Let me just say that so far, 2011 has been exhaustion and failed deadlines, so many failed deadlines that If I was working an actual freelance job, I'd be fired by now. I spend every free second I have in bed to avoid having to deal with the day. Every small thing becomes a mountain, some vast insurmountable hump I have to somehow find a way over. And 2 months into 2011, I've already had my first big picture failure. You know, the one I was possibly thinking of doing a how-to for? yeah. not going to happen. 5-hours into the picture and it is sitting in my trash in pieces. I didn't know I was capable of ripping illustration board in half; go, hulk rage, go. I luckily scanned the lines, but almost immediately I started to fuck up because I had never messed with the paint and didnt know how it was going to react. 3 hours in and I was already working on CG mockups to help me orchestrate my mistakes into something manageable so i could try to repaint areas. I guess it serves me right for having a modicum of pride about something that lasted 15 years and didn't turn to shit. Pride serves no one any gifts except suffering. #boddhisatva.
So while I sit here with a tea-and-pill-cocktail in hand, Imma' give you all some advice when painting with acrylic gouache:
- DO NOT SEAL YOUR PENCIL DRAWING. Here, let me make it a little more clear:
- DO NOT EVER SEAL YOUR PENCILS IN WITH FIXATIVE IF YOU ARE USING ACRYLA GOUACHE. YOU WILL ALREADY HAVE FUCKED YOURSELF OVER.
- Did you read #1 and #2? Make sure you do. Maybe even 5 or 6 times, just to hammer the point in.
- Scan your lines before you ever work on a painting. Always. If you cant scan them, then photograph them with a camera on a stable surface.
- Contrary to the packaging, I'm not 100% sure that the permanence of acryla gouache is that of a non-modified acrylic polymer (read: store-bought acrylic paint.) It may have been the fact that I FUCKING PRIMED A PIECE OF ILLUSTRATION BOARD LIKE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FUCKING IDIOT ASSHOLE SHITFUCK which took out any ability of the board to absorb the paint, or it may just be it reacts better impasto as opposed to in washes (which is what i was doing).
- It seems like this stuff would stick better to a surface with more tooth, like cold-pressed paper or canvas. It seemed almost to powder off in spots where the paint was heavy.
2 comments:
All I can really say is "=(" At least you learned from it? *patapat*
A couple days of watching The Dude shake his head, and that's all I can say too, is that it's a learning experience.
I know I go through similar at work whenever we have to change from one brand to another. I've had to change mixture ratios because one brand of paint has 4 times more pigment than the old one, as well as the fact that it dries 4 times faster, so my working time is shorter. And that's only paint.
It stinks, but there's a learning curve. There is no standard.
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