Exercise 1 : Negative Space

Finally had some free time to start working on the first activity. Can't wait to move on the next ones after this! 

This activity was very interesting. I got to play around with different paints and blending all the colors together. Ana's Beginners Class on 'Gradients' and 'Pulse and Precision' really paid off on this one, so I really reccomend taking that class first for those of you who haven't yet.

My process was pretty straightforward. I planned out my design and color palette then sketched it on my watercolor block using an erasable colored pencil. I used a variety of paints to color my drawing, carefully leaving out the parts I wanted to stay white. Using a 000 brush helped a lot in painting those fine edges. Really happy with the final result! :)

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Exercise 2 : Masking Fluid

For the second activity I wanted to try something that's been in my head for a while. I used an angled brush so I can achieve sharp irregular strokes for my flowers with the masking fluid. I also masked the branches and parts of the hair. After the fluid dried, I used a combination of gold ink and gold watercolors around my sketch. It turned out great in the end but I do need to practice more on using gold ink.

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Exercise 3 : White Ink

I experimented with transparency using Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White for this activity and I'm very pleased with the result! I painted Totoro, one of my favorite characters from Studio Ghibli. First, I did a watercolour wash for the background with blue and turquoise watercolour. I let it dry completely before painting over it with white paint then added some splatters for the final touch.

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Exercise 4 : Clouds Activity

The fourth activity was a bit of a challenge for me. I didn’t have a filbert brush and I was too impatient to order online and wait for it to arrive. So, I went ahead and used a blending sponge to create my clouds. I used white acrylic paint for the first layer and Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleed Proof White to give more definition to my clouds. My hands were a mess after this, but it was so worth it! :)

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Final Activity

Here's my final activity! I finally got to test out my new masking fluid pen by Molotow and had a lot of fun with it. Like Ana advised, I tried to incorporate all the activities in one painting. I did a bit of experimental watercolor on the planets, the cloud technique for my character's dress (using a sponge) and I painted the Aries constellation and splatters using my white ink. I wanted to include a short quote too but I'm horrible at calligraphy so I'll wait until Ana does a class on that before I attempt anything. :P

I made a reference tag out of the baby planets activity from the first watercolor class. :)

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This has been a wonderful class Ana! you really helped me make my illustrations look more whimsical and colorful. All these activities taught me to loosen up and not be afraid to try different things. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!