Brett Hudson: Humorous Watercolour
(Friday 18 March 2005 - Contact 01273 736744)

Brett is primarily a humorous illustrator, selling much of his work to publishers of children’s books. He also sells many originals and series of individually hand-coloured prints. Thelwell and Giles were originally his main inspirations.

Having a love of drawing, he starts with observation of people and situations and makes several sketches to settle the content and composition of each work. His sketch books, mostly done in Indian ink with a dip-pen, contain many pages rich in shading, but the starting point for a painting is an un-shaded Indian ink drawing on watercolour paper.

For his book illustration commissions, consistent colour is vital and so, out of habit, he routinely uses a very limited palette (perhaps 6 colours and a couple of “specials”). This gives consistency throughout a series but also leads to harmonious colours within a single work. He applies his colour fairly strong but generally blots it with toilet paper as soon as he feels it has soaked into the paper enough. This blotting speeds drying and can also give texture. Further layers are, in effect, glazes which gradually adjust the tone and hue across each of the areas defined by the ink outlines. Alizarin crimson and yellow ochre formed his skin colours, indigo gave uniform dark blues (very useful), cerulean provided a very useful lighter blue. Ultramarine and yellow ochre was also another useful mix whilst indigo and yellow ochre gave a slightly green/brown “base” colour. One of this week’s “special colours” was cinnabar deep green which he used as the base for some of his foliage.

He usually works on a sloping drawing board so that paint does not pool. Using no brush larger than a No.7 sable, he had the knack of quickly covering a large area, systematically working into wet edges and leaving no uneven patches of colour. Smaller cheaper brushes (No.3 was the smallest) gave most of the detail but watercolour pencils could be used to harden some of the colours.

Hints? He likes to finish the drawing for one picture before finishing the previous painting (this avoids blank-sheet-of-paper syndrome). Imagination is vital for this sort of work. He prefers to look on-site and draw at home, so as not to get bogged down with detail. You can combine backgrounds and people from quite different places – he is not averse to getting thatched cottage ideas from “Country Life” as background for caricature people. He works out composition and most of the detail in pencil, using simple shapes, even for the busiest pictures (lots of things happening). Only when every major feature of the pencil drawing suits him will he draw the ink outline.