A Shell: An Introduction to Watercolor

1. Introduction: Hello, my name is Molly Barker. And today I'm going to be teaching you the fundamental strokes and techniques of watercolor. We will then apply those fundamentals to a beautiful painting of a seashell. Watercolor is one of the most rewarding mediums to use. The supplies are relatively inexpensive and with a basic understanding of a few fundamentals, you can transform a sketch into a vibrant and beautiful finished piece of art. In this class, we will be covering all those fundamental techniques and strokes that you will need to go from a blank page to a finished painting. We will start with the basics of observation. How to sketch with the intention of using watercolor. Initial washes, color mixing, adding shadows and layers to create depth. And then finally using fine details to pick out areas of interest. I so look forward to going on this watercolor journey with you. In the next lesson, I'll be covering the necessary supplies as well as the specific materials that I prefer to use. And we'll go into more detail about the class project. I'll see you there. 2. Project and Materials: Hello and welcome to the first lesson. Let's start by going over the class project. It's pretty straightforward. First, we need to find our subject in this class that is going to be a shell. I have a few different shell photographs in the class resources section, including the shell that I am going to be painting. But I would highly encourage you to pick a shell that you have. Mostly because it's really nice to paint a subject that means something to you. But also because it's really beneficial to have your subject in front of you sitting in all of its three-dimensional glory. Next, We'll sketch the shell as a preparation for painting. And then we will be learning a few different techniques for watercolor that we will then apply to our paintings. By the end, you will have gone from a photograph or a real shell to a sketch, to a beautiful finished painting. Let's cover what materials you'll need before jumping right into our project. Hello again. In this lesson, we're going to be covering the materials that you need for this class. So the paper that I'm going to be using is this large Moleskine watercolor pad. And the tooth of this paper is just slightly rigid. The pages aren't super thick like some Watercolor books. But I really like this paper, so this is what we're going to be using. You can also use hot press, watercolor paper. The texture is more satin, more smooth grained. And so it has a slightly different look to it. Arches is a really nice brand. They also make cold pressed paper. And so the texture of this is going to be slightly more, more bumpy. You'll be able to feel kind of a grain to it. This is a nice paper to use. And you can also get watercolor sheets, just big giant sheets of watercolor paper, and tear it down to the size that you want. Actually really like to do this because you get these really beautiful edges to the paper. And it just looks really nice when it's all finished. But for this class, we're going to be using the Moleskine notebook. And then after the notebook we're going to need watercolor paints. I have the Winsor and Newton Professional paints. These are very nice. They have really nice vibrant color. I really liked these paints. I also have the Winsor and Newton Cotman series paints, which are the student brand. And they're substantially less expensive. And I would highly recommend these if you don't have any watercolor paints right now, they're really nice quality. And I would say, though the Professional paints are, are better, they're really only slightly better. And I like these cut the Cotman paints. I'm going to be using a few different sizes of round brush. I have here the Kolinsky series seven, size three, and size seven. And at the end we're also going to be using a size zero for some very fine work. I'll also be using this eyedropper to add clean water to my paints periodically. And it works great since you can just fill it with clean water at the beginning and not have to worry about it again. We will also be using a pencil of your choice for the initial sketch. And if you want, you can use an eraser if there are some errant lines that you went to get rid of, I would recommend a kneaded eraser. And I also like to use these Clips to hold my sketchbook open while painting. You'll also need a big glass of water. The bigger the better. If you'd like. You can also use masking tape to be certain that you have a nice sharp edge. I found that just regular general purpose masking tape tends to work better than artist tape. Artist's tape is a thicker which sometimes allows for paint to bleed underneath where the tape is overlapped on a corner. Will also use some Gelly Roll pens at the end. And finally, you'll need a paper towel to dry your brushes as you go along. And that's it. Let's get painting 3. Examine and Sketch: Hello, Welcome to our first lesson. The very first thing that we're going to be doing is examining our subject before we begin our painting. What are some of the most important aspects of it? To me, I think that these beautiful rusty colored riches are pretty unique aspect of the shell. And also the fact that the back edge has been broken. So these are two of the aspects that I will want to focus on. Also take note of the different colors for my shell. I see rusty colored ridges, creamy yellow and soft white. There's also a slight blue and violet color. I think that I'll amplify those colors in the painting. Alright, now that we have all of that information in our minds and our shell or photograph in front of us. Let's begin our sketch. The first part that I'm going to be focusing on is the outline. Think about the space that the shell is currently sitting in. What are the identifying edges? I want to be sure that I get this down before moving on to any other details. Also, I want you to take note of how I'm holding my pencil. By holding it at this extreme angle, it's easy to keep the lines very light on the page without accidentally gouging the paper. If you leave deep lines in the paper from your pencil prior to painting with watercolor. Oftentimes the water and pigment will pool in those deep ridges and will make the painting look a little off. So we want to remember to keep our sketches Light. Think of them as simple notes to yourself about key aspects that you'll need to remember while painting. So as I continue with a sketch of this shell, I've completed what the outline looks like and am now moving on to the inner details. This part is where you'll be making note of the things that are important to your Painting. Think along the lines of where are there different segments of Color? Where will the shadows lie? And for me, where are the most prominently colored images on the shell? These tiny notes later on, while you're painting is incredibly useful as you can easily make a quick correction here with your pencil. However, later on while you're painting, if you make a major mistake, it's much more difficult to fix. You can see as I continually go back and adjust my lines slightly to correct the angles and dimensions. It's so much easier here. This tiny bit of extra work at the beginning is just so incredibly useful. Also be thinking about the colors that you want from your shell. With my shell, I can see several colors that I want to amplify. I see the creamy yellow, that wonderful rusty orange color on some of the ridges, a soft white. But I also see some faint blue and violet. One way to be sure that you paint the correct colors in the correct spaces is to literally block off areas with very faint lines. One thing to keep in mind while sketching, all of the pencil lines that are painted over will become permanent. So if there are some straight lines that you don't like, definitely use a kneaded eraser and very lightly dab them away prior to putting any paint down. I normally all of my sketches because I liked the way that the finished painting looks with this sketchy lines beneath it. Okay. I think that I have just about all of the information that I need to have in this sketch. So in our next lesson, we will be laying down our very first Wash by utilizing a wet on wet technique. This is the first layer, so it will cover the largest amount of space, but will also be the most faint color. I'll see you in the next lesson. 4. Base Wash: Hello again. We're going to be laying down our initial wash in this lesson, we're going to be using a technique called wet on wet, which refers to having both a webpage and wet paint or lots of water with very little pigment. Let's do a quick demonstration of how this is going to look. First with the page with good clean water, you are going to wet everywhere that you want the paint to go. Next, you need to pick up some wet paint. So think very thin and watery with just hints of color. The beauty of this technique is that as you add different colors in different areas, if you're painting, it will bloom and spread and sometimes mixed to create beautiful, natural and sometimes unexpected outcomes. So long as your paintbrush has more water on it, then it's on the page. It will flow from your brush to your page. However, something that is very useful to remember if you ever find that you've dropped in too much paint or the water is pooling. All you need to do is dry your brush and it will absorb the excess water and paint. Making corrections fairly simple. You can see me picking it up here. Okay, Now that you can see how this technique will look, let's move on to our painting. The first thing that you need to do is completely fill your brush with water. You'll be using this to wet the entire portion of the page that you want the pigment to spread too. So don't be shy. I'm using a size seven brush here. But if you're painting is very large, you may want to use a larger brush. One thing to take note of at this stage, I want this Wash to add a base color to the entirety of my shell. So I'm going to be wetting the entire thing. If there are sections of your shell that are completely white or has a very shiny highlighted section. If you leave that area dry, the pigment will stay away from it. As you add this water before adding any pigment, go back and be sure that all areas are still wet depending on the type of paper that you're using or if you're inside or outside, or even if you were in a more humid or dry area, your paper will dry at different rates. Now that our shells are completely wet, we're going to start adding our Wash. I have this really wonderful creamy yellow color that I really like. So I'm going to pick up some of that with my big brush, making sure that there's plenty of water with it. And I'm just going to drop it in. This is where you're sketch comes in handy. We already know where the different colors are going to essentially be. So this is the Fun part. You can also see the difference between dropping a color in with a little dab and running the brush along the page, which will leave a lighter trail of color. Also notice how the colors spreads over the entire section of the page. Isn't bleeding onto the dry sections of the page. That is exactly what we want. When we finished with the initial Wash, we're going to let it dry completely before moving on. The edge of the shell that was wet will have a really distinct line where the paint dried without spreading beyond the water. Alright, I think that's enough yellow for my initial wash. Let's move on to the blue-violet color. Now I want to add this to a couple of different areas on this painting because it's going to be not only the blue tint that is on my shell, but will also be the base layer for the shadowed areas. My light source is coming mainly from the top left. So I'm going to see the shadows on the curved underside of the shell. It's important to be thinking about giving the painting depth even at this very early stage. Also take note on how pretty the interaction is between this blue and yellow color. Try not to overlay, blend the colors together. Simply let them interact. If you blend the colors forcefully, then you tend to end up with a really muddy colored paint. Not very attractive. So we've added our blue Shadow Color. Let's move on to those rusty colored ridges that I liked so much. I've got a terracotta red that I think will look pretty nice for the backdrop of the ridges. So let's start dropping that in. We're going to be placing it where we sketched out the lines so it will spread beyond those lines. But don't worry, this is what we want. Keep the curvature of the shell in mind as you drop this color in. One good thing to keep in mind while painting with watercolor as you begin, things look messy and sometimes not very good. But it's okay. As you lay down more and more layers the paintings renders and becomes beautiful over time. So don't become discouraged if you think that these first layers look bad, I promise it will get better. Okay, I liked that terracotta red, but I think that I need to deepen the color a little and maybe add some yellow to it. I've added a little bit of raw sienna and that changes it just enough. Let's drop some of this over the lighter red color and also along some of these yellow areas and watch them bloomed together. Wow, that is looking really nice. You can see here at the bottom of the shell, the page is beginning to warp a little due to the paper. Don't worry, it happens and it's causing some of the water to pool their you can really see what I mean about the color becoming muddy. The yellow and blue are mixing into an odd green and this rusty color isn't helping. Let's take care of that. The first thing that we need to do is rinse our brush in clean water and then dry it off on a paper towel. Now that are paint brushes dry the excess water on the page or went to flow to the bristles of the brush, allowing us to pick up those little pools of paint. I want to get this bit here by the tip. But if there's anywhere else that you feel has too much water or too much pigment. Run your clean dry brush along that area and it will pick up a good portion of the pigment. Okay, Take a good look at your painting so far. And if there's anything else that you want to add before walking away and letting it dry? Now is the time to do that. I think that I wanted to add a tiny bit more yellow here, and that's it. In the next lesson, we're going to be adding the first Details In the key aspects of our Shell. We're going to be using a wet on dry technique and a Dry-on-dry Technique. I'll see you there. 5. Pick Out Key Details: Hello again. The first thing that I wanted to cover in this lesson is a few different ways to use a round brush to attain different types of strokes. By pressing on the palette and wiggling my brush back and forth to splay out the bristles. I can flatten my brush out and create a fan like brush, which can be used to create the appearance of several soft lines running in parallel. Next, instead of wiggling back and forth, I'm going to roll the brush in one direction as I pull it backwards. As I twist, you can see that some of the water that was in the brush begins to be pressed out, leaving a dryer brush, which will allow for a finer point at a finer line. Both of these techniques work best when used with a dryer paint, less water, more pigment. You can see that by pressing a bit harder with the fine point on the page, you can create a thicker line. As I turn my brush tip, it's sharper. And if I press hardly at all, you can see how find the line is. Moving on to the fan. Watch as I move the brush very lightly across the page, you can see the soft stroke left behind by rotating the brush as you paint, you can also go from Several soft lines to a single line, which will come in handy with this shell painting as it will allow us to give the appearance