Our Thoughts Precisely: Halloween Special

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Pencil {October 2020} #4: Happy Halloween!

Comments: And, we made it to the end of the month. Happy Halloween! I know it looks a lot different this year, with Covid-19 and all, but I still hope to have a fun day anyway and I wish the same for everyone else. For today’s artwork, I was influenced by an old painting I did a few years back, which I’m certain I referred to as the “spider bride.” I wanted to redraw this character, and I finally got around to doing it. I tried to exaggerate the proportions of the character a little, because I wanted her to appear a little more ghostly (hence there are no feet).

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

It's Halloween!: All about Star Wars & Reeves Watercolor

Well, hello. How are you doing? Today is Halloween—a.k.a. the end of the month—November is literally tomorrow. But, where’s the graphic? Why a full post? Well, typically I only post a picture on days like Halloween or Christmas, and it’s become something of a trend on Our Thoughts Precisely. However, this year, I wanted to do something a little different. So to break that trend I’m going to do an art supply review instead, which is why I saved my reeves watercolor review for Halloween. As always, a full list of supplies used will be down at the bottom of the post.

Name: Reeves Watercolor Paint

Source: Purchased

Set: 18 count

ml/fl oz.: 10ml; 0.34 fl oz.

Michaels Walmart Blick Art Materials Amazon Office Depot Joann

More info...

Good color strenth
Transparent finish

Colors: Chinese White, lemon yellow, medium yellow, orange, flesh tint, brilliant red, crimson, violet, phthalo blue, ultramarine, permanent green light, sap green, viridian hue, yellow orcher, burnt sienna, burnt umber, payne's gray, and ivory black.

Today, I’m going to be talking about Reeves Watercolor paint. When I did the review for Canson watercolor paper, I used these paints, which reminded me that I hadn’t really written specifically about them in any kind of review, general thoughts, or whatever. So, I’m finally going to do that.

What I’m working on…

Padme Amidala fan art

Some things to know...

This paint does have a slight chemical odor.
This paint does separate in the tube, but once everything is mixed it works perfectly fine.
When setting up a pallet, keep in mind that this paint can experience some cracking. That’s what happened to me, but I don’t mind since I haven’t had any cracking on my actual paintings and don't really care how messy my folding pallet is or isn't

Here's what this particular set looks like. It's pretty basic, nothing fancy.

I actually like Reeves Watercolor. For a set of 18 colors, the price isn’t very high, and the paint quality is better than say something you would find at the $5 price point. To talk more in-depth about these paints, I’m going to kind of discuss my recent fan art of Padme Amidala—a.k.a., the whole reason why I was so excited to share this post on the blog.

Normally, I try to do original art, because it challenges me more than something that I have a clear reference for. However, I was in the mood to draw one of my favorite outfits from the Star Wars franchise: Padme’s Throne Room Gown from The Phantom Menace. I mean, I like this outfit so much that when I was a kid I actually dressed up as Padme for Halloween. Yes, this outfit in particular. I've always liked the color choices and style of this outfit. The colors are so vivid, which gave me the opportunity to really test how far I could go with the paint. I layered a lot in order to achieve the color you see in the final picture. And, oh gosh, this painting basically took me two days from start to finish—that includes the initial sketch in my sketchbook, transferring it to watercolor paper, and etc.. The effort was worth it because I’m happy with the result.

All paint takes a little trial and error to really see if it suites your style. I’ve exclusively used Reeves Watercolor for months and like it a lot. It’s easy to use, and the range of basic, straight from the tube, colors offers a wide enough range of choices that I sometimes paint without mixing. In this case, I did mix the colors to get the shades I wanted.

Some other good points…

This paint doesn’t have a chalky finish that rubs away when you touch it. I honestly hate that about some cheaper brands of paint. As you can see in the picture, I can touch the dried paint without any problems (as long as my my skin is dry, otherwise the paint would reactivate). To finish my fan art of Padme, I used colored pencil and white gel pen.

Will I continue using these paints?

The answer to that is a definite yes. Eventually, I do want to try different, more expensive paints. That being said, Reeves watercolor works perfectly fine for what I'm trying to do: improve.

Finished painting…

Hop on over to Adri's blog, Toile, Think, Go, where she is reviewing some of the seasonal candy corn: It’s Halloween, Now Let's Talk About Candy Corn. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got movies to watch. Happy Halloween!