Category: Gouache

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Art Faces Gouache Painting People Portrait Sktchy

Back to Sktchy, a Gouache Portrait

Portrait of Dennis J. from Sktchy, Gouache, 12x9 inches
Portrait of Dennis J. from Sktchy, Gouache, 12×9 inches

I’m returning to using Sktchy for my reference photos of people for portrait practice since there is such a wide range to choose from. I’m not abandoning my series of “people Facebook thinks I should know,” but those are less useful for portrait practice, which I’m wanting to do right now.

Can you tell those splotches on his face are light coming in from a window through maybe lace curtains? I can’t post the original Sktchy reference photo off that site, but you can see it by clicking or swiping on my Sktchy painting on Sktchy here if you’re interested.

One thing I love about gouache is that it limits me to working on a painting for only one or two sessions. Unlike oils that can go on being repainted forever, gouache fairly quickly says, “Sorry, no more paint, no more layers, you’re done.” It teaches me to get the drawing down, go for the values and then lay down brush strokes of color and let them be.

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Art facebook people Faces Gouache People Portrait

Cute Grandma and Baby: People Facebook Thinks I Should Know #5

Cute Grandma and Baby: People Facebook Says I Should Know #5.” Gouache, 6.5 x 6.5 inches
Cute Grandma and Baby: People Facebook Says I Should Know #5.” Gouache, 6.5 x 6.5 inches

Unlike with oil paints, there’s a point with gouache where it just gets nasty if you try to add one more layer or brush stroke. The positive side to that is that it encourages me to try to get the color and value right as quickly as possible; to put a stroke down and leave it, not thinking “close enough, I’ll fix it later” like I tend to do in oils (a lazy, bad habit).

On this painting I passed the point of no return on the woman’s face and have to admit I did a wee bit of softening/smudging in Procreate before I posted this to fix the lumps too many layers of paint made on her nose. Even so I didn’t do justice to how cute both she and the baby actually are in their photo.

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facebook people Gouache People Portrait

Guy with Giant Chicken: People Facebook Thinks I Should Know #4

Guy with Giant Chicken: People Who Facebook Says I Should Know #4.” Gouache, 8x8 inches.
Guy with Giant Chicken: People Who Facebook Says I Should Know #4.” Gouache, 8×8 inches.

Another mystery photo! Is he an artist who builds giant chicken statues or perhaps a chicken rancher with his trademark chicken? 

I noticed that when I paint with gouache on cold press watercolor paper I end up with little white spots in dark areas so this time I tried a different gouache technique. I covered the whole sketch first with thin washes. It wasn’t that helpful. I learned that for that to work it’s necessary to get the values right in the underpainting, making darks really dark.

Below is the sketch and in progress photos.

Giant chicken guy sketch with first thinned gouache underpainting
Sketch with first thinned gouache underpainting
Giant chicken guy sketch with finished thinned gouache underpainting
Finished thinned gouache underpainting