of depth. Will be using this technique mostly to show how the ridges wrap around the edges of the shell will really make the shell appear to pop. Before putting any Details strokes on your shell painting. I encourage you to take a page and test out these techniques until you feel comfortable with them. Plus they're a lot of PFK-1. Be sure to check that the initial wash on your painting is completely dry before moving on to adding details. If the paper is still wet, your Details will bleed onto the paper and they won't look very sharp. The first Details that I'm going to be adding will be the largest stripes of those rust colored ridges with the fine tip. I'm going to mix up some terracotta, red and raw sienna to get this nice, rusty orange color on my palette. Notice that I'm using less water and more pigment as I begin adding these details. At the beginning of a painting, you're going to start with the lightest colors, leaving some of the white of the page as the brightest highlights. In each additional step, you will be using less water and more pigment, creating a darker layer each time you add an additional layer of details. Okay. So as you can see, I'm following those initial sketch notes to myself. I'm going to be placing these details over the areas on the shell where I can see the most vibrant, rusty colored ridges. Later, I'll be adding finer and darker lines with a fan brush technique to detail the little shadows that you can see behind the ridges. Also, notice how I'm curving around the edges of the shell and varying the width of the line depending on what I can actually see on the shell sitting in front of me. One thing that I want you to notice as you begin painting these Details on my brush right now, I still have that wonderful rusty colored pigment. However, as I travel over the different colors which I used in my initial wash, you can see how it almost appears that the color on my brushes changing sort of like holding two different pieces of stained glass in front of a Light and then Layering them one on top of the other. This is one of my most favorite parts of watercolor. As this effect allows for some really beautiful and sometimes quite spontaneous details to come about. Good thing to remember with watercolor is that sometimes not trying to control all of the different effects allows for some really wonderful Details. Alright, now that we've added our rusty orange colored ridges where we know they belong on our shell. I'm going to go back and grab some of this nice creamy yellow. Notice how much thicker this paint is compared to the initial Wash. Again, I'm using more pigment and less water at this stage to allow for a lot more vibrant of a color. We're going to be using the fine tip of our round brush again to just add in a little more color here and there. I'm adding these yellow ridges mostly over the areas on the shell that I placed the yellow wash initially. Whole time that I'm painting these details. I'm keeping the shape of the shell in my mind and I'm curving my brush strokes around the sides appropriately. If you look at the shell, you can see that there are no crossing or overlapping ridges because of how the animal grows. So I certainly don't want to make that mistake while I'm painting as it would be pretty distracting when our painting is finished. The next Details that we're going to be painting will be with the fan Technique. So let's go ahead and flatten out our brush. Okay, Let's take a minute to see how this technique looks close up. See how I'm allowing my paintbrush to stay flat in one direction as I move over the curvature of the shell. That's allowing the flare of the bristles to fan out and create all those soft lines. And then as I move the brush and a different angle, the lines will merge together into a single line, making the angle of the shell appear to look more extreme. This is exactly what we want. Also notice that the paint that I'm using is the same as the creamy yellow we just used. By adding these lines over the top of the larger fine lines that we make, it will appear as though the paint is thicker or has more pigment with less water, every layer that you add onto a previous layer will appear darker. So at this stage, we know how to do this fan Technique. So let's apply it to the ridges on the rest of the shell. I'm going to be using more of this wonderful creamy yellow to highlight some more of those ridges. Also remember that the initial wash that we laid down of the blue on either side of the shell is meant to be parts of the shadow. So we're also going to be adding some of those yellow ridges to the edges in the shadow. Let's also add some to the tops of the widest parts of the shell for some interests. And we're also going to be adding some of those soft brush strokes in the rusty orange color. You can see that by adding these little brush strokes really adds a lot of interest without much effort. Okay, in our next lesson, we're going to be adding details which are quite a bit darker, including some of the shadows that are present on the shell to create the look of depth and the feeling of dimension. I'll see you there. 