Forums for Watercolor

[demotlj]

Over the summer, I began learning traditional watercolor because I wanted to improve my ability to do backgrounds in my illustrations. (Working with real paint has also greatly helped my understanding of color.) I've posted some stuff to this forum because it's such a great community but a lot of what I'm doing now isn't illustration per se and I don't want to clutter up the forum with questions and artwork that really belong more in a forum about traditional landscapes and paintings. The problem is that I haven't seen any forums that are as good community-wise or in terms of lay-out as this one. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Whitney Simms]

@demotlj I don’t. If you find one let me know! Still love svs, but would love to chat with people about my specific medium of choice as well.

[Teju Abiola]

Ah! I definitely feel that!

I've never made posts or comments on it, but when I was getting into watercolor, I found a lot of good help from perusing WetCanvas, where a lot more traditional/fine artists dwell (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/channels.php?s=&channel_id=31). I haven't been on there recently, but it is a resourceful place. Looking at it now, I actually should get back on there!

I was actually thinking of making a group on here for watercolor/traditional media for us non-digital folks to hang out but was concerned no one else would be interested since the community and classes here are very digital-centric. I'll do that right now if you wanna join

Edit: @demotlj @Whitney-Simms I made a group called 'Watercolor + Traditional Media' and invited you guys if you'd like to join. I still recommend WetCanvas, but I think starting our own group here would be good too!

[demotlj]

@teju-abiola I think a group is a great idea because I would feel less like I am "trespassing" on the rest of the forum, so I joined the group you created but am not sure how to use it. If I have specific watercolor questions or artwork, do I post just to that group? Or do I tag it when I post in the general forum? I didn't even realize there were groups until you mentioned it

[Teju Abiola]

@demotlj To be honest, I have no idea how to use it either! I'm actually trying to figure that out right now. But even still, I don't see how it would be trespassing to post in the regular forum when other people regular post about Photoshop bugs or digital tools

[chrisaakins]

@Teju-Abiola I would definitely be interested in joining a watercolor group, if you will have me! I would love to learn better watercolor techniques. I learned a ton doing monochromatic ink washes with inktober.

[demotlj]

Maybe the first thing is to figure out what we would like from a "traditional media" group or category that would be different from the regular forum. For me, in all honesty, I brought up the question because I often feel uncomfortable posting the work I am trying to do right now since it doesn't necessary fit the "illustration" category. I don't know if anyone on the forum cares about that but I don't want to clutter up people's feed with artwork or questions that are outside of the scope of the purpose of the forum.

Just having you all respond to this thread makes me feel better to see that there are other people interested in issues of traditional media but I don't know how you feel about trying to restrict postings to illustration type work.

[Teju Abiola]

@demotlj So there has been a Traditional Media category added I might be wrong, but I don't think the forum is only for "illustration". I mean, people ask for help with programs, tablets, scanning, digital processes all the time. People upload daily sketches and ask for feedback. Why shouldn't we ask questions about traditional media?

This is the Society of Visual Storytelling, and part of that is learning and working with techniques, not just the concept or story. There are a SVS classes about those things as well, such as Jake's Ink class, Lee's Watercolor Class, Will's Watercolor/Digital class and the several digital painting classes.

If this is a community that's meant to connect and help each other, I think you'd be justified in posting the work you are doing and asking questions you want to ask. Unless you post a gazillion things, I doubt it would clog the feed. I mean, lots of posts on here don't concern me so I just ignore them. I'm sure others can do that if they don't like posts about traditional media. Besides, I'm sure if something shouldn't be on it, the moderators will let us know

[demotlj]

@teju-abiola Very good points. I suspect that my doubts come from the general awareness that I am at a much lower level than most people here and am not pursuing this professionally, and moreover at the moment am just trying to figure out the practicalities of watercolor regardless of the value of the composition as illustration. Nevertheless, I love the artwork and discussions in this forum, and feel a kinship with the others whose personalities also love not only art but also storytelling which is why I stay I'm probably not the only one on this forum who at times feels like a kindergartner who accidentally strayed into the 6th graders' classroom and is torn between wanting to stay because of the awe and wanting to leave before someone realizes that they clearly are in the wrong place!

Anyway, I'm glad the Traditional Media category was added because I'm looking forward to more discussions about techniques etc in media that has no "undo." Thanks.

[Jason Bowen]

If I was you I would just post your questions and see what you get back because there is a lot of varied skills on here other than digital art. Me personally I paint in watercolour gouache or oil paints the most. Digital I try to use like a traditional artist now... I actually use Photoshop as my sketchbook to test out ideas now seems to work well

[kaitlinmakes]

@teju-abiola
Will you add me to! I'm currently all in for watercolor and would love to talk story about it and have a place for feedback

[demotlj]

I also have to add that I just checked out WetCanvas and I think the SVS forum is way more user friendly. Kudos to SVS for that.

[Teju Abiola]

@kaitlinmakes I actually deleted the group since it, unfortunately, doesn't work the way I assumed. But there was a subcategory under artwork made for Traditional Media

[demotlj]

@Teju-Abiola Have you been able to access the "Traditional Media" category? I can see it as a sub-category under Artwork in the Header Menu but when I post something and choose a category for the post, I can't see the subcategories. I can only submit the post under the general category of artwork.

[Teju Abiola]

@demotlj I haven't been able to access that either! I'm quite confused about it all myself. I don't really understand the structure of these forums.

[Chip Valecek]

@demotlj are you posting on your mobile device or a computer? I can further investigate why its not working for you but need a little more info on it.

[demotlj]

@chip-valecek I haven't been able to access it on either my phone or my Mac. Here is a screen shot of the options I get when I go to post something on my Mac:

Here's a screenshot from my phone:

Hope that helps.