PixelReason Toolbox - Afterschool Kahi Watercolor Portrait

A lot of people have been asking what tools I use for the pieces I create so I'll be putting up regular posts to showcase exactly what I used for each piece. And if you want a deeper look at my full toolbox, be sure to check out the PixelReason Toolbox section of this website!

I always try to keep things simple as far as tools are concerned. And for the things I do for PixelReason.com, I especially try to keep from making things too complicated, because it always bothers me when aspiring artists believe that it's a magic brush or a magic pencil that will make you an amazing artist. It's not. It's practice. And when you're done with that, there's the real secret weapon:

...more practice :)


But I will say, after you understand what's really important, it doesn't hurt to have good tools. (Good music is always great too)

So here's the tools I used to create the latest piece: AFTERSCHOOL Kahi Park Watercolor Portrait.
(click "Read more" to... Read more!)

THE BRUSHES 

I only used 2 brushes for this piece (Both brushes are sable/synthetic blends.).


> WINSOR & NEWTON Sceptre Gold II Brush 2 this is the smaller brush for the details. (And please ignore the one star given by the person that bought the brush to fill in the eyebrows on her face and was disappointed that it turned out to be too big of a brush. funny!)

>WINSOR & NEWTON Sceptre Gold II Brush 8 flat 505 this is the larger brush for the large areas of the painting.

Note: For some reason, the sellers on Amazon tend to show pictures of multiple brushes for their products (even though it's just for a single brush) so be sure to read your descriptions carefully when you buy from them (Don't be the eyebrow girl!).

THE PAINT

>Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour 6 Tube Set
The set contains the following colors: Cadmium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Red Pale Hue, Ultramarine, Viridian Hue, Burnt Umber, Ivory Black.


I also bought a tube of Chinese White and Burnt Sienna separately. 

THE PAPER

>Strathmore 500 Series Bristol Board and Pads - 11 x 14, 2-ply, 15 Sheet Pad, Vellum
I hate "bumpy" paper. There's certain times that paper with more texture (more "teeth") is good, but I've yet to run into those times. I like my paper as smooth as possible. So when I decided to use watercolor, I still wanted my paper to be as smooth as possible but still be able to handle getting wet (and not buckle or get super "wavy"). This paper stayed strong, smooth, and was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. There's some paper out there that is probably even better, but the reason why I like this one is because it comes in a pad of 15 sheets (instead of having to buy a giant single sheet of paper and having to get it cut into smaller sizes) and because for the price, it really can't be beat.