6. Darker Wash and Shadow Color: Hello. In this lesson, we're going to be adding a darker Wash, more details of the little ridges. And also a nice deep blue violet Shadow Color to the underside edges of the shell. As I mentioned in the last lesson, since watercolor is transparent, adding layers on top of each other will still allow the previous colors and details to come through. Depending on how many different colors that you're using. You may need to be more cautious as to many different colors layered over the top of each other can have a tendency to look muddy rather than vibrant. So as we work on this stage, let's keep that idea in mind. When we add a new layer, try to keep it in the same family as the colors beneath it. That being said, you can see that I've been adding larger areas of wash around some of the Ridge Details that I painted in the previous lesson. We're going to continue adding the yellow and some more vibrant reddish color to our rest, orange areas, as well as a few new areas of Ridges. I'm pretty happy with those details at this stage. So let's spend a little time mixing up a good Shadow Color. As you can see, this first shadow color that I mixed just didn't feel quite right to me. It is a bit too much of a murky brown. And I think that it just didn't look right with all of the more wholesome looking pastel colors. So I went back to the palette and try it again. And that is one of the best parts about painting. If you find that you just don't like a color, no big deal. Go back and try again. This next color that I mixed was much more appropriate, a bit brighter with more vibrant reds, blues and violets. Let's fan out our brush and add some shadow details. As I mentioned before, this fanout Technique with a round brush tends to work much better when you have less water on your brush. So be careful about how much you pick up. If you end up having too much a quick dab on a paper towel, will quickly dry it out. Then just array the bristles again on a try section of your palate. Again, the light source from my shell was from the top and slightly to the left. There were cast shadows, mainly on the bottom right edge. And the shadows from the Ridges were more pronounced on the right-hand side, giving the shell a slightly bluish hue. We're going to go in there. And not only add the cast shadow on the shell, but also add in those little Ridge shadows. I really love how this cool shadow color looks next to all of these warm pastel colors. Since the shell is rounded, there was also a bit of a cast shadow on the left-hand side. So let's not forget to add a bit of shadow over on that side as well. It's important to not go too overboard with all of these colors and to allow some of the initial Wash to continue to shine through. I always say that as you begin a painting, you should start out painting the largest areas with the lightest washes. Then as you progress with your painting, each successive layer should become both darker and smaller. So the closer that we get towards the end of the painting, the finer the detail should become with the most pigment and the least Water. At this point, we have some pretty dark paint. That is to say lots of pigment and not much water. We're going to be taking this and going around, adding to the areas that are to clean or don't adequately represent either how the shell looks in real life or how we want to portray the shell. We're going to be adding some more of the creamy yellow to areas that need to be darkened slightly. And also some more of our rusty orange color to areas that need a bit more detail. Then I'm going to also pull up some Payne's gray to add a slight bit more of a cool blue to a couple of small sections. You can see as I paint this on, it really does add more interests since there's so much warmth in these warm yellow and warm orange colors. By adding this blue, it just makes it pop. Lastly, let's look over the shell one more time before we let it thoroughly dry. Before our next lesson, I'm going to be adding a bit more of the rust colored riches. And I also want to add a little more Shadow Color to the bottom edges of the shell. You can see if you look at the right-hand side of the shell, there is a darker shadowy area, more to the top side, followed by an area that's lighter. And then the darker underside strip of lighter color is actually from light reflecting off of the desk from my window, which is to the right, not the light source from the upper left-hand side. I thought that it was so pretty to have that small area of lighter color. So I wanted to be sure to add it in. The next lesson, we're going to be painting the shadow cast by the shell onto the desktop, which really gives it dimension. We're also going to be adding our last Details and watercolor. I'll see you in the next lesson. 