Cheap gouache paint on paper
04.01.21
50 x 52 cm
It was the 2020 Christmas holidays, and I the break before starting the laborious challenge that was Year 12.
I wanted to paint something.
I wanted to paint something big.
I felt I needed to push myself, as filling up sketches with small illustrations wasn’t quite giving me the same satisfaction. I also found gouache infuriatingly confusing. So, I made the decision to force myself to figure out the weird paint. I bought a set from Officeworks and got to work. Turns out, the paints aren’t actually that weird.
I sat down with the square canvas paper in front of me, with no idea what I was about to put on the page. I started with the front figure, the weird eyeball monster thing. That is its name until I come up with something better (suggestions appreciated). Liking the idea of creating creepy pokémon-esque creatures, and so I spent about a day sketching out the design.
The bird creature is self-explanatory: it’s a weird bird. The idea behind the weird-eyeball-monster-things was just seeing how I could design a creature with an overabundance of eyes. The fluffy large eared creature on the right was partially inspired by my dog, Billie.
When I got to putting paint to paper, I started with the trees at the back and worked my way forward.
This artwork took a LOT longer than I expected… about a month, working on and off. Considering I felt out of my depth for a lot of the process, I’m rather pleased with the outcome! I think the background could use some more contrast, and I can’t say I like the solid gradient ground. But that’s just my perfectionism showing… oh well.
