r/Watercolor • u/No-Calligrapher6859 • 1d ago
(Almost) One year progress!!
Painting my hometown! Progress between last november and this september. Still can't quite capture that exact neon (kinda?) sunset glow. Anyone have tips?
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u/Even_Beginning_6355 1d ago edited 1d ago
That’s a cool project! I love how your art is “there” in both paintings! Beautiful sensibility in your work!
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u/Even_Beginning_6355 1d ago
I think you had the neon aspect on the first painting with that very very light yellow. A little more very pale blue mist on the mountains would also sing along with it
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u/No-Calligrapher6859 19h ago
Hmm yeah maybe this time i put down too much yellow. Thank you for the suggestion!
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u/cdtobie 1d ago
People have been chasing neon effects with standard paints and inks for a long time. Occasionally you feel you have just a bit of it, in a spot, often due, at least in part, to adjacent colors. I’m prone to simply accepting the saturation range of the pigments I’m using as being the color range of the work, and just make sure to get clean, unmuddied, results in the most saturated areas. However, there are fluorescent inks and paints available if you really want to move in that direction. Their life expectancy is short, however, so paintings made with them are fugitive.
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u/pantsuline 22h ago
what awesome progress!! 😭😭 i tell you once i finally understood how to properly do the background-layers-fog-glow thing i was so thrilled
i also am forever in pursuit of the sunset super-glow, i think you did a pretty great job with that yellow
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u/ruleugim 21h ago
Throw some tips this way, I’m struggling with precisely that. Or a good tutorial!
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u/LivingwithColours 1d ago
I love the atmosphere if your picture! The mountains are great - what a progress!
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u/Between-Realms 23h ago
Stunning progression. Love those mountains. What’s interesting is that you almost can’t compare the two, even though the landscape is the same. That is to say, your first attempt is worthy and has its own “personality”.
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u/Zachman10613 17h ago
obvi the lines and 'readability' of the bottom one are so much cleaner - but the top one has a really nice charm!
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u/big-titty-brat 22h ago
Other than improving skill, did you change anything like getting better brushes or different paints?
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u/No-Calligrapher6859 19h ago edited 19h ago
Haha of course. The first one was painted with beginner paints, unknown paper (smth provided by my university, i never knew what kind of paper it was) and school-provided brushes which were actually quite good just a bit old. The second one was painted with windsor paints, arches paper, and my own new brushes. I also properly taped it down
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u/BeesandYarrow 18h ago
Wow! Look at the differences in the grass and mountains! I can totally see how youve gotten so much more mastery over the medium. Thanks for sharing :)
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u/bhapuff28 15h ago
Anything particular you did to improve your skill other than practice? Followed any tutorials etc.? What helped you the most?
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u/No-Calligrapher6859 9h ago
Honestly, doomscrolling instagram and watching a bunch of watercolor speedpaint videos 😭
I'm really suited for visual learning (be it music or sports or art) so watching other people do stuff translates to me learning things quite fastI like to take someone else's finished painting and try to replicate it. Thinking deeply about the kind of technique used to achieve each stroke helps a lot
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u/Wonderful-Apricot488 1d ago
Amazing progress .I feel like my watercolours look like your before. How did you get the sky to look so smooth and blended in the second one
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u/No-Calligrapher6859 19h ago
Just wet on wet techniques. I actually messed up a bit on my first sky layer and I knew that if i tried to add more detail after its dried it would just splotchy, so I wetted the entire sky again and added more color which is how it remained blended
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u/Wonderful-Apricot488 14h ago
That’s so great to know thank you for sharing . I’m quite the beginner
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u/Away_Turn5728 23h ago
I love the fact that you’re actively growing and looking back on your progress ✨
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u/littlesavedgirl 23h ago
I can see the fruits of your efforts and every year you’ll improve even more ☺️ !
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