7. Shadow on Table and Shell: Hello. In this lesson, we're adding our cast shadow, followed by a few more tiny details on the shell with our smallest size zero brush. We're going to start out by mixing a nice wash out of our Payne's gray and a tiny bit of lamp black. A good tip. A little black goes a really long way. Another tip. Really take note of where the edge of your shell is before putting any shadow down. As we want the shadow to be an extreme differentiator between your shell, the desktop. The light source that I have isn't a single point bulb, but a strip of several light's coming from the upper left-hand side. The shadow that is cast is going to be slightly varied. There'll be a very dark area directly beneath the edges of the shell, followed by a slightly lighter shadow and then a somewhat faded out fuzzy shadow near the edges. Especially since I have a bit of light coming in through a window on the right-hand side, which will soften the edges of any hard shadows. You can see as I lay down this final Wash of shadow that I'm leaving the edges somewhat broken to imply that there is a light coming in from this side as well. I think this slightly broken shadow actually looks really nice with the added fact that the back part of my old shell is a bit shipped and broken as well. As I mentioned before, watercolor is very transparent, which is one of its charms. One thing that I really like to do, however, is at the very end of a painting, add some very fine details with a White Gel Pen, which we'll do in our next lesson. What I'm going to do right now is grab some of this titanium white paint. And I'm going to use it to not cover Details, but softens sections of the painting in anticipation of using that Gel Pen later to pick out some highlights on my shell. When using white in watercolor, I find that the least amount of water you can use, the better. The white details are a bit difficult to pick Out on camera. But I assure you that in-person you can really see the subtle softening that it adds. I'm not going to get too carried away with adding these white sections. And I certainly don't want to muddle any of the very vibrant sections of details that I've painted. Like I said, I'm just softening a very few areas that I anticipate using my gel pen on. Okay, now that I've softened some areas and added the shadow onto the desktop, I'm going to really look at the shell and think about what else it needs. I think that overall it's starting to look really good. But having the contrast of the dark shadow on the desktop makes me want to darken up the shadow on the shell a little. So let's get a little more of this blue-violet Shadow Color and we'll add a final layer to the most extreme edges of the shell. By doing this, I think that it really adds a lot of depth. If you feel like you're painting is a little too flat looking, I would really encourage you to add another darker layer as having a greater contrast between the areas of light and the areas of shadow will give your subject a lot more dimension. Again, I'm only adding a little bit of this darker layer to the absolute darkest part of my shell. And you can see that I've sort of feathered the edges of the shadow to allow for the appearance of the uneven surface of the shell, which is the shadows behind the little ridges. Now that we're done with a shadow, I think that adding the thinnest lines of this rust color will help to make these portions standout most amongst all of the other colors. I'm going to mix up a bit more of this color, but this time I'm going to make the red aspects a bit more prominent. These are going to be among the last details that we're going to paint onto this shell. So take a little time, look at your own painting and really think about if there is a portion or aspect of your painting that feels deficient. Is there a section that seems to empty? Maybe not enough contrast or color? Now is the time to remedy that. That being said, it's also really important to not overwork a painting. So be honest with yourself, does your painting feel finished? Having areas with minimal details can be beautiful as well. So try not to fill every square inch with as much detail as possible. Instead, allow some of the white of the page or some of the initial Wash to shine through. Okay, we're going to switch up our brushes. Let's get our thinness liner brush. I have a size zero here, and we're going to dip it into our darkest color yet, I have some Payne's gray on my palette and we're going to be using that with the least amount of water that we can get away with. This is the last thing that we're going to be painting. And after this, we're going to move on to our white gel pen to add a few different kinds of details. What I'm going to do with this little liner brush is pick out the finest details. We're going to be twisting the bristles as we pull it through the paint to create the finest point and thinnest line that we can. As I sit here looking at my nearly complete painting, I've decided that I need to have a bit more of a delineate or between the edge of the shell and the white of the page. Especially since my shell is broken in places on the back edge. So I'm using this super thin liner to showcase the edge of the shell. Now I'm not taking this and adding a dark line all around my shell. I'm going to be varying the thickness of a line and picking out key areas of the edge and expressing the fact that this area is broken. I specifically picked the shell because I really like how this broken edge gave it character. So I'm highlighting it just like I highlighted those little rusty colored ridges. I'm also going to take a minute with this extremely fine brush to add a few thinner lines in this super dark Payne's gray. I really like how this turned out as it adds quite a bit of interest in this shadow area. If you want, you can take this liner and add some additional colors with this super thin line as well. But I thought that now is a good time to stop. In the next lesson, we're going to be using our White Gel Pens to break apart some of the larger blocks of color and add some luminous highlights. I'll see you there. 