5 Days of Birthday Card Making With Watercolor Florals

1. Welcome to the Class: Whenever there are birthdays around, I always try to gift something handmade, and I love to keep a happy birthday card, which is handmade. In this class, we are going to create five beautiful birthday cards with a combination of watercolor florals. We are going to use some simple and easy painting techniques and some basic craftwork. Hey, everybody, you are most welcome to my new class. Myself Ruth Patel. I'm a self taught independent artist and an interior designer by profession. I personally love to explore different art mediums and styles and not stick to one particular thing. So if you're joining me, you'll find a variety of classes that I create. So before we start with the class, we are going to talk about the details of all the class projects that we are going to create. There are going to be five beautiful birthday cards. We are going to talk about all the art supplies that you will need for the entire class. No need to worry at all, in case you're missing out on any particular art supply. You'll find it very easily in any nearby local art store. There is going to be a simple and minimal color palette that we are going to use, having some nice, vibrant colors in it. Before we start with the class projects, we're going to have a simple and easy practice session in which we will learn how to paint all the elements in detail. The practice sheet will help you a lot to develop confidence while painting, and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. We are going to start by painting some beautiful roses, having variation in colors. It is going to be a very simple and easy technique to create these beautiful roses. We are going to paint some beautiful leaves to create some nice foliage around the roses. At last, using some basic craftwork and some easy calligraphy techniques, we are going to add a nice, happy birthday message to the entire painting. The birthday tag basically creates a beautiful contrast with the entire background painting. We will add some elements to enhance the entire birthday card. The class is absolutely suited for beginners and also intermediate and advanced level artists can try it. By the end of the class, you'll be having five beautiful birthday cards that you can use to gift someone. I'm very excited to share this class with all of you. So without any delay, grab your art supplies and join me on this creative journey. 2. Details About the Class Projects: Hey, every buddy. Now, let's talk about the details about the class projects that we're going to create. Here I have all my five birthday cards that we're going to create. Let us talk about them one by one. Before that, let me talk about the watercolor paper that I have used to create all the five class projects. So these are basically A six size watercolor papers, and it is 200 GSM, which is basically a good thickness of watercolor paper while you're using watercolors on it. No need to worry about the paper size. You can go for any other good alternative as well. So here I have one of the class project, which I have named as crimson red rose, and it is having a single rose and a beautiful foliage around. Then in the next class project, I have used a horizontal format. We have beautiful multicolor roses and a nice happy birthday message in the center portion. Then another class project is having these beautiful vermilion roses and a beautiful happy birthday message. Then next up, we have purple roses in a combination of three, and the happy birthday message, having two separate tags. And then comes the last class project, which is beautiful Prucian blue roses, again, in a combination of three and a beautiful happy birthday message. All the five class projects will be having these different composition of roses and foliage. No need to worry about creating the projects in the exact same manner. You can create your own compositions as well. I hope that you've got an exact idea of the class projects that we're going to create. Now, let us move towards the next part. 3. Art Supplies: Hey, buddy, now, let us talk about all the art supplies that you will need for the entire class. No need to worry at all. In case you're missing out on any particular art supply. You'll find it very easily in any nearby local art store, or you can go for any other good alternative as well. So let's talk about the first art supply, which is the watercolors that we're going to use. The first one is purple, then it is deep green, prucian, blue, crimson, and vermilion. These are the five watercolors that you will need. In case you do not have the exact shade of the color. You can go for any other good alternative as well. It is absolutely fine. Then next up, we have a simple color palette. As you can observe, I'm already having some colors in it. So you can use any simple color palette. Just make sure that you have enough space to mix up the colors and take out multiple colors in it. Then I have a simple plastic container in which I'm already having a colored water. Of course, we're going to take clear water initially. You will need a container of water side bite to clean up your brushes and use water wherever required. Then next up, I have a simple ruler that we're going to use while we are doing some basic calligraphy. Then the next art supply is a simple Fevisti. It is basically a glue stick. We are going to use some glue to apply the happy birthday tag on the card that we are going to make. Then I have a simple eraser in case you make any mistake using your pencil, you can use an eraser. Then next up, we have a simple pencil that we're going to use to create a basic rough sketch before we start painting. Then next up, I have a simple black pen with a thin tip that we're going to use to write a beautiful happy birthday message. Then next up, I have a thick solid black marker. As you can observe, it is having a nice thick tip, which we are going to use to add a simple element to our birthday card. Now, let us talk about all the three brushes that we are going to use. As you can observe, I have a simple round brush over here, which is of size seven. Then I have a quill brush, which is of size two. But in case you're not having a quill brush of size two, you can definitely use a brush of size seven, which is basically a round brush. Then I have the last brush, which is a round brush again, but it is of size zero. So these are the three basic brushes that you will need for the entire class. Then next up, I have a simple tissue paper. As you can observe, you can see some beautiful color patches over here. You will need a tissue paper to dab your brushes to remove excess amount of water or color in your brush. Then I have a simple pair of scissors that we're going to use to cut our happy birthday tag. Now, apart from the watercolor paper, you can have some simple white and black paper that we are going to use to create our birthday tags. The black paper will enhance the entire message. So that's why you can use a simple black paper or any other good color that you want to use. Then let us talk about the watercolor papers. These are A six size papers and 200 GSM. No need to worry about these size. You can go for any other good alternative as well. Here I have all my five class projects that we are going to create, and you can observe the birthday tag as well. One of the birthday card is going to be in a horizontal format. And this is the way we're going to add a beautiful happy birthday message. Make sure that you have minimum 200 GSM in your watercolor paper. It is the thickness of the paper. Then next up, I have a simple masking tape that we are going to use to apply the watercolor paper on the desk surface so that it will not move while we're painting. Then next up, I have a simple double sided tape, which is having a little bit of thickness. It will help us to give a nice three d effect to the entire happy birthday tag. These are all the art supplies that you will need for the entire class. No need to worry at all in case you're missing out on any particular art supply. You can go for any other good alternative as well. So I hope that you got an exact idea of all the art supplies. Now let us move towards the next part. 4. Color Palette: Hey, everybody. Now, let us talk about the color palette that we're going to use in all the five cards that we are going to make. Here I have a simple practice book on which I practice on a regular basis. You can observe I have given a beautiful labeling of the color palette and all the colors that we are going to use. Nearby, I'm having