Beyond Darkness

ErrothXero - know the darkness and go beyond_kleiner

Finally I got my hands on Tempera! After experimenting with Oil-colours a bit I also wanted to finally try out Tempera.So yesterday, after I woke up from a hilarious dream about my dear Erroth’Xero and me talking about Evolution, where Xero said “Those who desire true power must know the darkness…and go beyond.” -> I woke up after that. Obviously I watched Adventure Tri before going to bed – a friend of mine recommended it to watch the new series~ So I took a look at it. It’s ok, but not more. No comparison to the first three series I watched as little kid~

Back to Tempera: I really like those colours, though it was weird in the beginning to draw with them. They’re like a Fusion of Acrylics and Watercolours. First I was really stressed as they dry so damn fast (what doesn’t fit to my usual acrylic-drawing-technique), but then I realised I can make them liquid again simply by adding water – once I’ve realised that it was so much fun to work with Tempera, as this offers some interesting opportunities, especially regarding blending. And the lame experimenting work turned out pretty nice – honestly I really like this one, especially as it’s showing Xero, who I haven’t drawn in a while now. He deserves more attention x3
Also I discovered my love for lager sizes. Usually I choose the size as small as possible and then use tiny tools to add very tiny details and it takes hours and hours and hours to draw little works, as they often contain so much and you need to be extra careful. Here I took a 18x24cm canvas and drew a large headshot – and it only took about 3-4 hours (including preparations). Okay, you can’t work so fine with Tempera/brushes as you can with ink/pencils/ballpointpen/… , sure, but this rather rough working style on larger sizes has its own charm, I think.
Next I want to try to use Tempera together with Acrylics and/or Watercolours in one work. After that I go into sketch/concept-phase for a larger work I have in mind since a few days.

15 Comments

  1. Is it “true” tempera or “commercial” tempera? I mean, normally, tempera is characterized by it’s binder, which is only yellow egg, but a lot of brand call their paint tempera, even if there’s no yellow egg in it.
    It’s somewhat important because the true tempera don’t last well at all on flexible surfaces like paper or canvas (well, it can work on canvas but it has to be totally stiffened). So if you use true tempera you should do it only on hard surfaces like wood or walls.

    I’ve a tip for you: large size are never large enough x) Once I began a drawing on a A4 sheet, but I saw quickly it was going to be too small, so I started again on an A3 one: too small again, so I moved on an A2 but it was still too small, after that I abandoned because I hadn’t A1 sheets x)

    Happy to see this good old Xero again btw 😉

    1. Author

      As far as I know it’s not the true Tempera you mean – though, actually, I don’t know for sure. My brand is Nerchau (german brand) – they only say that some ingredients are plants, but nothing about the egg-thing.
      But to be safe I used a canvas for this work, that’s spanned over a wooden board-thingy (so directly underneath the whole canvas is a wooden board).
      I prefer those type of canvas before the normal type, as -partly- I have a quite aggressive style of painting and fear the canvas may rip or deform (the last thing already happened x) ).
      Btw. talking with a paint-theory-stuff expert: is there a way to (for example) spray something on Tempera, when the artwork is finished, to make it waterproof – but without ruining the whole work x) …as this Tempera I’m using is water-soluble.

      True, but it’s also a matter of time. If I had the time I’d probably draw everything on A2 or so, but, well, you know – time waits for no-one.
      Fun Fact: the coming project thingy is the first time I draw larger than A3 (if I remember correctly) – so I’m quite excited as this much space is so…unfamiliar XD
      What were you drawing back then?

      8D I’m glad you’re happy about that!

  2. Well I don’t know for this one, but usually it’s clearly announced when it’s with egg. It’s btw not common to find this kind of paint in tube because the yellow egg isn’t easy to keep over a long time. Usually you buy the pigments and add yourself the yellow egg to make the paint.

    I suppose you can test by just putting some on a paper sheet, let it dry and then bend it to see how it behaves: if it quickly crackles it’s yellow egg and you have to be careful with your surface.
    (I would love to see you painting btw x))

    Well there’s of course varnish. A good varnish has two characteristic: it’s durable and mostly it’s possible (and easy) to remove it in case of necessity.
    You can find varnishes both in liquid you apply with brush and spray. For spray I’ve heard good feedback about the 680 from Talens, but it’s a special varnish for gouache and watercolours, don’t know how it’ll works with tempera.
    Normally, true tempera doesn’t really need to be varnished, it’s not reversible (because of the egg). I don’t know if you have already tested to put water on it after it has completely dry, but if it’s tempera, it shouldn’t be really affected.
    Whatever you’re going to do, you should always test the varnish before, because it sometimes result in undesirable effects.

    You’ll probably find some useful informations in the book I’ve send to you on Skype 😉

    1. Author

      Then I guess mine is without egg x)
      (nah, you simply need to come over to my place XD)

      If I put water on my dry tempera then it gets liquid again ;D that’s why I want a varnish-spray-thingy.

