Gesture Drawing and Other Media, Part 5: Mixed Media Gestures

The adapatability of gesture drawing to varied media is phenominal. Crayon has brilliant color,
        pastels offer soft blends and the character of gesture speed in definition is never lost.

Now, let's look at almost total freedom in watercolors, ink flows and the magic that erupts.

Click on images for full views.

  Water runs on paper and pulls colors in unexpected ways. One must anticipate the happenings of the unexpected and learn to control the effects. "Running" colors are normal and very exciting!

  The first 2 gestures above are similar single color drawings, quickly sketched into a wet paper. The first layer is loosely done with a diluted wash color and then successive layers arebuilt upon it with darker values.

  The third one introduces watercolor + ink, a very powerful media that can create all kinds of spectacular flows. This one has a very nice "wet" look, typical of watercolor paintings.

  The bottom 3 are all watercolor + ink variations. The left one is on a colored paper background, the right one has a lightly painted background color and both used pen and ink with wet color.The center one has bold color intensities, some ink flows, and was completed with a fine black marker for deep shadow contrasts.

  Remember--even in these media, the result should be "essence", not "details".