my color palette. Let me give you the details of the watercolors as well. Let me place them one by one on my hand so that I can show you the labelings as well. So the first color is vermilion. Then we have crimson red, crucian, blue, deep green, and purple. These are five basic colors that we are going to use. In case you do not have the exact shade, you can go for any other good alternative as well. It is absolutely fine. So let me also show you one of the birthday card. You can observe these beautiful watercolor roses with these minute detailed leaves, and this beautiful, happy birthday tag that we have created. And there are these beautiful black elements in the surrounding portion. So we're going to combine all the elements together to form this beautiful birthday card. Now, let's start by applying the colors onto the practice sheet so that you can get an exact idea of the color and how it will look once you apply it onto the watercolor paper. I'm already having these colors in my color palette. I'll just use a little bit of water to loosen the color up. I'm using my round rush of size seven, and starting with some crimson red, take some good amount of water, make a good combination of color and water together, and apply a small patch just above the labeling. Then next up, we have vermilion. I'll be just cleaning my brush in water, dab it onto the tissue paper. Now, we already have some vermilion in the color palette. I'll just add a little bit of water. Mix it well with the color, and just apply these little strokes just above the labeling. Then again, I'll be cleaning my brush, and we are going to apply some prucan blue. You might be wondering why we are doing this particular step. It will help you a lot to get an exact idea of how your color will look once you apply it onto the watercolor paper. So now I will be taking some prusan blue from the color palette, and I'm applying a small patch of this particular color as well, just above the labeling. Now we are left with two more colors, which is deep green and purple. So I'll be again cleaning my brush, and I'll take some deep green from the color palette, mix it well with water. We are going to use deep green color to create these beautiful little leaves around the roses, which is going to create a nice foliage. Then we have the last color, which is going to be purple. I'll be again cleaning my round brush, dab it onto the tissue paper. Take some water again, mix it well with the purple color. There is going to be a difference in this saturation. Whenever you are taking some darker tones, you need to have less amount of water, and whenever you want to have a lighter tone, you have to use more amount of water. So these are the five basic colors that we're going to use. You can create your own color palette as well. It is absolutely fine. I hope that you got an exact idea of the color palette. Now let us move towards the next part. 5. Lets Practice: Hey, buddy, now, let us practice all the elements that you will need in the entire birthday card making. So once we are done with the entire color palette, we are going to learn how to create these beautiful elements that are present in the birthday card. I'll be using a simple pencil to decide the position of the rows that we are going to create. So it's a simple circular shape as you can observe. Now, I'll be taking my round brush of size zero, and we're going to take some darker tone of purple. So try to have less amount of water and more color. Now, using the tip of your round brush, you just have to create these little curved shapes in these circular manner. We are not going to cover the entire outline of the pencil. You just have to leave some space in between. Now, I'll be using my quill brush of size two and just take some water and apply it around the strokes that you have created initially. You will observe that the color will automatically spread and you'll get a nice lighter tone of the purple color. So this particular technique basically creates some nice depth and details to the entire rose. You can also observe the variation in the shade. There is a darker tone in the center portion, and you have a lighter tone in the outer portion. Now, similarly, we are going to create a little rose aside. I'll be taking some prusan blue, again, the darker tone of Prutan blue, having some less water in my round brush of size zero. Create these little strokes, and then just use your quill brush with some water and apply these little strokes around it. You will observe that the color will automatically spread and you'll get a nice lighter tone of the color. So it's a very simple and easy technique of creating and painting these beautiful roses. We can add one more rose on the right hand side. So I'm just trying to have some variation by creating these little strokes. Now, slowly, I'll be using my ill brush, having some water in it and just apply the strokes around. You will find that the color will automatically spread and you'll get a beautiful rose. Now, while you're painting the roses, no need to put about perfection or painting it in the exact same way. You will have a lot of variations, and it is absolutely fine. You're free to even experiment and get a beautiful composition on your own. Now, I'll be using my round brush of size zero. I have taken some deep green from the color palette, and we're going to paint some beautiful leaves around. So you can observe these cluster of spaces in between both the roses, where you can add these little leaves in a combination of two to three leaves together. It is absolutely fine. And then by applying some less pressure, you can create these little strokes. Now, similarly, we are going to repeat the same steps. There is no particular way of adding the leaves. You can add them wherever you want to. You can have different sizes, and you can also create some variation in the composition of the leaves. You can carefully observe the way I'm using the tip of my brush to paint these little leaves around. And wherever you want to paint a half leaf, you can definitely just apply a beautiful outline around the petal of the rose, and then you can paint the remaining leaf. It is absolutely fine. Wherever you want to get a highly saturated deep green color, try to have less amount of water and more color in your brush. Also, in case you find that your color is getting finished from the brush, you can definitely take some more color from the color palette. In case you find that your brush is having axis amount of water in it. You can dab your brush onto the tissue paper so that axis amount of water will be removed. Now, we have created a beautiful foliage using deep green color. Now, I'll be just taking some more deep green color from the color palette, and I'll be adding these little strokes around to make some more depth into the entire composition. You can also add a few more leaves on the topmost portion, to make it look a little bit more attractive. And again, I'll be telling you the same thing. No need to worry about painting it in the exact same way or getting your roses and leaves in a perfect manner. It is absolutely fine if you place your elements according to your convenience and create a different composition. Now, to make the entire composition look a little bit more attractive, I'll be taking my round brush of size seven. Take some purple and Brucian blue color combination, add some water in it, and just tap your brush on a pencil and splatter the color around. You'll find this beautiful color in this dotted format around the entire composition, and it makes the entire painting look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. Let me take you a little bit closer towards the color palette and the practice sheet. The practice sheet will act as a warm up exercise for you before you start with the class project. It will help you a lot to develop confidence while you're painting, and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. So I hope that you got an exact idea of the practice sheet. Now let us move towards the next part. 6. Lets Place the Paper: Hey, everybody, now let us place the paper before we start with the class project. This particular technique will help you a lot so that your paper will not move while you're painting. So here, I have a simple masking tape, and you will just need two pieces of these masking tape to place it onto the corners. In case you want to place the masking tape on all the four corners, that is also absolutely fine. But two will also work. Now, we have our watercolor paper, which is in this vertical format, and it is of size A six. In case you want to have a variation in the size, then also this particular technique works. So I have placed my watercolor paper onto the desk and wherever you're comfortable with, place your watercolor paper there, and just simply apply a small part of the masking tape onto the corner. Apply some pressure using your finger so that it will get stuck with the desk surface and the paper both. Similarly, apply another piece on another corner. Now your paper is ready, and it will not move while you're painting. Now let us start with the class project. 