Beginnings of a Looser Style of Digital Watercolour with John Derry's Watercolour Brushes

 

 

 

The above is a link to this painting posted on John Derry's Blog:

 

It is the first posted painting done in this new wet loose style that I have been experimenting with lately. Are you wondering why I don't just dig out my real watercolours and just play with wet paint to my hearts's content? Sometimes I wonder why I keep trying to do this too. Stubborn I guess!

 

I found an article the other day about digital painting and this quote by JD Jarvis really struck home! This is exactly what I have found over the past five years of digital painting...

 

"Digital does have its drawbacks. Random effects that occur with natural media cannot be duplicated in digital without hard work, attention to detail and patience."

 John Derry's watercolour brushes go a step further towards being able to execute some random watercolour marks. I am still experimenting with them. The way they work on different layers is an important aspect of the use of these brushes. For example, painting with the Gel Wash Brush on a new layer, then clicking the Preserve Transparency box and unclicking the Pick Up Underlying Colour box, then painting on top of it with the Gel Blender has the effect of masking the area you painted with the gel wash. The paint only goes in the area you painted with the gel wash.