Watercolor Hedgehog

1. Intro: Hello, Welcome to my still share class on painting a watercolor hedgehog, I'm Daniela Melon and author and instructor. Today's class is a brief demonstration at painting layers to create an adorable hedgehog in a cup. We'll use watercolor paints and basic supplies to complete our image. I've included a downloadable class template that you can print out, then used as a stencil to sketch out your image. We'll start with some preliminary layers using wet on wet technique and add layers of detail with wet on dry technique. The hedgehog is a unique animal with colorful quills, a long snout and polished eyes. Unlike a porky pine, which uses its quills aggressively. Ah, hedgehog or curl into a ball and let it stiff Quills act as a deterrent to emphasize the hedgehog. Size and gentle nature will paint him peeking out of a teacup. Hedgehogs are fascinating, and I've included a list of facts for you to download and read. They may give you some insight and ideas for future paintings for your class project. Try to pay your own head shopping in a cup and post your work in the project section. You can also post it on Instagram with the hashtag watercolor hedgehog and I'll follow along. Be sure to follow me here on skill share so that you have been notified of future classes and please consider leaving a class review. Now let's get started. 2. Class Supplies: for our watercolor hedgehog class will need a few supplies. They're just basic watercolor supplies. I have a pencil, an eraser, a pair of scissors to use with the template that can be found in the project section. Just download the template five by seven piece of watercolor paper, assortment of watercolor brushes, some water color pigments in a vat of water to use to cleaner brushes and to wet our pigment. 3. Using the Template: to help make a sketch. You can freehand draw it as well, or you can print out the template which is found in the project section. Then you just cut around this shape so you have a silhouette, and you can either put it behind your watercolor paper and hold it up to a light source like a window or a light box. Or you could just trace around it, so you'll put it down where you want on the paper, and then you can just with a light pencil trace around it and you'll have the perimeter use very light pencil marks so that they could be easily raised. And from here, you can embellish or alter the template. So the temple that we have has a pair of Cherries over here, so I'll just make draw the Cherries in and you could eat. Omit them, or you can change it up and have a different, um, design if you'd like. And then you finished the sketch over here and again, you go very light with a light pencil mark and we'll go over it with our paint and then we'll erase it when we completed on the steps that we're ready to use 4. Layer # 1: Now we're gonna create our hedgehog in a little cup in layers, and the first lady we're going to start out with is for this little mask area of the face. Will makes a very light brown. Very, very light, somewhat warm color. So here just combined Brown's until I find a color I like. And then I'll add a little a few drops of water because you want a very light color and with a boil water with quite a lot of water on my brush, I'm just going to trace around the basic shape of this mask. I'll leave some areas white, and I don't want to have any straight lines. So for the boundaries, I just want a little jagged edge, and this will resemble the quills on the hedgehogs face. I'll do the same thing up here with the top of the head, outline the ear on both sides and then with very, very light touch, maybe a little more water on my brush. I'll going out, outline the face, the full beard very lately. Just paint a few strokes into the ear and make sure all of the face here facemask has a primary primary layer. Just go around the body as well, and I'll let this layer completely dry. 5. Ears & Cherry 1: Now that our first layer has dried, gonna go in with an eraser and just erase any of those pencil marks Good to keep the shape of the I the pencil mark in the nose cause I'm not ready to race those, like, just the ones around the perimeter of the head. So now I'm gonna go in with my brush, and I'm gonna mix color for the ears. I'm gonna go with a little bit of this brown that we use for our first layer and add a little bit of pink to that. So I have my color mixed here. It's kind of a tope and with a clear, wet brush, I'm gonna go in and paint the ears completely clear and just making paper wet and saturated with the clear color. And then it'll go in with my TOPE, and it would just drop in that color. While that layer is drying, I'm gonna work on the first layer for the Cherries, so I'll start with a cherry in the background here. Gotta paint a clear layer, leaving the highlight dry. So now I have it with clear water, and I'm gonna go in there with just some yellow, but put yellow right by where it meets the cherry in the foreground and I'll just blend it out. So 3/4 of the cherry is painted with that yellow, and then I'm gonna go in with some red mix of color this red that's a dark maroon. Get a nice, rich cherry color and I'm going to start on the outside and it just got outlined. The perimeter. We'll come back into the yellow just