Abstract House Sketching With Watercolors Using Three Easy Steps

1. Welcome to the Class: When we talk about watercolors, it's one of the most amazing art medium that you can explore. Welcome to a beautiful abstract watercolor painting, where we are going to combine urban sketching and watercolors together. It's a very short class, which will enhance your drawing and painting skills. Hey, everybody. Myself, Rothwik Patel. I'm a self taught independent artist and an interior designer by profession. I personally love to explore different art forms and styles and not stick to one particular thing. So if you're joining me, you'll find a variety of classes that I create. In this class, we're going to create a beautiful abstract watercolor painting, which includes a house in it. There are going to be three basic steps that we are going to follow, which includes basic sketching, inking, and watercoloring. By the end of the class, you'll have a beautiful watercolor painting in your hand, following three easy steps. So we're going to start by understanding about the class project in detail and all the elements that we're going to create in the entire painting. We're going to talk about all the art supplies that you will need before you start with the entire class. There is going to be an elegant color palette that we're going to use, and there are going to be these strokes that we're going to make using markers, pencils, and pen. The first step is to create a basic sketch of the entire house that we're going to paint. The second step is to apply a beautiful black in to the entire sketch to make it look a little bit more in contrast with the background paper. And then we have the last step, which is applying the watercolors in an abstract manner that you're definitely going to enjoy. Adding minute details using your brush will help you to improvise your brush strokes and hand movement. It's an abstract form of painting, which is a combination of urban sketching and watercolors. So no need to worry about perfection. Just enjoy the process of creating. The class is absolutely suited for beginners and also intermediate and advanced level artists can try it. So without any delay, grab your art supplies, and join me on this creative journey. 2. Details About the Class Projects: Hey, everybody. Now let us talk about the class project in detail so that you can get an exact idea of what we are going to create in the entire class. There is going to be this beautiful painting, which is going to be on the format of abstract watercoloring. There is going to be a beautiful house in it that we're going to sketch and in, and then we are going to apply some amazing watercolors to it to make the painting look vibrant and attractive. I'll take you towards the painting and give you the details about it so that you can get an exact idea of what you're going to create in the entire class. So as you can observe, I have placed my painting on the desk surface. Now, here is the watercolor papers that you will need to create the entire watercolor painting. You can go for any other good alternative as well. These are watercolor papers from ansen. It is 300 GSM, and the size of the paper is A five. In case you want to go for any other size, it is absolutely fine. Just take care about the GSM. Now you can observe that we have this beautiful abstract background that we have created using watercolors. But before applying the watercolors, there is going to be a basic sketch that we are going to create of the entire house that you can observe. Using a pencil, we are going to create a basic sketch. Then we are going to apply solid black ink to the entire house and the remaining building structure that you can observe. You can also observe these minute details, which is a combination of horizontal and vertical lines, few random strokes that we have applied to make the entire painting look a little bit more aesthetic and attractive. You might feel that the painting is difficult to create, but trust me, it's a very simple and easy painting to create. We are going to use three basic steps that you have to observe and follow. So I hope that you got an exact idea about the class project. Now, let us understand the art supplies. 3. Art Supplies: Hey, everybody, before we start with the class, let us talk about all the art supplies that you will need for the entire class. No need to worry at all. In case you are missing out on any particular art supply, you'll find it very easily in any nearby local art store, or you can go for any other good alternative as well. So as you can observe, I have placed all my art supplies in a systematic manner so that I can give you the details carefully. So let us start with the watercolor papers that is the major element and the major art supply that you'll need. So the watercolor papers are from Canson, and it is A five size. You will have to take care about the GSM, which basically is 300, which is the thickness of the paper so that you can apply heavy washes of watercolors on it. You can observe the class project over here. We're going to create the project in this portrait manner. Then the next art supply is a simple tissue paper. You can already observe the color patches on it. It is always good to keep a tissue paper nearby whenever you're working with watercolors. Then next up, I have a simple color palette. You can