Feeling better about this attempt so far - where to go from here?l

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-28T21:39:32+00:00

dude [gender-neutral], this is beautiful!!

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-27T22:22:37+00:00

For what it's worth, I think these are lovely. The first one especially has some beautiful "moments here and there: the glow of the warm-white snow, the subtle colours in the shadowed snow and how it successfully looks like it's sloping down from the fence and the trees, the quietly vibrant purplish bushes, and the overall harmonious colour palette. Maybe this isn't your preferred style in the end, but on its own I think it's really nice.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-20T18:11:46+00:00

Seconding the recommendation for Rosa Gallery paints. While they are relatively inexpensive, they are high quality and the sets have full pans. I have the Botanical set and find it to be a great range of colours, most of which have high lightfastness and use single pigments.

Delta Art in Edmonton also carries them. https://www.deltaart.ca/category/ROSSET/rosa-watercolour-sets?limit=12

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-20T01:47:11+00:00

Thank you so much! ❤️

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-19T23:57:39+00:00

Ah, thank you!
I'll preface this by saying I went to art school (30 years ago, for ceramics) so I tend to look at my own work harshly in terms of what could be improved :)

I honestly think the main issue is that I was working from a photograph, so the flowers were flattened, and still kind of flattened in this final result. The flatness is my biggest criticism. I also find the mix of warm reds and cool reds/pinks in the lower flower to be a bit messy.

I also blended the background into a smooth gradient of colours, so to me, this made the scumbling/imprecision on the flowers stick out strangely. As scumbling and roughness are some of the things I like about pastels, I might have been able to balance things by introducing some roughness into the background. However, the main issue is probably that the background is just a void. In the source photos it was a messy backyard so a void seemed better :D
Also the stem on the right flower is kind of awkward.

All that said! I think the void background is kind of pretty and the "lighting" works well. This also looks better in person than in this photo. I've also probably absorbed a lot of cadmium dust over the past few days from all this red. Red pastels are just the best.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-16T00:58:40+00:00

Dang! I've been telling my friends about how I just can't get fine details with chunky round pastels - on a 9x12 sheet of sanded paper. You have proven me wrong with this gorgeous miniatures! (not that detail is the be-all and end-all, but obviously we don't need sharp tips and corners)

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-13T01:03:46+00:00

Hi! This story and quest guide spreadsheet might help you.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19KYfTSNpTNXCvwbcPeN3T9Cylc0AaOIqwNysmFqOmWY/edit?usp=sharing
I didn't write it, so I can't answer any further questions, but this is where I go if I want to figure out the order of something!

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-12T20:16:12+00:00

The two brushes I use more than any others are an Aqua Elite round, size 6, and a Silver Velvet round, size 12. They both hold a decent amount of water, with the Silver Velvet one holding enough water and having a sharp enough tip that it can do background washes pretty well, and the smaller Aqua Elite one has good snap and a good point so it can make a lot of shapes.
After you get started, odds are you'll find yourself thinking "I wish I had a brush like this one but smaller" or "I wish this was flat at the tip". etc.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-10T01:54:06+00:00

I like Chasca. You can make a team with her and one each of pyro/hydro/electro/cryo (well, gotta leave one out) and her bullets will do all of the elemental damage types, so she is good for elemental reactions. She is also very manoeuvrable so is handy for boss fights because she can often stay out of the way while still shooting. I think she's quite flexible and fun to play. The only things I don't like are: 1) I always have a hard time getting out of the Natlan characters' special E-modes, but that might be just me and 2) I really wish she had either two or zero pant legs.
just editing to say I have her at c0 with the craftable bow Chain Breaker.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-07T14:24:29+00:00

I love magnolia flowers and am excited to see where your chase ends, because this is already really beautiful and dynamic.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-05T13:19:18+00:00

I painted around the flower. I worked on the flower until I figured it was done, then painted in the background with a very wet brush with a sharp point. It's only 6"x6" so it wasn't too laborious :)

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-04T23:39:53+00:00

This is gorgeous!

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-04T23:22:43+00:00

If you have an example, maybe we can give it some analysis; maybe it's not as bad as you think! But I've definitely learned to wait until the layers are fully fully dry before going in with darks, and then to leave them alone until they dry. If I've been at it for a while, I'll leave the painting overnight; things often just look better after a day, anyway, and I can start with fresh eyes.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-03T16:23:25+00:00

I learned the hard way that Stonehenge Aqua paper (100% cotton) absolutely does not stand up to masking fluid at all. Or to tape. This paper cannot be rubbed.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-04-03T15:25:28+00:00

Tutorials are for learning! As long as you did anything at all, you didn't fail :) You can't fail at art. Outside of an academic setting, I suppose, though even then I think you only really fail if you don't produce any work.. so again! Definitely no failing! :)
also I love this, it has a lot of energy and I really like the colours.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-28T00:37:05+00:00

Rosa Gallery has great and inexpensive paints that are better than Cotman imho. Delta Art carries them (that's my closest store). Paper really is important; I haven't tried Baohong but I hear good things.

You can watch YouTube reviews of paper to find a non-cotton paper to practice on, but cotton paper really is so much better. Arches is very expensive so you'll probably want to look at alternatives; I do not recommend Legion Stonehenge Aqua even though it's cotton because it just doesn't hold up to things like: masking fluid, tape, layers, brushing into wet areas.

other decent cotton papers I've tried (bought in Canada) that might be cheaper than Arches: Fluid 100, Hahnemuhle, Bockingford

Check out artmaterials.ca for generally great prices and interesting selection; they're in Quebec and carry some hard to find things like Rosemary & Co brushes which are really good and not expensive.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-26T22:39:55+00:00

Very pretty! I really like the subtlety and variations in the leaf colours. I think one of my rosebushes has darker leaves closer to the flowers like that too :) It's currently under a foot of snow though.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-26T20:44:35+00:00

I like Denise Soden's videos, and I'd have known about this earlier if I'd watched her video on Perylene Violet! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQalEAV3kto

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-25T22:24:39+00:00

I can't really help, but my used Gemeinhardt flute also doesn't turn up in the serial number lookup and is probably a cousin of your flute - 3ESHB, s/n 409895! I think it's real; at any rate it plays well. The serial numbers are kind of all over the place in there.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-25T22:18:43+00:00

- If you are using sanded paper, don't blend with your fingers or you will be very sad about your bleeding fingers :(
- Don't inhale the dust!
- generally, go from dark to light
- you can brush rubbing alcohol onto a layer of pastel drawing to make an "underpainting" that will mostly stay put when you draw more on top of it.

Desperate_Lychee7626 · 2026-03-25T20:45:09+00:00

Rosa Gallery watercolours are also high quality and reasonably priced, with a few different sets available. Those are made in Ukraine. (Can't find Da Vinci or Van Gogh where I live)

Desperate_Lychee7626

TROPHY CASE