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| Background art by Kazuo Oga |
The first is by Osamu Masuyama, a background artist on Spirited Away, Ponyo, and Howl's Moving Castle, doing a demonstration at a university. (Link to video on Internet Archive)
He pre-mixes four colors before starting on the sky: a lighter and darker blue for the gradation of the sky, plus a white and a gray for the lit part of the cloud and the shadow part.
Artist Victor Ishihara demonstrates creates a painting of the building from "Spirited Away." I'm not sure what Mr. Ishihara's connection is with Studio Ghibli, but his way of painting seems fairly similar to that of Mr. Masuyama.
A few observations on both demos:
1. The art is set up flat on the table, so the method doesn't depend on gravity to pull down washes.
2. The paper is pre-wet for the sky, which helps achieve those soft edges in the clouds.
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More resources
Previously: Demo by Kazuo Oga
Kazuo Oga
Watercolor Tips from Miyazaki
(Sorry, the video previously on this post is no longer on YouTube)
Artist Victor Ishihara demonstrates creates a painting of the building from "Spirited Away." I'm not sure what Mr. Ishihara's connection is with Studio Ghibli, but his way of painting seems fairly similar to that of Mr. Masuyama.
1. The art is set up flat on the table, so the method doesn't depend on gravity to pull down washes.
2. The paper is pre-wet for the sky, which helps achieve those soft edges in the clouds.
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More resources
Previously: Demo by Kazuo Oga
Kazuo Oga
Watercolor Tips from Miyazaki
(imported from Japan)
Another source of great matte and backdrop painting - http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.co.uk
ReplyDeleteJust imagine how good and how fast these artists had to be.
Dave Frary
A few observations about Ghibli background painting.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a damp paper, even when the surface is dry and harder edges are possible, still allows more blending with water media; it's a good way to keep the gouache open for a little longer.
They often use almost full-bodied paint wet-into-wet without adding much water or white. This is a good way to achieve a uniform surface effect and paint body without sacrificing subtle transitions.
Japanese artists are used to soft brushes, which are uncommon here when using opaque paints. I tried squirrel hair brushes and synthetic soft imitations, which I regularly use for watercolor, with gouache with interesting results.
I wanted to point out that some of the colors in the Knicker poster color paint set are not light fast. This paint is made for commercial use and is not meant for fine art work. There is also a Russian company that makes a similar kind of paint called Masterclass gouache.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nevskayapalitra.ru/eng/production/gouache
Interesting tutorials. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to point out that the paint brand he's using in the video is Holbein; Dick Blick has it online. This video is awesome, I always wondered how to get airbrushed blends like that in gouache. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete