Master Watercolor Techniques And Paint Stunning Landscapes

1. Introduction: welcome to the watercolor landscapes course, wherein we will learn to pray in stunning landscapes using watercolors. My name is Manda morality, and I believe in you through this course I've been painting for more than 30 years on, I've shown my work to numerous exhibitions. My work is also in personal and corporate collections in more than seven countries. Apart from creating art, I also teach art in my studio workshops as well as through online courses like these. I've designed the scores for the artist in you who wants to create symbol yet impactful, Markle abandons. By the end of this course, you will be able to look at an actual scene for a photograph and be able to confidently create a landscape painting. Based on that, I will be teaching you the techniques to simplify the scene on Get the painting effects. Peculiar toe water fella. Not only I show you every brush stroke that I mean on the color mixing that I do. I'll also show you how I do the preliminary sketch that makes the painting process easier and less restrictive. We'll go through this entire process step by step. Ideal student for the scores is a person who is interested in mortar color medium on who is ready to expand her skills. No prior fainting experience is necessary, but I only ask that you come open minded on, Be ready to learn, feel free to look through the video descriptions, and I look forward to seeing you inside the course. 2. Watercolor effects Part 1: Welcome to the lecture, in which we will look at six watercolor techniques, practicing these techniques independently and without the burden off. Completing a pending. We'll give you the necessary confidence to use them. Let's start with a wash technique washes the technique in which we apply a color or a large area off painting here, um, applying a broad stroke off civilian blue, and that's necessarily wash. Then let's go toe the next technique, which is vetting bed. So after the blue stroke, I introduce some Eliza in crimson into into the red color and see how it spreads into the blue color. This on the paper. Mixing off colors keeps the colors fresh, and here you can see that boil it and purple colors are created due to the vet colas, mixing into each other. Then I apply some yellow ocher to suggest some grass and some green to suggest the foreground in the small watercolor sketch, see that I'm applying red color before the early earlier is dry. I now leave this sketch to dry. Let's again apply on wash with our trauma in blue here and then paint a friend green just next to it as I have left a white strip off paper. In between these two colors, the blue and green are not mixing into each other. Then I introduce some born CNN to the green. This burnt sienna is introduced wetting bed and so that it creates a nice effect. And now comes a blue mountain suggested with a darker are clamoring blue breast stroke. Since the earlier layer is only partially dry at some places, the second layer of blue spreads and at other places it creates a sharp edge. Now let's look at our drivers technique. In this. The color should be ticker, and you should drag the brush over the surface of the paper so that you get a broken color effect. That's because the brush barely touches the surface on. It only touches the high 80 years of the paper. This technique is very useful in creating texture on a shimmering effect on the paper, you can see the dry brush technique more clearly with this close up. Now that the paper is dry, I can use dry brush technique on this kitsch. See how easy it is to indicate picture and grass With this technique, I'm just drying the brush along the surface. - Now let's see how began. Lift off some color from the paper. For this, the brush should be damp but should not have any color. I'm using such a damp brush to get some area on the paper and you can see that the color there is getting into the brush and I can white the brush and repeat the process again. This removes the color from the paper and I can create some light areas. With this technique. I'm trying to create some ripples in the water, which I've indicated. I know I'll go on and use different colors or the dry layer to complete this sketch. Notice that the colors do not spread on their own. Now this is called wet over dry technique where in the upper layer just sits weird. It is applied on does not mix with the underlying Lear. Uh, here is some yellow occur toe intensifying color intensified Good US 3. Watercolor effects Part 2: and I'm applying of it Green color or a friend green color in the foreground so that I get the yeah indication off a deflection. I'm adding some dark colors to indicate the reflection off the Big Three day, and somebody pulls here and there and some grass pitches poking through the surface of the water. And, of course, the reflection off the grass. Now here is Ah, wash off blue color over the uglier violet area to indicate a small hill in the bag down. This is also called glazing, in which we apply a tin layer off a color on an earlier painted media. So awash is something which is applied toe white paper and when there is some color, which is only the date on the paper, and you apply another earlier off a different color or the same Lee same color, it's guard glazing here. I'm indicating some our grass and the edge of the water on trying to adjust the reflection . My painting you have toe know when to stop ending. So in hindsight, I feel that I should have stopped somewhere at this stage and not proceeded. I had a bit more details into the painting. But then each new painting digits you something. And even if the painting goes bad, not all is lost because you have learned something with each new painting. I'm trying to remove some color from the reflection of the tree. - And now I'm tryingto indicate moon by lifting off some color from the sky area. See how I can get the white of the paper back with a damp brush, Okay. And I don't need it as white as the original people anyway, so that's that's the indication of the moon on. I'm adding some details to the tree. Oh, um, some dark 80 I wanted on the right inside just to balance their docks on the left, I'm using a very tin brush. I'm trying to indicate the reflection of the moon here. So in this lecture, we have seen all the six techniques off mortar Karlovic are commonly used, which are awash wetting where dry brush lifting off color from the paper pleasing. And the 6th 1 is red color or dry. See you in the next lecture. 4. Landscape Demo 1 Sketch: welcome to the lecture in which we would be painting this painting. So this is the output off this demo. It's always good to start with a simple sketch, even if you have a photograph from which you want to make a painting, it's a good practice toe. Draw a sketch based on that photograph. Simplify the shapes, reduce all the clutter on, keep only the important competence off the composition and then begin painting. So in that spirit, I'm going to start this sketch with a rectangular shape on a victory. The murderer, the distant trees I feel on the left inside some grass and the edge of the road, a distant mountain on the shadows, off the trees. Once the basic sketches done, I'm also going hired on adding the shading part. Just toe. Make sure that I know where the light is coming from on which area is in light and which area is in the shadow. Once these things are clear to me, I know what values off color will go into. My painting on that will make the painting work, even if my colors are off a bit. That completes the sketching part, which will lead to a painting later, so I'm now drawing the same skitch on the paper on which I'll be painting. I have taped the paper to the board so that it doesn't move and I also have the dimensions clear. I'm now indicating the trees and the grass in the left, inside off the painting, the distant mountains. And this time I will not add shading toe the drawing because I want to paint over that. I'll just indicate the shadows. But I will not have any shading with pencil to the drawing. So now I have the basic sketch ready on which I can start painting. 