life.
They simply went through the motions, and that was it.
That is exactly what I don’t want.
I want someone who loves being that character. The way Allie or Roxy models is the best. They really get into it. We got music going on and they don’t even have to fake their smiles. They love doing it.
I’ve worked with models before that once they’re done smiling, they go right back into a dead face.
Pardon my French, but fuck that shit! I don’t work with those models ever again. It’s a one-time thing.
We have to connect
Also, we have to connect. If there’s no connection between me and you, I don’t want to work with you ever again.
It’s just like I had one corporate job in my entire life that I absolutely loved. You know why? Because several people I worked with connected. I’m still friends with those people. Actually, one of them, we were just over at his house for a wine tasting.
We argue art all the time. Often agreeing though. Like for instance, his favorite band is The Cure. I liked what is now called “Dad Metal” from that time period but I still loved the album Head on the Door.
The same goes with my pinup models. No connection, no workie again.
I’m a Romantic after all. I have to feel something. If I feel nothing, there is no art.
It’s just like when I play music. Sure, I read sheet music. But when I play, it’s not just notes. I’m playing from my soul.
So that’s what I’m looking for. I give people chances and see if they’re a good fit. If not, I don’t work with them again and I actually don’t bother painting them. They stay as sketches and that’s that.
About the image
That’s Jin (initially wearing a black wig but I changed it to red) and Allie in a watercolor painting I did for a friend. That painting is not for sale.
I’m going to let you in on a secret. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.
Actually, half the time? Heh. That’s generous. Most of the time.
And I’m not talking about watercolors. I’m talking about life.
The thing is, neither does anyone else. We’re all just winging it.
Life doesn’t come with a handbook. You don’t get a set of directions to tell you to do this, then do this. And now? Do this.
You’re on your own.
And you know what? That’s OK.
Inner voice
You know that inner voice that talks to you? Some of us even talk back to it and have a two way conversation with it.
Well, mine used to be a complete asshole. It used to say things that you’d say to your worst enemy. And it will also fill me with doubt. I’d be scared to try something new because of that inner voice.
Well, I retrained mine. Mine is now a coach. And a friend.
It took years. We’re all at varying levels of functionality and dysfunctionality. I don’t think anyone’s 100% sane nowadays.
But once again, that’s OK.
Training my inner voice to be supportive was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. Now, rather than making fun of everything I do, it tells me how I can do it. Like a coach. But, a real good coach. Like a Vince Lombardi or Phil Jackson.
Our brains are rewireable. We can literally program them to be good at the things we need to be good at.
Persistence, Habits, and Repetition
Everything becomes a habit. Habits don’t have to be a bad thing. For instance, I do a 5 minute sketch every single morning. That’s a habit. Once you start replacing bad habits with good habits, your life will get so much easier.
I changed my diet too. I only eat twice a day rather than three times a day. No snacking whatsoever. Someone brings donuts into work? No thanks. I’ll pass. I’ll only eat birthday cake if I really, really like the person. Otherwise, no thanks. I’ll pass.
Once you start developing good habits, you can literally be good at anything. I’m pretty good at guitar because I practiced at least an hour daily. When I was a late teen, all my other friends wanted to get drunk on weekends. Instead, I practiced guitar. Then, they wonder why I passed them all up within a year.
Everyone thought it was natural talent. Nope. Persistence and discipline.
We improve by developing skill sets
What would you say if I asked you “what are you good at?” Would you be able to give me a list?
Over the years, I’ve developed some life skill sets and got good at the important ones. I learned nutrition from a coach, weightlifting from a coach, home finance from self-help books, guitar from jamming with friends, and piano from a piano teacher. I got good at all those things.
You can learn from other people. Or books. Or nowadays, even YouTube.
When Allie approached me about taking my art seriously, I started off with colored pencils. I started watching people painting on YouTube. Oils and acrylics looked really cool. However, I live in a tiny ass apartment. I thought watercolors would be more practical. Thus, I decided to try watercolors and been in love with them ever since.