observe that I have used all the colors in it. So make sure that your color palette is having enough space in it. Now, let us talk about the water colors that you will need. The first one is black. Then we have purple, cyline blue, gambage, ultramarine, and titanium white. So these are all the six colors that you will need for this particular painting. It is absolutely fine if you do not have the exact shade, you can go for any other good alternative as well. Then I have a simple container, which is having a little bit of blue water in it, as you can observe. Of course, we are going to take some clear water so that we can use our brush and clean it well. Then let us talk about the brushes that you will need. You will need only two basic brushes for the entire project. The first one is a quill brush of size two. The second one is a round brush of size zero. So it is basically a detailing brush. These are the two brushes that you will need. Then next up, I have a simple eraser, so we can use an eraser in case we make any mistake while we are sketching. Then I have a simple pencil using which we are going to create our basic sketch, which is the first step of the entire painting. Then I have a simple black pen. Let me show you the tip of the black pen. It is going to have a nice, thin, solid black tip. No need to worry about the brand. You can go for any good alternative. It is absolutely fine. Then I have another black pen, which is basically a kind of marker from art line. With a 0.8 tip. I'll show you its nib as well. So you can observe the tip of the marker. It is a little bit thicker than the black pen. Then next up, I have a simple calligraphy pen, as you can observe. It is having a 2.0 tip. You can observe the tip of this particular marker as well. Then we have the last marker, which is from Faber Castle, and it is having an even bigger tip. So these are all the markers and pen that you will require for the entire inking part of the painting. No need to worry about the brand. You can go for any good alternative. It is absolutely fine. So these are all the art supplies that you will need for the entire class. Now let us move towards the next part. 4. Color Palette and Strokes: Everybody. Before we start with the class project, let us understand the color palette and the strokes. You can observe I'm having a simple sketchbook over here, and I have labeled color palette on the topmost portion with all the five colors named in the bottom part. And then we are going to understand the pencil and ink strokes. I'll place my sketchbook in this particular position, and let us paint all the colors on the paper surface so that you can get an exact idea of the color application onto the paper. It is very important for you to know that the saturation of the color will decrease once the color dries on the paper. So that's why you have to make a good composition of color and water together. I've started with gambage, apply a little patch of the color just above the labeling so that you can know the exact color. Then we have the next color, which is cyline blue. So I've applied its little patch just above its labeling. Then I have applied ultramarine. Then we are left with two more colors, which is purple and black. We are not going to apply white because the paper is already white and it is not going to be visible on the practice sheet. So I've applied purple, and now I'll be applying the last color, which is black. You have to clean your brush again and again so that you do not mix the color with the next color. So make sure about that. And in case you find that your brush is having x amount of water in it, just simply dab it onto the tissue paper. So these are the five basic colors apart from white that we have applied onto the sheet. You can compare it with the class project on the left hand side. Now, in the pencil and ink strokes section, I have started with a simple pencil. Then we have a black pen. Then I'll be using my marker from Art line, which is having a 0.8 tip. Then I'm using my calligraphy pen, which is having a 2.0 tip. Then we have the last marker, which is having a very thick tip from fabricase. So you can carefully observe the difference in the thickness of all these strokes, and this is how we are going to ink and sketch the entire painting. So I hope that you got an exact idea of the color palette and the strokes. Now let us move towards the next part. 5. Lets Place the Paper: Hey, everybody, now, let us place the paper on the desk surface. Before we start sketching, it is very important to place the paper properly onto the desk surface. For that, I'll be using a simple masking tape. You just have to take a little piece of the masking tape and just fold it over. You'll have stickiness on both the sides. Now, simply apply some pressure using your finger and place it on one corner of the paper. Now, similarly, I'll be taking another masking tape. Just fold it carefully, apply it on another corner. Now we are going to apply two more masking tapes on the remaining two corners, which are on the bottom portion. So this will help the paper to be completely stable onto the desk surface, and the paper will not move while you're painting or drawing on it. I have placed the last masking tape as well. Now, simply, you have to flip your entire paper. No need to hurry at all. Do the step carefully. Flip the entire paper, place it onto the disk surface where you're comfortable drawing and painting. Apply some pressure using your fingers on all the four corners. Now you'll observe that the paper will not move while you're drawing and painting. We are done placing the paper. Now let us move towards the first step, which is creating a basic sketch of the entire painting. 