Artists & Illustrators - UK (2020-01)

TALKING TECHNIQUES

TOP Parrog Sunset,

watercolour on

paper, 30x22cm

RIGHT Limping

Invisibly, Llandeilo,

watercolour on

paper, 18x26cm

watercolour in a fluid, watery,
flowing way, and he uses drybrush
like nobody has ever used that
technique before.”
In contrast to the experimentation
of his fine art, his commercial work
follows a set process, beginning with
a detailed line drawing which is either
drawn by hand or from a 3D computer
model made by Caroline. He then lays
down the first wash for the sky,
typically followed by a wash of Raw
Sienna over almost everything else,
leaving a few white highlights.
While this is still wet, he blocks in
all the main colours (these are
generally premixed beforehand) and

then, once these areas are dry, he

adds a few layers of detail, carving

hard edges into the soft washes with

a fine brush. Next comes a wash to

create the shadow areas and give

everything a 3D form and sense of

light. Finally, he adds highlights:

small flecks of Opaque White mixed

with Cadmium Yellow.

“With the commercial work, it’s got

to be produced to very tight deadlines

and it’s got to work every time,”

he says. “With the fine art, there are

no deadlines and it doesn’t matter if

I mess a painting up, so I tend to push

the fine art much further and mess

up 70 percent of what I do.”

His fine art process is best

illustrated by looking closely at his

paintings. Limping Invisibly, Llandeilo

began with a loose sketch to get the

basic composition and tonal values.

He then divided this into four to make

it easier to transfer to watercolour

paper, and to ensure the composition

was asymmetrical. “I make sure

there is nothing bang in the middle,

because symmetry is such a loaded

thing – you need to avoid it,” he says.

Once the sketch was transferred to

the watercolour paper, he began the

painting with a top-down wash for the

sky, starting with Cadmium Red mixed

with a touch of Yellow Ochre and

Artists & Illustrators 37