http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/10303949/
Finally tried out the textured clayboard, rather than the smooth stuff I usually use. It was a small piece, so I didn’t go for anything too elaborate, (but YES, Rafferty, it’s a rat/mouse/small nondescript rodent!) but it was interesting. The fact that it can’t buckle makes me happy. It does behave differently, a lot more like watercolor paper, grabs the pigment a lot more. The downside is that the texture prevents you from getting quite the teeny weeny tiny detail. The upside is that you can get those lovely transparent watercolor gradients, which are hard to do on the smooth clayboard, which is too slippery and you get a lot more puddling.
I’ve been rediscovering my Faber Castell pens, lately–I picked up a few different colors a year or so ago, and they’re great on the clayboard because they’ll draw over anything, even thick acrylic paint, unlike colored pencil. Have to get a few more in some of the other colors–I mostly just grabbed the earth tones. I recommend ’em highly.
Overall, while I prefer the regular clayboard for my rocks and so forth, the textured is probably worth laying in a few pieces for when I get watercolor urges that can’t be satisfied with a quick doodle on watercolor paper. Truly complex watercolors usually defeat me, but with this stuff…hey, you never know.