      Yay, thank you c:

      1. Ones does not simply walk into Austria x)

        Your tempera is definitively weird x) But well have a look in the book first, I remind she’s talking about a very long time of drying before varnish, like three month or even more. Maybe in this time your painting will not have water problems.
        There is also liquid varnish to apply with brushes, my grandfather had varnish like that, I still have a bottle of it, it’s too old to be use probably, but it deliciously smell the pine tree, when I miss my forest I hum it x)

        Btw I was thinking yesterday about you other drawing with metal leaf on it. It’s probably copper, so if you don’t varnish it it will probably oxidise and tarnish (I’ve some things in copper, it’s just a pain to keep it glaring x), and I know that silver leaf need to be varnish, and silver is less sensible to oxidation than copper). But again it’s difficult to find the good varnish, because it tends to turn the paper yellow.

        1. Author

          With a passport, of course xD

          Yeah, it is x)
          Okay c:

          Yeah, I have a varnish. Actually I have even two – one I put on the paper, then I put the metal stuff on it and then the other varnish. 🙂 The guy who sold me the metal stuff gave it to me and told me how to use it. It’s a good varnish and doesn’t turn the paper yellow at all.

  3. Tempera ist definitiv dein Ding. Die LichtverhÀltnisse und der Pinselstrich gefallen mir sehr gut. Zum Teil sogar besser als bei dem ein oder anderem Acryl-Bild von dir.

    Was die GrĂ¶ĂŸe angeht, habe ich diesselbe Erfahrung gemacht. Vor 1 1/2 Jahren hab ich noch kleiner als A4 gezeichnet und Ewigkeiten gebraucht, auch schon mal 3-4 Wochen. Heute ist ein A4-Bild nach 24h fertig und A3 auch mal nach 5-7 Tagen. Das liegt bei mir aber eher daran, dass sich meine Sitzungen von 2-3 Stunden auf 5-8 Stunden ausgedehnt und meine Techniken sich verĂ€ndert haben.
    Ich habe mich auch nie an grĂ¶ĂŸere Sachen rangetraut. Aber man gewöhnt sich schnell an eine GrĂ¶ĂŸe und tendiert dann dazu, sich die nĂ€chste anzueignen. Ich hab schon einen Blick auf einen A1-Block geworfen, aber vorher dĂŒrfen es noch ein paar in A2 Format sein.
    Noch grĂ¶ĂŸer zu malen kann ich nur empfehlen, es ist wunderbar immer mehr Details in Details in Details erschaffen zu können.

    1. Author

      Lieben Dank! Ja, Tempera eröffnet da ganz neue Perspektiven – mit Acryl mochte ich es nicht wirklich Kreaturen zu malen; dafĂŒr ist Acryl bei HGs unschlagbar – mit Tempera glĂŒcken mir HGs (besonders Himmel) nicht so.
      Hab vor kurzem ausprobiert Tempera und Acryl zu kombinieren (und Buntstifte) und bin soweit sehr begeistert. Das A2-Ding an dem ich grad sitze wird n Mix aus allen drei Materialien. Acryl fĂŒr HG und Basis-Farben/VerlĂ€ufe der Kreatur, Tempera fĂŒr Details der Kreatur, teils in Kombi mit Bunties.
      Mal sehen wie das wird~
      Obwohl ich erst so 4h an dem Bild sitze habe ich mich eigentlich schon an die GrĂ¶ĂŸe gewohnt und es kommt mir gar nicht mehr so rießig vor, wie am Anfang xD

  4. I don’t have passport and there is mountains on the way x)

    You’ll see in ten years if it’s a good varnish or not ;p
    But nice to have a guy who know what he sells and gives advice about it, it’s more and more rare.

    1. Author

      Oh really? I thought everybody has a passport, no?
      Absolutely! That’s what a real art-stuff-store is, I think. Where the people know about their stuff, are experienced and share their knowledge with you c:

      1. No, not in France at least, because passport are not free (you’ve to pay nearly 100€ to have one). Most people have id-cards, which costs less, but it’s not compulsory to have one, some people use driving licence instead.

        All stores, art’s or not, should be like this, but it’s more rare today and it has nearly disappeared in some category, for example in jewellery most of the stores are today parts of a bigger brand and they’re not run by true jeweller but by idiotic vendors who know nothing about jewellery but just want to sell their catalogue (I don’t like modern jewellery, everything is the same, few creativity, no boldness, only true craftpersons still produce interesting pieces, but it’s more and more difficult for them to make a living, because they don’t have the advertising power of big brands).

        1. Author

          Yeah, they aren’t free here too. I think here they cost about 70-80€ (though you have to get a new one every 10 years). I guess I’d get mad without one as technically I need one to cross the border to go to germany (you know, Salzburg is right next to the border and my very favorite artstore is beyond the border x) ). But so far I never had to show my passport at the border to germany – even now not with all the controls because of the refugees.

          I couldn’t agree with you more!

  5. Uhm you don’t need a passport to go in Germany, just your id-card (but it seems in Austria the cost is nearly the same for the two documents, so yeah maybe a passport is more useful than an id-card).

    1. Author

      yeah, more people here have passports instead of id-cards, I guess x)

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