Beginners Watercolour: Xmas Tree With Japanese Patterns

1. Intro upload: Hi everyone. This is muda, welcome to my Skillshare class. Now, I've just moved from Singapore to Munich. So this is my first time to enjoy, to experience actually a snowy winter, snowy Christmas. So here I am. I'm going to be explaining how to make a postcard with a Christmas tree with watercolor paints. And it's going to be fairly simple. So if you don't have any experience, I'm sure you'll find it quite easy to follow through. And we're going to have a bit of a twist. I'm going to draw this Christmas tree with some Japanese patterns. Now I have explain how to create different kind of japanese patterns and my other shirt class. So if you'd like to look into more details there, then please go ahead. But this class is going to be very short. It's only going to be like 40 min or so. So I hope if you have some time to enjoy some tea and a quick watercolor section, this class is definitely for you. Okay, So let's dive in. 2. Materials: Okay, so let's get down to the materials. Now. I will be explained the materials that you'll definitely need followed by the materials that you will want for your convenience. Now, all these materials would be listed in a PDF file that I'll be uploading on the resources section. So first of all, you'll need a pencil and eraser, paint, watercolor, brushes, and paper towel to clean them. And then paint watercolor paints. And then I'll be using this pro colors by calling road there hadn't made in Germany and they're really lovely. Just look at these amazing colors right here. So I'll be using these. If you have any kind of metallic colors that would work as well, is just to give a bit of Spark and the postcards. And then I'll be using this whole buying postcards for the final project. And these are things that you might want around. So this is just a spray bottle to spray my watercolor paints to activate them. This will be my paint watercolor brush holder and a masking tape. We will be using this. Maybe I'll be using it to make clean edges around the postcards and a ruler to get a 60 degree angle. I'll get into the details. And also a sketch book would be handy to have around. Let's get started. 3. Drawing: Very sorry. The video of the drawing section was cut off. I'll be retaking them. So it may look a bit different. Okay, first I'd like to draw two vertical lines for the asano, try to create some space in between, but I'll just draw 10 centimeters. I will have like a two centimeter gap in between these two lines. Because I'll go with 2 centimeters as. Okay. Now that I've drawn two vertical lines, now I will draw 2 centimeters every 2 centimeters. I'm going to make a mark here, 246810. Okay. The one above or below would be 50% difference between these. What that means is that it's two, half of that is one. And then I'm going to move every 1 centimeter. I'm going to put a line in between these. That'll be that then to four, and then 68 and so forth here. Basically this was 2 centimeters and this is 2 centimeters. Two, but you're going to make it 0.1 centimeters away from these dots you've created. Basically at the end, it's going to be slanted. That's the basic idea. Then now I'm going to connect these lines. It'll be a slanted line like this. That's like a calculation that you wouldn't change. It'll be 50% away from here. I'll just create another line right here. There's more to draw there. I have a slanted line, now I'm going to create another slanted line. I'll just make another line here, there. And then let's connect these as well, another slanted line. Okay? You've got the slanted lines right here. And then I'm just going to connect these. Okay, Then now comes the tricky bit a bit. Usually it's 70% of this that you make a vertical line here. I would, this comes down to preference. But 70% of 2 centimeters, that'll be about 1.4 around there. I'll just say 0.5 centimeters down here. I'm going to be drawing a vertical line like that. Again, that was 0.5 from the bottom bit. From here I'll draw a vertical line. Okay, Then again a vertical line. Then from here, again a vertical line like that. Basically it's 70% from the top of the triangle down. You'll need to create this vertical line. Again, vertical line. Then here a vertical line. Then here again, a vertical line. Here again, there's a baby downstairs, probably the neighbors. He's very headstrong. I'm making his point clear. Okay? Okay. Now that I've drawn all the vertical lines, I'm going to connect the triangle, the second bit and the third angle connected with this 70% line that we've created. Just connecting them and then connecting them. There's people who go without using any rulers or any equipment and trying this and goes free hand basically. But you could do that. I do like doing that too. But for demonstration purposes, I think it might help you to get the hang of things with using tools. At first there, that's the Asano. Now we're going to draw the ship. I'm going to use a ruler. And first of all, let's create a square. I'll go 4 centimeters. Then again, 4 centimeters and the half, 0.2 centimeters. I'll go 4 centimeters. Again, 4 centimeters here. Then I will draw the middle line and also the middle line across. Okay. You might want to draw that square lighter so you can erase it later. Okay. And then now I'm going to draw a circle with a compass. Maybe like that. Yes. Okay. That's a four centimeter circle. Then what I'll do next is we'll go to the corners. Place the needle right at the corners. And then we're just coming in like that. Again, placing it at the different corner. Coming in like that. Placing at the corner. Again, in placing at the corner, again, that's it. You can imagine if you have more same size squares all around, this side is going to be its own circle with the diamond shape in the middle. And then you can go on and on with this and create more patterns but basically we're point to erase those square lines. That's why it's better to make it more light. Maybe use like a harder pencil so it doesn't show too much. So that is how you draw the ship. Okay, so the drawing section is now complete. Let's move on to the next class. 