for the outline. They'll come back and I'll add more color and let it bleed into the yellow. We've already have here, Chip the pain around and I'll let these layers dry. 6. Quills Layer 1: Now that the Slayer is dry, I'm gonna go in with a very small brush. This is a 5/0, and I'm gonna work on my first layer of quills for the top of the head here. So for that layer, I want a dark brown color in a very sharp point on my brush, and I'm going to start in the center and I'm gonna envision Well, I'm making the Quills and I want to have three layers for this top hat hair area. So I'm gonna note to myself that I'm gonna have the quills at three different layers, so I'll start right in the center. And I'm just gonna put my the tip of my paintbrush on the paper and pull up, and I'm going to do them all the first layer. I kind of have them all going the same angle. So the ones on the right from the center of the face to the right have a slight lean to the right, and the ones on the left will have a slight lean to the left. Sharpen my brush again with more pigment, and I'll work on that second layer going down, and I don't want the second layer to be completely parallel to the first. I want to create variation. So I'm doing it just a second layer, starting a little bit lower and pulling my quills in a different direction. And then for my third layer. If I go closer to the end of the hairline here, I'll try and created even in a different direction. Change up the direction is a matter of fact. So there I have the top of the head I noticed on this side. I went over into the ear a little bit, and I kind of like that look. So we're here to make sure I do the same thing again. I'm adding more pigment. Gotta go here in the to the ear and just add a few darker ones right into the ear. Been using my brush? Does this make small little quills just around the outside, not following the same direction, kind of making it random, but just small little quills. This is creating the outline of the face. We'll follow the line we made with the very light color the first time. That will be our guide. Same technique put the tip of the point of the brush down on the paper and then pull it out . That creates a soft, little sharp little quill. And then I want to work on here. I want Thies this instead of being straight across. I wanted to come down in, like, a little base of a heart shape, so I'm just gonna pull that down a little bit. It's creating a few more layers again. With my sharp brush, it's gonna create a few short quills for the outside shoulder area. And then again with that same brush with a sharp point gonna start above the nose, leaving a teeny little spot and just create more quills coming out from the nose towards the eyes in the first layer at the bottom. As we get to the bottom of the nose, I'll do the same thing where it comes from, the bottom of the nose towards the eyes. We don't want it to radiate out like a sunflower, and then just at the bottom of the mouth will have a little bit of like a little beard. Then again, with my brush in a very sharp point, I'm gonna go up behind the eye and make my quills in the direction of the ear. Both eyes will do that again, getting a very sharp point, and I don't want all the quills to radiate out from the eyes. I want all the quills to kind of aim towards the ears from the center of the face, and we'll let this layer dry. 7. Cherry # 2: for next Layer will work on the cherry that's in the foreground and and some shadowing to the background cherry. So the first thing I'm gonna do is color in with clear water the entire cherry, and then I will go in there with my yellow. It'll go in there with some super dark red, create that outline, and then when I go over here to where the two Cherries about each other, I'm going to just leave a little bit of clear paper, a little space in between. Then I'll go in and fill the rest with pigment, letting it bleed into the yellow. I'll come back with my dark pigment, add another layer to our background cherry. Then we just take some clear water and go around that yellow areas. I want to preserve that yellow just so that the paper paper is wet. And so some of that red will bleed but not cover the yellow. They will create a very vibrant color. Now I want to go over the cherry we just painted and dropping some more of that brilliant color. Now, while it's stamp, I'd like to add some deep orange. We'll drop some into the background, and then it drops him into the foreground. Jerry. And this just creates a slight variation in color. Well, let these layers dry and we'll come back and builds some more. 8. Ears, Nose, and Eyes: for next layer would take my smallest brush and I want to start working on the nose and the eyes. I want to make a jet black for the eyes. So I'm gonna use a wet on dry technique where I'm gonna make my pigment wet, my brush very wet en come to a nice sharp point. And then we're gonna work on making these perfect circles for the eyes and leaving a little space for a highlight. So he recreate the outline of the first I and then I'm gonna leave a little space over here for a highlight. And then I'm gonna try and match that I on the second side here. This will create shape and then leave a little spot for the highlight. So there we have the eyes. Same thing with the nose. It's two part, um, nose and mouth, and I'm gonna leave it a little highlight on the top of the nose. So I'll start by creating shape when I leave a little highway and fill in that nose now, because the nose and the mouth split. Um, but they're really one color for our as a way artists. Look at it. I'm gonna try and move my space. Um, where I left a big space here. I'm gonna try and fill it in a little more with pigment just like that. So there's the news in the mouth and we'll let those layers dry before we continue. 