7. Card 1 - Vermillion Roses: Hey, buddy, you are most welcome to the first class project, which is vermilion roses. So as you can observe, I'm ready with my watercolor paper placed on the desk. I'll be using a simple pencil to decide the position of the roses. So just apply very less pressure on your pencil and just draw these circles. It is not at all compulsory for you to have this same composition, but in case you want to have this same composition, you can draw the circles accordingly. So once you are done, deciding the position of the roses, I'll be taking some vermion in the color palette. We will need a very less amount of color, so no need to take a lot of color in your color palette. Now I'll be using my round brush of size zero, and we're going to mix it well in the color palette. Add a little bit of water in it. We want a very highly saturated color right now, so we will not add a lot of water. Now, start from the center portion of one of these circles and add these little curved shapes. This particular step is not at all difficult. You just have to apply very less pressure on your brush. Use the tip of your brush and try to create these little strokes. Now, we are not covering the entire pencil circle. We have left some space. Now I'll be using my quill brush of size two. Take some clear water in it and just apply it around the saturated color. You will observe that the color will automatically spread in a very lighter tone. The color will automatically spread around and you'll find a beautiful depth in the entire rose. It's a very simple and easy technique. You just have to keep a control on your hand. Try to keep your hand very much loose and free and apply these strokes. Now you can slowly observe that we have completed the entire rose. You can add a little bit of depth by just using the tip of your quill brush. In case you are not having a quill brush, you can also use a round brush of size seven. It is absolutely fine. Now, similarly, we are going to paint the remaining roses as well. There might be a little bit of difference. Also, there might be a little bit of difference between your rose and mine, and it is absolutely fine. So now I'll start with the second rose, and this time I have shifted the center portion a little bit towards the topmost area. You just have to create these strokes in a highly saturated vermilion color, try to have less amount of water. Now I'll be again using my quill brush, having some water in it. In case you find that your brush is having axis amount of water in it, you can simply dab it onto the tissue paper. This will help you a lot to remove excess amount of water and your brush will not be full of water. So you can observe there is a little bit of variation between both the roses and it is absolutely fine. Since we are creating it in an abstract manner, so there will be a little bit of difference, and it is absolutely fine. This entire process of painting these beautiful roses is very satisfying. You'll definitely enjoy it. Now, we have two remaining roses, so we'll start from the top one. Again, I have shifted the center portion a little bit on the topmost area, and we are trying to have a little bit of variation in this particular rose as well. I have applied the darker tones using my round brush of size zero, and then again, similarly, you have to use your quill brush of size two, apply some water around in a very random manner, as you can observe. So we have formed a beautiful cluster of three beautiful roses. Now we have one rose, which is a little bit smaller in the bottom portion. You just have to repeat the same steps. Also, in case you want to create your own composition for the roses, it is absolutely fine. You can do that as well. You can decide the position of the roses according to your convenience. Now, once we are done with the roses, I'll be taking some deep green in my color palette. And using this particular color, we're going to add a beautiful foliage around these roses that we have painted. So again, I'll be using my round brush of size zero and add a little bit of water in your color palette to make a good composition of color and water together. No need to add a lot of water that will decrease the saturation of the deep green color. Now, you just have to start by applying these little leaves in between the roses. It's a very natural and subtle way of painting these little leaves. So there is no specific way of painting them. You can just naturally add them. Apart from the leaves, you can also use the tip of your round brush, apply very less pressure on it, and you can create these little strokes around. It's a part of the entire foliage that we are creating. You can also observe a beautiful combination of the colors over here. The deep green is creating a beautiful combination with the rmalon roses that we have painted. Now apart from a full leaf, you can also create a nice leaf that is coming out of the rose, which is on the bottom portion. So we are just creating a half leaf, and you can be a little bit careful near the entire rose. You just have to use the tip of your brush and create an outline initially in case you want to. And then you can fill in solid green color in the inner portion. You are free to decide the position of the leaf. It is absolutely fine. It would be really great if you try to create some variation in the leaves by having a different size. Now, repeating the same steps, we are going to add some leaves around the rose. You can observe the steps carefully. So we have added a bunch of around, and now you can observe the composition carefully. It looks really nice when you make a good combination of flowers and leaves together. If you also observe in detail, when you add these little green strokes around, using the tip of your round brush and applying a very less pressure on it. You find that it creates a lot of details in the entire painting. The best part is that it is a very simple and easy technique of using your brush in a very careful manner. You just have to keep a control on your hand. And whenever you're painting in a very smaller portion, always try to keep your hand very loose and free. No need to make it very stiff. This will help you to paint in a very comfortable manner, and your hand will move in a very free way. Also, in case you're not that much confident enough to create these tiny little strokes around your roses directly towards your final painting. What you can do is you can practice it on a rough scrape of paper initially, and then you can come towards your final painting. This will help your lot to develop confidence while you're painting and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. If you observe carefully, the more strokes you will add to your entire painting, the better the entire combination of roses will look. In fact, it will enhance your entire composition. So try to do it in a very subtle way only. One more thing that I would like to tell you is that no need to worry about getting an exact similar composition that I have created over here. In case you want to create your own composition, and there might be a little bit of difference between yours and mine. It is completely fine. You're free to experiment and explore. Now, I'm trying to create a nice cluster of leaves and these tiny little green strokes on the topmost portion. And you can observe how beautiful it is looking. Now we are almost done adding this beautiful green color in the entire painting using the leaves and the foliage. Now what we are going to do is that we are going to splatter some color on the entire painting, to make it look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. Use your round brush of size seven, make a good composition of water and color, deep green color basically in your color palette. Now simply tap your finger onto the brush, and you'll observe that the color will splatter on the entire painting in this beautiful dot format. You just have to splatter the color in certain areas only. No need to cover the entire white