5. Landscape Demo 1 Washes: Welcome to the lecture where we will be applying some washes toe this painting or the wash I prefer to use in a broad brush, and I'm taking in some cobalt blue. I warned the washes, Toby, very thin, so I'm diluting the color a lot. Sometimes I add some civilian blue. Also on with the bold stroke. Here is the first wash going across the sky. No, that's That's the with a median and yellow from the palate, which I got the brush. So I'm making sure that the washes uniform. Now I need some green washes for the three, so I'm mixing in some chrome yellow into the blue, which I already had. So this is the wash for the feuds and some grasses on the right inside the small trees. Andi, also the Big Three. This wash is going to be a unifying color for whole green area, so I'm laying in a very thin layer of that. I also want to show some mortal puddles on the road on. That's why I have some blue wash on the road itself, and now I need some martyr color. Basically, I have added some read and burn sienna to create the Marty color or the Earth color on. I'm laying in the washes for that. I'm not putting these washes very carefully. I just want the colors to mix together. So if you can see, I'm just dragging the brush on the surface. And I'm Noah playing some yellow card to the dry grass, which I want to show on the left inside and some or thread color on both sides of the road . And I did allow this stage to dry before I apply any colors for the Now the first layer is dry, and I'm making a blue color bit again are promoting and cobalt blue. I wanted to be a green, so I added some chrome yellow and some yellow Colquitt mixing and totally on some Prussian blue, which gives it makes the color dark. Basically, I'm trying to adjust the color till I'm satisfied with the U and also the thickness of the color again, with the broad brush, I'm going to make a bold stroke, indicating the big three, but this broad and dark color adding some yellow here and they have just to give some highlights. I did. I added these this yellow when the original or the green layer off. The three was still bed and saw it mixed up. It got mixed with the clear green very nicely, and now I'm indicating the distant three on the trees on the. But I didn't side using a big brush. Has that went, is that you cannot go or you cannot paint too much in detail, and that's what my intention is here. So I'm awarding using smaller brushes as far as I can. Andi. Those are the initial washes or the second layer of the bush, which I applied, and I'll again allow this to dry before I had any other colors to it. 6. Landscape Demo 1 Details: will come to the part off the painting process where we add in details after the initial one or pool ears have dried up. So I'm trying to make some brownish color on adding some dipped could ah et on the right. Inside of that, I'm keeping the strokes as fluid as possible. I'm not making any strong edges. It is some indication all dark grass on the left hand side of your boat. In a rush, Try doing get some grass. Painting becomes a kind off in do their activity. Andi, After the certain stage, the painting tells you what it needs and you just have to follow that. So now I am putting one more layer off color on the fields. Avoiding the farm are the ideas which are too far away just below the mountain so that they remain light in color, on light, in value. And now I'm trying to indicate the mountain. We, uh, small round brush are hammering blue, and I introduced some brown color reddish brown so that the mountains don't look monitor on us again, mixing a dark color for the shadow area off the big tree. Andi, I'm just laying in the color with the soft touch of the brush so that I don't disturb the underlying layer off color, also indicating the darker or shadow side off the other trees. Okay, and I, they started toe broader Bryce, not around one. Keep things board on. Not very detailed in the state, since the light is coming from left inside the right inside off, all the trees will have the shadows or will be in shadows. That's what this dark color is suggesting, hiding some locating some dark brown with blue and burnt sienna for the shadow. I want darker started looking more blue Don good antica. Notice that the colors for gambling right now or in this stage off painting are much more ticker than what I used in the washed changes off the bending. And that's how it has to be and again has to be taken not to disturb down the langoliers off the color. When you applied the next layer, using the same color on the union on the right inside and also in agreed on the grass, I want to maintain that high late off yellow car just below the big three again in green color toe, some more color to the fields nearby, meticulous, dry, much lighter than they appear when there were. So you have to kind off calculate how much deep you have to go with practice. You can do it with lesser and lesser number off layers off colors, and that enhances the transparency. Transparency off the watercolor paintings. Multiple years also are suggesting ups and downs in the field with the grass or the crop is not a single modernise color. Now I'm adding some details on the three on the right inside, with a darker color and a smaller brush. So the general rule is when you start painting, you should start with thinner colors and broader brush on as you progress. You should go on using darker colors on Tina brushes, some undergrowth near the victory and some picture with dry brush on the road. I'm not taking a lot of color in the brush so that it can glide over the surface and create the picture and indicate the roughness of the road. The end of the road is the focal area off the bending, and that is supposed to have the highest contrast, and that's what I'm trying to make sure adding some water dark colored shadow near the base of the tree. The shadows are always darker near the object, which is costing the shadow and some some more picture for the role. Also notice how far I hold the brush, and it's not held like a pen when you write, the farther you can hold the brust, the loser your strokes become, and they look more interesting. And that's one of the reasons why these brushes are given long handed. Once you've mastered the techniques, you can use a sorter handle brush. But the longer handle always makes the task easy, and I think I can call this painting done. It's also necessary to know when to stop while painting, because beyond a certain point, the quality of the painting goes on, degrading that then enhancing with the details, one adding. So I'm just now removing the tape bodybuilder clean edge off the painting, and with the clean edge, the painting looks much more nicer. Andi, it's an easy way to give it a frame off itself. So that's it. And the last thing is, toe signed a bending Thank you and see you in the next picture 7. Landscape Demo 2 Sketch and Wash: welcome to the next demonstration or watercolor painting I am against starting with a pencil sketch that's high resin line on. I'm going some distant trees on a mountain in the background. Then there are some trees in the foreground, the bushes brother and these other trees, which I want to indicate. I'm not drawing detail. I'm just I just want to get an idea what the landscape would look like having some shading toe make things clearer on this is a painting off paddy fields. I want to draw some lines, which would indicate the