Allie posed for my Selene Gazing Upon Endymion painting
Life gets way easier once you have some skill sets
Life gets significantly easier once you’ve acquired some skill sets. I put health at the top, relationships second, and finances third. Once you get good at all three, you’ll have a pretty good life. Guaranteed.
I had to learn all that stuff on my own. Like I said above, I hired coaches for health. I learned about healthy relationships by watching functional people. You get treated by how much you allow. For instance, if someone treats you like shit, did you cut them out of your life? If not, why haven’t you already?
This isn’t a finance blog so I’m not going to waste time here, other than I learned that if you live within your means and put 10% of everything you make into your investments, you’ll be doing pretty well within a decade.
“But I want it now!”
Grow up. Life doesn’t work like that. You have to work for it.
I use finance as an example for that mindset because it’s the most obvious. That said, you can apply that to everything.
If you want to be a great artist, you’re not going to be selling a million dollar paintings in one year. You’re going to be busting your ass for at least a decade.
I’ve been drawing daily for almost a decade now. I’ve been playing guitar for over thirty years and piano on and off during that time.
And that doesn’t include drawing and doodling for decades before that. I used to make silly cartoons for friends of stupid shit we did. They’d laugh.
So the art was always there. I only decided to take it seriously this decade.
Keep going
So keep going. Develop the skill sets you need for what you want to accomplish.
We’re all just winging it in life anyways. If you’re actually good at the important things, you’ll do well in life. And that will significantly help your art by allowing you to focus on art rather than the world falling down around you.
It’s pretty sad that most Westerners know nothing about Western civilization. Schools nowadays are so much more into indoctrination than actually teaching kids anything useful.
Culture is everything. Well, not quite everything. You gotta know some math and science and other shit.
But as an artist, when people talk about culture, I’m happy.
So, let me tell you a personal story and a dangerous historical story and I’m going to combine the two where we meet.
First, the mistress and the danger
Back in the old days, artists often relied on patrons. Goya had several. One of whom doubled as a close personal friend of his – Manual Godoy, who later became Secretary of State, then the Prime Minister of the Spanish Empire.
Funny background – Godoy was a regular guy. But he was a damn good guitarist, fighter, and bullshitter. Those abilities got him far in life, and he eventually impressed the Royal Family. They liked him so much that he eventually rose to Secretary of State.
But, he had a problem. He was madly in love with Pepita Tudó. Which was fine, but for political reasons, he had to marry another woman.
He ended up having Pepita as his mistress and the affair lasted until his wife died, whereupon he married Pepita.
The public saw the clothed version of that painting, seen above. The Spanish Inquisition however also came across the nude version of the painting and threw a fit.
Both Goya and Godoy were called before the Spanish Inquisition for some explaining to do. This could have been the end of Goya’s career.
Luckily, Goya was super smart. He pointed out the painting’s similarities to other works of art by other artists that weren’t so controversial. And he made the Spanish Inquisition look like a bunch of philistines.
To save face, the Spanish Inquisition called it off. Thankfully, that painting remains to this day and is now side by side with its sister painting in El Prado in Madrid. So yes, I’ve seen them both in real life. Pictures don’t do them justice. At all. You need to see them in real life.
Inspirations
After visiting El Prado in 2015, my wife and I went to the Gothic District in Barcelona. We saw a Flamenco group perform. 8 musicians. 3 dancers. A performance I’ll vividly remember until the day I die.
I stumbled across a luthier in the Gothic District in Barcelona and just happened to have a lot of money on me at the time. I got lucky. He had a bunch of violins, some cellos, and two Flamenco guitars in stock. I walked away with a Flamenco guitar and brought it back to the States.
Pepita – my Spanish guitar
What did I name her? Pepita. Of course.