6. Basic Sketch: Hey, everybody, let's start with the first step, which is creating a basic sketch. So you can observe that I'm ready with my watercolor paper being placed on the desk surface, and the art supply that you need right now is a simple pencil, and you can keep an eraser nearby so that in case you make any mistake, you can simply use an eraser to remove the pencil line and create it again. So you can observe I have started from the left hand portion, creating these horizontal and vertical lines together, which is forming a nice variation. And then as you move toward the center portion, you just have to create a long horizontal line. Now, followed by two more horizontal lines on the right hand side and one simple vertical line, you just have to create this entire structure. So if you observe carefully, you don't have to worry about perfection. It's just a simple combination of horizontal and vertical lines together. No need to even use a scale in case you are able to draw it with your free hand. It is completely fine. And if you want to use a ruler or a scale, it is absolutely okay. So now, I'll start creating a beautiful roof of the entire house. You can observe we have created a beautiful slant roof on the topmost portion, followed by two vertical lines, then we have a nice small house just attached with the bigger one. So just simply attach a slant line and just connect it with a vertical line to the entire house structure. Now, one thing that I would like to tell you all is that no need to worry about drawing the sketch in the exact same way. In case you want to create your own composition of the house, it is completely fine. So don't worry about the output, just enjoy the process of creating. Now, let us add few windows and one door in the entire big house structure. So I've started with one single window followed by another, which is a little bit smaller. Then you can add these little rectangular shapes to create some nice aesthetic to the entire house. And trust me, there is no specific way of applying these random strokes. You can create it in a very natural way. You can add them wherever you want to. I have also added these little two rectangular shapes in the smaller house structure to create some nice window effect. I'll be adding two rectangular shapes on the left hand portion as well. So this is how we have created a beautiful sketch of the entire house. You can observe it carefully, and you can create your own composition as well without worrying about the output. I'm adding these little vertical lines to add few more details. So we are done with the sketch. Let us move towards the next part. 7. Inking the Sketch: Hey, everybody, you are most welcome to the second step, which is inking the basic sketch that we have created. So you can observe that we are done with the pencil sketch. I'll be using my marker from Artline, which is having a 0.8 tip. You can observe that carefully. Using this particular marker, we are going to give a nice outline to the entire sketch that we have created. Now, there is not going to be this single marker, which is going to help you. There are going to be multiple markers and pens that we are going to use to ink the entire sketch and make it look a little bit more attractive. You can observe that I have started from the left hand portion, and you just have to simply follow the pencil line. Now, one thing that I would like to tell you is that no need to worry in case you move your marker out of the pencil line. It is completely fine. It is part of abstract sketching, that in case there are minor flaws or minor mistakes in your sketch, it is absolutely okay. You can also carefully observe the way I'm moving my hand and just creating these beautiful outline for the entire sketch. You can make the lines double wherever you want to. You can create some nice variations as well. Also, one thing that you can keep in mind is that whenever you're a pen or pencil, whatever it may be, just try to keep your hand very much lose and free. No need to make it very stiff and try to get perfect lines. It is absolutely fine if your lines are rough and random. Now, slowly, you can observe the way I'm creating the outline using this particular marker. So now you can observe that we have almost covered the entire sketch using this particular marker with a tip of 8.0. You can similarly add these little random strokes on the bottom portion as well. So now the sketch is well defined and it is visible on the white paper. Let us start adding few minor details using the same marker. So you can observe the way I have started from the topmost portion in the house. Slowly, I'll move towards the bottom area, adding these little horizontal strokes. If you observe carefully, I'm just creating a simple dotted form in the starting part and simply continuing the line so that you can create some nice depth in the entire house if you observe carefully. Now I have added the line on one side of the house and left it over the right side, if