A Steller's Jay in Gouache

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In my children’s book the protagonist is a young Steller’s Jay. I plan to use one of my end matter blank pages for a painting of an actual Steller’s Jay. If you live on the West Coast of the United States, you’re probably noticed these noisy, playful birds that might be called Blue Jays. I always called them that, but when I was doing research for the book, I thought it would be a good idea to double check. I found out that Blue Jays are East Coast birds. What I’ve been calling Blue Jays are actually Steller’s Jays.

I’ve been drawing the comic version of a Steller’s Jay so often that I was unsure whether I could paint a real Jay. I decided to use gouache because I really need the practice.

Here’s my effort today. It’s a work in progress. I’m going to add a few details tomorrow. The top page shows my Wikipedia reference photo and a practice sketch. I used a water soluble graphite pencil for the sketching and M Graham and Creta gouache for the painting. I’m intimidated by gouache, but I love it. When I’m painting I feel the same excitement I felt as a kid doing a really messy finger painting.

gouache_stellers_jay_09052019.pngm Steller's Jay, Not a Blue Jay, M Graham Gouache, Creta Gouache

Drawing, tracing, lightboxing, inking, and painting

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Tracing happily away, unaware that tempestuous watercolor gods are about to teach me a lesson in humility.

Today I decided to try my nib pens. I’ve had them for years and I’ve played with them now and then, made a big mess, and then decided they weren’t for me. But I really love pen and ink drawings, and lately I’ve been obsessed with Hergé and Hal Foster, both supreme masters of the inky line.

I created a pencil drawing, traced it with a liner pen, used the lightbox to then trace it onto some Strathmore Visual Journal bristol vellum paper, the painted it with watercolor. All went well except for the watercolor. I’m a brute with a watercolor brush. When I tried to lift some color using a paper towel, the paper started to disintegrate.

So, the lesson again, is be gentle, patient, and treat your paper kindly.

Keep the washes thin and let them dry completely before glazing another layer. And don’t rub the paper, at least not the Strathmore Visual Journal bristol vellum.


More cloud practice and a character drawing

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I’m working on my clouds again. Enough said about that. Today I practiced going into the wet and erasing the blue. I saw this technique on the ArtTutor Youtube channel.

Erasing the blue is far easier than protecting the whites.

For some reason painting this single cloud was very tiring, so I decided that I should reward myself by drawing a jaybird about to fall down our chimney. Every Fall one of these little guys seems to think it’s a good idea to go down our narrow chimney pipe to do some exploring. The trouble starts once they’re in the chimney and then find out and they can’t open their wings to fly out. They end up clattering around inside the damper, and then the soot up the living room when we open it and set them free. They last guy couldn’t figure out that the front door was wide open for him so he sat on the curtain rod of an hour or two then left without even saying “thank you.”

Down he goes.