benefit shooting for the distant doing just to get an idea they look like. And now I want to draw the same sketch on the paper on which I'll be actually making the bending. So I started with the paper taped the board Andi. Now I'll be redoing the sketch on this paper distant mountain on the breeze, I'm using Ah, soft 20 so that I don't get get any hard marks on the paper yet the shrubs in the foreground and the tree trunks. It is behind those strobes. I want these tree trunks Toby off different sizes and have different angles, so that they look really realistic coming to the ready feuds. The lines indicate the party field. So that's about the details which I want O have in the sketch. Now I'm mixing. Some are temarii in coburg blue with the widest brush had breast that I use on I give ah Brard wash to the sky media. - I'm mixing some more blue on. I want to show some water and the reflection off the sky in the water. That's why that bluegills help me later. Now I'm mixing a green on. Want to give a wash off green for the distant trees on the tree in the middle ground and this system or for the Greenfield, the Patty Feen and I want to show some open hurt or the idea where the party is not yet sewn. So I'm taking some burnt Sienna and somebody on indicating the landward. Oh, there's no party. I'm using the horizontal edge off the flat breast. Do this work and that's all what I want to ruin this stage off the spending on, and I let these layers or these washes drying before I add another layer off alerts 8. Landscape Demo 2 Details Part 1: welcome to the lecture where we had next layer of details to the Dr First Layer. Here I'm mixing some blue color. Are Domitian basically Onda playing it over the mountain area to indicate the distant mountain? Notice that I'm lightly dragging the brush over the mountain area because I don't want to disturb the first dried layer off color and in some ultimate in blue Andi burnt sienna, this time to make a dark color on some. Your local tryingto create a dark color, and I want to give a use it for no trees or the bushes in the middle ground, making slightly more bluish and, you know, or the distant trees, because they're distant. Trees look more bluest than the ones in the middle ground because of the atmospheric perspective effect you can t the the distant trees. The green color on the distant trees is getting most with the mountain because the color of the mountain is still bad. Now I'm again adding some lighter green toe, the middle ground bushes. I heard some born number on and burnt Sienna Andi, some ultra marine blue creator on a dish dark brown color on I'm using are giving a layer of that in the idea. But I want to showed ah, antidote. I'm using the site of the brush or the edge of the brush, and I don't want to lose the highlights. Since the first layer is slightly dry, I want to give a ticker layer off bloom in their distant trees. The second layer is, at least where, to the extent that the new layer will get. I will not create any hard edges but still in the layer. Be time applying will not spread too much because of the thickness of the pain, which I'm which I am on the brush, adding two more darks toe the middle ground and now with the tener brush I want to create. Some indicate some foliage off the trees in the middle grown. You can see that I'm using almost the same color mixture, which I've used when the other trees don't try to make it somewhat different. Biding right there. Some amount off yellow are Bill just to create some variation in the color and now, with a bigger brush shaken going and add the mosque off the foliage. I'm just showing you my way off painting this spending with the same photograph on with the same medium. Different artists will produce different looking paintings, and so there is nothing right or wrong. You should see this demo. Andi, paint the scene in your way. I don't want you toe copy my metal off painting or I'm not even saying that this is the right metal off pending. This is one of the ways you can paint a landscape watercolors. As you practice you will understand which style of pending you like more Andi, which appeal? It's more to you. So now with the yellowish green, I'm giving a second laid off wash in the feed of the party food and articular. It's important that you state a particular thing with a boil breaststroke and not go over it again and again. So I've left the foreground greens as they are right now. I'll come back to them if required. I want to light in the Krys because I think they're too dark for that distance. So I'm trying to lift off some color on adding some, like some yellow into the idea from where I removed the color drink around somebody dead school. The trees with their dark color Onda foliage in the middle ground. It's a good practice toe. Step back from the bending and then look at it from a distance. 9. Landscape Demo 2 Details Part 2: So now I'm painting the tree trunks with their dog bronco on D. C, where I'm holding the brush. It's almost near the end of the brush end of the handle of the brush, and that gives a ugliness to the stroke, and it gives the brush strokes come more fluidly. Then, if you hold a brush near the prisons, indicating some undergrowth on the smaller trees. With this brush, I can create one more tin that lines and adding some depth to the underside off the foliage. - Know that the field letting the foreground has dried. I'm using a dark green color to indicate the lines between online's in the feed on indicating some grass on the and just or the separators. I don't know what they're called exactly, and I don't like this line going exactly in the corner, so I will have to shift it a bit because that's a mistake from composition and point of view. But right now I'm going ahead with painting that the lines, these directional lines help the viewers attention, Andi, they take the focus, or they take the attention of the we were to the fore Felidia. - One of the things you can do to improve your painting is being the same scene twice or thrice, and you can see the difference. It makes toe depending. And that way you can award the mistakes, which you did in the first attempt at a world little mistake in the second attempt and so on. So I want to mix, make the foreground still darker. So I'm taking a dark green color again, and I want to also take the unfortunately, to fix the line, which was going right in the corner. You can see that this has this breastroke has been almost like or dry brush because you can see their texture and I'm darkening. The bush is in the middle ground, all right. No, they look too dark for me. But then let's see when they dry. What how much darkness they maintain. No, don't toward challenge with watercolors that the colostomy to apply become lighter when they dry, so don't try to adjust them. If you'll I feel that you need toe, remove them a bit, or reduce the darkness when they are wet, that them dry and then see if you actually do lift some color off the best way is to make another pending with the same scene and not will be in the mystics, but with lifting you can save. Some are even rescue about painting to some extent, applying some light green. Wash the reflection in the field again, mixing some dark color with burnt sienna on a blue on. Want to indicate some fence posts in the distance? Whenever you are drawing these friend post, don't draw them all. Perfectly vertical Jean there, Englebert, because that's how they are in the in reality. Now again, I'm darkening one side of the tree trunks. Now I'm using quite take color. - You can see there. I keep on using similar kinds off color mixtures Once I start painting. Yet I'm using greens and browns and some variations off those two complete depending. If you use a completely different color, which is not dead in the ideal ears, then that creates a bit off imbalance on using the similar or the same colors. To mix different different colors is a good way off unifying the whole painting. Nothing in the pending looks out off the order. I did some darks toe though base of the distant trees on I'm indicating the fields beyond the shrubs in the middle ground on, and I think I'm done with the painting. It's always a pleasure to remove the tape, and the painting is done as that gives nice border to the painting. So that's it on. It's time to say in the pending. 