5 Pro Tips for Choosing the Perfect Watercolor Paper

As black Friday deals swirl around me and all of the possibilities exist for me to buy buy buy. However, there is only one thing I want.

Paper.

I need to restock on watercolor and inking friendly paper and that stuff is expensive!

I'm not above drawing on non-traditional papers. Napkins, sketchbooks with filmsy paper, cardstock, the backs of movie posters (if you ever get the chance to draw with ink on glossy photo paper, do it. That paper soaks it up in such an interesting way.)

But sometimes, you just need decent paper to get your ideas out and have them be *clears throat* presentable. Especially if you are selling the artwork afterwards.

So here are my 5 Tips for choosing your perfect watercolor paper.

1) The Heavier the Weight, the Better the Paper

On the front of a package of paper you'll often find a number like " 60lbs." 

Ideally, for watercolor paper, you want to aim for 140lbs paper.

140lbs and higher can handle multiple washes without buckling.

2) Cold Press vs Hot Press

Either paper option is good for painting on. The difference is, do you want a smooth surface or a textured surface to work on?

When I watercolor I prefer the extra texture of Coldpress paper.

however

When I ink I prefer the smoothness of HotPress paper.

So, do you want clean, smooth, graphic lines in your work? Or a more textured/ grunge look? Up to you.

3) Blocks vs Loose Leaf vs Sketchbook

When you go out to buy water color paper  you'll notice it comes in three main varieties.

1. Blocks
2. Sketchbooks
3. By the Sheet

Each one has it's own benefits, and it really depends on what you prefer, but I'll let you know the main highlights.

Blocks

What are those?

Block watercolor paper is the whole stack sealed together at the edges by wax or plastic.

Benefit

It keeps your painting stretched and ready to work on. It tends to keep really wet paintings from buckling.

This style is my favorite because it is the happy medium between the quality of "by the sheet" paper and the mobility of sketchbooks.

Downside:

You do have to work one sheet at a time for the most part. You have to slice off the top sheet to get to the next one. So if you like to bounce around from project to project, this might not be the best choice for you.

Sketchbooks

Benefit:

If you like to travel a lot while you're creating, this style will protect your work with it's covers. 

Downside:

The quality of the paper tends to not be as great as the blocks or by the sheet.

By the Sheet

Benefit

This come is far bigger sizes than either the blocks or the sketchbooks, so you have the freedom to create something large scale. 

Down side

This tends to be the priciest option

4) Trusted Brands

If you have the opportunity to get your hands on these brands you can trust them. I've used them for years and have always been happy with the quality of paper.

My top choice for quality is always  Arches Watercolor paper.

I have yet to meet a paper better suited to my (often over-saturated with paint and water) style.

However, is it pricey. So I only ever buy it when It's on sale, or I manage to find a coupon.

The brand that Isn't as pricey, but still has great paper is Canson. 

I can't be as violent with my process on their paper, but it does hold up well and I always enjoy working on it. 

5)  Where to find this goodness

There are a few stores that are my go-to for art supplies, but here are my favorites, and you can purchase online if you need to.

1. Jerry's Art-o-Rama
2. Dick Blick Art Supplies
3. AC Moore
4. Micheal's
5. Joann Fabrics and more

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Hopefully you'll find this helpful, and let me know if you have any other tips to add

XOXO

Jeanette

How to paint slush cast latex

I have a stack of prosthetic pieces now waiting for me to bring them to life with paint but I've never actually worked with slush cast latex before... So, research time!!

*insert clicky clack noises and inspirational research music here* 

*ding!*

Pax Paint

translucent setting powder

Apparently the best way to paint slush cast latex is with pax paint. But the paint will stay tacky/sticky afterwards, so you have to make sure you set it with translucent powder after you're done. I found FX Warehouse to have the paint I'm looking for in stock, and the translucent powder you can get at pretty much any  make-up store. I'll probably hit up Ultra for mine. Oh, and "setting with powder" simply means to poof some powder on top of the paint job.




Ok great, now we know what we need, but how do we use it? That's where good old YouTube comes in. Here are the most informative videos I was able to find on the subject:

Now if I were cool I would own an airbrush machine and compressor, but I'm not. So I'll have to do this the good old fashioned way... with paint brushes.

There was a really cool tutorial that I may try, since it uses latex and acrylic paints instead of pax paint. I love cheaper options!

I hope you guys found this information as useful as I did, but if you happen to know of some more informative resources, please let me know! I'll add people's suggestions to the post.

Learning to After Effects like a boss

My artwork from The Spider's Nest featuring the novel Pandora

I've been working like crazy to get the artwork done for the next episode of "The Spider's Nest" done, but all I can keep thinking about is how much cooler everything would be if it were even lightly animated. You know, motion comic style.

Zac Gorman’s Legendary ‘Zelda’ Comics Get Their Animated GIF

Because up until now I've always had to shop out any animating needed for the web-series and channel. But I keep hearing that after effects and photoshop aren't so different. So I've been hunting around for some tutorials on how to start using the program and I 'm posting my favorite ones here so I can reference them later. And hey, maybe we can become baller after effects artists together. Why not?

Also I found this really cool site that I'm posting here to return to once I've got my sea legs. Because I want to be able to do the things this guys does someday.

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/

HowTo: Fake Drugs On Screen

My fellow designer and friend Mary Paul sent me a link to this incredible article about what stand in products props masters use when drugs are taken on screen. I've pulled the basic info out into a neat and tidy list for future reference, but here is the link to the original article:

http://nypost.com/2013/10/23/what-actors-really-snort-shoot-and-smoke-on-set/

Cocaine 
Sitting on a table or in lines:
Corn starch and baby powder

Snorted:
Powdered Lactose or Vitamin B powder

Protect the Actor's nasal cavities from multiple takes:
Coat the inside of the straw with Vaseline, so most of the powder gets caught before it gets inhaled

Heroine

Powdered:

The same recipe for faux-caine will work

Boiled:

Sugar and baking soda,

or Bouillon 

or Gelatin

Retracting Needle or Stunt Needle

Rent or Purchase:

http://www.thespecialistsltd.com/stunt-kit-retractable-hypodermic-needle - I've used their kit before and it worked spectacularly - I highly reccomend this if you have the budget for it

http://www.newrulefx.com/products/retractable-syringe-needle - I haven't tried their needle specifically, but I have purchased other stunt props from them in the past and I am always pleased with the quality of their products and their customer service.

Marijuana

Entirely fake:

Oregano

THC free, but otherwise, the real thing:

Buy the real thing without getting the actors high with product bought on legalbuds.com. 

Dress that Bong:

Add coca-cola to the water to dirty it up, add crushed cigarette flakes to float in top.

Ecstasy

Purchase: 

Apparently you can buy stamped sugar pills from a prop house, but I have yet to find the prop house. I'll update this post once I figure it out. Otherwise people recommend Altoids or some other candy with food coloring stamped on it.

Crack Rocks

Not to ingest:

Krazy glue dropped into a pile of baking soda

Magic Mushrooms

Safe to ingest:

Purchase some freeze dried mushrooms from your local asian market

Happy propping everyone!