For this exercise, I was asked to create a sketchbook with different kinds of coloured and textured papers by using a variety of surfaces including rough textures such as sugar paper, heavy watercolour paper and smooth, shiny surfaces such as brown paper and cheap typing paper. Here I need to investigate painting skills of untouched materials, such as food dyes, ballpoints, chalks, oil pastels, and pots of sample decorating paints. The challenge of this exercise is to explore as many as possible unusual materials to paint with and paint on.
Each piece should be labelled with the media used and the combinations explored.
Conclusion
These are one of my favourite exercises to do, as they are purely based on creativity and freedom of choice. The beauty of it is that I can try all possible materials and textures, and not to get it wrong, as in the experiment we can end up with a great solution for the artwork. My favourite was gouache on foil gold paper, as it has unusual transparency and blends into the background. Also, I loved how the Sharpie pen looked on the colourful textured paper, some pencil shades on the top of it gave the design a complete look. Another textured solution that I enjoyed was the sugar with watercolour, it could be salt as well, the main point to make the illustration look appealing. The option I didn’t like much was the chocolate and coffee experiment, as the grains and brown effects looked a bit like sores on the skin. Maybe, because of the specificity of the illustration, lips, which I should be aware of, some colours and techniques wouldn’t work. I think, that all was a good creative task, and it helped me to discover some new approaches to illustration.
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