page. You can observe how beautiful the entire painting is looking right now. So now we are done with painting. So I'll just remove the masking tape, and I'm going to keep the painting aside for a while, and we are going to work on the happy birthday tag. So here I have a simple white paper, and I have taken my pencil and ruler. Draw a simple horizontal line for reference so that you can get your text aligned. Now, I'm going to write happy and birthday in a very simple manner. It is not a very high calligraphy. You can just write it in whatever writing you're comfortable with. Now once you are done writing happy birthday, you can just enhance the letters by adding a little bit of depth using your black pen. I'm using a black pen because it is creating a beautiful contrast with the white paper in the background. In case you want to use a different ink, it is absolutely fine. So I have enhanced the entire text of happy birthday. Now we're going to remove it in a rectangular form, so I'll use a simple scissor. You just have to cut it in a rectangular format. Just make sure that you do not cut the calligraphy portion. So slowly, remove the entire part. Be a little bit careful while you're using a pair of scissors. Right now, you can observe that we've got a beautiful rectangular happy birthday tag. You can observe it closely. Now we have the pencil line in reference in the bottom portion. You can easily remove it by using an eraser. Now to enhance the entire tag a little bit more, I'll be using a simple black paper, and we're going to place the birthday tag on the topmost portion. So I'll be using a heisti, which is basically a glut. Apply it on the backside portion of the entire happy birthday tag. Make sure that you apply the glue in a very nice way so that the tag will not get detached from the black paper. So just be a little bit careful while you are applying the glue. Now once you have applied the glue on the backside portion of the tag, just place it on the black paper, but try to have some space left around the entire tag because we want it to be seen. Now, once you place the tag, just apply a little bit of pressure using your finger so that it gets completely stuck with the black paper. Give it some time so that the glue dries up and the tag is completely stuck with the black paper. Now we want a beautiful black border, so I'll be using my pair of scissors and just keep some black space and cut the entire birthday tag. You can observe that we get a nice beautiful black frame around the entire birthday tag. Similarly, I'm going to remove the remaining black paper as well. Try to do this particular step in a very careful and slow manner so that you get a beautiful parallel black border. Now, I'll be removing the last side as well. So you can observe that we got a beautiful, happy birthday tag with a beautiful, solid black border. Now the entire tag will create a beautiful contrast with the entire painting. So now what I'm going to do is that I have kept my painting on the desk surface. Now you can decide the position of the birthday tag according to your convenience. I'm placing it over here because it is looking really nice in this particular position. Now, in order to create some beautiful three defect to the entire tag. I'll be using my double sided tape. Take two small pieces of the tape. In case you do not have a double sided tape, you can definitely use a simple glue and paste the message. In case you have a double sided tape, the advantage is that it is a little bit thicker. Now you can just place the double sided tape on the back side of the birthday tag and remove the back sticker. You'll have a nice sticky surface. Now, once you remove the back sticker, you can just simply place the entire birthday tag on the position that you want to. Now, simply apply some pressure using your fingers and the tag will get completely stuck to your painting. So you can observe how beautiful the entire painting is looking. I'll be using a simple eraser to remove the reference line below the happy birthday message. So the entire card is ready. Now we're going to add another beautiful element, which is this beautiful wavy line that I'm creating using my pencil. No need to worry about drawing it in the exact same way. You can draw it according to your convenience as well. It's a simple wavy line in a very abstract manner that we're going to do in a very solid black color. Now, once you have drawn the line using your pencil, we are going to use a thick solid black marker. So it's a very simple and easy step. I'm starting with the outline. Once you draw the outline, you can fill in solid black color in the inner portion. This particular part, you can also use solid black paint, but it is more convenient to use a marker because it's a very smaller portion. You can observe how beautiful this particular element is looking, and it enhances the entire birthday card basically. Now, similarly, I'll be adding an outline in the right hand side as well. And you can slowly fill in the solid black color in the inner portion. No need to hurry at all, make sure that there is no space left in the entire paper portion. So we are done with the entire birthday card. Let me take you a little bit closer so that you can observe all the details carefully. Using these beautiful elements and combining them together, we form this beautiful birthday card. You can use this beautiful handmade birthday card to gift somebody. And I hope that you enjoyed the entire process of creating this particular card. No need to worry about the output. You can create your own birthday card as well. Now let us move towards the next class project. 8. Card 2 - Purple Roses: Hey, everybody, you're most welcome to the second class project, which is purple roses. So as you can observe, I'm ready with my watercolor paper, and I'll be taking a simple pencil to decide the position of the roses. So you just have to draw these circular shapes, which will basically help you to get the exact location of the roses where we are going to paint it. So this time we have a cluster of three roses together. One is a bigger one, and then we have two smaller roses. So now this time, I'm going to take some purple in the color palette, and I'll be taking my round brush of size zero. Add a little bit of water in it because we want a highly saturated color. So no need to add a lot of water. Now using our round brush of size zero, we're going to start with the first rose, which is in the center portion. It is a very simple and easy technique. You just have to create these little strokes in this curved manner, and we're not going to cover the entire pencil outline. You just have to apply it in a smaller portion. You can observe the way I'm creating these little curves combining together. So we used very less amount of water. That's why the purple color is very much darker right now. Now, I'll be using my quill brush of size two, and you just have to take some water, no color, and just apply it around the strokes that they made initially. And you will observe that you get a very nice, light saturated color around the entire darker strokes. It's a very simple and easy technique. You just have to use your quill brush with a little bit of water in it. In case you find that you have axis amount of water in your brush, you can simply dab it onto the tissue paper. Also, in case you're missing out on a quill brush, you can use a round brush of size seven as well. It is absolutely fine. So you can observe how beautiful the entire rose is looking. Now, similarly, repeating the same steps, we are going to paint remaining two roses as well. But this time these roses are a little bit smaller in size, so you can accordingly apply these strokes. Once you apply the darker strokes, you just have to use your quill brush with a little bit of water in it and just apply the strokes around. You can observe how beautiful the depth is getting created in the entire rose. It's a very simple and easy technique of painting roses. If you observe carefully, you can see how beautiful the entire rose looks. It creates these beautiful petals around the darker strokes. So you can observe the entire cluster of roses that we have created. In case you want to create your own composition, it is absolutely fine. It is not at all compulsory that you have to create three roses only. You can have a cluster of four to five roses together as well. Now, I've taken some deep green in the color palette. I'll be using my round brush of size zero. Add a little bit of water in deep green colors so that you get a nice, highly saturated green