This is actually the last drawing of 2019 and the first one as well as painting of 2020. I’ve been wanting to do a piece of Airi Suzuki for a while now. I wanted to also practice with my Holbein watercolors as well as try out my Fabriano paper which contains 25% cotton. This is my first time using hot press papers. They are quite smooth. The paper it self didn’t buckle as much as the watercolor paper I have been using from Canson. The Holbein watercolors go on quite smoothly. Thinking about it now I have been doing a lot of first right off the bat this year. I finally tried out the mop brush I bought in mid 2019 but have yet to use till just now. I’m amazed at how much area I can cover with it and how even I can do so. So far I really like the way the supplies I’m using react work. Will have to make more tests to see how much more they can be pushed.

For the painting I decided to make a simple 80s anime style. It was really hard to stop myself from adding more to it (really hard). But it was worth holding myself back because I like the way it turned out. The background color was too close to the skins so Airi looked a bit bland, but once I added more yellow to the background the whole picture and Airi came to life and looked so much better. I do want to do another piece of Airi but push to a more detailed painting with more colors. I just love the way the Holbein watercolors get painted on the paper and look when combined.

reference picture from her instagram:

Happy New year! Let’s give it our best this year as well!

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE