Welcome to TVPaint Community forums !

For watercolor, it's dead easy :
it's mostly Gum arabique… you reduce the chunks in powder, an have it delayed in the correct amount of water…
… you can add a bit of sugar (honey) if you want the colors to be brighter… other stuffs if you want to slow-down or accelerate the process of drying…

but it's mostly arabic gum… I can sent a recipe if you want
(but other water-process including eggs (temperas) ore glues are very intersesting too… and not "that" used… caséine, thylose, thylose + egg, etc…, etc…)

Concerning "oil painting"… it's another "world" (maybe an univers )
I'm cooking oil with "stuffs" for hours to obtain good bindings and mediums… like a former alchemist … it's really too long to be explained in a few words… maybe another day if people are really interested in it ?
(let's just know that I recently found (maybe two years ago after a lot of searches) two mediums that really fullfits my needs… one is able to be dry (touching) in a couple of hours (yes it's "oil")… it's my prefered for "rough painting"… the other one is a combination really close to what the italians (gentileschi) and "flamands" (van eyck) could obtain… but it's not a really spontaneous way of painting… even if maybe the brightest and most beautiful…

See you… I'm really too busy to devellop further today… sorry
(but I'll come back to it… it's my "passion" actually…
( I can even be really boring talking about it )


(what's interseting in preparing your products by yourselves is that you are using the same pigments for "roughing" with watercolor (outdoor painting = 20 mm)
… and afterwise for working indoor… from the roughs you've done "sur le vif"… and I'm of course not talking about "money"… it's no more a problem to waste a bit of paint… and you're sometimes painting better when not worrying about "wasting" )

Indeed, you must be bust! All this alchemy comes from a time when time was in abundance. I understand your passion because I too am passionate about anything that smacks of self-reliance, but once it cuts into my time rather than saves it, I go the modern route of reliance on available services.

Sure Paul…

But… I do take it as a hobby (even if it's actually more than that to me)…
… the "old fashion looking" paintings I sometimes realise for clients are made in TVP or toshop…
no drying time to bother with…
(and I love the numerical way too)

… but I'm still marriyng both when I can… I love both way… and real papers effects are always better looking than fakes one… then, for still images it's Ok
(for animation, I don't even think about it… TVP is much better… I can understand that)

Regardind the watercolors… TVP can't really do the job, yet (IMO)… and plus, for "still images" the old way is maybe less time consuming to me…
(It takes me only 10 minutes to ink and color a "toon" like he first monsters or sailors I posted… I must add 15 minutes scanning and tricking in TVP…
… it's not too much time regarding the price I'm charging)

Time of confection for the medium ? … with half a litter of diluated arabic gum, you've got your watercolor binding for months, mixing it with pigments on a little marble stone takes only a few minutes… and you're set for maybe 30 colorisations… plus, it gives a specific look and costs almost nothing*

…It's not the same for oil painting… wich is always more or less "messy"… and stinky… well, not marrying well with computers, I agree.
… watercolor is just fine !

Working only in TVP, would'nt allow me to obtain this specific look that my client are waiting for, now)


but… I'm learning animation (slowly) and of course, the idea is to get the most part of work done with TVP when animating
… reading you and seeing what you and others have done can only confort me in thinking that it's the best way !!

(but, you know, a hobby is a hobby… nothing like painting something "sur le motif", when weather and light are friendly )


*( pigments are expensive, … i'm trying a few ones these days… genuine lapis lazuli, genuine "cramoisi d'alizarine", genuine emerald green… unafordable stuffs, but what an emotion to work with these "reduce palettes" that have been the "only one's" in use for centuries ! (sure they did'nt know what 64 bits meant… but what pieces of art they did with colors that were'nt even miscibles)

Yes, I understand you well. Next week we begin to work on animation as part of a live action/animation documentary about Megan Boyd, a Scott woman who tied fishing lures the old and true way her entire life. It was the same satisfaction for her as selecting the exact hairs off a sable's tail to put together the best brush for painting eyelids. .. very few people understood her ways but all loved her lures, which today fetch $ 2,000 and are used only in picture frames; never to catch a fish -- and that would have pleased her the most.

Happy woman !

(and fishes )

Prince Charles was one of her steady customers (one or two dollars for a lure) because her lures caught fish better than any other in existence, yet she hated fishing, never fished in her life and made the lures only because they were so pretty. That was her only satisfaction; enjoying the process of creation, and I concur with her.

Paul Fierlinger wrote: It was the same satisfaction for her as selecting the exact hairs off a sable's tail to put together the best brush for painting eyelids. ..

Well… I thought about making my own brushes by myself… but finally rejected the idea
(for the sake of the squirrels, in my neighborhood )

We have plenty of squirrel tails (and tailless squirrels) around our garden which we can send you. Our dogs work hard.
Now this is too much thread drift... back to work myself. Nice chatting with you.

Thanks Chatbraque for the explanations. It's impressive.

How is the feeling of the watercolors and oilbrushes compared to the commercial ones ? There should be something better I guess.

yes !…
… because you can put the amounts that suits you right

(the "TVpaint's way", actually )

Paul Fierlinger wrote:back to work myself. Nice chatting with you.

Ce fût un plaisir… but you're right : "Au boulot !"

Merci, c'était vraiment intéressant. !

Fantastic artwork! I really like your painting skills, great depth and very inspiring. : )

Kind regards,
Jesper

http://jespersoelberg.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thx a lot

oil painting & TVP