color. Now we are going to paint the leaves in between the roses, and you can observe the way I'm creating the outline initially. And then I'm filling in the solid color in the inner portion. This way you can decide the position of the leaves. There is no specific way of painting the leaves and creating the foliage around the rose. You can do it in a very random and subtle way. Also, it is not at all compulsory to paint a full leaf. You can also have these half leaves by creating the outline, and the leaf is basically half in nature. While you're creating the leaves, make sure that you do not move inside the rose unless it is a part of the composition. Since we are trying to portray that the leaves are on the back side and the roses are in the front. That's why I'm not overlapping it. You can create the leaves in a cluster of two to three leaves together. Also apart from the leaves, we are also going to add these little strokes, which is going to enhance the entire foliage. Now, I'm adding the leaves in the right hand side as well. You can observe the way I'm painting the leaves, which is in a half manner. Oh. Oh. So now we have added the leaves around the roses. Now it is time to add few more details. And again, it is a very simple and easy technique. You just have to create these little thin strokes using your round brush of size zero. It's a very simple and easy technique. You just have to apply very less pressure on your hand, use the tip of your round brush and randomly add these little strokes around the leaves. So this is basically a part of the entire foliage that we have created, and it basically enhances the entire painting, make it look a little bit more attractive. It is not at all compulsory for you to create it in the exact same way. You can create your own composition as well. So no need to worry about perfection. So now you can observe a beautiful combination of the roses and the leaves that we have created. Now we're going to splatter some color around the entire painting. So take your round brush of size seven, make a good combination of purple color and water together. Now simply tap your brush on a pencil or you can tap your finger onto the brush, and you can splatter the color in this random manner. No need to hurry at all, do this particular step in a very slow and steady manner. You'll observe that the color will splatter in this dotted format. Also, if you observe carefully, you can see how beautiful the entire painting is looking. This particular step makes the entire painting look a little bit more abstract and beautiful. Now, I'll simply remove the masking tape, and we're going to keep the painting aside. And now let us work on the happy birthday tag that we're going to add. So I'll just take a simple rough scrape of white paper, and we're going to write a simple message which is happy and birthday. No need to worry about getting a very beautiful calligraphy. You can write it in your own handwriting as well. Just make sure that it looks a little bit more aesthetic. So I've written the word happy. Now, similarly, I'll be writing birthday as well. This time we are not going to have happy and birthday together, so I'm writing it separately. So I'm writing birthday right now. Now, once you are done writing the messages, you can enhance the letters by adding this beautiful solid black color using your black pen. In case you want your letters to be aligned perfectly, you can draw a reference line using your ruler and pencil. And in case you want to write it directly towards your rough scrape of paper, that is also absolutely fine. So you can observe the way I have enhanced the letters so that it looks a little bit more in contrast with the background color. Now I'll use a simple pair of scissors, and we're going to remove the letters. Be a little bit careful and simply cut the parts. Now this time, we're going to have happy and birthday separately. So I will also make a cut in between. Be a little bit careful near the letters because you do not want to cut the letters that you have written. So we have two beautiful portions of happy and birthday together. Now to enhance them a little bit more, we are going to add a solid black paper in the background. Again, it's a very simple and easy technique. You just have to take a simple rough scrape of solid black paper. And we're going to add it in the background. So here I have my solid black paper, and I'm going to put some glue on the back side of the tag that we have created. So I'm using a Feb stick basically. It's a glue stick only. Now, once you apply some glue in the backside portion, just paste it on the black paper, apply some pressure using your fingers so that the tag will get stuck with the black paper. Similarly, I'll be placing the happy tag as well. You can leave some space around so that we get a beautiful black border. Now, give it a little bit of time to dry. And then again, using our pair of scissors, we are going to remove the remaining solid black portion. You just have to leave a little bit of portion so that we get a nice, beautiful, solid black border around the text. No need to hurry at all. You can do this particular step in a very slow and steady manner so that your tag looks a little bit more beautiful. Try to get a beautiful parallel line. So you can observe that we are done with both the tags. Now we are going to place it towards our painting. So you can decide the composition, you can place them wherever you want to. I think that it will look really nice over here, so I'm placing them here. Now we are going to use a double sided tape on the back side of this particular tag. In case you do not have a double sided tape, you can directly put some glue and paste the messages. The reason behind I'm using the double sided tape is so that we get some depth and we can create a nice three defect. Once you place the double sided tape on the back side portion of your tag, you have to remove the back sticker of the double sided tape, and then you can simply place the tag onto the card that we have created. This will give the birthday tag a little bit of three day effect, and it will look really nice. Once you place the tags, just apply some pressure using your fingers so that your tags will get completely stuck with the entire card. I'll be using a simple pencil, and we're going to add a little bit of element around the card, and it is a simple av line, as you can observe. So I'm using a simple pencil to create the outline initially. Once you're done with the outline, you can use a solid black marker. So you just have to follow the pencil line simply and then fill in solid black color in the inner portion. We could also have used black paint, but this is more convenient, since it's a very smaller portion. So in case you're missing out on a marker, then you can definitely use some paint to create this beautiful wave effect. They'll be adding the same wavy line in the right hand portion as well. You can create the outline initially, and then you can fill in solid black color in the inner portion. No need to hurry at all. Take your time and apply the color. Make sure that you do not leave any space in between because it will not look nice. And in case you find that there is any space left in between, you can apply the marker on that particular area as well. So we are almost done creating this beautiful wavy lines on both the sides. So we are done with the entire card. Let me take you a bit closer so that you can observe all the details carefully. This time we have these beautiful cluster of purple roses with this beautiful happy birthday message. You can use the handmade card to gift anybody you want to. I hope that you enjoyed the entire process of creating this beautiful card. Now let us move towards the next class project. 