Your 'experiments' look aweseome to me. It's not fair I say! (Okay, it's perfectly fair because of all the time you put into art, but it doesn't mean I can't look at your skill with a touch of envy. 
) Glad that you were able to figure out a work-around to the problem and that you're, once again, back on track.
If you happen to get the time, could you explain exactly what you need these boards for, and why they expire/wear out (since you can't use the old ones you loved so much)? I've never done much water coloring, so I don't don't know the process.
[edit: By the way, considering you're "looking for your fingers," I'd go so far as to say that's godly work without them. 
]
See I wouldn't even know how to 'play around' and figure out what worked best, i probably would've just given up and bought a different board :P LOL
HOLY FLYING FISH STICKS! I can't believe what I'm about to type. It... it's just plain crazy. I don't know how this could have happened but, I just noticed that, oddly enough, despite all the problems with the board and all, that I am actually, OMG, almost done!
Here's the work on MysticFire so far. I'd have to say that, to date, it has to be my most saturated piece... a combination of the watercolor not soaking into anything and the fixatif I guess. Look back, I'd have to say I think the gesso + fixatif option that I took is a damned good one. I have never been able to get this far on a piece in such little time. I will definitely have it finished out by Sunday night! It even has a nice shine like it's some kind of glossy print out too... I'm really digging this. Like I said, we tend to fuss and [censored] about change, but a lot of times it's a good thing... and I was really needing things to get shaken up for me again.
Oh, and Rowr, giving up was simply not an option for me. I have a very strict budget and the need to get these out in a timely fashion. That meant I couldn't by new board... I had to find a way to make what I had work. It's a good thing though as I would have never tried this combination which worked out quite nicely in my opinion (I hope I'm not delirious).
And Serrate, as to your questions... I need the boards to paint on... they is the surface that the watercolor and ink goes on. And they don't wear out or expire (the are actually supposed to be exceptionally durable, having a pH factor of 6.5 - 7.0, and due to the epoxy resin in them, they are supposed to be impervious to insects, mildew, mold, won't yellow, etc). I simply ran out of the old stock as I had painted on all of them 
Well, looks like I should be posting a finished version of MysticFire late Sunday night, so keep yer peeper peeled! yay, and then I might be able to actually log in again! But now I sleep before I fall over... since I'm having some difficulties typing with these nubs... *holds up his large round fingerless hands) THESE NUBS!!!!!!!!! NUBS!!!!!!!!
I'll be watching man (both here and on DA).
It looks like this new combination has allowed you to add a lot more control of the watercolor. There's much more shadow and demension to this piece. I think at least. cAn't wait to see more of your new find!
Rock album cover for a swedish death metal band well thats what I think when I see it .
great pic graver
Just took a look and all i can say is WOW. If its gonna get better then that i cant wait.
Mystic
Awww Graver, that sucks. But the almost done MysticFire looks A-freakin'-MAZING! Way to go! I can't wait to see what it looks like completely finished.
Amazing work Graver..
Despite your problems, it still came out amazing!
and through all that you still manage a piece like that foor a first color?
Very sweet looking colors there man!!
Love to see your work!
that looks great Graver, good to see ya got those new boards somewhat working too, it still looks high quality.
I had complete faith that you'd pull through, Graver! Good going!!
I don't know what gesso, or fixatif are, but they seemed to do the trick.
-Pep
Wow, for all the setbacks, that came out very very good. Can't wait to see it complete!
[ QUOTE ]
I had complete faith that you'd pull through, Graver! Good going!!
I don't know what gesso, or fixatif are, but they seemed to do the trick.
-Pep
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Gesso is a primer that one uses to treat canvas or board for painting. I can't say that I've ever heard of someone gessoing for watercolors, though. But, yeah, it worked out amazingly well.
Fixatif is what you spray on a drawing or watercolor to hold it in place when it's done (or sometimes while you're working on it.) It's extremely toxic and is likely the cause of Graver's more...uh...interesting posts.
Okay... finally, I'm back on track again! It took me some experimenting, but I found that freezing the board and then giving it a coat of gesso seems to have done the trick. It's a bit different but has definitely opened up some new doors for me to explore here.
I spent most of the evening / night so far playing with how the watercolor interacted with the gesso and where I might be able to go with that. This is just the experiment that I had done and is not the actual piece I'm working on... though I did take this time to figure out what and where I could go with the background. One thing that I'm excited to see what and where it will go is the fact that, on gesso, I can pretty much pull the color right back off with a wet brush and some cotton swabs. Not only can I now integrate the characters and the backgrounds a lot better but I can tackle these more like paintings then like colored drawings.
Either way, I should be posting some actual progress on MysticFire very soon. Stay tuned!