Category Archives: Commission

Cephalopod, Commission, Fan Art, Gouache, How-To

Painting on Matboard

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meglyman_anna1

meglyman_elsa1

Anna and Elsa by Meg Lyman

3.5 x 4.5 inches each

Gouache on matboard

One of the joys of being a gouache painter is the toned background. There are plenty of ways to get this effect in various media, but it’s fun and handy to paint right on whatever background you find. Some of the toned/colored supports I’ve used with gouache include matboard, Canson Mi-Teintes Board, Pastelbord, Colourfix board, Canson pastel paper, colored ACEOs, notecards, and various other colored papers. Some are more archival than others, some are rougher, some smoother; some are flimsy and some sturdy. Matboard is probably my favorite, for several reasons:

  1. It’s cheap – often art stores will have scrap bins and you can get pieces for $0.50
  2. You can get archival material if you want it (Canson Mi-Teintes Board is a good one, already cut to size)
  3. It has a nice texture – not too smooth or rough
  4. The surface can usually take a bit of abuse
  5. It’s sturdy – it won’t buckle and you can wave it around all crazy-like
  6. It comes in lots of pretty colors

Little left-over scraps are great for quick studies or plein air paintings. I also use them sometimes as backing when framing up ACEOs. In conclusion: matboard is great for gouache people!

Commission, Gouache

Vandring Igelkott

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meglyman_igelkott

Vandring Igelkott by Meg Lyman

6×6″ gouache and ink on bristol

NFS

Sorry I’ve been quiet for a while – working the commission backlog and visiting my newly hatched niece! Here is one of the two pieces I painted for her. It matches the “Vandring Igelkott” bedding from IKEA. She seemed indifferent to the art, but her mother liked it. What the squirt did like is her uncle telling her about 18th century Prussian military tactics. Clearly I need to work on this child.

Cephalopod, Commission, Fan Art, Gouache

Ewoktopus

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meglyman_ewok

Ewoktopus by Meg Lyman

Indeterminate but small size, gouache and ink on paper

SOLD

A fun commission from a convention last year! Sorry for the cell phone photo quality. I’m cleaning out some older art to post for y’all while I’m working on some larger projects, and a few long how-to posts. Lucky y’all.

Cephalopod, Color, Commission, Fan Art, Gouache, How-To

Blue on White

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meglyman_stitch

Stitch by Meg Lyman

Postcard size, gouache and ink

SOLD

Any other gouache gurus out there have a tough time getting the lighter blues to play nice with white paper? They do fine for me on toned paper, and the darker blues (ultramarine, prussian) do fine on white paper. But the lighter blues (cerulean, cobalt, and turquoise somewhat) just don’t want to smooth out. They tend to look blotchy, and get looking kinda chalky when layered. I’ve tried several brands of each and it’s repeatable across brands. Anyone?

I feel fairly good about this one, but I got the effect after much fiddling. I ended up laying it down out of the tube, evenly over the entire blue area. Then I scrubbed most of it off with a paper towel… and repeated the process over and over again. The paper took a beating well, so I got lucky. I guess that’s the way a lot of paintings work, isn’t it?