Painting with Gouache- my method.

Gouache is a thick opaque watercolour paint used by artists and designers. (there is also acrylic gouache, but I will talk about that in a different post, it is great, but it acts differently and you don't want to mix them together)
Gouache dries to a flat opaque matte finish (if you want it to) and you can overpaint it.
If you are careful the new colour won't lift off/mix with the underneath one- great for someone like me who makes mistakes/ changes their mind…
You can paint light colours over dark colours too, which is very useful.
Gouache comes in tubes, or sometimes jars, and you just squeeze a small amount out on to a palette or plate, or my favourite, a shiny postcard- I'll tell you why later.

I really enjoying working on novelty books for small children, there are lots of different types: Touch and Feel, with different fabrics and textures, Lift-the-Flap, with hidden images,  Pull-and-Slide, with parts that move, etc. 
Lots of care and attention goes into the design and engineering of these books. The illustrator has to provide artwork for the flaps and moving parts and the backs of the extra pieces too, so sometimes there can be twice as much artwork as in a regular book.
Here's an example of one I illustrated for Scholastic: Alfie's Amazing Farm, The flaps had die cut holes, which 'revealed' something underneath - but when you opened the flap, it was something else entirely.
The little boy Alfie walks around the farm expecting to see ponies, chickens etc, but sees much more unusual animals - lots of fun for me to illustrate! The original artwork was painted in Winsor and Newton gouache on smooth white card, and there is another book in the series  Millie's Amazing Garden which features a little girl in her garden, who encounters some hidden exotic animals as she goes about her day.

I'm taking part in the Illustrators fair again this year- 18-26 September.
This is an amazing online selling event, with over 100 illustrators involved. You can follow on instagram @illustratorsfair, and also follow the hashtag #illustratorsfair2021 to see and buy work from lots of artists. Or join the Facebook group IllustratorsFair where the artists will be posting their images, with details of how to buy from them (and me!) Look out for the distinctive pencil logo. Many thanks to Michael Czerwinski and Holly T Burrows for organising this, they have done an amazing job.Have a look at my instagram feed for examples of my work I am showcasing in this event @happytomato7

The link for my Thortful cards is https://www.thortful.com/creator/JoBrown
You will see all my current cards.
I can try out card designs here without incurring my own printing costs, so it is an opportunity to find designs you might not find elsewhere. I am experimenting with some hand painted type designs at the moment. Even if you aren't purchasing, I would appreciate it if you could 'like' or 'save' my designs, it would help raise my profile.Thanks!
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p.s. You can also buy a different selection directly from me in my shop