There are days that I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of this painting from life in gouache business (I was pretty proud of this study I did last week behind the barn where my Dad keeps his horses), but then I look at some of the work being done by other artists who I follow and I’m blown away and inspired at what they are able to do. I want to share some of these artists here so you can be inspired by their work as I am.
Of course James Gurney has been my inspiration from the beginning, and in some ways I’ve tried to learn from him the most since he posted so many awesome process videos on his gurneyjourney website. I’ve put a video below that he posted recently that blew me away. In it he paints a bunch of ferns which creates a complex and detailed subject matter. Gurney always chooses unique subject matter and is a constant student of painting. In fact, his website could serve as a one stop shop for learning all aspects, techniques, and painting media. In the fern painting, he defines the detailed fronds by painting both negative and positive shapes overlapping layers of gouache.
Another amazing gouache artist with a really distinct style is Yuchung Peter Chan. The way he slowly uses wash to build up his colors and the way he simplifies and slightly abstracts his real life subject matter set him apart from many other gouache artists. I believe he does teach some workshops, but my main exposure is from following him on his pixelp tumblr. You can also follow him on Youtube as pixelpchan (though I’m sure he also posts on instagram and I’m sure elsewhere as well). Below is a video of him painting asparagus:)
Next is the master Nathan Fowkes. He’s worked on amazing films such as “Prince of Egypt” and “How to Train Your Dragon” doing storyboards and background paintings, but he’s also as well known as a teacher through Schoolism. What I love most about some of the quick sketches he does is the economy of brush strokes he uses to create a fully realized atmospheric landscape.
The final artist who I just came across recently is Nicholas Bono Kennedy. You can follow him on Tumblr as paintwithnick and you can also check out his YouTube channel. The video I posted below was great because I love seeing his progress and the number of paintings he did in a year. I love the way he says making a lot of “starts” paintings is more valuable than spending five hours on one more refined painting, and I also felt inspired to do more still lives and portraits after checking out his work. It looks like his tumblr has a lot of teaching content as well so check it out.