The story didn’t end there
You probably already know the story of Goya. If not, here’s the summary. Goya went on to be the greatest artist of his day and lived so long that he got to see a lot of his paintings make it into the Prado. Imagine that!
As for Godoy and Pepita, happily ever after?
Not quite.
Pepita was more his fuck buddy. Yes, he was in love with her in the beginning.
But, he really fell in love with Queen Maria Luisa, the Queen of Spain, the wife of Charles IV, and the granddaughter of Louis XV. You may know Louis XV as the father of Louis XVI, the King who got his head chopped off with his wife Marie Antoinette.
Godoy and the Queen had a secret affair. Godoy died almost two decades before Pepita did and before she died, she painfully told a reporter that the Queen was the only woman he truly loved.
Does your artwork have a common theme? If so, great. If not, does it need a common theme?
Honestly, I like artists who are somewhat consistent. And I notice that when you could recognize someone’s work, it sells better.
So a partial answer to the second question – yes, if you want to sell it.
You should be able to recognize my artwork right away. It has a common theme to it. Sure, I do mostly fantasy pinups. But even when I’m not doing fantasy pinups, it still looks like something I did.
Allie modeled for both speaker girls
I’ve done the same theme twice in a row and will probably do it four or five more times in a row. I’m on a speaker girl kick. Why? Does it matter why? That’s what’s been motivating me recently, so I just go with it.
Also lately, I haven’t been doing that many full nudes. They’ve only been topless. I don’t know why that is. It just is.
I got a friend from Los Angeles coming over tonight. I see her once or maybe even twice a year.
She’s a professional model who’s getting more into business than modeling. Which is great. Let her go over all the bumps in the road so I could pick her brain and figure out where the bumps are. I actually am looking forward to her becoming successful. I take picking people’s brains very seriously. The more successful they are, the more I want to pick their brains.
How to develop a common theme
Who are you? No, not just your name. Who are you really?
If you can answer like this, then you need to do some serious soul searching. I highly advise you to take this seriously because potential buyers will want answers.
My name is Roman. I’m a Neo-Romantic composer and a fantasy pinup artist. Oh, you want to hear more about my art than my music? You’re interested in my art? Well, thank you.
Yeah, I call myself a fantasy pinup artist but I’ll go into more depth. You remember those planes in World War II? Remember they used to paint pinup girls on the planes?
I absolutely loved that style of art! But, I grew up in the 80s and got heavily into fantasy.
So, I thought recently why not combine my love for pinups with fantasy? Just imagine if rather than the usual pinup girls on those planes, they let me paint witches, mermaids, sirens, naiads, faeries, or succubi.
Know yourself
So that’s why I mean by knowing yourself. If you have to, make it conversational like I did.
My themes are very consistent. My artwork is very recognizable. That’s why I have no problems selling it. You either like it or you don’t. But you know I did it.
Good luck. And keep painting.
And, have something prepared when someone asks you “what’s your art all about?”
There’s no such thing as too many paintings of dancers. Dancing is one of the most human things we do. I’m married. But if I were single, and I met a cute girl who couldn’t dance, I’ll give her the evil words. You know them – “let’s just be friends.”
That’s right. No matter how cute she is. If she can’t dance, I’m not attracted to her. Period.
Now, if she promised to take dancing lessons and showed vast improvement, then maybe I’d give her a second chance. But dancing is such a huge thing to this particular artist at least.
I’m a damn good dancer. I took Swing lessons and Waltz lessons. I’d love to eventually take Tango lessons as I think the Tango is exceptionally sexy.
Musically, I’m all about Ballet. Swan Lake is the greatest of all ballets. But everyone already knows that.
Allie and Roxy are both damn good dancers
Yes, it’s not just because we’re close friends. They’re also very good dancers. They both move gracefully and have peaceful faces when they dance. You could tell the passion when they’re dancing. It’s real. Not forced.