9. Card 3 - Prussian Blue Roses: Hey, everybody, you are most welcome to the third class project, which is Prucian Blue Roses. So as you can observe, I'm ready with my watercolor paper, and I'll be using a simple pencil to locate the roses. So you just have to create these round shapes. You can decide the composition of the roses. According to your convenience. It is absolutely fine. You can have a nice variation. Now I'll be taking some Prusian blue in the color palette. Take a little bit of color only since we do not want to waste a lot of color. I'll be using my round brush of size zero. Add a little bit of water in this Prusian blue color. Make sure that you have less amount of water so that we get a highly saturated color because we want a darker tone in the center portion. Now, using the tip of your round brush, you just have to create these little strokes in a curved manner. No need to hurry at all. Try to create these strokes in a very slow and steady manner. You can observe carefully the way I'm using the tip of my roundrush to create these little curved strokes combining together. We are not going to cover the entire portion till the outline that we have created using our pencil. You just have to apply it in certain area only. Now, I'm using my quill brush of size two, and I have taken some water only, no color. Just apply it in the same direction that we created the curved strokes and make it till the pencil outline. You will observe that the color will automatically spread in a very lighter tone, and you get this beautiful depth of the petals of the rose around. It's a very simple and easy technique of creating these beautiful roses. Now, similarly, we are going to paint the remaining roses as well. So I'll be using my round brush of size zero again. Take some beautiful saturated amount of rosian blue from your color palette. Try to have less amount of water and create these little strokes. Now this time we have a smaller rose, so that's why I have created a smaller cluster of these curved shape. Similarly, you have to take your quill brush, have a little bit of water in it, and just apply it around these saturated strokes. In case you're missing out on a quill brush, you can definitely use a round brush of size seven as well. No need to hurry at all. Try to do the entire steps in a very slow and steady manner. Try to keep your hand very much loose and free while you are doing this particular step. No need to make it very stiff. So we are done with both the roses. Now let us paint the last one as well. So again, I'll be taking my round brush of size zero, and you have to repeat the same steps. You can observe carefully the way I'm using my brush. So as you can observe, we are done painting the roses. So now, using our round brush of size zero, we have taken some deep green color in the color palette, and we are going to paint some beautiful leaves around the entire composition of the roses, and we are going to create a beautiful foliage. So it's a very simple and easy technique. You just have to use your round brush in a very careful manner. Try to create the outline initially, and then you can fill in solid green color in the inner portion. It would be really better. Now, it is not at all compulsory for you to add the leaves in the exact same way I'm painting right now. You can create your own composition as well. It is absolutely fine. Now, apart from the leaves, I'm also adding these little strokes, which is going to enhance the entire painting and make the entire foliage look a little bit more attractive. You will definitely enjoy the entire step because it is very interesting, creating the entire foliage in a very random and subtle way because there is no specific way of painting them. In case you want to decide the position of the leaves, you can draw it with pencil initially and then fill in solid green color in the inner portion. It is absolutely fine. Now, in case you're not that much confident enough to paint the leaves and the foliage around directly towards your final painting. What you can do is you can practice it on a rough scrape of paper initially, and then you can come towards your final painting. This will help your lot to develop confidence while painting, and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. Now, similarly, I'll be adding a few more leaves around the entire roses so that it looks a little bit more attractive. Whenever you're applying these little thin strokes, try to keep your hand very much loose and free. This will help you to get a very beautiful stroke around the entire rose. B. So now we are done adding the leaves around the roses. I'll be using my round brush of size seven, add a little bit of water into your prucian blue color, and we are going to simply splatter some color around. You can simply tap your finger onto the brush or just it on a pencil, and you will observe that the color will splatter in this format in a very random way. You are definitely going to enjoy this particular step as well. No need to hurry at all and do this particular step in a slow and steady manner. Now, I'll be removing the masking tape, and we're going to place the painting aside and let us work on the happy birthday tag. I've taken a simple scrape of white paper, and we're going to write a message, happy birthday. You can write it in whatever calligraphy you're comfortable with in your own handwriting. In case you want to use a rough pencil line using a ruler and a pencil so that you get a perfect aligned letters. Then it is absolutely fine. Or in case you want to write it directly, that is also completely okay. Now to enhance the letters using my black pen, I have added a little bit of solid black color in certain letters. Now, I'll be just simply using a pair of scissors, and I'll be just removing the text that we have created. No need to hurry at all, remove it in this rectangular format and make sure that you do not cut the letters that you have written. Now, in order to enhance the birthday tags, we are going to place them on a black paper. So I'll be using a simple fiveti, which is basically a glue stick only. Try to apply the glue in a very careful manner so that you do not leave any space and your birthday tag gets completely stuck with the black paper. Apply the glue properly and place it on the black paper. Leave some space between both the tags because we want a beautiful black frame around. Now, simply apply some pressure using your fingers so that the tags get completely stuck with the black paper. Now, using the scissors again, I'm going to remove the remaining portion of the solid black paper. Try to leave some space so that you get a beautiful solid black border around the tags that you have created. No need to hurry at all, take your time and do it with a lot of patience. So we are done with both the tags. Now let us decide the position of the tags. You can place it wherever you want to. I'm going to place both the tags separately in the entire card. Now, we are going to use a double sided tape. In case you do not have a double sided tape, you can directly place the tags using some glue on the back side of the tags. But I'm having a double sided tape, so I'm going to use it. The reason behind using a double sided tape is so that we can get a beautiful three D effect to the entire message tags. So place the double sided tape on the back side of the tag, remove the back sticker, and simply place the tags wherever you want to place it on the entire card. So you can observe the way I have placed happy and birthday separately. So we are done placing the tags. Let us add an additional element. So I'll be using a simple pencil, and I have created this beautiful wavy line on the border of the entire card. You can draw it in a very natural and subtle way according to your convenience. It is absolutely fine. Now, to enhance the entire line, I'll be using a solid black marker. You can start by creating the outline initially, and then you can fill in solid black color in the inner portion. You can observe how beautiful it creates a contrast with the white color in the background. No need to hurry at all. Try to do this particular step in a very slow and steady manner. Make sure that you do not leave any space in between. In case you leave any space in between, you can reapply the marker in that particular portion. You can also use solid black paint to do this particular element, but it is a very smaller portion, so a marker would be more convenient. I'm adding the marker in the right hand side of the entire card as well. And we are almost done completing it. So we are done with the entire class project. Let me take you a little bit closer so that you can observe all the details carefully. This time we have created a beautiful cluster of prucian blue roses and a beautiful happy birthday message. You can use the entire card to gift somebody. I hope that you enjoyed the entire process of creating the card. You can definitely create your own composition and experiment with the card. Now, let us move towards the next class project. 