u/Lil_Cherry_Beary

How do I make it look more like my boy?

It's so flat but I just can't make my brain understand how to fix it. It's making me want to quit painting.

The star whale, a cosmic cetacean. Each evening as the sun starts to set, she gathers her laden basket and carefully places each star in the sky. And every morning she rises with the first rays to safely collect them. A chore to some, she loves the crisp quiet sky. A myth to most, yet, to a special few who look carefully between the clouds of the alpenglow, she might just let you catch a glimpse of her flukes

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🩷🐳🩷

I took an online class yesterday (Sarah Yeates) where we did some loose florals - left me feeling quite inspired to try my own composition today!

How did I do?

Pic 1: My attempt from today

Pic 2: WIP

Pic 3: Next to the work we did in the class

I'm very new to painting (just a few weeks in), and have a couple of questions.

Is it ever okay to trace e.g. a photo from google?

Should you credit the original if sharing a picture of your painting? Is it the same for a reference image?

I've been freehanding everything, but despite my best efforts, my proportions are quite janky. E.g. I'm happy with some individual aspects of my turtle here, but think if I had traced an actual outline it would look so much better. I just don't know if that's okay to do?

Day 27 of my watercolour journey, very different to everything I've done so far which has been more illustrative (see 2nd pic). But it's fun, albeit somewhat difficult, to let loose a little 😂😅

Day 6 vs day 25.

Still sooooo much to learn, but I feel like I can really see progress!

Very new to watercolour, but I enjoy this composition. Don't think I executed it quite how I wanted, but is definitely something I'll probably revisit. I've not really done any shading/shadows before, so ofc I went for a whale for my first attempt 🐳🤦‍♀️😂

Really need to build my confidence with darker values, but I worry I'll ruin it 🙈

All advice is welcome (whalecome?), especially re practising tone/3D-ish elements that isn't just "paint a sphere". There's just not enough dopamine for me to attempt that 🙈😅