you observe carefully. So it is a completely random step. There is no specific way of adding these strokes as well. You can add them according to your convenience. In fact, in case you want to create vertical lines, that is also absolutely fine. Now, slowly, I'll be covering the portion in the right hand side with these horizontal lines, as you can observe carefully. You can also add lines in the house structure, which we have attached on the right hand side. So as I told you, if you observe carefully, you'll find that it's a combination of horizontal and vertical lines together, which forms this entire beautiful structure. There can be a few random lines as well to make some more aesthetics to the entire sketch, and it is absolutely fine. Now, we can create these little vertical lines to add a nice fence element in front of the house, which is attached with the main wall structure. And similarly, I'll be adding these vertical lines in the wall structure on the left hand side as well. Now, if you observe carefully, there are these minor lines that enhances the entire sketch and make it look a little bit more in detail. Now, once we are done, adding an outline using a thin tip marker, I'll be using a calligraphy pen, which is having a 2.0 tip. You can observe it's having a nice thick tip, and no need to worry about the brand. You can go for any other good alternative, having a nice thick, solid black tip. Now we are going to just increase the size of the stroke that we have made so that we can create a nice contrast and depth to the entire sketch. Now you can observe carefully, I have started from the left hand portion, slowly moving towards the right hand side of the wall structure. Now I'm not going to add the thick marker in all the lines. You have to observe carefully in certain areas where we want to enhance the lines and make it look a little bit more darker. Simply apply the marker in that particular line. So if you observe carefully, the entire thin marker line becomes a little bit thicker, and it creates a beautiful contrast with the white sheet in the background. I'll add a line just in the bottom portion of the roof so that it also creates a nice shadow effect and some depth in the entire house. Using the same marker, we are just covering the window half black so that we can enhance the entire window as well. Similarly, I have added a nice solid black patch in the door element, which is on the bottom portion. No need to hurry at all. Take your time, make sure that you hold the marker in a comfortable position and carefully apply these little solid black patches to enhance the entire house element as well. Trust me, you'll definitely enjoy this particular process as well. Now, if you observe carefully, the entire sketch is creating a beautiful contrast with the solid white color in the background. Now, we are done inking with this particular calligraphy pen. I'll be using a simple black pen right now, and you can observe that it is having a very thin tip. Using this particular black pen, we are going to add some minute details to the entire sketch. Again, it's a simple process of just mixing these horizontal and vertical lines together in certain areas. You can observe I'm also adding these slant lines to make the entire sketch look a little bit more attractive and aesthetic. Let me tell you this again that do not worry about drawing it in the exact same way I'm drawing right now. You're free to do your own experiment and create your own composition as well. It would be really great, in fact, you create your own composition. Just observe the steps carefully and the way you have to apply the ink. This will basically help you to just create a nice sketch basically. So even if you're traveling somewhere and you observe a beautiful building structure, and you're carrying your basic sketchbook and these little art supplies like ink pens, markers, pencil, et cetera. You can simply start scribbling without worrying about perfection and creating these random lines together, forming a beautiful structure. Now, using the same pen, I'm just adding these little lines in the roof structure to make the roof look a little bit more attractive. These minor details basically enhances your entire building structure, and your painting looks a little bit more in detail and depth. Now, I have added these random lines in the white area. There is going to be a solid abstract black background behind the house. So I'm starting with a simple pencil, creating an outline, which will help us to apply the solid black marker in certain area. You just have to create this random outline. Again, do not worry about drawing it in the exact same way. Your line may have a different variation of the outline, and it is absolutely fine. So this particular line basically helps to understand where we are going to apply this thick solid black marker. So this is basically a thick permanent black marker from Faber castle. You can use any good alternative as well. It is absolutely fine. So I'll use this marker and start applying it in case you want to apply it on the outline initially and then fill in solid black color in the inner portion. It would be really great. You can slowly apply the marker in smaller portions and complete the entire area. Be a little bit careful near the roof and make sure that your marker do not move inside the house