9. 2nd Layer of Quills: now in order to make the face in our little hedgehog here, look a little more realistic. We're gonna add a few little things. First thing with my pencils, I'm just gonna sketch in some hands. Um, this little cute kind of a rounded handle paint that pink and his hand is gonna be reaching over the cup here, So have a little bit Come down. Just some shape I'll do one over here is well, just re some of the pencil, so I can just see the guide. I will. Makes a very pale color with a little bit of pink and a little bit of orange to get a little flesh tone and all painted in leaving a little some highlights as well. Then I'm gonna makes a very light warm brown so we can add another layer of quills. So take some of this yellow Oakar and some of the brown we used before. Maybe a little more yellow Oakar. Just a little bit of water again. I'm gonna get my sharp point with my brush and I'm gonna create a layer just around the base of where the layer meets the white layer. Quills, meet the white, and I'm just gonna pull that in and I'll go over it a little here, too. And not only will let warm up our painting, but it will create another layer of quills again, all in the random direction. And they murdered. Have it come out. Just a layer of this yellow car come out from the top here of the face mask again, always pointing towards the ears. Then I'm gonna take one more layer of thumb, and I'm just gonna randomly put some inside the facemask as well. And then I'll do the same thing and just put a few up here in the head having a few stick out if you added to the layer and I'll let this layer dry. 10. Cherry Stem: So now I want to work on the stem of the cherry, and I want to make it even thinner than I sketched out here. So what I'll do is I'll use my very thin brush, my one brush. I'll paint Clearwater just inside the sketch that I made, and then I will go in there with some of that brown and just drop it in and see where it flows. So give us a nice light layer brown, and I'll let this later dry. 11. Face Texture: Now we want to add a layer to the inside of the face in between the mask and the hairline. So to do that, we just want to create, um, very pale grey. So I just have some black and some water, and to warm it up a little, take a little of this yellow Oakar calorie mixed in just a tab, Just a tad of it. And we're gonna take very pointed brush on that very light color, and we're just gonna create random brush strokes to look like quails and again awful pointing towards the ears. So we'll start in the center and I'm just very lightly creating quills going towards the ears. This is more of a texture, but it also creates, um, shadows as well. Do some of the body here and we'll let this layer dry. 12. Dimension to Stem: Now that this layer is absolutely dry, it's a good time to go in with your eraser and erase any pencil marks that might remain here underneath the mouth. I have a little pencil mark I want to remove and around the eyes. And then I want to remove that pencil mark on the cherry stem. So from here, what I'd like to do is take my very tiny brush. This is the 5/0 again, and I'm gonna go in with some very dark brown, and I'm gonna create a little bit of dimension in that stem. So when I have the dark Brown will create a point with my brush, and I'm going to with small strokes, outline, cherry stem. Then I'll get my brush in the water. Take a little bit of that yellow ochre to lighten it up a little. They'll go in, create some spots, just a little heavier color. Then I'll go in with clear brush and just feather out some of those edges. So there's no harsh edges on the stems. I'm going with some dark color. Maybe a little black even and right to appoint. I'll just go in on the right hand side here an outline a little further. I'll let that dry 13. 3rd Layer of Quills: Now I want to take my tiny brush and work on adding a little more dimension to the Quills here. So I'm gonna take my brush into the very dark brown, darker than we've used so far on the quills. Make my brush come to a nice sharp point and then, randomly, I'm going to put some more quills kind of going in spots I know are empty. Just a few up here and there. And then I'll go in with a black and just you just a few. And then I'll go in with a brown much later, and I'll add a few as well, particularly the area of the mask here. - Then I'll take that same light brown we used, and I'll go around the outline of the face as well. In the end of the body. Take that light brown this. Could it? Water it down a little bit in a trip, puts a little color close to the top of the ears, and I let that dry 14. Cup: now to paint the cup. I'm gonna take my number six brush and I'm gonna wet my entire, um, front of the cup, leaving a good