Blue Sparrow- Easy Colorful Watercolor Bird Painting for Beginners [with downloadable coloring page]

1. Intro: Do you want to learn how to paint this sparrow? If painting a watercolor bird is a challenge or misery, then come learn my failproof, yet simple techniques. I’m Eliza the Watercolour Witch. I taught more than 27.000. students all over the world on how to watercolor the easy way. And in this class, I will be sharing my secrets to capture the likeness of this painting. This class is perfect for beginners, even if you have never handled a brush before. And experienced artists as well can pick up some new techniques. In this class, you are going to learn how to paint the blue sparrow from line art to finish, I'm going to show you some botanical painting techniques, how to create create colorful mists effortlessly And painting techniques which will make your paintings even more outstanding. While in other classes, you need to sketch the project yourself, in this beginner friendly class, a downloadable lineart template (a coloring page) is included, which takes away the stress of having to produce a sketch before the painting. All you need to do here is to color the lineart into the finished painting. What more could you ask for? Enroll in the class now! 2. Tools: For this painting, you would need the line art printed out. Thick watercolor paper to prevent buckling. A thin and a thick watercolor brush. A jar of water. Watercolor paints, a tape to fix the line art to the watercolor paper when I trace it. Waterproof black pens for the outlines. Golden gel pen for the highlights. Please feel free to use any materials you have at home and experiment with new techniques. If you don't like watercolor, you might try to use aquarelle pencils or pastels or gouache instead of watercolor paints. Or if you have an iPad, you can try coloring it digitally. 3. Tracing the Lines on Watercolor Paper: Tracing the lines. First, put the line at facing towards the watercolor paper. Tape them together. So the papers won't slide, when you trace with your pencil. Go to a bright sunny window and put the papers on the glass with the watercolor paper facing towards us. Can you see the lines shining through the watercolor paper? Now, all you need to do is to trace the line art, with a pencil or with a rotring pencil. 4. Advices for Inking the Lines: Advices for inking the line art. For the inking process, I use Pigma Micron waterproof black pens, but other brands can work perfectly fine too. So feel free to use your preferred tools. Advice #1 Vary the thickness of the lines Variety in line thickness can make your artwork visually more interesting. I use various sizes, one thin and one tick pens. I use thicker pens to outline those elements on the artwork which are closer to the viewer's eyes. And I use thinner lines for those parts of the artwork which are farther away from the viewer's eyes. Also, thinner pens are very useful for adding small details. Advice #2 - use waterproof pens There is only one criteria though when you choose your pens to work with. Your pen needs to be waterproof. Otherwise when you are painting the water would smudge the pen lines. If you don't have any waterproof pens at home, you can use a non-waterproof pen after you've painted your artwork. So you can leave the pencil lines as they are, continue with the painting process, and when your artwork is finished and it's completely dry, Then and only THEN you can add your ink. Though, I would highly recommend using waterproof pens and only use this alternative technique when it's really necessary because watercolor pigments can ruin your pen nib on the long run. Advice #3 Rotate your paper As you get more advanced in inking, you will notice that certain hand positions are much more comfortable than others. It can depend on various personal factors like how you hold your pen, are you a right-handed or left-handed person, etc. As you ink you need to be able to work in the most comfortable hand positions. So don't be afraid to rotate your paper frequently. Always adjusting to the perfect hand position because that's how you will be able to draw better lines. Advice # 4 - breathe calmly. Ancient Sumi-e ink masters in Japan taught this technique. And it really works well. Before you start inking, Calm your mind and breathe some conscious breaths. Try drawing the lines when you are exhailing and inhale, and then draw another line with the next exhale. This technique will also produce more beautiful lines. Advice # 5 - practice a lot This is the most important part. Practice a lot. And you will get better. Practice inking daily and your technique will improve a lot in the following weeks and months. Don't get discouraged. If it won't work out the first time, you will surely get it next time. So these were my advices for inking the line art.When you are finished, you can get ready for the painting process. So grab your brushes and start painting. 