#DannyDoesArt | Arya Stark Watercolor Portrait

Hola! I am so stoked to announce that—drum roll—I got back into painting!

It's been 84 years since I last touched a paintbrush and I gotta tell you, it took a few good minutes of warm up to get cosy with these slender pieces of magic again. For the longest time, I have been uninspired or perhaps just incredibly distracted that I haven't found time to make art. I have always been into art and this creative itch has been something I've been waiting for. I'm glad I've found my way back into painting as this has been a big help on relieving stress and keeping my sanity amidst the pressures of adulthood.  

I kicked off my journey to the Land of "Happy Accidents" with a tribute to one of my favourite Game of Thrones characters—Arya "badass MF" Stark through a medium I had zero knowledge of—the fabulous aquarelle or simply watercolour.

Like some of you, I had no clue how to start—all I had was a set of student-grade watercolour cakes (a Christmas gift from a dear student of mine), a palette, a plain sketchbook, YouTube tutorial videos on my iPad, and some cheapass paintbrushes I got from the dollar-store Daiso. But let me tell you something, never underestimate the abilities of Daiso paintbrushes. I love using them! Very affordable and they don't disappoint when it comes to quality.

At the time of writing, I have upgraded to Holbein Artists' watercolors, which are just absolutely wonderful to work with, and have been stocking up on better paint tubes and paintbrushes. I don't know if it's a practical idea to use such artist-quality paints for beginners, but I didn't mind. I like short-cuts.

For this particular art work, here are the materials I used:

☑️ Guitar Watercolour Cakes

☑️ Daiso paintbrushes (blue handles)

☑️ Tombow Mono HB

☑️ Maruman sketchbook

I started by sketching the character's face which was a fairly quick process, even though I was a little rusty.

 2017 © Dana Eve Valencia

Then onto a combination of the wet-on-dry and wet-on-wet techniques which was quite a "trial and error" struggle as it was my first time to deal with watercolours. I had a blast, though, with discovering how the colours move and blend on paper. The highlights, midtones, and shadows gave me a real challenge, fun nonetheless.

2017 © Dana Eve Valencia

As you can see, I have applied the splatter paint technique by just a few flicks of my wrist—Aguamenti! 💫

I know I still have a long, long way to go, but I must say I'm very happy with my first legit watercolour art piece. It was such a thrill relearning the brush strokes, tricks, and experimenting with watercolours!

2017 © Dana Eve Valencia

A girl is Dana Eve Valencia of Japan, and it feels good to be back.