Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Ah-HA!

I've searched high and low for a waterproof medium that resembles charcoal, but to no avail.  Fixative over the drawing repels my watercolors, so that doesn't seem to work either.  BUT, I think I have a solution: photocopies.  I draw with charcoal on a plain piece of paper, make a high resolution scan and print it out on watercolor paper with waterproof ink!  Ha!  I'll let you know if it works.

Another neat little plus with this is if I mess up with a painting, I just print another one out.  AND I don't have to use my light table.  

We shall see.  I'll report more on this later.


6 comments:

June said...

I know many illustrators who still use photocopiers to print their line onto paper ready for paint so you are in good company.

You can also use Lazer printers, and some Epson printers (2200, R2400)use pigment inks which are fade proof and waterproof, and also allow illustrators to print their pencils straight to the watercolour paper. The joy of using a printer is you can colour the line in photoshop and print it out other than black.
It can save many hours bent over the light box too....
Have fun!

Alicia Padrón said...

Brilliant Paige! Good luck with that. Tell us how it all works out :o)

Ginger*:) said...

I too have heard other illustrators mention doing this. I even do this when I am sketching...in fact I often do it backwards... sketch in the computer, print and then resketch using a light table...

If you have a printer that will take good watercolor paper then I think you may have it made. And remember, we all are waiting to see the magnificent results.

John Nez said...

I know an artist who does the linework with ball point pen on watercolor paper at a teensy tiny size. Then the drawings get blown way up, about 400% and printed out with a copy machine onto watercolor paper.

That gives them a unique line texture... which is always an interesting way to go.

Good luck with your experiments...

:0)

Kathleen Rietz said...

I have tried this in the past...you just need to make sure your printer will print on paper that thick. It did not always go all that smoothly for me, but my printer is over 7 years old and missing some teeth!!

Laura Zarrin said...

I just met an artist, Doug Griswold who draws and shades very darkly with charcoal, then uses Krylon fixative, then paints over it. He uses a lot of charcoal and gets very black blacks. His colors are pretty vibrant, too. You can see a few samples on my blog. I specifically asked a lot of questions about this technique, since I had seen your post. He said not all fixatives work like this. Good Luck! http://creativewhimsies.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-pixie-bear-and-garden-illustration.html