The Creative Plan – Day 2 Liquid Pencils

Now that all the samples are done it was time to create art with them. However, I still have no idea what to expect from this medium (see Day 1’s warning).

Applying it Straight

For this exercise I used Permanent Yellow and Blue with a long-haird brush.

Results

W/D – It leaves behind very vibrant, dynamic strokes but also some paint residue. Although I didn’t so much as brush the paint on but rather spread or smear it. This meant I had to be a little strategic about where I’d place the glob of paint in relation to where I then planned to drag it.

W/W – As mentioned in my paint sampling section pre-wetting the paper made painting with liquid pencil much easier and the colours blended well. However, the colours lacked the intensity of the W/D example.

Applying it in layers

For this I used Blue and Grey 3 and a long hair brush. 

Results

W/D – As the paint was runnier it was more malleable. The end results don’t look much different from using watercolours. I can’t even see any graphite/pencil texture about it.

W/W – A lot smoother but could not get a rich dark tone. I like the colours but again felt like I was using watercolours, and the end results speak the same.

Liquid Pencil comes across as a medium that can create great textural surfaces so I wanted to explore its potential.

Results

I sourced a Barbara Hepworth sculpture online and used the Permanent paints, a mix of colours, brushes and an old toothbrush.

I put down a wet on wet layer first then when it completely dried I smudged some more on with an old toothbrush including a bit of splatter. 

This medium is so hard to manage, creating tonal depth is either really thick or washed out, not a lot of variety. 

There are areas where I came close but with the colour paints not having much colour to them makes it all look flat. I know I was using a short-haired brush but it was really hard to get any kind of definition regardless. It’s a medium that requires a lot of layering to get volume.

I attempted another one using a Tim Rowan sculpture. By the way, both artists’ work are amazing and worth checking out if you like bold, striking, natural surfaces.

I used the same process of layering – wet on wet then slowly building up more concentrated areas.

I tried really hard to recreate the wonderful tactile surface. The eroded gritty textures are there but mine looks very heavy and bulky and lacks the elegance of the original.

Mixing with watercolours

These next two examples were created with the idea of combining them with another medium. Watercolours felt like they would make a good balance and possibly overcome the issues I had in the last exercise.

The watercolours went on first and I let them dry. To contrast the soft, mellow blues I decided to stick with a dry, short brush technique when adding the liquid pencils trying hard not to overwork it or cancel out the watercolours beneath.

They worked quite well together even giving the picture lots of vibrancy and depth. It’s definitely an expressive medium, but again it is hard to create tonal range or line variation whilst retaining its gritty character.

With my second image I let the colours be the hero and the liquid pencils  compliment it, which seemed to balance the picture well. 

At the end of today’s exercises I’m still perplexed about how to use this medium. There are things I like about it but it feels like I couldn’t complete a picture using only them. I’ll hold off on my overall review till the end as I still have a few more exercises to go.

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The Creative Plan – Day 3 Liquid Pencil

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The Creative Plan – Day 1 Liquid Pencil