I would like to draw big! If only because of the person this will go to, but also because it’s a challenge in a good way, relative to my usual practice. I am still not there yet 😅
A combination of things that go in the way (procrastination maybe? fear of failure certainly) and there’s a lot going on too, and the pens I got aren’t right. So I got new pens which are good for coverage but not great for colors, though!
Reminder: This will be for my friend Amy who has a frame to fill and wanted a red Torii in a forest.
Loose pencil sketch on A3 paper (11×17 inches).
I found new acrylic markers in the shades of orange, red, greens which are the type I am used to: they have a sealed barrel full of paint that you have to shake before use and then press the nib a few times to pump the paint downward. I set again to make a small scale version prototype on a card in size 4.6×6.2 cm (about 6 times smaller than what I intend to paint).
The coverage is perfect: this is paint rather than the semitransparent inkwash that fills (presumably) some foam within the other markers, since there is nothing to shake and no nib to pump.
But the colors aren’t as nice.
For comparison, this is another prototype on the same kind of card, where I used the not-quite-paint markers. In small scale (4.6×6.2 cm) there is very little visible defects but in large scale, any pencil marks will be visible.
I think my next step will be to use another sheet of large paper, mark the sketch outline in thick black ink using my large light table (a large led-lit ceiling lamp that I use as light table), use it as a guide underneath a third large sheet of paper and paint the glorious Torii with my great-colors markers! That will hopefully yield the right tones without any pencil mark showing.