structure, that will definitely spoil your sketch. Now, I'll just apply the outline on the right hand side as well. Attach it with the building structure in the bottom portion. Now, slowly, let us fill the entire area with this solid black color. No need to hurry at all. Observe the movement of my hand and carefully fill in the entire surface. It would be really great if you start by applying it in smaller areas and slowly cover the entire portion. Make sure that there is no space left in between. In case you find that there is any space left in between, you can reapply the marker in that particular area as well. Now, you can slowly follow these steps and carefully apply the marker in the remaining portion. So now you can observe a beautiful, solid, abstract background, which is completely black, and it is having a nice composition with the building structure that we have in the foreground. I'll add a little solid black patch in the bottom right corner as well. And again, no need to worry about creating it in the exact same way. You can apply it in your own way as well. You can add few more random, solid black strokes, according to your convenience, to make the sketch look a little bit more aesthetic. If you find that you want to make certain lines a little bit more darker and thicker. You can apply the marker in that particular area as well. So we are done with the inking part of the entire sketch. You can observe carefully how beautiful it is creating a contrast with the paper. I'll use my marker of 0.8 tip again, and I'll add these little horizontal lines in the house structure that we have in the right hand side as well. Now let us move towards the next part. 8. Applying Watercolors: Hey, everybody, you are most welcome to the last step, which is applying the watercolors. So you can observe that we are done with our entire inking part and the sketches ready. I'll be using my quill brush of size two and slowly start applying a thin coat of water on the topmost portion. You can come to the abstract solid black outline that we have created. No need to hurry at all. This is basically known as a wet on wet technique in which you apply a thin coat of water initially. Now, I've taken a little bit of purple in the color palette, simply mix it well with water, and slowly start applying these little patches around. You'll observe that the color will automatically spread in the background. This is basically known as a wet on wet technique. You can be a little bit careful near the roof area so that you do not move your brush inside the house structure. You can observe how beautiful this entire purple color is looking. You can use a little bit of water to spread the color naturally. No need to worry about getting the exact same output. It is absolutely fine. It's a random process of applying the colors. Now, I'll be taking a little bit of ultramarine in the color palette, and you can add a little patch of ultra marine in this beautiful purple background as well. You can randomly apply the brush in certain areas to make a good composition of purple and ultramarine together. So right now, you can observe a beautiful abstract combination of the background that we have created. In case your brush moves inside the solid black abstract background a little bit. It is absolutely fine. No need to worry about that. It won't be that much visible. Just make sure that you do not move your brush inside the house structure. Now, similarly, I'll be painting the part in the bottom portion, and you can observe how easily I am just applying the color in this random way. You can observe the movement of my hand as well and the way I'm just adding the water to spread the color randomly. Whenever you're working with watercolors and you want a darker pigment, try to have less amount of water in your brush so that you can have a nice saturated color. And whenever you want to decrease the saturation and make the color look a little bit lighter, you can add more water So now you can observe that we have created a beautiful abstract background behind the house structure, and it looks really nice. You'll definitely enjoy this particular step. Now, in case you want to experiment with the color palette, you're free to explore and use your own color palette as well. And I'll be taking a little bit of ultramarine from the color palette, and I'll just apply its little patches on the bottom of the building structure as well. Now, slowly start applying it in the inner structure of the wall as well. You can use the tip of your quill brush wherever there is a smaller portion to paint. Make sure that if you want a highly saturated color, you have to take less amount of water and more color. Now, to make the background look a little bit more abstract, I just took a little bit of water, mixed it well with ultramarine. And simply tap your finger onto the brush to splatter some color around. You can do this step naturally in a very random way, and you can observe the way the color will splatter on your paper in this beautiful abstract manner. Now, I'll be taking a little bit of cerlne blue, mix it well with water, make a good combination of the color and water. Now start applying it inside the house. No need to hurry at all. Use the tip of your quill brush and carefully apply the color in the entire surface. You have to make sure that you do not move your brush