Matthew James Taylor Matthew James Taylor

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Watercolor Painting & Illustration

Of all the painting mediums, watercolor is my favorite. I love the soft colors and the random, happy accidents you get around drying paint edges.

I especially love combining watercolor with black ink line work.

"Radish flowers" Watercolor Illustration

Radish flowers
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor
Date
8 Nov 2020

I let some radishes go to seed in my garden and I never realized just how beautiful their flowers were. I decided to paint a watercolor picture of them.

"Waffles" Watercolor Illustration

Waffles
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor
Date
28 Oct 2020

An illustration of my friend's cute dog.

"Summer and the Duke" Watercolor portrait

Summer and the Duke
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
2019

This is a portrait of my youngest son, Summer, riding his Mum's dog, 'The Duke'.

"Backyard chair" Watercolor painting

Backyard chair
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor
Date
4 Nov 2007
Time
About an hour

This is from the backyard of my old house. We had a beautiful green bushy plant that grows along our side brick wall covering a little chair and a table. in spring, beautiful orangy-red flowers come out and almost completely cover it.

While I was painting this I noticed a little bird was making a nest in the bush. It kept coming and going with little twigs - very cute!

I'm getting better each time I give watercolor a go.

I started this painting with some light washes of colour and slowly built up the darks. The flowers turned out more purple than orange but it still looks ok. The bricks are my favourite part — they are just simple rectangle shapes.

"Gaara of the desert" Black ink and watercolor illustration

Gaara of the desert
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
2 Jul 2005
Time
3 hours

Gaara is a really interesting manga character. I painted this especially for one of my friends as a going away present. It was done on really rough watercolor paper and you can see the texture in this scan.

"Tesselating flowers" Watercolor Illustration

Tesselating flowers
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, gouache
Date
21 Nov 2004

I painted this section of flowers so I could make a repeating pattern for the background of a website.

Here's how it eventually looked once I made the tesselating image in Photoshop, I changed the colors to brown too.

Tesselating flowers

"Felicity the creeping fairy" Watercolor Illustration

Felicity the creeping fairy
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, sepia ink
Date
14 Nov 2004
Time
3 hours

This is just a quick painting of a fairy from my mind. I wanted to try out some sepia ink that I had bought and I needed something to draw.

I made an effort to put in as much anatomy as I could and even though it's not exactly right I think it has really improved the picture.

"Sai with messy hair" Watercolor & black ink portrait

Sai with messy hair
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
1 Nov 2004
Time
3 hours

This is a painting of my friend Sai. She has very curly hair that's always a bit messy. She tries to straighten it but I think it looks a lot better when it's all crazy and untamed.

I love her hair in this image. In fact I think it really makes the painting work. Straight hair would not have the same impact.

Sai is also an amazing artist, follow her on Instagram.

"Subdued Crystal" Watercolour and ink illustration in muted colors

Subdued Crystal
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor
Date
31 Oct 2004
Time
2 hours

I painted this watercolor picture of Crystal to use as part of the design for a new version of this website but I didn't use it after all. I was inspired by the beautiful watercolor art by Arthur Rackham and his subdued colour schemes.

"Elfin girl" Watercolor illustration

Elfin girl
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor
Software
CorelDraw
Date
9 Sep 2003

This is a watercolor illustration with two layers; the black lines were done afterwards in CorelDraw that's why they look so smooth and perfect. I like the effect when you combine digital and analogue painting methods.

See more of my vector art

"Teu Dream" Watercolor portrait

Teu Dream
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
9 Sep 2003

Teu Dream (pronounced 'to dream') is a character I was developing . My plan was to use her in short comics illustrating the many weird dreams I have.

Matthew James Taylor

I've been creating art all my life and running this website since 1997! During this time I've found many amazing tools and services that I cannot live without.”
— Matthew James Taylor

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See more of my recommended design tools.

A pencil drawing of a stand of trees

Trees (Drawings, Illustrations & Other Artwork)

A fractal tree made by recursive drawing

Create Fractals With This Amazing Recursive Drawing Tool

A close-up of my Ikea pig oil painting

Oil Painting (Still Life & Landscapes)

A charcoal portrait of Angela reading a book

Portraiture (Exploring Different Mediums, Styles & Techniques)

A selection of life drawings in different mediums

Best Life Drawing Mediums (Examples, Tips & Techniques)

Graphite Pencil Life Drawing

Graphite Pencil Life Drawing (Rendering & Sketch Examples)

Charcoal still life drawing of my shoe

Still Life (Drawings & Paintings)

A nice sharp pencil

The Art of Sharpening Pencils (Styles & Techniques)

My optical illusion mural

Optical Illusions (Artwork That Tricks The Eye)

Logo design concept & colors

Logo Design Concepts, Branding & Colors

My standard life drawing equipment

Best Life Drawing Equipment (What to Bring to a Class)

Detail of a male model in white charcoal

White Charcoal Life Drawing On Toned Paper

Sepia ink life drawing

Ink Life Drawing (6 Experiments with Nibs & Brushes)

A close-up painting of pistachios with Gouche

Gouache Paintings (Still Life Illustrations)

Vector portrait of Crystal the Doll

Vector Art (Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Flash & Inkscape)

A fractal artwork of an owl in a tree

Fractal Art (Exploring Fractals & Art Based On Fractals)

Book illustration cover artwork

Book Cover Design & Book Illustrations

Black and white charcoal study of folded fabric

Drapery Drawing (Folded Fabric Studies in Charcoal & Pencil)

A charcoal life drawing of a female model

Charcoal Life Drawing (Examples On White & Toned Paper)

A black ball-point pen doodle

Doodles, Little Drawings & Sketches

AI-generated art nouveau portrait

Art Nouveau (Drawings, Vector Illustrations & AI-Generated Art)

Chalk life drawing with Conté Crayon

Chalk Life Drawings (Conté Crayon Vs Chalk Pencil)

Web design Web design Architecture Architecture Life drawing Life drawing Art gallery Art gallery Synesthesia Synesthesia Comics Comics

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