painter ekaterina Shchekina
WORLD, Pacific Ocean view
paper, watercolor
It's amazing how a point of view can totally change our understanding of the world – it turns out that there is a perspective when our whole planet is just covered with a lot of beautiful water.
« Nikita has not finished voicing the idea of drawing the whole world from the most incredible angle but my hand is already reaching for the paper.
After three months of creative apathy, it came out of the blue
Technically, I still couldn’t not understand how I would draw, but I was already covered with paints.
A few samples on the most pretentious paper in my apartment and here I am. I can’t stop masking with tape, applying thin watercolor layers and pouring the blackest watercolor in the night into space.
I’ve gone deep into the process as if it was the Pacific Ocean itself.
After three months of creative apathy, it came out of the blue
Technically, I still couldn’t not understand how I would draw, but I was already covered with paints.
A few samples on the most pretentious paper in my apartment and here I am. I can’t stop masking with tape, applying thin watercolor layers and pouring the blackest watercolor in the night into space.
I’ve gone deep into the process as if it was the Pacific Ocean itself.
Drawing something so large-scale and beautiful at the same time turned out to be lifesaving for me. I hope that this pure beauty and the blue will resonate in the hearts of the audience. »
Ekaterina Shchekina
painter
Process
Ekaterina Shekina
painter
At the beginning, I am drawing the main contours of the islands and the underwater landscape in Photoshop.
I am looking for an acceptable size for samples in the material. The circle on the sketch is approximately A3 format
I am looking for an acceptable size for samples in the material. The circle on the sketch is approximately A3 format
I am making a probe on watercolor paper. To save time, I am painting only half of the planet and trying to do it in different ways.
The first layer has been done with refinement in one hit. This is the most familiar technique to me. It immediately becomes clear that this is not good for my purposes and I need to think it over more thoroughly. I am finishing a quarter of the planet with washings and layers. Another quarter is made with the help of staining technique. Then I am experimenting with colors right away.
The name of paper is British cotton Saunders. Paints are a lot of blue phthalo from an American watercolor set. The rest of paints is German Schminke.
The first layer has been done with refinement in one hit. This is the most familiar technique to me. It immediately becomes clear that this is not good for my purposes and I need to think it over more thoroughly. I am finishing a quarter of the planet with washings and layers. Another quarter is made with the help of staining technique. Then I am experimenting with colors right away.
The name of paper is British cotton Saunders. Paints are a lot of blue phthalo from an American watercolor set. The rest of paints is German Schminke.
I'm preparing printouts for the main job. I'm afraid of losing the integrity in this huge resolution and the details in too small one. I am printing blanks with a diameter of 31 cm. The table is filled with the pieces of the printed planet.
I am carefully transferring it across the light table, checking the references on the monitors.
I am carefully transferring it across the light table, checking the references on the monitors.
My next step is masking. I’m covering the islands and the pieces of continents in a circle with a special liquid, as well as the planet itself. I need a beautiful outline. Everything above the contour at the edge is sealed up with ordinary masking tape.
The most pleasant stage. I’m taking paint (such a rich watercolor liquid) and making the first layer. Any touch to the wet layer changes the geometry, so I’m trying to be more careful.
A hair dryer settled on the table. I’m putting new layers for tonal enhancement only on the dried previous one. Then I am playing with the layers, which means making a tonal stroke in the center and taking it into transparency to the edges. I want to create the feeling that the planet is glowing.
When the tonal foundation is ready, I’m working on the irregularities - somewhere with the help of staining, somewhere unsuccessfully trying to wash the corrosive phthalo from paper. I am dissolving some staining into a haze and making their touch almost invisible. In some places I clearly outline the roughness. This stage is long and attentive. The most important thing is not to lose the main tone with all the details. This is a round and beautiful ball, not a crumpled one.
I’m getting rid of the mask and without touching the tape I am painting the islands. I’m touching them much more conventionally than the underwater world. The fewer details, the fewer tonal transitions. The main character here is the water.
It's night already. I've changed the water a hundred times, but I want to splash around black and no one can stop me. I’m deleting the tape and torturing a cuvette of black and neutral tint. I see a tube of neutral tint, and this time it is from the Netherlands. And at least a third of this tube is now space.
Done!
Done!
The next technical part is a scan or a snapshot, finalization in a graphic editor. In my case, I’ve leveled the circle a little, and removed the specks of dust and remnants of the mask. I refined the tone, lit the stars and sent them to the big world.
Now it's fully done!:)
Now it's fully done!:)
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