Yes, I’ve already said it many times, including recently in my 3 totally random artistic musings article. But I’ll say it one more time for the people in the back.
If I’m ever going to get a third model, she has to be a good dancer. No exceptions.
I specially look for gracefulness when looking for models. No, neither Allie nor Roxy are professional models. My friend Jin was the last professional model I used. I may use a few others I know back when I was more into photography than art.
But I actually don’t like using one-offs. For my style of painting, there needs to be an emotional connection. I’m a Romantic after all.
Dance silhouettes (painted in gouache)
What about you?
What are you passionate about? And how do you work this into your art?
I strongly believe if you paint what you’re passionate about, you’ll never ever run out of ideas.
I’ve painted a lot of mermaids recently. I think I’m going to take a break from mermaids for awhile. I think it’s time to explore a whole new category of femme fatales. How about witches?
My prior witches were more sloppy than evil. Like the young witch who accidentally unleashed a poisonous snake.
This time around, I want evil. And not just the witches. How about painting some evil familiars to ride along with the witches?
Evil familiar tendencies
A lot of good witches like cats. That goes back, way, way back. Back in the Salem days, we had cats to get rid of the rats. They made great pets. They’re not only your pets, they also took care of a practical problem.
Now, I’m convinced that the whole reason for the Salem Witch Massacre had nothing to do with witchcraft and everything to do with inheritance. Some old ladies often live a real long time. And some would be inheritors are absolutely shitty people. I’m pretty sure you can put two and two together here. Yes, ’twas a conspiracy to get their land and/or money.
But let’s go back further and dive into the world of Medieval Fantasy, my favorite inspiration for art.
Whereas good witches often have cats or owls, evil witches prefer familiars that are a bit more “combat ready.” So evil familiars aren’t just a cunning evil creature that sits on your left shoulder (remember to throw your pinch of salt over your right shoulder when you’re an evil witch). They also have combat purposes. They have a mean bite. And worse.
Imps
Imps were human once. Damned to the fiery pits of Hell, an evil witch will often bring one back and use them as familiars.
Imps are cunning and conniving. They’re also stubborn, ruthless, cowardly, and completely self-serving.
Imps were evil beta males. They got pushed around in life and when they murdered in their past human incarnation, they wouldn’t exactly do it in a confrontational manner. They feared direct conflict. When they had to do it directly, they made damn sure the odds were strongly in their favor.
You know the old stick versus carrot rule. As familiars, think in terms of two sticks for each carrot. You still have to carrot them since their sense of loyalty is already pretty bad. If you don’t, they’ll either take off or try to kill you in your sleep.
Baby dragons
An evil witch can live hundreds of years. Whereas a human usually dies in double digits, not an evil witch. They can get quite old.
However, dragons live in the thousands of years. We’re talking a whole different ballgame.
Baby dragons make wonderful familiars. The problem with baby dragons is that they’re very rare. Humans and dragons have been at war for forever, with humans in recent years coming quite close to causing dragon extinction.
Their natural habitat? Geez. It’s so small now that I’m not even sure where to find them.
You may be thinking how come humans got the upper edge on dragons, considering dragons are so powerful and so smart. Simply put, biology. Dragons take forever to mate. Dragon eggs only hatch under ideal situations.
But humans? Babies only take nine months to create and are combat ready in only fifteen or sixteen years! No way dragons could keep up with that.
If you ever see a witch with a dragon familiar, she’s on a whole different level of power. Cross her and she’ll not just kill you. She’ll take down your entire Kingdom.
Hellhounds
Some witches are so evil that they absolutely detest sunlight. No, they’re not going to exactly burn up and die like a stupid vampire. Rather, they’re at their best after the witching hour.
Those are the kind of witches you’ll find with hellhounds as familiars.
Hellhounds cannot come out in the sunlight. You’ll only encounter them at night. And if you encounter them, you’re in a heap of trouble.