10. Card 4 - Crimson Red Rose: Hey, everybody, you are most welcome to the fourth class project, which is crimson red rose. So I have placed my watercolor paper on the desk surface. I'll be using a simple pencil to draw a circular shape to decide the position of the rose. Now, there is going to be a single rose in this particular card, so we have drawn a single circular shape. In case you want to create a beautiful cluster of roses together, that is also absolutely fine. So now, I'll be taking some crimson red color in my color palette. No need to take a lot of color. You will need a little bit of color only. Now I'll be using my round brush of size zero. Take a little bit of water and try to have less amount of water and mix it well with color because we want a highly saturated color. Now, using the tip of my round rush, I'll be combining these little strokes together in this curved manner, and we're not going to complete it till the pencil line. We just want a little bit of portion with this dark saturated color. No need to hurry at all. You can observe carefully the way I'm making these little strokes using my round rush. Now, once we are done adding these little strokes, I'm going to use my quill brush of size two. Take some clear water in it, and you need to have a lot of water in case you have a lot of water in it, just dab your brush onto the tissue paper so that excess amount of water will be removed. Now, simply apply the brush in this circular manner around the darker tone that we applied initially. And you will observe that the color will automatically spread around in a less saturated manner. And you'll find these beautiful petals of the rose. So you can observe that we created an entire rose using some basic brush techniques. To enhance the petals, you can add these little darker tones using the tip of your quill brush. In case you are missing out on a quill brush, you can definitely use a round brush of size seven as well. It is absolutely fine. So now we are done painting the entire rose. I hope that you got an exact idea. Now, I'll be using my quill brush this time, and I'll mix it with deep green in my color palette. And I have added a little bit of water. Now we're going to create a beautiful cluster of leaves around the entire rose to create a beautiful foliage. It's a very simple and easy technique. You just have to take some good amount of deep green color in your color palette. Mix it well with water. Now simply use the tip of your quill brush to create these beautiful leaves. In case you want to create the outline initially and then fill in solid green color in the inner portion. It is absolutely fine. It is not at all compulsory for you to add the leaves in the exact same position. You can do it according to your convenience also. You can create a lot of variation in the leaves by increasing and decreasing the size of the leaves. Now, you can simply observe these steps carefully and the way I'm using my bruh. Whenever you're painting any small element, always try to keep your brush and your hand in a very loose and free manner. No need to make it stiff. This will help your a lot to paint in a very comfortable manner. So this entire step of painting the leaves is very satisfying, and you'll definitely enjoy the entire process. Just don't worry about perfection and painting it in the exact same way I'm painting right now. You're free to decide your own composition. Now, apart from the leaves, you can add these little strokes around, which will make the entire painting look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. It is a very simple and easy technique. You just have to use the tip of your quill brush. Also in case you do not want to use a quill brush to add these little strokes. What you can do is you can use your round brush of size zero as well. It will work completely fine. I'm adding these little leaves in the bottom portion to make the entire composition look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. In case you're not that much confident enough to paint the leaves directly towards your final painting. What you can do is you can practice it on a rough scrape of paper initially, and then you can come towards your final painting. This will help you a lot to develop confidence file painting and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. Now, I'll be using my round brush of size zero. I have added a little bit of deep green in a darker manner by having a bit less water in it and added a little bit of crimson red as well. Now, slowly, I'll be adding these little strokes around the leaves, and I'll just make the entire foliage look a little bit more in detail. So now we are done painting the entire rose and its foliage. I'll be taking some crimson red, adding a little bit of water in it. Now simply tap your finger onto the brush or the brush on a pencil and splatter some color around. You'll observe that the color will splatter in this dotted manner in a very random and abstract and it makes the entire painting look a bit more attractive and aesthetic. So we are done with the entire painting part. I'll simply remove the masking tape, and we are going to place the painting aside for a while, let it dry. Now I'll be using a simple scrape of white paper, and we're going to write the birthday message, which is happy birthday. No need to hurry at all in case you want to draw a reference line, using a pencil and a ruler, and then write your message. It is absolutely fine. And if you want to write it directly, using your basic writing or whatever calligraphy you know, it is absolutely fine. So I've written Happy, and then I'll be writing birthday as well. Once you're done writing the entire message, you can enhance the letters using your black pen. The reason behind using a black pen is because it creates a beautiful contrast with the white paper. In case you want to use a different color, it is absolutely fine. Now, once we are done writing the entire text, we are going to remove it in a rectangular format. So I'll use a pair of scissors and remove the extra part. Just make sure that you do not cut the letters. So now we get a beautiful tag in a rectangular form. Now simply we are going to add a beautiful black outline. So for that, I'll be using a simple scrape of black paper. Let me enhance the letters a little bit more. So now I'll be taking a simple scrape of black paper, and we're going to place the message on that. I'll be using a Fevisti, which is basically a simple glue stick only. Place the glue on the back side of the birthday tag. Apply the glue nicely on the entire surface, make sure that there is no space left. Now simply place it on the black paper and apply some pressure using your fingers. And then we are going to remove the extra part, leave some space from the white portion, and you'll observe that we get a beautiful solid black frame around. No need to hire at all, try to do this particular step in a slow and steady manner. Now, you can place the birthday tag wherever you want to on the card. So I'll be placing the double sided tape on the backside portion, and I'll be removing the back stricker. In case you do not have a double sided tape, you can directly place the tag using some glue on the back portion. The double sided tape basically gives a nice three day effect to the entire card. Now simply place the tag and apply some pressure using your fingers. It will get stuck with the card. Now we're going to add an additional element, which is these wave lines on the edge of the card. You can use a simple pencil to create the outline initially. There is no specific way of drawing it. You can randomly add it. No I'll be using a solid black marker. Start with the outline first, and then you can fill in solid black color in the inner portion. No need to hurry at all. Do this particular step in a slow and steady manner. Make sure that there is no space left in between. In case there is any space left in between, you can reapply the marker in that particular area. Now, similarly, we'll be adding the marker on the other side as well, starting with the outline and then filling in solid black color in the inner portion. You can also use black paint to apply this particular color. But since it's a very small portion, so you can definitely use a marker, it would be more convenient. And we are done with the entire card. Now, let me take you a little bit closer so that you can observe all the details carefully. You can observe the way we have combined all the elements together to form this beautiful birthday card. You can use the card to gift somebody as it is completely handmade. I hope that you enjoyed the entire process of creating this particular card. No need to worry about the output, enjoy the entire process. Now let us move towards the next class project. 