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ShadeofShinon โ Japanese painting tutorial
Published: 2011-08-02 02:33:56 +0000 UTC; Views: 23838; Favourites: 924; Downloads: 607
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Huge file ahoy!As i promised some time ago, here's a tutorial on Japanese painting. I was very surprised how many people wanted to see a tutorial. I hope I haven't disappointed you. I'm not very good at making tutorials and I have a feeling I may have forgotten to include something important. I tried to share some tips and do a clear step-by-step tutorial but I'm not sure if it's any good.
Also, I'm sorry some of the pictures are so blurry. :/
Oh well, I'll be happy if at least someone finds it useful. :> If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.
Here's the finished picture: :
Pokemon c Nintendo Gamefreak
Art c =ShadeofShinon
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Comments: 169
Happy to help!
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keep calm and love this drawning,amazing job you are godย
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I'm glad to hear that. :>
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This is an amazing tutorial; I've been looking for something similar to this for a while now. Your art is wonderful, as well. <3
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Thank you! I'm glad you found it useful. :>
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I'm impressed with this art piece I really thought it was made by an art program but after seeing this tutorial I was in aw.ย You good sir/mam are very good.
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Thank you very much!
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No problem! I'm glad you found it helpful. :>
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Thanks! I'm glad if you found it helpful. :>
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I may get some watercolour paper and watercolours for myself and a brush pen to try this, thanks for inspiring me!
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You're very welcome! I'm glad to hear I inspired you. ^^
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Very clear and useful tutorial, thank you! 
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You're welcome! I'm glad if you find it useful. :>
Tea is as good as coffee in my opinion. I use coffee because I think it's easier to get strong enough.
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It's absolutely beautiful! And I understand a lot more about the art style and how to work in that style, so thank you for putting this up!
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Thank you! I'm really glad you found it useful. :>
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Thank you SO much for this
also, I have a question, what if one makes the lineart/borders in the end? or make them twice so there is no colour overlapping or something like that?
I've always loved this style, and right now I'm starting to try out watercolours
thanks again, and amazing gallery, keep it up!
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No problem at all! I'm glad to hear you found it useful. :>
As for the lineart, in my opinion it doesn't matter whether you do the lineart before or after the colours, it's more about personal preference. I find it easier to do the lineart first and I don't mind the colour overlapping the lines. You can do whatever suits you best. :>
Thank you very much!
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While this is already EXTREMELY helpful on its own, might I ask for some more tips from you? As in, what are the elements common in Japanese paintings that makes them fit the style? What shapes or themes are prominent? :3
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Sorry for taking so long to reply! I was thinking about your question and then I forgot to reply at all. :I
Anyway, I'm really glad to hear it's helpful!
Hmm, I'll try to make this short and cut the pondering. I'm still trying to study the Japanese art more, but I have learnt something. There are many different styles and techniques in Japanese art, as well as themes. Nature and the beauty of it seems to be very prominent. In most woodcuts, nature plays the biggest part even if there are humans and/or buildings in them. There is often a big landscape, a mountain or something like that. Animals are very common, too, from what I've seen there are a lot of birds in Japanese art. A lot of woodcuts seem to be illustrations of people, a scene or scenery, whereas (ink) paintings seem to be more focused on nature. There is often a very serene atmosphere in those pictures, especially on folding screens and sliding doors. I suppose they were meant to create a certain atmosphere in a room, maybe bring the beauty of nature indoors.
As for techniques, woodblocks are very detailed, defined and sharp. Paintings are more flowing. You can actually see the brush strokes clearly, but there can be a great variety of brush usage, everything from bold strokes to larger painted areas. Anyway, the brush is something I consider very prominent in Japanese art. Also, what I've noticed is that there are a lot of blank spaces in Japanese art. For example, backgrounds can often be depicted with a few vague lines and shapes without getting into detail.
I hope that wasn't too long or vague. Here is a very nice bit about the spirit in Japanese art, I think it might be helpful (and explain things better than I did): [link]
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AHMG that's quite alright! Hahaha, this is all very interesting and useful, as well! Thank you ever so much! 8'D
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No problem at all. :> That's good to hear.
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wow this made water coloring alot simpler for me ..thank you i always overwhelm my self with not being able to do something but when you make it in steps and do out lining first it call makes more sense thanks again!
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You're very welcome! I'm glad it was useful for you. ^^
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Very helpful tutorial, and amazing artwork done from it!
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Thanks! I'm glad you found it useful. ^^
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No problem! I'm glad to hear you liked it. :>
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Wow, that actually made me want to colour with watercolours
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That's nice to hear! :>
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I've been looking for ways to incorporate a kind of more East Asian style into my art, thanks a lot for this tutorial 8) The coffee is a neat idea, I'll be sure to try it out!
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Thank you! I'm glad to hear you liked it. :>
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Thank you very much for posting this lovely tutorial.
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No problem at all! I'm glad you liked it. :>
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I love the way you give legendary pokemon such a classy, "ancient" look. Very nice work, and great tutorial!
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Thank you very much!
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Super cute tutorial~ I'll have to try this next time I can get my hands on some watercolors. Where did you buy your colored inks and papers from, though? I find it really interesting that you used coffee to dye the paper. I've also read that you can achieve a similar affect with tea, but the color is a little more brown... The watercolor technique you've developed is really cool, though. >.<
I love the way you put your signature in a traditional Japanese style. It looks almost like one of those signature stamps they use~ There is technically no one way to write Shinon in Kanji. Most names can be written with a few different combinations of kanji, so there isn't one way to write them. What you'd want to do is figure out what you want Shinon to mean, and then try and find some kanji with the pronunciation you like. Here's a few I found, that you might like: ๅนธ็ฉ (happiness/blessing/fortune & calm/quiet/moderation) and ๅฟๆธฉ(or ๅฟๆ) (the warm feelings of the heart). There's a few ways you can write it with the kanji for poetry or song, but I wasn't sure if music or writing were something you were into. 
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Sorry for my late reply!
Thank you very much! I'm glad to hear you liked the tutorial. :>
I bought the paper from Italy because while local art stores in Finland do have Cartiera Magnani watercolour paper, they don't have precisely this paper. I think you can order it online, too, but I got mine from Italy. As for coloured inks, I suggest you to check regular art stores or books stores that have artist supplies as well. I use Winsor and Newton coloured inks, they're pretty good.
And yeah, tea is another option for dyeing paper. I haven't tried it myself but I guess there are a few differences.
And thank you very much for the kanji suggestions! I knew you could use kanji combinations to write names but I haven't studied Japanese nearly enough to even think about combining kanji. ^^' I need to consider using one of those combinations in the future, they look pretty neat and the meanings are nice as well. Oh, and I do like music and writing, too.
Thank you again! I need to write those down. :>
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This is just what I needed! I went out and bought all the stuff for this to try it out... hoping it'll be a good investment. Never thought watercolors could be so expensive! You're amazing for writing all of this out. Thank you so much!
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