4. Color Testing: We'll be getting into the color palette, checking into like what colors you want for the final postcard and also a quick sketch idea of what you're gonna be doing. So this is kind of like important stage for music because I kinda play around with the colors and see what I like. But for demonstration purposes, I already did a few studies beforehand, so I know what I'm gonna be doing. I'll just share my thoughts. You can look up like Christmas pallets and see what kind of colors they're up there and then choose which one you'd like and create that color scheme for yourself as well. So here I'm going to show you what I'll be using. So I'll be using yellow ocher. Tuning it down a bit with sepia here. About color. I've done quite a lot in my other classes before, so you can go check it out. I think I did a lot about color in my the one with the fish middle, like trying yeah, using gouache and watercolor there. So check that class out. Okay, so we're going to be using this color. I quite like it, yellow ocher. This would, I think I'll be using it as the for the stars and maybe hints of it inside the tree as well. But this would be, I'm going to write down my colors, yellow, ocher. And if I wanted to use the metallic colors are par, use walnut color, Common Era. Because it kinda matches That's all right. Okay, next, I like quite a vibrant red to go with it. So I'm going to mix cadmium red light here. I already created some of the colors right here. You can probably tell and scarlet lake by shallow quiet. Then I'm going to be using some orange by a colleague to go with it. This would be the lines of the arsenal Hall. I'm gonna do a green background for the tree. And then once it's completely dried, I would go over it with these reds and some of these column or row colors. So it stands out. Their colleagues. Vibrant orange. Why I say completely dry is because if you don't wait too long, then it seeps into the green underneath and it wouldn't stand out as much. So you really need to wait or else just get a blow dryer to dry it out. Next, I want to deep red color. I'm going to get the scarlet lake again. And CPL just kinda makes it into a very plum like rich Christmas color, brighter than that for now. And then I'll be using call your own color. Think cinnamon. Write these down before I forget. So cad, red, scarlet lake and orange. Scarlet lake. And CPR. Plus cinnamon. For the final color, which I'll be using, greens and blues for the trees. Using this table. And Payne's gray. So I'll just go like light or one on my layers. Super light. That light. Then I'll add this cobalt green a bit. That'll get me another color. So I'll get kinda playing around with these green blue shoes. Clothes I might like how much variations I can make with it. Then the dark green color, green, blue. And can I'm not using any glitter for the blues or greens that I'll be using. Okay, so just to get a rough idea and just gone to, this paper is not meant for watercolor, so it's going to turn out quite differently. But just to give an idea, cool, I thought that too dark here. This is gonna be just sketch purposes. Clean. The middle of it. For this. I'm just going to use the yellow ocher. And I'm going to let it dry for a bit. It's ride astride. Not completely. But I basically drew the lines like roughly to see like what they might look like just to test it out. So first I'd like to go with this lighter red and kind of go over some areas. It looks nice. I like it. When did bender brush too often? Sometimes like giving a bit of variation in the boldness of the lines is quite nice. Then not going to go through the whole thing because this is testing to see whether the colors work against each other. So I think the red, this red, green, and blue works on a trial, this darker red. And I'm doing this quite roughly, so they're not perfect. This red might be to Brown actually. So I'm going to add a bit more like this tone. I like how it's looking. So I'm going to go over the star because it's pretty much dry with the colleague Pro colors that I'm using. I don't want to overdo the pro colors, so I'm just going to use it is not to cover the whole thing, but I think I quite like that. It's kind of hard to see with the camera. I call that glowing a bit. Okay, Now I'm going to use the other heroes. See if it matches or not. Quite like how colors aren't working together. Now, I'll try cinnamon with the statement. Oh, okay. I'm done. I like how these turned out color wise. So we'll be getting into the final project, which is basically doing this on the postcards. 5. Final Project: We'll be getting into the final project. Now. I already drew the bit that I'll be using because I don't want to use up the time to be drawing all these. So basically I kinda worked out a third physically. I wanted to leave a third up for the star and then the rest, the tree. But I thought a bit upwards kinda looked better. So this is what I did. I drew the tree, the triangle first, and then I worked on the Sheep bull. And then for the US on the whole pattern, I'm only going to draw it after I make the paint the green of the tree, then I can see it more clearly. So I highly recommend doing that. There are some other variations that you can do, but I'll get into that at the outro of this lesson because I like a clear white background. That's his Hawaiian. Okay, So I'll be getting into first legal using table with a bit of mixture of Payne's gray. And I'll try to keep this star cannot untouched because I don't want it to have like any other color other than the yellow the yellow group I'll be using here. You couldn't use a masking tape if you want to be. Using my outline as a guide. Because this paper is not like the best work quite. So here I'm working with a thin of a mixture. The Payne's gray, trying to work a bit, doesn't leave any streaks. And they're done with the