ShinHan Poster Paint - Part 1 (of 3) "The Journey."

"A Small House"
2014. Poster Paint

Sorry for my absence on here. I've been pretty busy!  The most obvious thing is what this post is about! The others: (Started a webcomic in January called,"A Day in the Life") (I am in the process of COMPLETELY remodeling my kitchen) (I am also gearing up to finish my halloween special, "Bubbling Brew")  (Other of life's etc)... Anyway, now onto the MAIN event.

ShinHan Poster Paint - Part 1 (of 3) "The Journey." 

GHIBLI USES POSTER PAINTS

Awhile back, I made a post  about how Ghibli, a famous animation company in Japan, uses Poster Paints to do their background art. At the time I thought, "The stuff you paint on windows, or smear your hands in...is a fine-art tool?" This confusion led to curiosity and I set out to buy the nicest set of poster paints I could find.  This I discovered was harder than I realized and I found myself spending a measly $9 for a set that looked like crap.  Once I got it home,  I discovered that sure enough, they were crap.

POSTER PAINTS FLAMMABLE?

Doing a little more research, I found out that the quality of poster paints used by Ghibli, was not available in the U.S.  I also found that I could not purchase them online, for example I found the same brand Ghibli uses (Nicker Poster Colour) on Amazon Japan, but they would not ship it overseaas due to something about, "flammable contents."(I'm still not sure how a water-based medium was flammable...) I desperately wanted to use the tools of the trade used by the masters I so admired, but I was at a dead end.

KAZUO OGA USES POSTER PAINT

Using what I had available in the U.S. (Acrylics, watercolor, Gouache, etc ) I attempted to emulate, Kazuo Oga's work (see some examples of his work below), but only Gouache came close, and I found it frustrating to use (which is strange because I love watercolor).  

Kazuo Oga is the lead background painter

 for many of Ghibli movies, and especially famous 

for his work on Hayao Miyazaki's, "My Neighbor Totoro."

FIRST EXPERIENCE USING PRO POSTER PAINT

This is where Maho, a great friend of mine, stepped in by sending a mysterious package in the mail. Part of it was an amazing hand drawn card, celebrating the birth of my first son, and the other was an actual set of Nicker Poster colours!  I immediately broke the paints out and began to paint.  They were like nothing I had ever used before. At the time I stated the they have a, "creamy flow and coverage, which seems like a mixture between acrylic and goache."  I really enjoyed them, but since they were rare to come by, and the set was so small, I dared not use them often, or get too hopelessly attached.

SHINHAN ART AND PRO POSTER PAINT IN U.S.

Fast forward to 2014, when I received an unexpected email from the President of the U.S. branch of Shinhan Art (http://www.shinhanart.co.kr/)!  In the email, he quickly explained that he found my blog post about Poster Paint and that his company was expanding their current selection of art tools to include professional grade poster paint! I couldn't believe it.  Not only that, but he was willing to send some samples!

FREE SAMPLES=CREATE ARTWORK

We then set up a time to talk on the phone, he called, and after a very cordial conversation...and a few days later...I found a full set of Artist grade Poster colours on my doorstep!!!  Of course I didn't exactly get them for free, my part of the deal was that I HAD to use them and create ARTWORK that I would share.   Um...using poster paint...and creating artwork and sharing it...sounds like a WIN, WIN, in my book!

So for today's post, and many in the future (until I run out of paint), I am highlighting POSTER PAINT / POSTER COLOUR as a FINE ART TOOL!!!!

Next time: "

Part 2- "My Review of the Paint."