If you see a witch with a hellhound as a familiar, you’re in a super duper heap of trouble. You got a serious problem.
Hellhounds usually signal death when a human encounters one. Generally, the Devil himself sends a hellhound after someone who sold him his soul. That cursed someone knows his time is short. And he’s on the run, for he knows when the hellhound catches him…
For a witch to actually raise one of these foul (and foul smelling) creatures as a pet? Well, she’s got to be more evil than your average evil witch. Plus, she more than likely doesn’t have a working olfactory sense. Did I mention that hellhounds stink?
Nightmares
There isn’t exactly one size fits all when it comes to evil witches. Whereas most evil witches are pretty good at direct physical confrontation, leaving their opponent either in tatters, turned into an amphibian, or burnt to a crisp, some work through other methods.
The kind of evil witch that has a nightmare as a familiar you probably could conquer in a physical confrontation. That’s not the problem.
Just don’t ever go to sleep. That’s where she’ll get you.
Nightmares cause nightmares. But a Nightmare’s nightmare is so powerful, it causes death. Yes, you’re literally scared to death.
So if an evil witch extorts you, it’s more than likely one of these witches. You have two choices. Either pay her off. Or, find her and exterminate her.
If you do the latter, you better find her location before you go to sleep. Once you sleep, she wins. You simply won’t survive an encounter with her nightmare familiar.
How do legends start? They’re usually based on some kind of truth. Or what someone with a lot of charisma thought was the truth.
On the Ancient Greek island of Delos, women would leave offerings to a beautiful nude female creature that they called Brizo. They’d leave her offerings in exchange for her protection of their husbands and sons from the dangers of the seas.
Brizo the Goddess
She eventually became a Greek Goddess. To be exact – the Ancient Greek Goddess of Mariners, Sailors, and Fishermen.
Later on, Ancient Greeks used her in oracles and dreams as well.
But her primary role was protection of the men in the seas. Note that women worshiped her, not the men who she directly protected.
Delos
Of course, you can still visit Delos today. Very few people live there as it’s mostly archeological ruins. If you’re an archeologist or a history buff, you’ll probably love a boat ride and a day or two on the island.
We didn’t get a chance to go there when we were in Greece last year. We explored Olympia and some nice Greek beaches. If you ever go there, try the seafood!
Origins
Have you ever seen the original Star Trek series? Well, they had an episode where the crew encounter Apollo. Apollo turned out to be a powerful alien, not a God. But the Ancient Greeks also encountered him and with their knowledge for the time, it made sense that he must have been a God.
What about Brizo? Did the Ancient Greeks see a mermaid? Or, was it something else on a foggy day where two people saw something, then filled in the blanks?
I don’t know. I wasn’t there. That’s often how legends start though. They’re often based on something real.
Brizo the character
I’d love to believe in the existence of mermaids. Like Fox Mulder wants to believe there are aliens. Every time they’ve found a body or a skeleton though, it turned out to be a forgery.
So regardless, I’m going to use Brizo as a recurring character. Here’s the first in what will become many Brizo paintings.
Not everyone who does watercolor paints people. However, for those who do, the absolute number one question is – how do you blend skin tones in watercolor?
Now here’s the answer you probably don’t want to hear. There’s more than one way to do it. Actually, there are dozens of excellent ways to do it.
Just like with music, I borrowed a lick or two from this guy and a lick or two from that guy. After borrowing licks, runs, and phrases from enough people, I ended up with my own style.
The same applies to painting. The more you borrow, the more you develop your own style. So read this article and take notes. Take what you want from my style and throw out the rest. You’ll end up merging a bunch of styles together anyways when you’re developing your own unique style.
How I blend skin tones in watercolor
I’m going to show two examples of how I blend skin tones in watercolor. One example painting I just finished. The other, I finished awhile back. I do like how both of them turned out.