first layer. But I'll be going inside this with a bit of global economy working inside. Because usually the inside, the middle bit is more darker than the rest. Roughly. Now I want it, this is going to be filled up with us on the hub pattern later on. So it doesn't look perfect. Not quite like how it's painted for us. Because the cobalt green is like a granulating color. Um, when you add water to it, come on this magic. So let's just get into more things here. And I'm making it darker and darker. And say two more layers. And I'm going to add some Payne's gray, blue-gray and work to get darker. Trauma. And adding water. Really nice. But you could also take these down with masking tapes because they can start sparkling after awhile. It's pretty good. It's fine. And I always love splashes. So sorry, I'm gonna do it. It's going to splatter some paint splashing on it to us as well. Okay, so that's the first layer. I'm going to just kinda let it dry. These squatters, splashes, splatters, they call it than I just did. That or some people just go like that. Some people just flicker it. If it's like a synthetic brush, it's easier to see when this happens. It just damper bit as much as possible on the way. And if that doesn't work, then you'll just need to cover it with wash. Will be waiting for this to dry and will come into the next bit, which would be hello. I'll put the lines here, the pencil lines for the awesomeness. And then we'll work on the bus on the hot first and then eventually work on the star at the end. That I don't try to take as much out as we'll be getting into the next step. Okay, So this would be the final bit of the lesson. I made the pencil mark for the US and I hope pattern, once it was dry and I quite like how it's looking so far. I'd like to do the star so then I can work my way down so I don't get any paint on my hands. So we're going to work up some yellow ocher. Going to be White. Kenyans kitchen. And actually can really get a close-up of pencil mark. And I don't have a kneaded eraser. Can't really erase. Don't think I'm gonna go quite dark. Marx. Then the outer layer or the glitter that I'll be using later on. Okay, so next, I'll be going over these. Okay, so first work with the top. Basically moved to Germany from Singapore. This has been my first printer here. Why is it cold? Okay. I think I mean, stickier. Right there. Oh no. I can means are not the best. That should've been the line. I'm doing this, I'm not good at talking and thinking. What do I do now? Scrub into. Let's just leave that for now. I'll come back at it again. It's like why wouldn't say never? For me? As I mentioned earlier, it doesn't have to be in terms of cost will be going over it again. I'm mixing some colors. So when I say you gotta wait for it to completely dry. Because it can kinda see this bit because I kinda wiped it out. It's kind of oozing out into the other areas. Yeah, it's better. Stay away from it. Like that. Next few rushing to his son, 20 months old. Snapping can recover that anymore. But I really want to get those classes off by Christmas, at least a week before you can meet getting the hang of somebody came to the floor. I get it. Here. I'm just following. Yes. Okay, So I'm finished with drying the assignment. So next would be basically using the color euro glittery colors to go over on top of all this. First, I'll be going over top to bottom. I'm going to be using these. He's Crow colors. Great Plains of inches. I'm using a very fine brush. Maybe not covering the whole like close cleanings. So I think the star is done. Now, I'm going to be working on top of the red bits. I'm going to be using cinema and also the vibrant orange right here. And these two, you think I'm just going to pop this out. So it's easier. I'll leave this bit because it's dry. Problem with seeing a very fine brush is because it isn't as much watering. Can often some but not as thick. I kinda very nicely in Guatemala and welcome all put too much of the coder. And just because I don't think it needs done pretty as it ends with the glitter. Not much to it up here. So this is how it looks like. Pretty glittery. And I think I'll just, with another gold color, I'll kinda mark some bits of stars here. And just to kinda get the final I'll be, is this not going to toggle? I think I'm done. That's the final looks. So Marx, I need to delete, but overall, I like how it turned out. It's got a bit of japanese patterns and glitter. Dislike it. So there you go. 6. Outro: Congratulations for making it this far. I hope you enjoyed this watercolor class. So here I am. This is what I created. I'm in love with it. It's really pretty. I like that it has a bit of twist of japanese patterns here. And also I've kinda made by different variations. So this one doesn't have the start and it kinda looks okay. I might sprinkle a bit more watercolor paints around it randomly and then put some stars as well. This is another variation that I made, a bit of calligraphy right there. And I put a masking tape at the bottom and made the tree bark. So this is one variation you can make. I haven't finished this yet. It's an unfinished painting, but then I went over with a wash first and then kind of put more deeper colors for the tree. Then I sprinkle some salt. I don't know if you could see it, but it has that kind of snowy texture to it. So this kinda works and then do the same thing. So there's many variations you can come up with. This doesn't necessarily have to be a Christmas tree now, if it's not Christmas season yet, you can also create maybe a heart for a Valentine's with japanese patterns. It doesn't really matter, but I just thought it was like a cool, nice idea to make this tree Christmas tree for because it's just Christmas a week later. Okay, so I hope you enjoy the class and please post your whatever artworks that you've created within this class. It'll be nice to see how you guys come up with different creative ideas. So thank you so much for watching and I hope to see you guys soon. Thank you. Bye bye.