Designing an image for watercolor

[Eric Castleman]

For anyone familiar with Lee White's class on freeing up with watercolor, I wonder what your thoughts are on the issue I have come across. Obviously I would be stoked if @Lee-White would chime in on this as well.

I have been painting for the last few months with a free style, and I really love it, but most recently I have come to a crossroads with it, because some of the pieces I am designing would require me to mask off so much of the painting in order to freely paint and get a consistent texture throughout. This leads me to believe that I am either not understanding how to use color when considering how it should look, or there is a aspect of designing one's image that lends to this style of painting. If I paint each section individually, I end up with different textures, as well as water stains which ruins the 30-45 mins of preperation I spend on drawing the darn thing.

Any thoughts?

[Lee White]

hi eric, I'd be happy to answer. Can you post a more specific example of what you are talking about? It's kinda tough to try to answer this without an image in mind.

[Eric Castleman]

@Lee-White thanks for replying!! I am currently watching the new Will Terry video, and he mentions how hard it is to be 1 on 1 for you three while being full time professional artists at the same time, and I immedietly felt bad for tagging you Just know I REALLY apreciate your time!

So here is a somewhat worked out thumbnail that I want to watercolor.

Here is the problem I am having: I remember when we spoke at CTNx, and I mentioned that your images almost seem like value studies with one color, and then you seem to use a complementary color for emohasis. Correct me if I am wrong about that analysis. However, when trying to paint freely with this sort of image, I either have to paint the whole thing one color, or mask off most of the image. Maybe that is what needs to be done, but it seems that the way I designed the image might not be suitable for watercolor. Is that an actual thing that exists? Designing for watercolor?

[Lee White]

here's how i would handle an image like this. I would only mask out the subject matter. I'd paint everything else a little more freely and use water to control where it goes. Originally i thought i would paint the cliff side seperately which is what #2 is, but really all of that could be painted together.

[Eric Castleman]

@Lee-White dud, you are the man! Thanks so much for this. I painted all weekend and biffed so many paintings, so this really helps me out! Thank you!!!!