My parents recently visited France on their late 20th anniversary trip (their real 20th anniversary was last year, but my mom was too sick to do anything but go out to some lame restaurant and sleep through a movie). They bought me a set of watercolor pastels from the Louvre, and I've been experimenting with them as of late. What's neat is that you can blend them like watercolor paint if you get them wet, kind of like watercolor pencils.
P.S. You can click the pictures to make them bigger. ;D
This is attempt one:
Pretty, pretty hummingbird of prettiness (I guess).
I used the watercolor feature of the pastels on the hummingbird, but I have to say that I wasn't impressed. Of course, nothing can ever match the versatility of real watercolors, so I think the pastel people were fighting a losing battle from day one.
Over the weekend I decided to give it another try:
I'm not big on backgrounds...
As you can see, there was an obvious improvement. I did a few little studies on the paper as well:
I experimented on her legs for skin color, then petals, leaves, colors in general, and the folds of her dress. I also practiced my signature with the felt-tip pen I killed by drawing on top of the pastels. That's what vanity will do to you.
I was so happy with the results, I made two more. (I might also have been very bored. I was up at my cabin and my friend did MATH the whole time. >_> Weirdo. :P )
She had a background at one point, but I didn't like it and it wasn't done. Also, she's a black rose because the red pastel is actually more red-orange.
My scanner kind of messed up her dress. I like how the sky is kinda hairy, like a kitten or something. :D
I really do like pastels, though. Maybe once I run out of these cheapy-cheap-o watercolor ones, I can graduate to oils. c:
I'm also thinking of illustrating my poem, Summer Blooms, in this kind of style. Though, it would be kind of creepy-ish. I don't know if I could pull it off; I'm not too good with these pastels quite yet. It's a bit of a risk...
What do you think? Should I do it? Would it be defiling my poem? Would it be too creepy? I must know!
3 Poetry Snaps:
The colors are very vibrant (I was about to write colorful. What kind of an author am I? [X). I think my favorite is the second one - the design is really cool.
Yeah, I think you should definitely give illustrating your poem a shot. I kind of imagined it accompanied by an IllusiveBlue-esque picture (http://illusiveblue.deviantart.com/) but this style could provide some dissonance between the subject matter and the bright colors.
I love the Dandelion the most but they are all great. I hope you do write poems with your art.
@EAL: D< I wish I could see that link, but dA doesn't work on my lappy. :P I am planning on a more grungy look for the illustration.
@Alex: Thank you! I do sometimes, but usually my art and poetry stand alone. I have given it a try in the past, though. c:
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