Mermaids and witches. I have no idea why they dominate my artwork. That’s just how it ends up. The above is a mermaid painting I just completed. The below is a work in progress of two girls under a waterfall.
Two blondes under a waterfall – work in progress
I primarily take two colors – titanium white and burnt sienna. I mix them until I get a nice light orange, matching Allie’s skin. Now if you look closely at someone, you’ll notice that nobody has just one color. You’ll see lots of colors.
The color you want to create is your model’s “average skin tone.” What the hell does that mean? Somewhere in the middle.
You’ll have to both darken and lighten it, depending on the lighting and shadows.
This method works for painting white people. To paint darker people, combine a nice red and a nice green about 50/50 to get a nice brown. You’ll have to lighten it or darken it to find that person’s average color. I personally use perelyne red and hooker green to get my browns. I happen to like those two colors and combined, they get an excellent brown.
Mixing skin tones in watercolor – the four colors
We have two primary colors for my model’s main colors – titanium white and burnt sienna. What are the other two colors? A red and a yellow. Personally, my red is perelyne red and my yellow is hansa yellow medium.
I use the yellow to mark what will later become highlights. I love the yellow effect. It shows through without showing through. You have to look closely for it to see it.
For the final color, I add a little watered down red to her cheeks. I use the same red for her lips to her cheeks. Except for her lips, it’s straight up red (not watered down). I love red lipstick on a beautiful woman. It pops out and really makes her smile/lips stand out. I love that.
For the witch, I used watered down red for her right nipple (you mostly don’t see her right nipple due Allie having really long hair) and also her fingernails. Allie has long, feminine fingernails. I love those. Now my wife does too after seeing Allie’s nails.
Seven wet on wet layers
I get really soft skin tones by painting seven layers wet on wet. (I hope you’re using really good watercolor paper, because with cheap watercolor paper, you may be pushing it beyond its limits).
The first layer – I paint yellow for the highlights and I paint the main skin tone everywhere else. Then the second layer, the third layer, and the fourth layer, I paint the main skin tone everywhere.
For the fifth layer, I paint the skin tone for the non-shadowed areas while painting slightly watered down burnt sienna on the shadowed areas. For the sixth layer, I smear the regular color all over her and drop a little watered down red for her cheeks. Finally, for the seventh layer, I paint straight up titanium white all over her to even out everything and smooth out both the lightened areas and the shadowed areas.
Titanium White
Burnt Sienna
Yellow Hansa Medium
Perelyne Red
The gold
This may sound weird. I use gold watercolor ground for the gold. Why? Because it gives it a 3D effect. Just in case you don’t know what watercolor ground is, let me explain. Watercolor ground is not exactly paint. It’s material you put over something like glass, metal, or plastic, then you let it dry. Then you can paint over it, so you can literally watercolor over glass, metal, or plastic.
The thing is, when you use the ground for paint, it gives it a little bit of a 3D effect because it sticks out a little bit. I love that!
Watch out for the evil succubus!
There’s more than one way to do anything
You may try my techniques and hate them. That’s perfectly fine. Like I said before, sometimes different people’s techniques clash and don’t play well together at all. That’s part of being human. If my stuff doesn’t work for you, I’m not at all going to take it personal. However, if you may take one thing out of this entire blog post and run with it for the rest of your painting career, I’d be flattered.
I’ve also heard some watercolor purists poo poo on the idea of using white watercolor for anything. Whatever. I don’t like rules.
I actually love mixing with titanium white. You get really weird mixes with it.
I initially tried getting skin tones with red and yellow. However, that combo caused me to throw out a lot of paint before getting the right formula.
With titanium white and burnt sienna, it’s very simple. Take the white, add some water, and add a little bit of burnt sienna until you get the right mix, depending on how light or dark your model is.
I like simple. Simple is good. Even better than simple? Easy to replicate.
When I run out of the mix, I don’t have any problem replicating the same colors, despite mixing colors being one of the hardest things to master in watercolor.