10. Landscape Demo 3 Sketch and Wash: Welcome to the third quarter color landscape demo. I'll be doing this demo based on a photograph. I clicked in the Corbett National Park. We start with sketching the major shapes. I'm indicating the and they were here in distant mountain and now coming to the Big Three shapes. I'm indicating only the outlines on that very lightly solar with color. These lines years off, and that's the basic sketch on. Now I'll start painting. I'm a playing some Clearwater to the sky idea so that the blue color, which are plate Ron, will spread more easily in some ultra marine blue and some Colbert blue on. I start applying that in the vet ideas. Painting the sky in landscape is ah is a tricky thing because you need to get things right for the first time. And generally sky is, ah, major area in most of the landscapes, so you have to do it properly. I'm drinking and just the color on the people now with a wet brush. I don't have a lot off color on the breast right now on its not coming the way I want the sky. Toby, let me play playing some our trumpet in tow The no portion of the sky where the skies are good and it gets later and later towards the horizon, not quite happy with this guy. When you have a lot off things going on in the foreground, the sky should be simpler. So I'm trying to make it simpler with this big brush. But now I have lost the highlights Are the white cloud on Let me see if I can get it back to some extents. I've wiped the brush and trying to lift off some color from the horizon and also taking off some color from the idea about so that I can indicate a white cloud trying to get that blew into the cream us so that we don't get a white hedge between the two big shapes. Now I leave the sky as it is too dry and I want Oh, I'm mixing yellow car on burnt sienna and trying toe given most to their distant no cliff and, uh, banks of the river you. This city were actually gets a lot of water in the monsoon season and during the dry season , the water level drops on it exposes Lord off media which is full off small pebbles on both the sides of the river. Uh, no. I want to indicate the green Mosses off the trees so mixed up green light green and giving a wash off that color toe. The three area. I didn't wait for the sky color to drive because I want the edges between the trees on the sky. We as software, they can get them with watercolor. It's You don't get the 100% of the results you want on, and it seems to have its own agenda. But then with each painting you keep on improving, see you in the next lecture. 11. Landscape Demo 3 Details Part 1: Welcome back. This first layer off wash has dried to some extent, and now I'll be starting with handing some details. So the distant mountain or the stone rich with the light brown color? I'm doing that. I don't want to create big contrasts here because, though object is far away from W, what on now? I want to indicate some trees on the top off the ridge with a very, very light color. Blue is green. Objects look more bluish when they're far away from the view. Because of that most perspective and the contrast between two objects decreases. And that's why these light colors some trees at the bottom off the ridge. The shapes also have to be simpler as they and recede into the distance. No, it makes now. I'm mixing dark blue brown color on adding, make it greener. No, and I want to applied to the base of the trees. You can see that, though I'm using a flat gosh, I'm using just one tip offered so that I can vary the breaststroke. - The light is supposed to be coming from top, right, and that's why the 80 years on the bottom left are darker trying to motor still dark green into the late green wash. Adding magenta toe make it slightly darker. This will. This color is even dunker than the earlier one on indicating they're deep shadows. We're almost no light is reaching and slightly lightened the color on light green. Do we need some vegetation on the bank of the river? Because it sits on a horizontal plane? It's not as dark as the shadow 80 off the tree is eating all these brush marks. What I'm doing right now are give the effect off volume through the trees, and now this is a tree, which is rising high above the rest of the dreams. Going somewhere, Tinto take me. They're not. When I just leave it in the wet bar, drop their dark color in the red green color hurt mixes to show the shared Eladio on. Now I want to indicate some a reflection of the tree in the water, so that's why I am. I am blurred, some green on now. I won't go being the remaining water with their dark color, and I'm leaving the green 80 years as they are on allowing the color dark color toe mix into those. The rule is usual. News has big brush as possible on right now. I can do this work with a bigger brush. Smart, so not doing it. It's like keeping a watch on yourself to see if you're doing the right thing. 12. Landscape Demo 3 Details Part 2: no. With the even Tina brush, I am indicating some Charito 80 years of the tree or redefining them and with the seam, brownish light, brownish color. I'm trying to indicate the stones on the bank of the river stones in members. As they recede into the distance, they become smaller and smaller. And as we've been, it's going to January. They should be bigger in size. This light color will become even lighter when it dries. That's because I don't want to take the attention away from the local area, which is the darkest re against their distant Stoneridge. Uh, so it's what I'm doing right now is just an indication off the picture on the bank of the river formed by the pebbles and some similar diction on the other bank, indicating some shared radio in the distant trees with a very, very light color. No, I'm mixing burnt Sienna on and our family in blue go bean the tree trunks, Yes, randomly printing some three drunks here and there just to break the monotony of the Lord green shape. Want to know darker the darkened, uh, water. And so I'm a blangger guard color made from born c nine are promoting. Do I'm carefully painting the water, leaving the green India's intact, which indicated the reflection off the please and sometimes using a dry brush over the reflection and no trying to indicate or darkened few stones. Charter. Closer to the viewer, Closer to board image again . My aim here is not to make these very strong contrast idea, because can hickory, though attentions on the local media See you in the next lecture. 