New Website

After a long time without posting anything on this blog I have finally made the decision to start out a decent website. So the current blog will be moved there, here is the link:

https://joanacarval.wixsite.com/meusite

Meanwhile I have started to dedicate myself to learn digital art, I have been using mostly ArtRage and Adobe Illustrator. I have found some really cool "linocut imitation" tools for Adobe Illustrator and I have been using them a lot, experimenting what kind of effects I can get them. This illustration was done using them:

You can get the tools here:

http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/freebies/25-free-linocut-woodcut-brushes-for-adobe-illustrator

You can find other amazing tools for Adobe Illustrator in this website as well as fantastic posts about digital art in general, so I really recommend visiting it.

Printmaking finished projects

Finally got to cut this lino until the end, took a while, had a lot of detail, but it was worth it:

I altered a free copyright image on the Prisma application and based my drawing from there, I am quite pleased with the effect.

Got to use my Dura Lar monoprint plates, it happens that they work really well not only for monoprinting but also for dry point and a lot more types of techniques.

So I have had some fun testing them in several dry points, here one of the first ones:

This was a series of five small prints, and I have made another one based on a photo from the Paint my photo website:

This is just one of the four prints, but I haven't gone around to paint the other three, but I hope I will be posting them soon.

Portraits and some updates

I have been continuing my new linocut project, but this one is taking some time to carve out, here is the progress on it:

Still have some corners to deal with, but most of it is done. In the meantime, I wanted to get back to practice some drawing and decided get back to doing some portraits.

This is a portrait of the author Ray Bradbury and it was done with Derwent drawing pencils and a few Derwent Coloursoft. I decided to leave color out in order to simplify the portrait and concentrate in getting the features and values right.

Finally, since this one went quite well, I have started a new portrait (also done with Derwent Drawing pencils) of Juliana, a character in the TV series "Man in the High Castle":

I will be posting the progress on this one and hopefully it will go as well as the last.

New Projects and a Mini Haul

I have been back to sketching with my soft pastels (and oil pastels). They are one of my favorite medium to work with. I like the way they force you to be more loose and expressionist, since it's difficult to achieve a lot of fine detail with them. Here is a drawing I have done of a blue throat:

It took me roughly one hour and half and I finished it in two separated days.

I also got around to finish my vibrant poppies dry point. It was painted over with Jackson's artist watercolors, they are excellent paints for the price.

I have also started another linocut project, trying to make at least one set of prints each month and since the last ones were mostly dry points, I though it was time to get back to some lino cutting.

Finally I got some boxes to organize my supplies and with them, these two lovely items:

I am really curious to try the monoprint plates, they are quite versatile allowing for a lot of printmaking techniques, as I discovered reading the back of the package:

Winter Landscapes Series and Monoprints

Took some time but I am finally done with the first set of prints for my winter landscapes series. I painted the drypoints with a mix of watercolor, inktense, pastel and color pencils.

More prints, I am planning to do at least three prints for each image, five if I have the time to paint them all afterwards.

 

I also bought a Gelli plate (the A4 size) and I have been having some fun making monoprints. This one was then combined with a linocut of a white fox. I retouched it a bit with some white gouache. 

For this one, I am planning to combining it with a drypoint and see how the effect adds on:

Winter Landscapes - Etching Series

Taking my time coloring my new etchings. I decided to start this series about winter landscapes and I am planning to make most of my work with printmaking techniques, combined with other media.

The images above and below were painted with watercolors, inktense pencils or graphitint pencils:

I will add some media on top, probably color pencils and pastels to give the prints a bit more dept.

In the mean time, I have also completed two more landscape studies, the first one was completed with inktense pencils and pastel pencils, and the second with watercolor pencils. Both were done on the "Paint On" toned paper from Clairefontaine.

New Etchings and Illustrations

Back to printmaking with a few more small projects.These new etchings were done with Dura-Lar film sheets, using Charbonnel Aqua Wash Etching Ink, in black.

Putting a small mat board beneath the Dura-Lar helps the printing process, since the sheet tends to slide a bit out of place. I used that on this other etching:

Finally I have done some small illustrations, mostly with watercolor and inktense pencils:

Most of the illustrations are based on photographs from "Paint my Photo" website or just drawn from imagination.