Jenny Dolfen

Tien (and Bippy)

Added 2025-05-08 17:38:36 +0000 UTC

I wasn't going to paint both of these today, but then I was really disappointed with how Bippy turned out, and am glad that I pushed through to paint Tien as well. And BOY, did I paint Tien. The paint did all that I wanted. The ugly stage on the uniform and breastplate didn’t faze me. And what’s most important: a few days ago, I thought, what’s the point in learning gouache if I still don’t like what the results look like? Here's my answer: faces. Skin. Painting with this absolutely buttery stuff in a face is so incredibly, incredibly satisfying.

I even had the presence of mind to photograph stages:

I'm building up skin in much the same way as I would watercolour, but I can then go lighter again for highlights and reflected light and the like, and it's all so SOFT. I absolutely love this.

So - Bippy.

I went with the paint that artist Sam Hogg recommended to me, but weird realisation - while I totally know my way around gouache now (and in record time, incredibly) and can get it to do whatever I want, the new paint, Flashe acrylic gouache, totally disobeyed me. So I think I‘ll stick to proper gouache for the time being (and will definitely go with a wet palette instead of a saucer when I try acryla gouache again), and worry about another new medium at a later date. Sometimes, I can be smart. 😆

Also, Jenny, lineart in gouache sucks. Stop it. Don't do it. Signed, Jenny. ;)