Autumn Light In the Woods

1. Welcome to the Class: Autumn, the season of cozy warmth, vibrant colors, and endless inspiration. Imagine immersing yourself in the vibrant hues of autumn, capturing the warmth and serenity of the season on the canvas. As nature's palette unfolds vibrant hues, dance across the landscape, golden light, whispers inspiration and crisp air sparks creativity. Welcome to autumn Light in the woods, a comprehensive watercolor class where you'll discover the secrets to painting breathtaking enchanting autumn forest. Hello, everyone. I'm Ehuaia an engineer, a watercolor artist, and an art educator. The changing seasons inspire me to capture the beauty of nature on my canvas. Join me on this artistic journey, where together we'll explore autumnal color palettes and textures. In this class, you'll learn the techniques to paint the warm autumn palette, the lush enchanting green forest in the background, the details on to the ground. You'll also learn how to add the tree trunks into the foreground, and finally, you'll also learn how to add the autumn foliage. We will also explore different tonal values to create a beautiful depth and bring out the natural essence in your painting. So yes, get ready with your art supplies, unleash your creativity, and let autum's beauty inspire your next masterpiece. 2. Art supplies: All right, so let us take a look at the art supplies that you will need. First is the paper. I'm using the paper from the brand Saunders Water foot, which is 100% cotton watercolor paper, and the thickness of this paper is 300 GSM 140 B. So you can see the texture of the paper. It is not very much texted. It is lightly texted since it is a cold press paper. So choose any paper of your choice. Just make sure it is 300 GSM, 140 B thickness. Alright, so this was regarding the paper. Now, moving on to the size of the paper. So I'm going with a size by seven by 10 ", but you can choose your own size. So it depends if you want to make a smaller painting, go with a smaller size. All right. So next, you will need a board. Either it can be a plastic board or a wooden board to fix your paper, and you will also need a masking tape. I don't have one over here to show you, but yes, you'll need a masking tape. Next is a watercolor palette or you can go with tubes or pants whatever is your choice. Detailed colors will be made in the next section, so you can watch that. Then you'll need two jars of water. One has to stay always clean to pick up fresh paint, and the other to wipe off or remove all the dirty paint from your brush. So that was about the jars of water. Next, you'll need brushes, obviously. So basic brushes. One is the flat brush to apply the background wash, that is to wet your entire paper. So go with any flat brush that you have got. All these brushes I have used here are from the brand silver black velvet, but you can choose to go with any natural or any other brushes that you have. Next is the size number 12, to add the background washes, then we need size number eight brush, and then finally, you will need a size number six brush. So these are the basic brushes that you will be needing. All right, so yes. Next up, we have is obviously the pencil and eraser to add the pencil sketch. And then finally, you will need cloth to wipe off the excess amount of paint. So that's it guys for the art supplies, go grab them and I'll 3. Colors: All right, so now, let us take a look at the colors that you will need for this particular class. So all the colors that I'm going to use for today's painting are from the brand white knights, but you can go with any other brand that you have got. The first color is the dark green, which is from white knights. The dark green in this painting is used for adding the background lush forest. If you don't have dark green, you can take any of your green and add a little bit of paints gray and create the particular shade that you want. Alright, so next up to create that sunny effect or the sun rays and basically the light in the woods, we will be going with Indian yellow, and we'll use a little bit of Indian gold as well. These two are my favorite shades for creating those warm tones. Alright. If you don't have Indian gold, Indian yellow, just go with any basic yellow that is present in your palette, and if you don't have Indian gold, add a little bit of cadmium orange, and you can create that as well. Next up, you're going to go with sepia. So this is basically to add all those bold tree trunks. So if you don't have sepia again, you can go with transparent brown or any other brown that you have got. So this is another beautiful shade for creating those woody effects in your painting. The next color that we're going to have is basically to add the foliage, you will need a set of different colors. So first is the crimson. So this is another bold, vibrant color. So no worries. If you don't have crimson, you can go with the red, and you can mix a little bit of blue to create a shade like crimson. Next up, you can have cadmium red or cadmium orange. Basically all the bold tones. Whatever yellows and reds you have got in your palette, you're going to bring them out because this is the autumn class. Alright, so next, you'll need some transparent brown, and you'll also need yeah, this is the transparent brown. So if you don't have transparent brown, there's a basic brown in your palette. You can just go ahead with that. So basically, I'm going to mix this brown or paints gray into the crimson and add the darker foliage. Next is the cadmium orange. This is another beautiful shape. All right. So these are the colors that you will need for this particular painting. So go grab your colors and get ready, and I'll see you soon in the next section. 