Painting the Mampei Hotel
in watercolors
The finished painting.
I finally got to painting an illustration based on our trip to Kanazawa last year to visit the famous retro spot - Mampei Hotel.
We wanted to see this place because supposedly it was one of two old-style Japanese hotels that inspired Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki when he was making his latest movie "The Wind Rises".
This time I wanted to keep the picture more simple and in the "concept sketch for animation" style. I also did not want to paint straight from the photos we took or the ones we found on the internet but to draw something that would match the image of the hotel I had in my head - how I would like the place to look like.
I did many rough sketches on a loose paper pad to get the hang of the contents and decide what I would like to paint. The shape of the building made it a bit difficult to decide a good composition. In the end, when I was able to draw the whole thing almost entirely from memory I found a nice angle I progressed to a simple color sketch.
The final illustration was done in pen and wash style on hot pressed paper to have as little texture as possible.
You can see the making-of video here:
Tools used:
Sketching:
- Blacking pencils
- MD paper pad
Color sketch
- Caran d'ache 844 pencil
- Schmincke watercolors
- Traveler's company watercolor sketchbook
Final picture:
- BIC Evolution HB pencil
- Holbein Waterford HOT pressed watercolor paper
- IndiGraph fountain pen
- Schmincke watercolors
Thank you for watching!
