Hello regular trans guy and definitely not a frog !! I love your art and that it's in gouache!!! Do you have any opinions on cold pressed v hot pressed watercolor paper for your gouache? And do you paint on anything other than watercolor paper? Im actually on an oil pastels kick rn but I looove gouache and am in the process of getting an art corner set up so I can paint more frequently again!!! I was making something on a piece of cardboard (was out of watercolor paper and wanted something bigger than my mixed media sketchbook) but. My cat vomited on it 😅 but im excited to get back into painting soon!!! And so I was just curious about your thoughts!! (: I DO have watercolor paper again btw tho lol
hello, it's so nice to be talking to another very regular trans guy who is not a frog! I am also a Regular Trans Guy who is absolutely certainly NOT a frog.
also I am sorry about your cat vomiting on your art. perhaps they also wanted to make art.
but yes I have MANY opinions, and I will upload examples to support my points!
cutting below because this got long. Julian speak concisely challenge impossible (how on earth did I write a picture book) (who can say)
I work almost exclusively on hot press watercolor paper. Some folks like the texture of cold press (it's what you think of when you think of watercolor, probably, those lovely ridges) but since gouache is so matte and so good at saturated big fields of color, I like hot press because it's flatter and the texture doesn't interrupt the paint.
There are lots of brands—a lot of folks use Fabriano, they're pretty budget-friendly—but because I am a professional illustrator and a perfectionist, I use Arches hot press. The difference here is paper content. Fabriano and most others are some% cotton, some% cellulose (wood pulp). Arches is 100% cotton and basically absorbs paint differently. I was heartbroken when I learned I had a preference and strongly prefer Arches, because Arches is expensive as hell. This was a bad day for my wallet.
This piece is done on Arches hot press:
The paper has a subtle texture, but it's not the main feature at all, and because it absorbs the paint, the color is flat and there aren't a ton of visible brushstrokes. Arches particularly is also durable as hell, so you can work back into things forever and get that paper just sodden and it'll still be workable.
If I'm not using hot press paper, I also use Bristol board or illustration board—usually the Smooth texture rather than vellum. Where paint sinks into watercolor paper, smooth bristol board is SO smooth that the paint sits on top of the paper, and any gouache with any transparency will really show your brushstrokes. You can really push paint around on this stuff. It almost shines.
This piece was done on smooth bristol:
You can see, especially in the front kiddo's shirt and in their hair, that the brushstrokes are WAY more visible, and the bright white of the paper really shines through.
I have also, one time, used AquaBord! this is a wood panel like a canvas panel, but with watercolor medium adhered to the front. It was neat as hell to use. More textured than paper, a lil toothy.
This is on AquaBord:
It was fun and novel!
Some folks use Acryla gouache on wood (Alexandra Finkeldey, particularly, has done this to great effect), but you need to seal it and acryla gouache isn't actually gouache, it's just matte acrylic. And then of course I paint in sketchbooks all the time! I also have been meaning to experiment with wax sealant for gouache, because I've heard Dorland's Wax Medium can seal off traditional gouache paintings. TBD there!
anyway this got very long but the answer is yes I have a lot of opinions and I ALSO love gouache and could talk about it forever!! I'd love to know what you're enjoying about the oil pastels! I find them a lil messy, but I love working with Neocolor crayons.
When your superhero boyfriend is really just a giant cat. No one asked for this, but I’m presenting it to the world anyway. I’m such MariChat trash....
When the Pokemon Center’s lodging is full so you gotta sleep on the couch in the lobby.
Last month I decided to draw myself a new background for my computer featuring everyone’s favorite Pokemon Trainers: Gavin and Michael. This would have been done a lot earlier if people would stop asking me to do things. UGH! I can’t go on vacation! I have fanart to draw duh! 🙄🙄🙄🙄
All jokes aside, I’m so done with this. I need something else to work on now. The original image is HUGE so I had to scale it down by half for Tumblr. Because of that, I’ve added some detail shots to look at! Please click through for the best viewing experience!
The first four are done! Well done enough. I might repaint The Lovers and change the border pattern at a later date. Now to start on the next four! Once I complete the major arcana, I’m absolutely getting them printed.
Here are the next four and I’ve passed the halfway point! Mad King Ryan, Queen Lindsay, King Jeremy, and knights Alfredo and Trevor. I have a feeling I’m going to go back and tweak a few of these before getting them printed, but they’re done for now.
Finally the next four! I know it’s been a few weeks since my last four, but I just started a new job and that was taking up a ton of time. Only two more left to go!
Jeremy is a monster truck, Ryan has Edgar and Kerry, Gavin is king, and the world is the old Achievement City map.