4. Pencil Sketch: Hello, everyone. So let us start with the pencil sketch. So the pencil sketch is going to be super easy. We're just going to add the branches in the forest. So the tree trunks, usually. So it's pretty simple. You have to just go ahead and place your trees randomly. And the one thing to make sure over here is the rule of perspective. So when you are planning your sketch, basically, when you are trying to paint the trees, don't place all of your trees in the same line or don't add it in such a way that all the trees look same. So make sure that the tree that is more front or more visible to you, that should be thick and tall, and the trees in the background should be a little thinner. And they should be appearing lighter. The placement of the trees is what matters the most when you are painting trees or forest. That way, the rule of perspective is achieved, and it makes your painting look more realistic and natural. You can wait for me to complete the pencil sketch. You can pause the video or even take a screenshot probably, and then you can go and complete the pencil sketch for yourself. All right. So just to watch me and then you can create a pencil sketch for yourself. All right, so that was the pencil sketch. I hope you have completed yours, and I'll see you soon in the next section. And 5. Wetting the Paper: Alright, guys. So now that our pencil sketch is ready, it's time to wet the paper. So it's a very important step. I mean, wetting paper is really an important step when it comes to the watercolor paintings which involve the wet and wet technique. So I cannot emphasize much on this, but this is really, really, really important stem guys. So now you may ask me a question, how long should I keep wetting my paper? Now that totally depends upon the temperature of your room, the country that you live in, and so many other factors, and even your paper matters, okay? So if you're going to use a 300 GSM, cold pressed watercolor paper, obviously, you have to, like, wet it minimum four to five times, probably, so that your paper fibers are fully soaking wet and it remains wet for a longer duration of time. But if you're going with a lesser GSM, not a cotton pressed, I mean, a cold pressed watercolor paper, then you have to wet it several number of times so that your paper is fully enough to hold all those larger washes that you're going to do. So it all depends upon several factors. So just keep one thing in mind, wet it in such a way that you can see a sheen on your paper, okay? So for some people who are from the humid areas, what I would suggest is just wet the paper, let it stay for some time, and then before it starts to dry, you're going to apply another layer, and then you're going to apply another layer if needed. So you're going to do this multiple number of times until you can see that clear sheen or that shine on your paper. All right, so just take your own sweet time, let it be 20 minutes or even 15 minutes or even longer. Just make sure not to skip this step and make sure you wet your paper properly. Okay, then I'll see you soon in the next section. 6. Painting The Background Forest: Alright, guys. So now that our paper is finally wet, now, let us get back straight into the painting. Alright, so let us start. So we're going to be painting the background forest, and it's going to be completely wet on wet. Let us start by painting the lush green forest in the background. So for that, I will be going with my sap green from white Knights, and I'm going to mix a little bit of paints gray into it to make it a little bit darker in tone. Okay. So make sure to go with some kind of dark green, which has a little bit of tonal values of, you know, your paints gray or you can mix a little bit of brown if you want to get that earthy tone. Okay. Just make sure you mix the colors and use it so that, you know, it does not look really flat. It looks natural and nice. And always, like I say, do not go with a darker amount of tonal value in the first place. Start by adding the colors very lightly and gently onto your paper, allow them to spread on the paper automatically and organically. And then as you Go ahead. You can build up the colors and increase the tonal value of the colors. So you can see I started with a gentle wash of that sap green, and as I'm moving further, I'm just adding more and more deeper tonal values. It is just a simple step. You need not achieve a perfect blend here. Just go ahead and drop your sap green in random places. And you can see in the middle of the picture or the painting, we're going to have that glowing sun, which is going to be lit from the back of the trees. So we want the center portion of the painting to remain a little lighter to show that sunlight glow. And towards the edges of the paper, we're going to keep the forest lush green and a little bit darker, okay? So for painting the sun, obviously, you need a yellow color. Basically, you do not go directly with opaque kind of yellow. Choose to go with something like Indian gold or Indian yellow. So for example, here, in this painting, I'm using the Indian yellow from white knights, but it's absolutely fine. If you do not have Indian yellow or Indian gold, you can go with your cadmium yellow or any yellow for that matter, and, you know, just try to create that sunny effect. So just mix your yellow and your orange hue together, play around and see so that you get a nice golden effect for your son. Okay? So just