inside the window structure because we're going to apply a different color in that particular area. You can observe the way I'm moving my hand to apply the color in a comfortable manner. So that's what you have to do whenever you're working with a brush. You can observe that the house is getting a beautiful separation from the background because we have used a lighter tone of cerlin blue. Now, I'll use a little bit of ultramarine to paint the building structure in the right inside, having two windows in it. You can slowly apply the color in the bottom fence structure as well. Now, if you observe carefully, there is no scope for perfection while you are doing an abstract painting. You can randomly move your brush in certain areas, so no need to worry about getting your brush outside the outline in case it happens. Now, I'll be applying the color in the fence structure that is in front of the house. We are applying some ultramarine, and to get a lighter tone, I'll add a little bit of water and cerline blue in the color palette. So if I have to tell you honestly, there is no specific way of applying the color to the entire sketch. You just have to experiment and randomly apply the colors wherever you want to and just make sure that your painting looks a little bit aesthetic with the entire sketch that you have created. Now, let us paint the windows and the door. I'll take a little bit of gambage in the color palette, mix it well with water, and use the tip of your quill brush to apply it in this small portion. No need to hurry at all. Try to paint in a very slow and steady manner. Use the tip of your quill brush carefully and apply it in this little portion. You will also observe a little bit of spreading of the marker that we have applied, and it looks really nice, creates the doors and windows in depth. You can also observe that I'm adding a little bit of gambit strokes in the bottom portion randomly. You can apply it wherever you want to. Now, I'll take a little bit of cyline blue from the color palette. Add it wherever you find that there is a little bit of white space left. Now, we're going to add some minute details using our detailing brush of size zero, which is basically a round brush only. You just have to take some solid black color from the color palette, and simply add these little random strokes on the topmost portion just above the abstract black background. You are going to enjoy this particular step a lot. You just have to take some so, on the black strokes that we have created in the outline of the entire sketch. You can also apply it on the windows that we created using these little rectangular shapes. It will enhance the entire color, and it will create a beautiful contrast with the background color as well. O. So this is how you can reapply the solid black strokes using your round brush of. It will enhance the solid black color in a very nice way. You can observe carefully the way I'm using the tip of my h, and you can also observe the way we are adding these minor details. There is no specific way of applying these strokes. You can randomly apply these strokes in your manner as well, and it is absolutely fine if you create your own composition of these rough random strokes. It will enhance the beauty of your entire abstract painting. You can observe that there are certain splashes of color in the background. So I'm just creating the outline of that to define a beautiful shape as well. I'm adding these random lines on the right hand side to create some nice aesthetics to the entire painting. You can do this particular step in the bottom portion as well. Oh. Oh. So we are done with the entire painting. Now, since we have masking tape in the background, just slowly remove the painting from the desk surface. No need to hurry. Let me take you a little bit closer so that you can observe all the retails carefully. You can observe the way we combine few minimal elements together to form a beautiful abstract painting in which the major element is this house. I hope that you enjoyed creating this particular painting using three basic steps, which was sketching, inking, and painting. You're free to explore and experiment. You can create your own composition of the painting. Now, let us move towards the next part. 9. Class Conclusion: When you start working with watercolors, you'll observe that you can explore it in a lot of ways. There can be a combination of a beautiful color palette that you can use to create an amazing painting. Hey, everybody. So you're most welcome to the class conclusion. I hope that you enjoyed the entire class and got to learn something new and creative. While I was creating this particular class, I made any number of mistakes, and that is something that I always tell my students never to be afraid of making mistakes. It is really great if you maintain an art journal to practice on a regular basis. This basically improvises your sketching, inking, and painting skills. I would be really excited to see all of your class projects into the project gallery, so do not forget to add them into the project gallery. It would be really great if you leave a review for the entire class as it encourages me a lot and my class can reach many more students like you. At the end, I would like to say, keep learning, keep practicing. Thank you so much for joining the class and happy painting.