Friday, April 11, 2008

Things I might have seen in London, part 10

In colour with a "u", here are some gouache studies which I have been working on over the past couple of weeks. It's a challenge to work in the rain and snow sometimes. Look closely and you can see some rain spots. I learned a very important lesson in the course of working on these: zinc white sucks. I bought a cheap Windsor and Newton gouache set which came with zinc white. This pigment has the unfortunate property of absorbing colour from pigments that are applied on top of it. The solution: use permanent white instead. Permanent white uses titanium dioxide as a pigment base. It's superb, very opaque, and layers quite well.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very, very nice!!!

Stefano

Chris Houghton said...

Jeez Tom, these are amazing! Great colors and compositions. How's London treating you?

Anonymous said...

Master Yoda!

I love those color pics! Seeing that stuff made me pick up some my sketchbook again! It was great visiting you in london and sketching back in july. Keep in touch!

-Chris

Tom Dow said...

Thanks, dudes.

Stefano, are you still in London?

Chris (Chris H, that is), it's been a great experience, but tiring. I look forward to getting back to MI.

Thanks, Chris (W). Color has been on my agenda for a while. The earlier stuff was a way of "working up" to it. I still have a ways to go, but I'm glad that I got at least this far. Keep sketching! Z-Brush is cool, but it's not the same :)

Tom

GOGOPEDRO said...

I dunno about needing a U in color. but then again I am a lowly punk from Michigan.

HOPE LONDON is still treating you well.

Great to see some new goodness up on your blog.

P

hj said...

great colours!

Scooter said...

Hey Tom- just googled you and saw your blog- sweet stuff! Hope all is going well:) Scott

Tom Dow said...

Hi Scott!

Thanks. Life's good. I'm still roaming about in London and hope to post more colour stuff soon. Great illustration blog you've got! I'm linking you up on my main page.

Tom

Parka said...

Nice paintings. Great composition.