watch me while I'm creating the sun rays, and then you can wait for some time, or you can just watch my video first, and then you can start painting for yourself. So that way, you know, you don't commit any mistakes. All right. So yes. Now the next part is to create the sun rays. So for creating the sun rays, it's again, very simple. Lifting method. So you're going to paint, and you're going to keep on lifting the sun rays diagonally from the inwards and pull your paint brush towards the outwards. And each time you do this, you're going to clean your brush on the paper to make sure you know, you're not lifting other colors from the other parts of the painting. All right, so just see to it how I'm doing, and then you can paint for yourself. All right. So now that we have created that lush green forest with the sunlight hitting from the back, now it's time to finally paint the bottom region, basically the land region. So now we're going to make sure that the sun is hitting the ground. So we want some of that yellow the sun rays falling onto the ground. So we want to show this effect onto the ground. So for that, I'm going to choose my Indian gold, again, from white knights. So you can go with the same color that you use for your sun and make sure you mix a little bit of orange juice so that, you know, it appears a little bit more natural and more realistic. Okay? And if you feel like you need to correct your sun rays or if you feel like the rays have disappeared, now is the right time to pull up those, I mean, to lift up all those extra colors because once your paper has dried, you'll not be able to do that. Okay. So just have a look at your paper and make whatever changes you want to do at this very given moment of time. So now you can see, I'm going ahead and dropping the Indian yellow onto the ground. Now, as we move towards the ground, I mean, towards the viewer, we're going to add more and more deeper tones like, the maple leaf colors like your red, your orange, or even crimson, for that matter. So just go ahead and create a blend of these colors and make your ground look more realistic. It should appear as though the leaves have fallen down onto the ground. So I don't want to have a flat wash over here. Just keep pushing and pulling the paint from top and from bottom and from all the sides and create that blend of beautiful autumn colors. Alright, so you can see now I have started adding the crimson, and I'm directly mixing this crimson with the Indian gold that I added earlier. This kind of creates a blend, and it creates a different shade, which is neither orange nor red. But it is somewhere in between that. So you're gonna create this blend. Alright? So just watch me, and you can paint this for yourself. All right, guys. So now it's time to create a depth in your painting. So first, we started with Indian yellow, and then we added a little bit of crimson, then we added a little bit of orange. So now it's time to create that depth. How do you create depth in your painting by adding darker tonal values? So you can go with either brown or your Van **** brown or burnt umber, burnt sienna, anything. Okay, to create that little deeper effect towards the edges or the corners of your painting. All right. So while your paper is still wet, you can make a mix of different colors, explore different color tonal values, and just keep adding them, pushing and pulling all the colors into each other and create a very nice blend and just create your own magic guys. So you need not use the exactly same colors that I'm showing here. Just try out what works for you well, and then just go ahead with it. It all comes from your imagination. All right. So now you can see, with the help of the tip of my brush, I'm slowly trying to create some texts, some leafy patterns. This way, when the paper dries, you can actually see those textures being created in the background. So if you want to create some textures or add some beautiful patterns onto your painting, now is the right time when your paper is still wet, you can just play around and go ahead and do it. All right, so I'll just keep adding these texters and I'll see you soon in the next section. 7. Painting The Trees - Part 1: H all right guys, so now that our background is dried, let us start painting the tree trunks. Painting tree trunks is really therapeutic process for me, and it's really very simple. You have to just follow the organic shape of the trees and just paint them. So I have already told you while making the pencil sketch, the trees should be of different sizes, and you should always keep the rule of perspective in the mine. That is the trees which are closer to the viewer should be thick and tall and the trees that are in the background should be appearing a little lighter and thinner, almost like disappearing. Okay, so you can just watch me first how I paint it, and then you can go ahead. So for painting the trees, you can go with any dark colored brown, or if you don't have a dark colored brown, what you can do is take a little bit of brown and mix that with your paints gray and create your own version of dark brown. That is what you can usually do. Or else, in this case, I'm going with the color sepia, which is from white knights. So it's up to you guys. Like I have said, always explore, play around with the colors and see what works well for you. All right. So now you can see along with the tree trunks, you should also add the shadows. Otherwise, if you just leave it flat, it's not going to look realistic and natural. So you can see there's a sunlight hitting from the back of the trees. So