Art Journal: Sketches & Watercolour Tests

I decided to try and emulate my school sketchbooks in a new journal, since I really want to experiment a lot with specific things. On the first pages I just did a little collage with some colourful paint and a couple of pictures I liked, because I also want to make mood boards and fun collages in here, as collages somehow manage to express everything so well. Such a good way to collect ideas and inspirations.

I want to up my sketching since I haven't been sketching that much and I still encounter lots of proportion issues. I wonder if my ability to get a real likeness has decreased in the past few years. It's possible. Still, I think I do better sketching from a real life person rather than a picture, so it would be interesting to note the differences there if I can.

I've missed exploring and annotating journeys through various formalistic elements, so I'm happy to take a more academic approach with this journal. I'm still going to let myself play around in it, but from a more structured standpoint. I'll still keep a separate journal at the same time for being more spontaneous and not really thinking about what I'm doing.

I've been focusing on some watercolour tests so far, concentrating on trying to mix skin tones and layering colours, as well as how much control and precision to attempt given that watercolours by their nature are thinner and more unpredictable than the acrylic paint I'm used to using. I'm really enjoying the colour mixing and blending, but my proportions are weird. I think I tried so hard to be precise that I was too stiff and couldn't get them right. Portions of the painting above where I allowed the water to move wherever it wanted to a little more seem to look more natural and correct.

This painting was a later experiment with really watery acrylic and with minimal consideration, the composition of features turned out much better. I also love these purple and orange colours together. Smoother movements and more roughly placed brushstrokes definitely helped here.