11. Card 5 - Multicolor Roses: Hey, everybody, you're most welcome to the fifth class project, which is multicolor roses, and it is the last class project. This time we are using a horizontal format, so I have placed my watercolor paper on the desk surface. I'm using a simple pencil and I have created a huge oval shape first. Followed by these small circular shapes, which are the position of the roses. So I'll be using prucian blue initially. I'll be using my round brush of size zero. Add these little strokes in this center portion, having a highly saturated color and less water in the brush. Now place the brush aside and use your quill brush of size two. Take some clear water in it, dab it onto the tissue paper to remove excess amount of water from it, and just apply it in this circular manner. You will observe that you get this less saturated color in the circular portion, forming beautiful petals of the entire rose. Now, similarly, we are going to take a round brush of size zero again, and we are going to paint some purple flowers around. The steps are absolutely same, but the rose size is a little bit smaller than the first one. Apart from all the four cards that we created initially. In this particular card, we are having a different format, which is horizontal. So the card is basically placed in this horizontal format. And apart from that, we are going to use all the 45 colors that we used in the class projects in this particular card. So that's why I named it as multicolor roses. So similarly, I have created one more small rose and protan blue on the right hand side, and there is one more to go, which you can create in purple or whatever color you want to use. It is absolutely fine. You're free to compose the composition of the roses, and you can also select the color palette according to your convenience. So we have placed the roses in this particular manner on the bottom portion, and I'll be using my quill brush of size two. In case you're missing out on a quill brush, you can use a round brush of size seven as well. Now, if you observe carefully, we created a nice oval shape initially using our pencil, which is basically acting as a wreath. So we are basically going to follow that particular line and cover the entire foliage. So there are going to be these tiny little leaves that we are going to paint. This time, we are not going to paint the leaves using only deep green color. We are going to use multiple colors. You can add these little strokes around using the tip of your brush and applying very less pressure on your hand. This is how you can create a beautiful cluster of flowers and leaves together. You can observe the way I have a different size in all the leaves. You can follow the pencil line and create a beautiful circular wreath. Also in case you're not that much confident enough to paint the leaves directly towards your painting. What you can do is you can practice it on a rough scrape of paper initially. And then you can come towards your final painting. This will help you a lot to develop confidence while painting and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. You can slowly observe that we have got a beautiful oval shaped wreath having these beautiful roses in the bottom portion. Now, I have taken some deep green color, and I'm adding the leaves around. You can slowly observe the brush moment and follow these steps carefully. So we are done painting the roses and the beautiful wreath. I'll be adding a few additional elements by adding this beautiful crimson red, splattered color around. Take a round brush of size seven, take some color and water in your brush, tap the brush on a pencil and splatter the color in this random manner. No need to hurry at all, do it in a very slow and steady manner. You'll observe that the color will splatter in this circular shape, and it makes the entire painting look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. You can additionally add these little elements in the entire wreath to make it look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. So it's a simple circular shape that I'm painting using my quill brush. Now, once we are done with the entire painting, I will slowly remove the masking tape, and we are going to place the painting aside for a while, let it dry. Now, let us work on the birthday tag. Here I have a small rectangular shape. Of white paper, and we are going to write a beautiful message of happy birthday on it. So just take a rectangular piece of paper. In case you want a reference line, you can draw it using a pencil and a ruler. And in case you want to write it directly, that is absolutely fine. You can write it in any normal handwriting that you use or in a calligraphy manner. It is absolutely okay. Just write happy birthday, enhance the text using solid black pen. I'm using a black pen because it creates a beautiful contrast with the white color in the background. In case you want to go for any other color, it is absolutely fine. You can use it according to your convenience. Now, once you are done, adding a beautiful text of happy birthday, we're going to enhance it by placing it on a black paper so that it creates a contrast with the card as well. Take a simple glue stick, apply the glue in a nice way. Make sure that you apply it on the entire surface. Place it on the black paper and apply some pressure using your finger. Now, slowly just cut the remaining portion by keeping some black part as a black border on the entire tag. So now you can observe that we are done with the entire tag. I'll be using a double sided tape, and we're going to place it on the back portion of the entire tag. In case you do not have a double sided tape, you can use the glue and place the tag directly towards your card. Now, I'll be removing the back sticker. The reason behind I'm using a double sided tape is because we get a beautiful three D effect of the entire message tag. Now we're going to place the tag simply on the center portion of the entire wreath. Now place it on the center part and apply some pressure. The tag will get stuck with the entire card. Now we are going to add an additional element to the entire card. So I'll be using a simple pencil, and we are going to draw a nice curved line on the bottom portion. No need to hurry at all, just draw it according to your convenience. It is absolutely fine. Similarly, we'll be adding it on the topmost portion as well, and it is going to be completely solid black, so I'll be using a solid black marker. Start with the outline and then fill in solid black color in the inner portion. No need to hurry at all, apply it in a careful manner. In case you find that there is any space left in between, you can reapply the marker in that particular area. We could also have used solid black watercolor to apply it in this particular area, but it is a very smaller portion, so a marker would be more convenient to use. Now we are left with the last portion, and I'll apply it in this particular corner as well. No need to hurry at all. Try to apply the marker in a slow and steady manner, apply it in smaller portions. And we are done with the entire card. Let me take you a closer so that you can observe all the details carefully. This is our last project, and I hope that you enjoyed creating this particular card and got to learn something new. You can use this beautiful handmade card to gift anybody. No need to worry about the output, enjoy the process of creating. Now let us move towards the next part. 12. Class Conclusion: Hey, everybody, I hope that you enjoyed creating all the five beautiful class projects. Watercolors as a medium is really great to explore. And while I was creating this particular class, I made any number of mistakes, and that is something that I always tell my students never to be afraid of making mistakes. The practice sheet will help you a lot to develop confidence while painting and the chances of making mistakes will be very less. The more you'll practice, the more you'll learn, so keep practicing and keep learning. No need to worry about the output and just enjoy the process of creating. I will be super excited to see all of your class projects, so do not forget to add them into the project gallery. Feel free to ask any questions or doubts you have related to the class, into the discussion section. It would be really great if you leave a review for the class as it encourages me a lot, and my class can reach many more students like you. Try to create all the five beautiful birthday cards, and you're free to explore and experiment. You can create your own cards as well. At the end, I would like to say, keep learning, keep practicing. Thank you so much for joining the class and happy painting.