obviously, the shadows are going to fall down, right? So the shadows should be a little tilted. That is, it should be a little slanter. So the bottom region of my paper is still wet. So I'm just painting the shadows first, and then I'll add the main branch. All right. You can see for the first tree, I have already created the shadow. For the second tree as well, I have created the shadow, and the shadows should not be as dark as the tree trunk. So if the tree trunk is bold and brown, the shadows should be one or two shade lighter than that. Normally when you walk on the ground and when the sun is falling on you, you usually see your shadow, right? So it's not dark. It's a little faint. Okay. So yes. And remember, do not make all the trees straight. The tree trunks are a little crooked and give them a nice organic shape. So starting from the top, it should be thin. And as you come down towards closer to the user or the viewer, it should get broadened. So I hope you have understood this. And if you have not, then just wait for me to complete the entire procedure. And then after you have watched the video, you can pause and paint it for yourself. All right, so just keep watching and yes. All right, guys. So now that we have painted the foreground trees, it's finally time to add the background trees. Meanwhile, if you want to adjust the shadows of some of the trees that you have added previously, you can do that, as well. All right. So yeah, moving to the background trees. So for painting the background trees, I'm going to be using the same sepia shade that it's going to be lighter. How are you going to make it lighter by adding lots of water? So just go with a lighter shade first. Okay. And then slowly, we're going to build up colors. Even the shadow of that tree should be lighter, right? Now, why it is lighter because A, it is in the background and B, it is closer to the sun. So the sun rays are directly falling on the tree trunk of the background trees. You can see the first half of the trunk is dark and in the middle, I'm making it lighter because that's where the sun region is. That's where the sun rays are falling. Again, as I come down it's going to be, again, a little darker. Okay. And similarly, you're going to add the shadows. So this was the main essence of this class to make you understand how to bring out that depth in your painting, how to make your paintings look more natural and more realistic. And once you have completed your painting, you can just take a step back and see at your painting. You'll be really able to see that glowing sun, that back rays of the sun from the trees. All right. So you can see how I'm lifting off the paint from the tree trunk, which is facing towards the sun rays. All right. So in the similar manner, I'm going to be adding another tree trunk. Again, it's the same process. Go with a lighter shade of sepia or brown or whichever color you're using for the tree. Then you're going to add darker shades of brown onto the top and onto the bottom of the trees. Then the tree trunk that is facing towards the sun, you're just going to lift off the paint from there. This is all about painting foreground trees and background trees. I think I have a part two coming up in the next section and I'll see you soon in the next section. 8. Painting The Trees - Part 2: Alright, guys. So in the previous section, we painted some foreground trees and we added some background trees as well. In this lesson, again, we are going to paint more trees, some more trees which are still more further away from us, and they're really light and they're really thin. So you can see that. I'm just picking up a little bit of the same shade sepia. And the trees this time are really thin compared to the ones that we added in the last section. So this is what I was talking about, the rule of perspective. So imagine if I would have painted all the trees in same shape, same size, and same color. It would really look very flat. There would be no natural and realistic look for your painting, and it would be absolutely really flat. So this is what I was talking about the rule of perspective. And the tonal values, everything everything matters over here. So the placement of the trees also matters. Remember not to go overboard. Otherwise, you'll be filling the entire background, and the lush green forest will be lost. So always keep it minimalistic and stop when you are satisfied, right? So you can see this particular tree trunk that I've just added now on top of the sun. You can see it's so light and in the middle, there's no tree trunk at all. So be careful when you're painting right in the middle of where the sun rays are present. All right. So yeah, I think I'm pretty much satisfied with how my autumn forest is looking at this particular point of time, if I have to adjust any tree trunk or if I feel some color is being lacking, I'm just doing that right now. But if you are completely satisfied with yours, then you can just stay and wait for the next step. Alright, so yes, so far so good, and I'm really loving it. Okay. So maybe a little bit of brown over here. To make it look more natural. Since this tree is very close to the viewer, it has to be more not detailed, I would say, a bit more darker and bold. So what happens is when you're painting on the wet on wet, usually the paper is still a little wet because it is 300 GSM, cold pressed watercolor paper, right? So it tends to appear darker initially, but when it dries, it's going to fade away. So always make sure to paint using more tonal values. So that's why I say first start with lighter tone and