space that I'm gonna leave dry on the paper between the Cherries, the chin of the hedgehog and the borders of the cup. And I want to leave that dry so that I can add paint to it And it will be a little more intense than the paint that's on the wet surface. So I saturate my paper and then I'm gonna mix my color So now I'm gonna makes my color a pale blue with a little bit of purple in it So start with the blue and then I'll add some purple and a little more water. So take my color, load my brush. Now go around the edge here. Just dropping the color. Leave a good border between the paper, the cup, the paper and the chin here because I want to make that on edge a little different. Whereas I'm making a nice, sharp, smooth border for the cup to indicate either ceramic or porcelain. Um, I want to create a jagged border up top here by the chin of the hedgehog to create the shadow from his quills and that will just show a little more texture. So I'm dropping in my pigment right first. Then I'll go in and drop a little more pigment on the edges just so that it can get a little lighter in the center. So dropping a little more pigment Now take my brush, dip it in water and press some of that pigment just to the sides Clean my brush again, putting a little Clearwater on the sides, rushing that pigment to the edges Then I go back into my pigment load my brush and up top I want to create a nice, sharp line right until where it meets the hand Then I'm gonna make us a little loop underneath and then starting here I'm gonna just create a jagged line imitating the quills until I get to the end of them. And then I'm gonna create that straight line, go underneath the hand and do the same thing. Could take a little color and we'll go inside the cup and I'll leave just a little bit of space. A little plane white highlight for the rim. I'll let this layer dry, and then we'll come back and build up some more layers 15. 2nd Layer on Cup: now that that layers dry, I get to work on some detail work to finish up the peace with my smaller brush. This is the number one brush. I'm gonna go in and make us a little deeper color. So I'll take a little more purple and a little more blue. Load up my brush with a sharp point. Just got an outline. Um, the edge of that cup. I'll go in there and bleed out that color just a little bit, but I'm trying to maintain that sharpness at the edge. Do the same on this side in the top room. I'll take that dark color. Outline the cherry in the inside with clear water. I'll just lighten the inside of that and blend this line out. Do the same thing here. My darker color probably then out blended. While this is drying, I'll work on my cast shadow. So start by mixing my color. I have my water, clear water and some black, and then I want to take some of the color we used in the cup and add that as well. So then I'll just create the shadow, the line go up a little higher. Go around the edge and leave a little space around the Cherries and then up here as well. Then I'll take my brush, dip it in water just to dull the color a little, and then I'll just pull some color around. I'm going with. They're just a little bit of that blue and add that over here is well and then just a teeny bit of that red just in front of the Cherries. We'll let this dry and we'll work on a little bit more detail work. 16. Adding Details: And now, to sharpen up some details, take my tiny pet. My tiny brush. 10/1 or 5/1. I'll go in with some of this color. Outline the cup. Very fine line. Outline the rim. You know, I outline this side also online. Also outlined over here. Create a little shadow coming from the critter. And then I'm gonna mix a dark purple with some blue. So have a nice, richly pigmented colored. And I want to take that blue. And I want to create, like, a little pottery decoration. So I'm gonna make to some dots. Actually, I'll switch to a larger brush and they want to make some dots along parallel to the top of the cup, and I'll do a second layer of those darken Anyone's that dried light. But I also do a second layer underneath. We'll let this dry come back with some final touches in class. Wrap up 17. Class Wrap Up: so our hedgehog is complete here. We have a hedgehog in a cup with some Cherries. Um, the cup can be. You can alter the cup to be any color you'd like. You could swap Cherries the color of the Cherries. Or you can swap a Cherries themselves with another fruit or another object. Perhaps if there's something sentimental to you that you'd like to add, and another thing you can do is take just a white gel pen if you like. And after everything is thoroughly dry, you can go in there and just crisp up some of those edges to make sure they're nice and white. Maybe around the eyes and the nose. Any highlights you'd like. You can even go in and just dab some color inside these little spots on the pottery. If you'd like to give another effect, So that's an idea. Thanks for joining me. I hope you'll try your hand at a watercolor hedgehog and post your work in the project section of this class. And if you're feeling ambitious trying posting your work on Instagram, using the hash tag, watercolor hedgehog and I'll follow along Thanks for joining me. Be sure to follow me here on skill share and please leave a review of the class. Thanks very much