Making the most out of Simbalion Watercolors (with Ph. Martin Hydrus shading)
It’s ironic (and funny) for me to find that most hobbyists (who have a full-time job and do arts on the side) tend to have more materials than us who do arts for a living. Napapa-hashtag-saklap ako. I wish I can have the resources to buy all those fancy stuff. Then at the end, I realize that i do no need them to complete my job. Para-paraan lang yan!
First of all, if you’re an educated artist, don’t read this. I am 100% self-taught and have never sat down in even one formal painting class. So you will certainly find my methods here unorthodox and full of mistakes. But if you don’t really care and you want street-smart alternatives, here ya go.
I have been looking over a workable, artist-quality watercolor/gouache paints that I can use for the next projects I’ll come up with. And I got depressed. The materials I need do not fit my budget. Not yet. Not today. Do you know that there’s a watercolor set that costs P20,000. Oo! Twenty Thousand pesos just for a watercolor set. Buwis buhay!
I might as well stick to my motto na: “Wala sa mobile suit yan, nasa pilot yun!” (If’you have an idea about Gundam you’d understand that even if Athrun rode a Zaku, he won over a Gundam suit). In more common terms, “wala sa pana yun.” So improvise shall we.
Quite honestly, I think I would want to have a Van Gogh or Rembrandt set (at kung mas ambitious pa ako, Old Holland of Schminke), but for now, since I am not an artist building a gallery (just yet) and since my budget is not permitting it yet, I am rooting for a Gansai Tambi set, which as reviews say is artist-grade already (for a way cheaper cost… and is ASIAN!) and is more like a gouache. Gouache is the medium I’ve used for the longest time and it’s the style I am most comfortable with so i thought maybe I can pull off with the Gansai tambi. In the in between (waiting ), I purchased a Simbalion watercolor set (P200-300 only depending on supplier) for my practice which I have given a quick review of here:
NOTE: Before using this watercolor (or other dry cakes), spray them with water so that when your brush gathers color from them, they’re already moist enough to take off. This gives your brush less stress as well.
I was initially thrilled by the strength of the colors but along the way I realized that the depth of the shading I want still doesn’t pull of for the cheap brand (especially when i experimented with a semi-realistic painting (see below). Of course what do you expect? I struggled so much with the shadows (and of course the paleness of the yellow). E fetish pa naman ako sa dark shades kasi Emo girl ako. I’m not as much into the bright sunshine colors (contrary to what my projects for the past years have demanded of me).
Happily, I have with me on hand, a bottle of Ph martin’s Hydrus Watercolor Burnt Sienna so i tried a hack. This is a high-grade watercolor material. and a whole set of bottles cost around P15k. So I only have one bottle. It costs P280 at Craft Carrot. I used it to emphasize the shadows of Mr. Cloud here. O diba? I think there’s a huge difference with the final output. The left was a painting with Simbalion (and inked with india ink) alone and the right was already shaded with Hydrus. O diba mas buhay ang kulay!
Anyway, that’s just me giving away the tip na if ever you cannot afford the better brands just yet, you can mix the cheapos with a few artist-grades ones (especially on areas you are fetish at) and you can pull off an amazing artwork already. At the end of the day, even if your pocket is limited, sky’s the limit with your imagination. Share with me your artworks if ever you used this tip. I’d love to see them!
PS: By the way, that painting above is painted on an ordinary notebook paper. Don’t copy me. use watercolor paper for a more vibrant output. The paper counts too!! I was just practicing for a style i’ll apply in my One-shot graphic novel (hopefully to be released before the year ends,yeah.). Gambare!
I shall post about the gansai Tambi when I finally get and test break it.
