pencil and watercolour
It's been a while since I've put up live sketches from the street outside. Looking back it seems the last lot was May 2018, or June if you're not counting the live World Cup footballers off the telly. What this means, obviously, is that I've miscalculated my drying times on a still-tacky little painting that should've been posted this month, but I digress...
I've returned to watercolour (Paynes Grey) for the odd window session recently, and it's interesting to note how these rapid drawings in different mediums differ. With the dry pencil, I can make very vague and light initial marks and immediately correct them with slightly heavier ones. This can often add a bit of energy and dynamism, as in the windblown cyclist with the trailer.
With the fluid watercolour, if the initial mark is wrong or misjudged it's difficult to correct immediately as the secondary marks will just pool into a soggy formless mess - which has obvious disadvantages in terms of the speed these things have to be done at. What you do get from watercolour is block tone. This can give an immediate sense of light, or local colour – whether clothing or hair is light or dark, as in the skateboarder – which the more linear pencil has to work harder to achieve.
I think the success rate is probably greater with the pencil than the watercolour, but when the watercolour comes together - and 'draws itself' - it can be very effective.
Anyone who draws will have their favoured ways of making marks, and it is a good idea to switch about. But, there is one very simple, very important thing to keep in mind whatever medium you're using.
It's all about the looking...
