Tools of the Trade

Teju Abiola

I love learning about the tools artists choose to use! I agree a lot with Lee and Will about the quality of materials and how that can affect results. Once I started using better materials, such as cotton/heavier watercolor paper, it became easier to get the results that I wanted. I'm a bit of a supply enthusiast, especially when it comes to watercolor.

As far as limiting your palette, my main watercolor palette has 28 colors, and sometimes I feel like it's too few! I never use them all at once, but the pigments have such a range of different properties, and as Lee said, they can also mix totally differently. There are just some colors you can't mix. I love Permanent Brown (PBr25) and have never been able to mix it or replicate how it mixes with other colors. I had to add a magenta and turquoise because I couldn't mix the hue or vibrancy I wanted. Viewing other people's palettes has been really interesting to me as well. It's interesting to see what they view as essential when compared to the standard/basic palette that is recommended to students.

Jess Erskine

Love your all's podcast. I think I've listened to every single one of Will Terry's YouTube videos while drawing, and that's how I found Jake & SVS. So thankful for you guys, it's so nice to have some folks out there who do this for a living and are happy to share what they go through - makes the illustration life a lot less lonely!

daviesdesignated

Hi @Jake-Parker I think someone (Lee or Will) isn't wearing headphones, and so as they listen to you talk with their computer speakers, your voice echoes back through their mic. Iv'e noticed this on the last few podcasts, hope the feedback (no pun intended) helps!

burvantill

I just ordered the incredible art board. I used to stretch my paper when I was in colllege then I started using watercolor board and that was great. But I’m using paper blocks now and getting tired of them buckling when I load the water on. @Lee-White sounded so confident about this board that he sold me. That whole thing about hating to wait, I am so in agreement with that.

Lee White

@burvantill you won't regret it! I'm still using the original art boards I ordered. They are 6 years old now!

Lee White

@daviesdesignated thanks for the feedback. That has been such a tricky issue. It's not that we aren't wearing headphones, it's that jake and will are in the same room recording with different mics. So when 1 person is talking, the other mic picks up the sound. We think we have solved it, but it was making us crazy!!!

Heather Bouteneff

Is Wacom really pronounced wack em? I've been saying Way com for years, I had no idea

uzma

I second @Heather-Bouteneff 's question. I've always said Way-Com

burvantill

@Heather-Bouteneff MeToo!!

Chip Valecek

I just call them too damn expensive

burvantill

@Chip-Valecek right!

Heather Bouteneff

@Chip-Valecek the cintiq's absolutely are. I got a refurbished intuos a while back and I am fine enough with that. It's like a scifi movie where the character realizes all those years of piano lessons there parents made them take
were for this very reason!

NessIllustration

@Chip-Valecek True that, but they are real quality though, even their lower tier tablets. My first tablet ever was a 200$ Wacom Bamboo and that thing lasted 12 years! It STILL works perfectly and if I hadn't upgraded to an Intuos I'd still be using it. My Intuos is second-hand and it's good as new. With a cheaper brand I'd be worried it would crap out on me after a year...