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Illustrator Karin Ohlsson (Bahkadisch) is a frequent user of the Gansai Tambi watercolours from Zig Kuretake. We had the pleasure of following her step by step as she created her illustration, from sketch to finished piece. Below, Karin shares her process through both images and text, showing how the artwork came together and which products she used.



For this piece, I started with a sketch. Normally, I draw my black outlines directly onto the watercolour paper, but sometimes it’s nice to have a pencil sketch as a base. I make the sketch on a separate A4 sheet, then use a lightbox to transfer it onto my watercolour paper. The reason for this is that I prefer not to erase the pencil sketch once the black lines are finished. Here, I used a Kuretake Bimoji Fude Brush in the second smallest size, along with a Mangaka fineliner.


More Bimoji Fude Brush Pen Bimoji Fude Brush Pen
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ZIG Kuretake
Bimoji Fude Brush Pen
6.90 € 5.18 €
More Tracing Paper Pad 90g A4 Tracing Paper Pad 90g A4
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Crevide
Tracing Paper Pad 90g A4
14.90 €
More Wafer Light box LED A3+ Wafer Light box LED A3+
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Daylight
Wafer Light box LED A3+
129 €
More Sketch pad A4 70g Sketch pad A4 70g
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Crevide
Sketch pad A4 70g
6.90 €
More Umezara ceramic palette Flower Ø15cm
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ZIG Kuretake
Umezara ceramic palette Flower Ø15cm
33.90 €

Once my outlines are in place, I bring out my wooden box of watercolours from Zig Kuretake. I’ve used it a lot and have found my favourite colours that I tend to stick with. Since there are 100 colours to choose from, I don’t usually mix them in a palette, instead I use them as they are and let them blend directly on the paper. For the leaves in this image, for example, I used Sap Green and Sap Green Deep. For the lemons, I used Cadmium Yellow and Aureolin. In the first layers, I work “wet on wet”. This means that the Sap Green should still be wet when I dab in a bit of Sap Green Deep to create variation in the green tones. The “wet on wet” technique allows the colours to flow into each other and create a gradient from one shade to the other.


More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 48-set Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 48-set
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 48-set
89.50 €
More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 24-set Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 24-set
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 24-set
44.90 €
More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle II Set of 24 Gansai Tambi Aquarelle II Set of 24
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle II Set of 24
44.90 €
More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 12-set Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 12-set
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 12-set
22.90 €
More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 12-set No.2 Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 12-set No.2
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 12-set No.2
22.90 €


Once the first layer of paint has dried, I like to add another layer where I focus on different details. For example, I add blue stripes to the vase, darker areas on the feather, and green details on the leaf.



More Gansai Tambi Portable Watercolour set x 14 Gansai Tambi Portable Watercolour set x 14
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Portable Watercolour set x 14
36.90 €
More Cartoonist Menso Brush Kolinsky S Cartoonist Menso Brush Kolinsky S
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ZIG Kuretake
Cartoonist Menso Brush Kolinsky S
15.90 €
More Watercolour Pad A3 180g Watercolour Pad A3 180g
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Crevide
Watercolour Pad A3 180g
15.90 €
More Synthetic brushes Watercolour/Universal Set of 6 Synthetic brushes Watercolour/Universal Set of 6
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Pen Store Arts
Synthetic brushes Watercolour/Universal Set of 6
19.90 €
More Watercolour Pad A4 180g Watercolour Pad A4 180g
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Crevide
Watercolour Pad A4 180g
11 €

When I’m happy with how the watercolour looks, I go back to my fineliner. For me, this is probably the best part! I add black details on top of the watercolour. Once all the little black lines are in place, the illustration is finished!


More Gansai Tambi 6-set Gem Colors Gansai Tambi 6-set Gem Colors
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 6-set Gem Colors
19.50 €
More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 6-set Pearl Colors Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 6-set Pearl Colors
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 6-set Pearl Colors
19.50 €
More Gansai Tambi 6-set Starry Colors Gansai Tambi 6-set Starry Colors
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 6-set Starry Colors
19.50 €
More Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 6-set Graphite Colors Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 6-set Graphite Colors
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ZIG Kuretake
Gansai Tambi Aquarelle 6-set Graphite Colors
19.50 €
More Brush Sengaki Small
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ZIG Kuretake
Brush Sengaki Small
14.90 €

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