13. Landscape Demo 3 Details Part 3: Welcome back again. Mixing or dark color with Bernstein Ah, and our family on I want to highlight on you in Dark Condo three. Trans Holding. The brush near the end of the brush on end of the handle clears nice strokes, and the strokes also get t 19 other as the distance increases. So it's a nice, wayto pain thin branches, even though we paint ah landscape based on a photograph, it should be used only till the point we cleared pencil sketch based on that. After that, the photograph should not be used as a reference on that. Ah, words making ah photocopy off the photograph and you can take your artistic license store Jeanne the things as the please you Andi, make the painting stronger. I know want to me the clouds more whiter, So I'm going to lift some blue color from the globally area. So I'm reading the surface and using a paper target toe lived the blue color. You can see that the effect of the cloud is now more prominent when more than the other, and I want to pick up the blue color to indicate smaller clouds each time. You don't decision use are different. Idea off the paper doll so that you don't get the blue color back on the paper from the people dollars, and that's all I want to paint on this painting. I'm taking off the paper tape to reveal a nice, clean edge. You should always pull the tape away from the painted area so that even if some portion off the paper comes off, you don't disturb the painted A here and which timeto signed the bending again. Now it's your turn. 14. Demo 4 - January Shadow - Composition: Welcome to this video. In this video I'll be showing how I'm going to create two compositions based on one photograph. And this is the photograph which I'm using as a reference. This was taken near mushy some months ago. I clicked the photograph and I've already made two crops from the same photograph. In the first one, you can see that I've taken the position from the top right area of this photograph. And in this crop, I've taken the top left portion of the photograph. And the reason why I have included more of the sky area and less of the land is because I wanted to create a painting which gives you more revealing or more openness is teen or felt in the painting. That's the reason why I have shifted the horizon line below the halfway mark. I will again talk about it when I actually draw the compositions here on this paper. What I have is simple A4 paper and I'm using this simple ballpoint pen just to show you how I create a composition based on this photograph. And this is the first step of the painting in the M3 method of painting in which we compose the painting, we look at the photograph or the scene in front of us. If we are doing on-location painting and we decide what do we want to show in our painting. If we try to capture everything in our painting, what we see or what the photograph has already captured, then it becomes a problem. The painting doesn't turn out very successful. That's because there is lot of information and WR doesn't know where to concentrate. So that's the reason why good composition is required. And that's the first stage of the M3 method of painting. I will be using A4 sized paper for making the painting. So I am going to make a rectangle here, which is similar to the proportion of A4. I'm not taking any measurements. But I guess this will be similar in proportion in aspect ratio. I mean, I will now sketch the composition based on this photograph which you see here. The only thing which I don't like in this cropped version of the photograph is the there are three is appearing almost in the center of the photograph. I wanted to move it to the left because there is a heavy object. The mountain is on the right-hand side. I want to move the tree towards the left so that there is some counterbalance to the weight of the mountain. Visual counterbalance, I mean, I'm going to have this horizon line here. The mountain is going to be here somewhere. I want to go, want this line of the mountain to go above the halfway mark of this painting. This is half, this is half vertically. I don't want to have this line of the mountain cut in the center. Want it to go above. I'll have the big tree here. I'm drawing a rough shape and this is going to be the focal area. And I want the light to come in from here. In this photograph, you don't see a lot of bright light. The reason is that this photograph mouseClicked after sunset. There is light from the sky, but it's not very directional. And I want to paint a painting which has directional light. And hence, I want to have the light coming in from here. Some part of this tree will be in shade. This portion of the tree will be in light. And maybe the three we'll have, we'll see the tree trunk and the walkway. I will make it slightly bending like this. I also don't want this walkway to be in the center of the painting horizontally, so I've taken it slightly towards the left. The three will cast a shadow like this. A few transposed. There'll be indicate a mountain here that there is no gap. There is no emptiness behind the screen, and there will be some near the bottom of the mountain. That's how I'll make the composition. Mountain will be slightly darker than the guy. These bushes will be darker than the mountain. This tree will have the darkest area here. Maybe I'll indicate some texture here so that this area doesn't look empty. Similarly on this side. So this becomes my first composition which I wanted to try based on this photograph. Now I didn't draw the second version. I might paint just one of them or maybe I'll end up painting both, but like to make at least two. Then I get some choice when I start painting. In this case also the horizon line is down here. Again, I want to make the road not so prominent. Make it like walkway, path, multipath, be 13 shape here. And another tree shape here. I want to purposely make one of them larger than the other. Something like this. And not make it flat line. I'll make it slightly going up. Then there'll be one mountain shape like this, and another mountain shape like this, something like this. This will be blue because of the distance and so on. And maybe I will have to add something in this corner because otherwise it will look too empty. If I can crop it here, it'll be better. There'll be not much area in which we look empty. Broadly, this is the composition. These are the two trees which will be the darkest shapes. This composition. And there'll be this focal area of this composition is here. Local area of this composition is here. If we follow the rule of thirds or even golden ratio, the area or focal area should be somewhere here, here, here, or here. That would be enough for me to give the information required to start painting. And I don't want to refer to these photographs all the while while I paint because I have changed a lot of things. And I'm still not decided where I want to show the direction of the light because the sky is empty. And we'll have to make some arrangement of clouds which will give some substance to the guy here and loud bit, totally empty. Yeah, let me bring in the light from here. This part of the three will be in light. This will be in shadow. Again, this will be in shadow. Maybe there is some light here in these trees will cast a shadow like this. Maybe even this one. Something like this, which makes the direction of the light very much clear. And then it looks much better. I might still need to add something here, but that's it for this stage of the painting, I might have to do a value sketch next just to see how it looks in a value sketch, even though this scan sort of as a value sketch because I'm already indicated the darks. But it's always good if you're learning painting, then it's always good to make a composition then make a value sketch. Because value sketch will also inform your compositional decisions. And that's why it's very important to do that. It'll add a lot of value and your painting will be better. You can also make colored sketches instead of value sketch, which is done in black and white. It's up to you which way you want to go, but I'll try to do at least a value sketch. So see you in the next video. Thanks. 