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A Process

Once in a while I take photos of a work in progress.  This is for me as well as others as the work moves from stage to stage.  And it is done in stages with defined processes for each step.  On this walkway overpass up in Spruce Pine, I've done both an ink / marker and an Ink / Wash on the same piece.

This is the finished watercolor of the work.  To start the process I did an ink drawing of it and then took a tracing from that.  It's the tracing where I did another ink drawing but this time on watercolor paper.



Tracings of a work is done with standard tracing paper.  I get mine from CheapJoes.com and use the 8x10 size as that covers most of my needs.  The tracing is done with a 0.3 ink pen (Winsor & Newton Fineliner).  Once I have the tracing I can then use it for other paper or to do another work of the same subject.


The tracing is just a start as I still need to get it transferred onto other paper.  For that you need a very bright light source.  The sun works great (on a sunny day) where you can tape the tracing onto a window and the place your paper on top of it and the tracing will shine through.  It's free but not convenient if it's not sunny, it's dark or you windows have screens or you don't want a vertical surface.  Instead you can use a lightbox or light tablet.  I've got a light tablet (again from Cheap Joes) that provides a very bright light that can shine thought 130lb watercolor or 184lb (300g/m2) mixed media paper.  Cheaper light boxes may not have a bright enough light source for the tracing to shine through.  Try a few.

Once my tracing is done and I've transferred it to other paper I can get working on the art part.

Below is the steps of my process doing my pieces.  The top row is doing the ink / marker work showing my progress from start to finish with the finished piece on the 2nd row.

My watercolor took my 2nd tracing on watercolor paper and filled it in.  I did not show my steps on that (sorry) but you can at least compare the Marker / Watercolor finished versions.

Hope you enjoy.


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