8. Add Reflected Light and Ridge Details White Pen: Hello. In this lesson, we're going to be taking out our White Gel Pens and we'll be adding some really interesting details with them. This is one of my favorite ways to add interest to a painting. There are several different ways that you can utilize White and watercolor painting. The most traditional ways to use masking fluid at the beginning of your painting to block off certain spaces from paint. When the masking fluid dries, it feels somewhat rubbery. You paint as if it's not there. And then at the end of the painting, when you peel it off, the white of the page is visible. Using masking fluid is really wonderful. And if you'd like more instruction about it, I have a class that I use it in where I paint milkweed seed pods. However, using masking fluid requires a lot of forethought and planning. And sometimes you just need to have to be able to add some white to areas that you wouldn't have thought before. This is where the Gel Pen comes in. What I'm going to be using it for. Firstly, to pick out specific highlight areas that I want to have a really beautiful, clean white. And also I'm going to be using them to break up sections of color that I wanted to have more detail in. I have three different sizes of Pen, 0,508.10. I'm currently using size 05, which is the smallest size. And you can see how fine of a line I'm able to make with it. I'm also curving around the shape of the shell. So it's still creating that feeling of depth and dimension. At this point, I'm going to move on to my size 08 PIM. You can see how much thicker the line is that it leaves behind. With this pen. I'm going to be focusing more on larger sections of white where you'll need a much more visible line. You can really see how having these sharp white highlights adds a tremendous amount of visual interest. One thing that I wanted to mention, both with watercolor and now with these Gel Pens, I'm not starting on one side of the shell and creating a ring that travels all the way across the top of it to the other side by breaking up the line with areas of highlight and varying the thickness of the line, you're able to make it look a lot more interesting, even though if you closely examine the shell in real life, the ridges are consistent all the way around from one side to the other. Also note that the highlight that I'm placing on the right-hand side are reflected lights from the window. Alright, we're going to move on to the largest size of Gel pen, size ten. And you can see that this line is very thick and leaves quite a mark on the page. We're going to be a little more cautious about where we lay these lines down. Use this pen mostly for larger areas that you want to be much brighter or on very light areas that will need a larger line to be noticeable. After we're done with this pin, we're actually going to go back and smooth out these lines a little with some of the smaller Pens. Another thing to note with these Gel Pens, occasionally some of the white gel paint will dry on the tips of the pins, which can cause it to be either completely clogged or sometimes just for it to leave a weird or clumpy looking line. So periodically take your pen and roll it around on a paper towel and it should clean it off, allowing it to flow properly again 9. Signature and Critique: Hello. So we've reached the final step in our painting. Some people like to sign their names with the same color every time they sign a painting, like Bob Ross. But I prefer to sign in a color that has been used in the painting, making each signature a little more unique and special to each one. So this is our finished painting. I think one of the easiest ways to learn from each one of your paintings is to take just a minute or two at the end and really contemplate the aspects that you like. And almost more importantly, the aspects that you don't like that you can improve upon next time. My favorite parts of this painting are the highlighted areas of white Reflected Light here on the right-hand side and also this section on the top-left that demonstrates all the different layers from almost white page to the extreme details of all of the riches. However, the part that I feel that I can improve upon next time as the shadow. I think that instead of doing the shadow in stages, allowing each section to try first may not have been the best choice. Next time I make a shadow with multiple light sources. I think that I'll use a wet on wet technique so that they blend a bit better and it isn't such a sharp line, but we'll freed gradually to soft edges. Thank you so much for joining me. I really hope that you learned a lot and we'll utilize some of these techniques of watercolor in your own painting practice. I would love to see your shell painting and would very much appreciate a review. I have several other watercolor classes teaching about different aspects of the painting process. So please feel free to check those out and my other classes. Thank you again for spending time with me and I hope to see you in my other classes.