then gradually build up. Alright. So yeah, look at that glowing sun. It's looking damn gorgeous, isn't it? So now, we're going to create a little bit of sun rays. Initially, we added the sun rays, but I think it's kind of disappeared now. So in this lesson, we're going to also learn how to get back those sun rays. All right, so all you have to do is take a clean brush and start lifting the colors from the tree trunks that are closer to the sun. This way, it'll give you the appearance as though the sun is hitting the trunk. You can see I'm lifting off some color from there since it appeared really dark in the initial stages. I'm just picking up all of that paint, basically lifting that. Now if you really feel like that white center part of your sun has really vanished, now you can just wet your brush and just try to lift off that particular paint from that particular area. Similarly, you can create those diagonal sun rays and try to lift some of that pain. Alright, so just keep watching how I do that, and then you can do it for yourself. All right, guys. So now that we have added the sun rays, now I think we'll be reaching on to the final stage of the painting that is adding the foliage, and that's my favorite part. So can't wait to see you in the next section. 9. Adding the Foliage: Alright, so let us start adding the foliage, and this is my favorite part of the painting. Okay? So again, there's no particular rule to add the foliage. You can just do it in whatever manner you wish to. But again, don't go overboard. That is what I would like to suggest over here. Alright. So first, I am picking my small size brush. This is size number six, and I'm picking some of that crimson, or you can also go with red if you have cadmium. Just randomly start adding some patterns like this. So with the help of the tip of your brush, just hold the brush at an angle like I'm holding at the moment, and then try to press the tip of the brush against the paper, and create some leafy patterns. So it need not be perfect. It has to be completely natural and organic. And when you start adding the foliage, do not add all the foliage at a particular place or at a particular point. You have to just keep switching between different places under the tree trunks around the tree trunks, maybe onto the shadows and so on. And also, there is a rule of perspective that needs to be kept in the mind. The foliage that is closer towards the sun, they should be appearing lighter because the sun rays are falling on the ground and they're also falling on the leaves which are present on the ground. The foliage which is present closer to the viewer, they can be darker, darker and even bigger in size probably. Alright, so maybe now I'm going to grab a little bit of darker shade. So as I said, play with the tonal values. First, go with lighter tone, then start picking up some darker tones by mixing some paints gray or even some brown. And we're going to add more colors. So just keep watching how I paint, and then you can paint it for yourself. All right. So now that we have added some foliage on the top and in the middle, it's time to add some foliage on the shadow regions of the tree trunks, basically at the bottom of the paper. So as I said, towards the bottom, it should be a little darker to show that depth. So I'm going to take some sepia. You can go with dark brown or even some paints gray. Mix that with your crimson, create a nice maroon shade. And we're just going to drop this paint onto the bottom region. Again, we're not going to go overboard. If you feel like your painting is looking beautiful at this particular stage, then please stop it. Just do not follow me blindly. Okay? I'm just gauging my paper. I'm just seeing where I need to add the leaves, where it is looking a little bit blank or are there any empty spaces? Just have a look at your paper, have a look at your painting, take a step back, and then you can decide. So now you can see I'm picking some cadmium orange, and basically, I'm going to add this cadmium orange onto uh, bottom regions. Leaves are of different colors. Since it is autumn, you all are familiar with the autumn colors. It's basically all the warm colors. So just go ahead and drop them. So to create if you don't have cadmium orange just mix a little bit of white gush or white watercolor and that also works well. This is the foliage and I'm quite happy and satisfied, and I'll see you soon in the next section. 10. Wrap Up + Thank You: Alright, it's a rap, guys. I would firstly like to thank each one of you who made it till the end. I hope you love your painting as much as I did. Just look at the sun rays, look at the lush forest in the background, and look at all those beautiful tree trunks. And most importantly, look at the autumn colors, the foliage falling on the ground. Isn't it so magical and gorgeous? Thank you guys for joining me in this beautiful journey of painting the autumn woods and about posting your class projects. If you're going to try this painting, then I would highly recommend you to post all your projects in the class project section. I would be personally reviewing each of the class projects that you guys are going to post. It would be a great pleasure for me to see your version of creating the autumn woods and I would give you the feedback so that it would be helpful for your future paintings as well. And if you're going to post us on Instagram, then do tag me using my Instagram handle, and I would love to share your beautiful creations with the world. All right, then, so I'll see you soon in the next class until then. Bye bye. Take care.