I went into this illustrating process a bit naive, thinking I could just sit down and knock it out. My biggest problem derived from the fact that I didn’t know what medium I would use exactly. I started out doing some basic digital color and it was okay. I can read people fairly well and they were only mildly encouraging. So I knew I had to do something different, but wasn’t exactly quite sure how to proceed. I really tend to mull things over for a bit. I ended up mentioning to a friend that I loved collage and showed her some examples along with a little watercolor I had done at a workshop. Her suggestion was to try it all together: collage, digital and watercolor. It was something I had considered, but that also equaled more work and a lengthier process. After much procrastination, I started giving it a go, with a fairly basic watercolor set.

Basic wasn’t efficient, nor cutting it vibrancy-wise. I would scan in the illustration and it appeared dull, which was pretty disheartening. I ended up painting at least 10 mock-ups of just one particular illustration, desperately attempting to get it right. Disenchanted, I started doing research on paint. Shockingly enough (to me), there was quite a bit more out there. I learned about watercolor paints that come in tubes that mix on a palette. That seemed simple enough.     It. was. not.

After combing reviews, I purchased my first set from Amazon. It arrived quickly and I was eager to get started. I had specific colors to achieve and I was gung-ho about it. I knew how to make colors! Blue and red make purple, right? So I mix and I mix and I would add white and a little black, desperately trying to achieve the particular shade I needed. I’m going to be honest with you, normally I would have been super pissed-off by now. But congratulations to me, at age 42 I have finally figured out that I’m too determined to give up and if I just keep at it, I will get it.

At this point though, I had pools of paint and I had almost gone through an entire tube of white, trying to achieve just two of the many colors I needed. It was not looking good. Online had been helpful as a starting point, but further searching enabled me to find some of the colors I wanted at a semi-local art supply store. (Too much mixing is going to make it challenging to duplicate.) Upon sharing my debacle with the store guy, he gave me a withering look of disdain that was reserved for mere peasants and fools. Word to the wise, don’t go to the art store unless you have your shit together.

So friends, I have been trying out these paints to get the hang of them. I was a little intimidated, but I’m happy to say, it’s going pretty well. The scanning still needs a bit of work, in the meantime though, I started an A-Z project to show some illustration skills and get lots of practice. I find it to be encouraging and cathartic.