#which wip

[pearlypairings]

Which wip should I work on next, please vote 👉👈

Thank you for helping me organize my brain 🧠 🥰

[waveoftheocean]

late and very much still a wip but happy superbat week day 4: on a case/undercover!

[lazylittledragon]

if i had a nickel for every au spawned from twitter that i SWORE i was going to be normal about

[retquits]

original set vs new...?

what do we think chat. should i do some winter versions

[vitreouspositive]

you think he ever regrets taking dee with him?? thinks about the what if where he handled everything by himself and didn't have to witness d-16's fall (haha. fall...) and megatron's rise?

that is, before he reminds himself that he couldn't have done it without dee, and how at the end of the day, he would do it all over again, cannon shot and all, because he's not gonna take that choice away from his best friend. not when everything else was taken away from him...

[fidgetspringer-art]

Boots on throats, as promised.

[zondearts]

another practice painting based on a wip I'm procrastinating on

[sunlit-mess]

wip bc I'll take time to touch some grass

[slushglow]

the price of your mercy

[heartorbit]

searching for a star that's still unknown to anyone!

[paintedcrows]

Some Fords! (and Martin K Blackwood is also there)

[aeolumen]

[kiksniko]

live laugh love hualian

[demaparbat-hp]

Thinking about @stygiovictoria's Roleswap AU.

[choccy-milky]

MC doing what we all wished we could do (aka napping on the floor with ominis )😴💕

[cosmos-kitty]

Do you have any tips for painting with gouache? like how do you get it to stay a nice solid color over a large swath of paper? and how do you blend it so seamlessly?

Of course, here's a few pointers off the top of my head:

1. I've used gouache for this in the past so it's possible, but the flat backdrop on my latest WIP is actually acrylic! A nifty thing I've found about putting a layer of acrylic down, is that it creates a barrier once dried and essentially makes the paper waterproof. This means you can work in gouache on top without it mixing with the background, and you can wet a section and completely wipe it clean with a cloth/tissue and it won't disturb the acrylic layer underneath. It also makes the paper more resilient, and you don't get as much pilling/tearing from the moisture

To get an even wash it's mostly getting the right consistency, I add just a little water - enough that the paint is less "tacky" as you drag your brush along paper, but not so much that it's runny or translucent. It takes a couple of attempts sometimes!

2. Also for the current WIP that I posted earlier, like the vast majority of my traditional pieces, keep in mind that it's mixed media. So I assume you're referring to the blue-green gradient on the bird and wondering how I got the gouache to blend like that - it's actually colouring pencils! I'll often switch between dry and wet media, even layer them back and forth, whatever makes the most sense to get the effect I want 😁

3. On that note, when you're working with paint, or any medium really, I can't recommend enough having a "test" sheet that you do both before and during a traditional piece. It allows you try out different medium combos, see what shade your gouache will dry into, and catch any issues before it ends up on your artwork. I often see artists being encouraged to just Bob Ross their way through a piece, the idea being that you'll just have happy little accidents that you'll naturally work into the piece - maybe, but you'll also possibly irreversibly wreck your hard work and have to start again. I don't know, I'm just a methodical person I guess, but seeing someone just directly apply something to the page when they're not sure what it's going to do makes me wince - no two art supplies are the same! All of those paints and pens have different chemical makeups, there's an unlimited number of ways what you're using could interact, good or bad.

Since it's already there, I usually reuse one of the leftover failsons from the process of making the wash background, then test everything on top of that. That way you can see exactly what shade the paint will dry on top of whatever colour the background is:

Doesn't need to look good, nobody sees it (usually) and you can also test the thickness of your brushstrokes while you're at it.

Anyway, I hope this helps!