Tuesday, June 30, 2009

For Creativity's Sake

I've been thinking a lot lately about trying my hand at watercolour painting. My experience with the medium is very minimal and of little success. But since my last stab at it, I've worked with, and become accustomed to Gouache, which I've been told shares a lot of the same properties as Watercolour.

What motivated me to try watercolouring again? Oddly enough, cartoons! And stranger still, it tends to be the backgrounds that have me particularly interested.

Les Triplettes de Belleville, released June 2003, is an obvious example. What the film lacks in story line it makes up in quirky creativity. Although the characters themselves are ingeniously designed, it was the convoluted Paris cityscapes and intricately detailed interior spaces that really caught my eye.

My other inspiration was the 1961 Disney Classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Art Direction by Ken Anderson). I watched it again recently and was amazed that I'd not remembered how beautifully designed the backgrounds were. Details are inked over blocks of loosely laid colour in a way that is very early sixties; I particularly enjoy the London row houses.

Last week I took a trip with my friend Sherise to our neighbourhood art supply to pick up some inexpensive materials so I could get a feel for things.

What I bought:

  1. 12-pc Pentel watercolour set
  2. 8-well slant plastic watercolour palette
  3. Set of 5 synthetic brushes
  4. 12-page Canson cold press watercolour pad of paper
  5. 05 Sakura Micron pen
  6. One bottle rubber cement (for masking areas)

Wish me luck! If anyone has any tips, please share!

A video I found useful:




For inspiration check out Cartoon Modern and Animation Backgrounds. Or, just try re-watching some of your favourite childhood animated movies.

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