25/04/22

I wanted to test how well gouache would work with the compositions I had designed, and I think the outcomes were really successful, I love how vibrant the colours are, giving the pieces a bold feel, which I think is essentiel as it reflects Alexandra’s determined and courageous personality. The opacity of the paint allows me to build really dark tones, as well as add details of highlights, which creates a really strong contrast and gives the pieces lots of depth and dimension. I wanted to experiment with how these pieces would look with other media layered on top of them, as I was unsure if i wanted to create my comic using solely gouache, or if other media would add interesting textures and colours that I couldn’t create with the paint.

I used Photoshop to layer the drawings on top of the gouache, I chose to do this digitally as I’m not comfortable with using Adobe software, therefore I tend to stay away from it, but i wanted to ensure that I’m pushed out of my comfort zone during this project. When I first began editing the images I found it quite daunting and confusing, but I think that I became accustomed to it very quickly, this has helped my confidence with using digital techniques. Although my editing isn’t perfect in these images, I’m really pleased with the outcomes I was able to achieve.

I think that the piece in which I used colour pencil was the most successful because it adds a contrasting surface texture to the gouache, as it is more rough and grainy, I can also be very precise and add in really small details, whereas with other media such as the oil pastels, I don’t have as much control, so the outcome appears much more messy. In addition to this, with the coloured pencils I have been able to create smooth gradients from light to dark tones which I think will be very useful in allowing me to create more depth in the pieces. Although I enjoyed working with the posca pens, I don’t think I will continue to incoporate them into this project as they give a smooth texture which I can already create with gouache, and I don’t have a wide range of colours to work with.