15. Demo 4 - January Shadows - Value Study: Welcome to this video. In this video, I will be taking one of these, these are the two values, sketches or rather compositions which I made out of that I've selected this, which you see up here as the reference image for me now, or the painting which I'll be making. But in this video I will be making a value study in black and white. And for that, I'll be using just the black color. I'll be doing it in transparent watercolor. And I'm using drawing this sketch in a simple fashion and not be this being a value sketch. I will not be making a detailed study or I will not be adding any details. But I want to make sure that the composition is correct. And I want to also understand the value structure. That's the reason I'm making this value study. And I'm roughly sketching in the details or the shapes. It will be the big three. I don't want these two high points at the same level, so I might just bring down that these slightly that is a mountain here. I just wanted to I wanted to bring this down slightly, so let me give it a shape. Being value study, I will not add any details. The two, the three and then this will be the shadow. Maybe they're on some bushes near the bottom of the mountain and so on. I'd be this black color in watercolor. And I'd be using that the value studies. Because I'll be using transparent watercolor, I'll need to go from lightest to the darkest. So this is the lightest shape, which is the, which is the sky. I will use a very, very thin black color, just enough to make it not white. So that's what I'm using here. I don't mind going over the mountain shape also because the mountain is going to be any way darker than the sky, so it's not an issue. Now the next darkest shape is going to be the distant mountain. Before that, I need to make sure that this layer of sky color is dry. Otherwise, I'm just using this paper towel to make the process fast, drying process fast. Now I will use a slightly darker version of the black in this area. And actually I don't mind going over the tree. This will dry to become slightly lighter, so I'm not worried about that. Then this is the mountain shape. Again, I'm not paying any attention to the details. I'm just laying in this color. Land is going to be slightly lighter than the mountain because it's receiving light from the sky. But this is the latest one. I might pick up some color from the road. Dry. Beyond limit of picking it up. Once this is dry, I can drop in some color for the light is coming in from here. So the shadow of the three, the three will be darker on this side. It'll be slightly like that here. I'm not painting the details of the tree here. The shadow will be something like this. Walkway and then some bushes near the base of the mountain. Let me give this painting on the sketch has come very close to the border, which I won't do in the final painting. I want more gap there. This is unlearning for our, for me. What kind of mistakes happen? This will be dark. What needs to be corrected. I might add a few, even though it's value study a. Get away with not doing this, but still fence posts. Something like this. This is a very simple sketch. Simple drawing or simple landscape. When it will be done, it will be nothing complex in it. But you can see how I have progressed from a photograph to compost virgin here, up in the top-right corner. Then what I've done here just now is a value sketch. And that will give me increase my probability of getting a good painting when I actually paint the color version. That's what I'm going to do in the next video. So no matter whether you are an experienced artists, are just starting out value sketch or even a colored sketch is something which is very important to do and it gives a lot of information to you. And it increases your success rate in terms of getting a good painting when you do it with color. I hope you have learned something here. I haven't added any details in this value sketch because that's not the purpose of the value sketch. But I just wanted to get an idea of how things will be in the final painting. Thanks, and see you in the next video. 16. Demo 4 - January Shadow - Block in: Welcome to this video. In the last video, I showed you how I made a value sketch. And now I'm going to use that drawing and take that information from the value sketch which I did. And I'll be transferring this drawing onto this paper. This is a 300 GSM paper, and I have my palette here. I'll also explain you what colors I'll be using. But before that, let me quickly, very lightly draw the shapes here. This is the horizon or base of the mountain. The mountain will be going up something like this. Then from here to here, the halfway mark is somewhere here. If this is the point approximately, I need to see that this is the halfway mark. And I want the mountain line to go about that. So that this doesn't, this line doesn't cut it exactly there. I want a three here, which is the the focal area of the painting. I don't want this height and this height to be the same. I'm drawing it fairly in the not in the midground or just the beginning of the midground. This is the background and the foreground is the road. And the three there, there is a path which goes like this. I might even bring down the horizon line a bit more. Shadow will go something like this. The small bushes will be here. The road will go. I don't want to show the details here because it is supposed to be far away. And so we won't see those things. To make the foreground also a bit more interesting. These posts, maybe one or two here. Maybe one here. Then I'll also add some variety in terms of clouds to the sky. Now let me come to the materials I'm using. So as I mentioned, this is a 300 GSM paper. I'll be using ultramarine blue. One of the yellows. Maybe I will switch between these two if required. I will tell you which yellow I'm using. I will be I will not be using white because it's going to be transparent watercolor painting. And I'll also be using burnt CNF. One of these yellows, burnt sienna and the blue, are the three colors which I'm going to use. And I'm going to use, at least for the for the sky part, I'm using a mop brush. You could use a flat brush like this instead of a mop brush. Let me start. I have two containers of water, one to wash the brushes, and one to add clean water to the colors. Let me get rid of this black from here, which is from the value study which I did. Now I'm going to wet the guy a bit. Not much. I'm going to drop some ultramarine blue there. Allow this color to come down. Not meddle with it. More than what's required. I'm doing this fast because then It again prevent myself from making to deliberate marks or two calculated marks. I want this painting to have three kind of feel to it. Now that I have the sky and kind of worked out, I can come down to this mountain shape. And for the mountain shape, the stage which we are in right now is the blocking stage. I want to only lay down the colors which are kind of the base colors or the local colors. I'm not going into details. I'll do that in the third stage, which is the detailed stage. Now, this mountain is going to be slightly more intense than this. I want to go in with this color. I am taking advantage of the edge here between the sky and the mountain because I don't want any hard edges there. Now since the light is coming in from here, this mountain will have some kind of light here. And in this area there might be some shadows are darker areas. So with that in mind, I will start with some yellow. Because I had blue on my brush. It is looking like it's green, which is fine with me. I now want to make this this mountain in a light color, which is the base color. Again, I don't want any hard edges, so I'm painting it. While this is still wet. I might drop some darker color here. Allow this to dry a bit. Now I'll come down to this land, flatland, and that's going to have burnt sienna. So in this case, I'm using the burnt sienna. I could have used this color and added slum brown to it, but I'm using this as a convenience color. I don't have to create that. I will use this in paint this in this area. In this