Tuesday 13 April 2010

A boy & his monkey, the finished painting.


Gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil on cream watercolour paper. 210mm x 225mm


Finally, after getting back from my easter travels, I got chance to put brush to paper and finished the painting on sunday. The client was really happy with the scan I showed him (phew, a relief) and, all being well, royal mail will deliver it safe and sound today. Very rewarding to have completed my first serious gouache (well OK gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil) but quite nerve wracking to work without the safety net of an undo command, especially as I was putting on the finishing touches and couldn't resist adding a leaf here and there, or tweeking the iris colours. Just one slip of the brush! Makes me all the more keen to tackle more painting. So nice to have that physical artwork on your desk to show for all your days efforts.I'd also really love to marry up the best bits of gouache with the best bits of digital. Those things that take a lot of fiddling in the computer (natural texture and flow of line) come so freely with painting while those painting challenges (control of line, sharp edges, accurate colour and the all important correction of mistakes) play to photoshops strengths. Cannot wait to play further!

11 comments:

Abz said...

great to see u posting again. :)

Anonymous said...

You've done a stunning job Matt, the monkey and cheeky little boy emanate glee....magical! Best wishes, Rob H

Phil Toodle said...

The painting's a huge success sir. The colours work really well, and the fine details (around the sun, and on the monkey especially) are exquisite, the choice to use more than one medium was a wise one. Also it's impressive that you've managed to keep the essence of the characters alive through all of their incarnations.

Jon Davis said...

Excellent stuff.
It's great to see the finished picture with all the workings in the last post.
Thanks for posting this :)

Kev Levell said...

I think it's very positive that you are able to create your style with traditional media - Great stuff!

. justin segal said...

It came out great, Matt. Thanks for sharing the process — fun to see it develop (and hear your thinking and teeth-gnashing!).

Anonymous said...

Came out fantastic Mr Dawson, love the colours.
Great to see your process on this too.

Chris Kennett said...

This turned out ace Matt. Great work. Thanks for the Chuck link too :)

krisztina maros said...

ah this is wonderful Matt!! I love your photoshop works as well but really really love to see the 'living' brush strokes and textures on this painting.

michael robertson said...

you need to change your name to matt awesome.

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