May isn’t over yet, and I managed to squeeze in some time (instead of cleaning) to sketch, ink and paint this mermaid for Mer-May!
I drew on watercolor paper with pencil and inked with my usual Zebra extra-fine brush pen, that I’ve used for years, got it at Daiso. I then used watercolors for the base layer of the mermaid and lily pads (regular Windsor and Newton) and debated using more colors but decided a natural limited palette is fine for experimentation. I was especially trying to get used to a water brush pen that came with a Koi pocket field sketch kit I got for Christmas. I think the water brush works fine in keeping the bristles wet and pointed for fine lines, but I feel I ironically have more control dipping brushes in water to get a watery wash rather than trying to squeeze the brush body for more water which is erratic. I cut out a piece of gold foil Japanese print washi tape (fanmade Demon Slayer tape) for the bra because I didn’t have any ideas of what to draw.
Then I used a masking fluid pen I got from jetpens.com, my addiction lol, to mark out water ripples for the background. Since I let the pen sit for so long, the glue built up behind the nozzle, so I just took some tweezers and glopped the masking fluid all over the background. I let it dry, then went over with bright blue watercolor from the Koi kit, sprinkling sea salt over the blue paint while wet to build up texture. The salt texture is one of my favorite hacks. Next I pulled out a pad of gold ink from jetpens.com to add gold to her hair and scales. Then I opened up a palette of chameleon duochrome metallic watercolors that I got from Homegoods or Five Below and used a gold/green shade for her hair and a brick/gold shade for her scales. The effect is practically invisible in a still photo but just a thin layer looks amazingly glittery in real life. Then I rubbed off the salt and masking fluid to reveal the clear white areas and textures, and added finishing flourishes with gold and white ink pens (from Daiso and Kinokuniya).
Overall a successful experiment with masking fluid and metallic/glitter paints. The base drawing is a bit meh as all of my traditional media tends to be, I don’t go too wild with inks, but I love this piece anyway especially for a quick and rough painting. Hope you had a happy Mer-May!
I uploaded a video in mp4 format, not sure if you can view, but I will also post on instagram if I can.