area where the road is, the pathway is I'm going to use burnt sienna. Burnt sienna. This much of indication is enough. And I'm collecting this color which was here. I'm picking it up so that it doesn't collect data and create a different order circuit voltage. Indeed, just picked up that color. This is the stage where I have now covered the whole bidding with the base color or the wash. Very common language. And now I'll wait for this to completely dry and not touch it unless it is completely dry. I advise my students to take a break, physical break, just move away from the painting for 1015 minutes and then come back. By that time the whole painting is dry. And then you can add the latest stages. So see you in the next video and this will be completely dry. 17. Demo 4 - January Shadow - Details Part 1 : Welcome back. This layer of color has completely dry now. And now I can go into the third stage of the painting where I can add details. So again, I will be working from background to foreground, which means if I have to do any adjustments in the sky or this mountain or this mountain, I'll do that first. Then come to the foreground and then add the trees. Let's get started. I want to darken some areas in this mountain and also gives some warmth here. I will start with this yellow ocher and some burnt sienna. I'll be applying it over some areas. At least. I don't want to apply it as a wash. I will be applying it as a glaze, which means I am not. I'm adding it, adding in a thicker consistency, adding it on applying it in some places where I want the warmth to come. In other areas I will add darker blue because I want to push this mountain in the background. I'm taking in mixing some blue and I want to want to make it slightly darker. I will add a bit of burnt sienna to it. Maybe it does. Much of that's too much. Let's touch of yellow ocher. Let's see how this looks on the on the painting. That's good enough. Good enough for meeting the darks. I'm going to use this brush not in a pointer form, but like this, in which the marks are not very predictable. They are random. I like to vary the color slightly. Added some more blue here. I don't do add too many details in it. Because this is something which is in the background. I don't want the viewer's attention to go there. Who much? I still want this to be. Not very dark because I want to paint some bushes here which should be dark enough. And if I make this color dark, then those won't get the correct value. That's maybe this needs some burnt sienna, warm it up in some places, at least. I leave it at that hopefully become lighter than what it is right now. While this is slightly wet, I want to come in with these bushes which I had drawn and painted in the value study. And I want those to be dark green and thick dark green so that they don't mix too much with the background. I'm mixing yellow ocher and this blue. I want this to be a thick color. Let's see how this looks. This is too wet right now, but I can paint things here. I don't want to make these will be organized. Many cured. Anyway, the large tree will come. So I didn't want to paint many things. As I'm painting this, I want to also make sure that this nicely merges with the flat ground. So I'm going to use this color tin fashion to make it multitude. Don't want any hardest there. Also I want this alias could be slightly darker because the focal area is here. I will come in with this large brush and kind of a muddy color. Let's see how this looks. Should be fine. Even this easier. Again, I love to wait for some time for this to dry before I can come in with the dark of the three. Before that I can add some more splint motor saturated color to the road. It doesn't want to blur the edges. I'm running my finger over it so that maybe while this is wet, I can make some marks like this, which will indicate the few three rungs. Just to create some texture, I'm dragging this threshold here. For this large tree, I need variegated dark color. For the animal again, mix burnt sienna. This time I want a slightly lighter greens. I'll use this yellow. And which is gamboge or you can use chrome yellow. This is to start with, and then I'll make the other side of the tree, this side of the tree, dark so that I get the contrast or the shadow effect. I'll start with the idea on the left-hand side of the tree. So we want this to have something like this. Now I'll make this color dark by adding blue and some brown to it. This side of the tree with the dark color. Again, I'm not painting with pointed portion of the brush. Generally the bottom portion of the trees are.gov because not much light reaches there and use the same color to indicate that tree trunk. You will do didn't allow this to slightly dry? Actually, I need not because I will not be painting anything on top of this right now. I can paint the shadow. The shadow is going to be a darker version of these colors, so it will be darker brown. To make a dark brown. I'm adding burnt sienna and yellow ocher and some blue to it. In fact, the color of the shadow will be slightly different here on the road. Slightly different on this grassy patch. But I will be painting in a fairly, but there is no, not much difference in the color. Mix these two colors separately. Same brown color, and see how this looks. B, okay. I wanted to paint this shadow now. 18. Demo 4 - January Shadow - Details Part 2: I'll make the shadow slightly darker towards the base of the damp brush, I'll pick up some color from here. Because I want the shadow to become lighter and lighter. Maybe that Let's go much. Yes. Now I'll use regard brush. Indicate a few details here, maybe a few fence posts. And for that I need a dark color. I'm mixing all these greens and browns which I had already on the pallet. Use that as the dark. I have to make sure that this doesn't confuse or get merged with the shadows. So I might have to wait. First, give it a try and paint. Those also will have a shadow. Can use the same color, slightly lighter version. To paint the shadows. I don't want to go overboard and paint a lot of these motor here. Now I'll use a light version of these. Same color and paint. Should not be so salt all recorded so far away is picked up that color. I didn't create some texture using this brush sideways. Something like this. This doesn't look very empty. I'll do the same trick here. Dilute it even more than that. It doesn't look so dark. This is some, just some texture, nothing very descriptive about it. But it does give some feeling of there is something which is there, which is not quite black. And I might add a few dark accents. You use the same color to add a few details on this side of the tree. Well, that this separates out from the background. I need a dark blue color. Somebody, in some places, at least a suggestion of dance. Using the same color just to change the value in places. Some indication of some dark grass here. Nothing again, very descriptive. All the way to do this. Use this brown color again. Let me go few marks here. Delineating the edges. I don't want to overdo that. This ADF off. I think this is done. I can call it done. As you can see. We started with very simple photograph and then composed The compose two pictures or two compositions. Then did a value study and then I did or colored version of this painting which you see right now. That's how you should go about making any painting. Because that way if you follow this method, then your probability of getting a nice painting increase. Instead of directly jumping and trying to paint a colored version of the painting. Goes step-by-step. And then you will, you will be rewarded with a better painting. I hope you will give this painting a try. You can use the same photograph and create even a different composition and try painting it. I encourage you to paint 23 different versions of the same or similar composition so that you learn more and more about the subject. And then you are able to create a nice painting. If you just paint one version, then you don't get the kind of effect which you are looking for. Then you get discouraged. Instead of always looking for a new composition to paint. Paint the same composition multiple times or from the same photograph, create different compositions and paint those. Because by that time you are much more familiar with the subject matter. And then it shows in your painting quality. That's it. Now let me remove the tape so that we can see the finished painting. Always pull the tape away from the painting. That's it. This is the final painting from a photograph which I showed you. And then I hope you enjoyed this. And now it's time for you begin your version of this painting. Thanks, and see you in the next video. 19. Demo 5 - Fresh Growth - Landscape Painting Video: Hello and welcome. In this video, I'm going to paint this landscape painting using watercolors on this watercolor paper. I've taped it down on the table so that it doesn't move or warp when I am painting. And I have just three colors as of now. This one is ultramarine blue, this is crimson, and this one is lemon yellow. What I have is a glass palette on which I'll be mixing the colors and applying it on the paper. Let's get started. I'm making a very thin ultramarine blue mixture and applying it to the sky area. I'm not made a drawing of this because I know the landscape and I didn't want the pencil lines to be seen through the paint. You can't do that if you need to have some kind of reference. Now I have applied a thin layer of ultramarine on the major portion starting from the top, this painting. And I'm now mixing a color for the mountain. I'm adding some Crimson, Ultramarine blue, and a bit of yellow also. So I want a color for the mountain. And with a broad stroke, I want to apply it on the paper. I'm using a flat brush that I don't make any tiny strokes. And I've applied this when the underlying color of the sky is still wet. So this will give me a soft edge. I'm also running my brush over it, over the edge of the mountains so that the edge becomes soft. Now I need a green for the distant trees near the bottom of the mountain. All this is happening while the paint is still wet. So it's not forming any hard edges. Now, I've chosen thin brush, rigger brush, and I'm making a thick color, which is not adding a lot of motor. So ultramarine blue, some crimson, and some yellow. Again, it's the recipe of the color same as the mountain, but just the consistency is much, much thicker than that. I'm indicating these distant trees because I'm doing it on the wet color of the mountain. This will also create soft edges. Wherever the color I think it's dry and it's not spreading. I'm running my brush over it so that creates that HESI distant look. Now I need a green color for the grass on the ground, but I don't want to completely yellows. I've added a bit of crimson to make it slightly reddish. I'm using the same wide brush to paint the land. Grass on the land. And I want the focal area to be near the distance should not be in the foreground. Hence, I'll be making the the remaining portion of the grass slightly darker. To start with some added more of red to create a field of the earth below. I'm also taking in some yellow ocher, which is slightly opaque, yellow, dull yellow, mixing it into that. And then let's see how this goes. As I come towards the bottom of the painting, I'm using. Vertical stroke so that it resembles the grass which is nearby. The distance I used. Horizontal brush marks which indicate which don't create any vertical lines, does suggesting distant grass. Now you can see I'm using the brush with broader strokes. The vertical lines are more visible towards the base. I wanted to make it darker, so I'm used much more bluish color, darker color, color for mixing. Again, blue-green painting, bush which is in the halfway, or it's not in the foreground, it's not in the background to the midground. I'm applying this color much thicker than what I applied earlier. And I want to spray some water on it so that this does not create any hard edges. Where m spring some missed. Allow this edges to become soft with the rigor brush and also 11 to pick up extra water if there is any lift. I'm darkening the areas near the bottom of the painting because I don't want the viewer's attention to go out from the, I'm using a tissue to pick up extra color so that it doesn't Boolean. I'm waiting for this to dry a bit. Before I get into painting the largest tree, I'm mixing this dot blue-green color, almost blue. And I'm using the regard to I think I need to switch to a larger brush. Let us see. The rigor does create some detailed brush marks, but the larger brush is better to create or paint. Larger media's. With much more ease. I'm making sure that I'm leaving some sky holds through which this guy can be seen through the dream. Otherwise it would look like a cutout. I also want this to have some soft edge. I'm spread a little water and I need a larger mass or larger three on the left-hand side to kind of balance the weight of the three here on the right-hand side. Compositional requirement. And I'm making the tree on the left edge larger than size. As to balance. This is sometimes called the fulcrum of composition. Again, this three has to have soft edges. I'm helping it. With the rigor brush. The sky is almost dry, so I need to help with the rigor brush. Otherwise it would have spread on its own. Let me see if I can make some marks with the handle of the brush. Not making it very clean, but I'm trying to I don't want any obvious lines are very crisp lines. I just want to have an indication of. Some branches, some green in the foreground. Because I want to highlight the midground. And that's the reason I'm making sure that the foreground is darker so that the viewers attention goes to the yellow-green area. The remaining thing to be painted is the tree trunk. Before that, let me mix a color. I'm adding ultramarine, red, crimson, and some yellow ocher also in it. And I want to paint some darker patches of color towards the base of the tweet where it will not be catching a lot of light. So it's darker. The twins are darker at the bottom of the foliage. I'm using a flat but smaller brush to do this because I need more controlled brushwork. Now. I want to paint the three trunks. I'm mixing a very dark color. Bending the three rounds with my bigger brush, really thin, long brush. I'm going to show a bunch of data, not just 13, which is having that much of mass. Printing at least to breed rungs. And some indication of shadow on the ground. Darker area on the ground near the tree. The bottom of the tree. I need this guy was looking very empty. I'm going to darken the top-left corner. I'm applying pure green, blue brush, flat brush, just to make sure that that corner is not very light. Now I'm working on some of the details. The final details, I would say not known to add too many because this is a middle auto farm or something like that. I just want to have an indication of a fence. I don't intend to paint long fence, but few friends posts. What is required to create an impression of finance. Also an indication of human presence in the landscape. Just a few lines to break up the large foreground. I'm almost done with this painting. The distant, smaller three on the left-hand side. And that's it. I hope you enjoyed this painting. And the real learning for you will happen when you bend this yourself. Now it's time for you to take out the colors and paper and try to paint this on your own. And that's it for this video. And until next time, happy painting.