5. Painting the Moons and the Hearts: Painting the moons and the heart I start with a bright yellow, which is St. Petersburg White Nights Hansa yellow color. I spread it evenly on the whole area of the moon. I use less water and much more pigments to maintain the vibrancy of this color. My paper is also dry, as I didn’t moistened it beforehand. I continue with a warm orange color. It's St. Petersburg Orange Lake color. I paint it on the outer edge of the moon. As you can see, the yellow has not yet dried completely, that's why the orange can spread into the yellow so nicely. If your yellow is too dry, you can always remove it with a bit of water added on the yellow paint. Or you can dip your brush in clean water and smudge the harsh edges between the yellow and orange. I painted the little stars with yellow. I move on to painting the heart. This bright red color is St. Petersburg White Nights scarlet color. I paint the inner part of the heart, leaving the outer part empty as white. On the bottom hearts, I use the same red color. I paint the whole area evenly. Then with a darker purplish red, I paint the bottom parts of the hearts. Since the edges are too harsh I dip my brush into water and smudge the colors a bit to soften the edges. Then I add a bit of orange glow on the top of the hearts. I use St. Petersburg White Nights, orange layer color. It's not an obligatory step to add the orange glow, but I think it looks pretty on the hearts. Now, let's move on to the little moons. Makes sure that the big moon has completely dried before you start working on the litle moons. Paint the moon phases with yellow. A thin brush can be very convenient for adding such tiny details. Leave the top moon empty and let your moons dry a bit before you continue. I'm using a dark greenish-blue mix color, which you can mix out by adding equal parts of blue and equal parts of green paints to each other. I paint the remaining white areas with this color. When you are finished let it completely dry. 6. Painting the Leaves and the Branches : Leaves and branches I start with a light green color. I use Lucas Mai green color. I painted on the veins of the leaves, leaving the outer edges of the leaves white. As you can see, my paper is dry and as I want this light green color, to remain vibrant, I don't use too much water to dilute it. Rather, use a 50 % water - 50 % pigment ratio to maintain the vibrancy. Then I move on to a darker green color. I'm using St. Petersburg green earth color. As you can see, the light green color under it has not yet dried, so this darker green can spread nicely. I apply this darker green to the veins of the leaves. I'm not working too precisely, I put the paints here and there and let it move spontaneously. Then I move on to the yellows. I'm using St. Petersburg White Nights Hansa Yellow color. I put the yellows on the outer edges of the leaves. As the greens haven't yet dried, I can blend it in the yellows. If you can't blend them, you may dip your brush into clean water and moisten than the area of the green paints with your brush. I add a bit more dark green on the veins of the leaves. The paint's still wet so the dark greens can spread easily. You can skip this step if you like your like your leaves as they are now. I repeat painting the veins with dark green, because I like the depth it creates on the leaves. Then I move on to the little leaf on the branch. I painted it with light green. I also add some yellow on the tiny stems. Then I move on to painting the branch. I start with the light coffee brown. I covered the whole branch with this color. The green on the tiny leaf has dried completely. So I add a bit of dark green on the leaf. I'm using a thin brush for it. Then I mix in this green with the brown of the branch. And finally, I'm using the darker brown color for the shadows under the bird's feet. I also add this deep brown on the bottom part of the branches. When you are finished completely dry. 7. Painting the Flowers: Painting the flowers. I start with a light purple color. I dilute the pigment with much water as I want a light color, not a vibrant purple for the base color. I'm using Sennelier cobalt violet color. My paper is completely dry and I'm spreading the color all over the petals, except the top of the petals. I leave the top of the petals white. I smudge the purple to make the edges softer. For this smudging effect I dip my brush into clean water. I continue with a darker, deeper purple color. I'm mixing a bit of violet into the paint. Now, this is a rich, dark purplish violet color. I'm going to use it on the shadowy parts of the flower. I gently add this color on the bottom of the petals. It can blend into the light purple color nicely because the area is still wet. If your light purples have already dried, you can reactivate your paints with adding a bit of water on their surface with your brush. I add some highlights on the top of the petals with an orange color. I use St. Petersburg White Nights orange lake color for these highlights. I use this orange color very, very lightly. And with my brush, I help it to blend into the purples. The same technique applies for the other flower as well. If you have too much paint, you can remove it from the paper with a clean paper towel. I mix even more dark violet color. I add it to the bottom area of the flower petals and blend it with the purples. I add a bit of light pink on the top. It's not a necessary step. So you can skip adding pink to the painting. I let the paint dry a bit before adding the yellow. I'm using St. Petersburg White Nights hanza yellow color. When you are finished, let it completely dry. 8. Painting the Bird: Painting the bird. I start painting with a light blue color. I'm using St. Petersburg White Nights ceruleum blue paint. I loosely spread it all over the bird, leaving some white spaces here and there. My paper is dry. And as you can see, this color is very light. I'm using just a little paints with the water as I don't want the base color of the feather to become too intense. Then I'm adding a bit of ochre color into the mix and paint it very loosely on the breast and a bit on it's wings. The ochre color I used here is St. Petersburg White Nights Naples yellow color. I add the darker blue on the edge of the breast. I'm using St. Petersburg White Nights ultramarine color. I also covered the top of the head. I add abit of blue shadow on the bottom of the feathers. Then I paint the bird’s legs with ochre color. On the top of the legs I smudged the ochre into the blue with my brush. I'm adding an even darker indigo blue color on the top of the head. I'm using some Petersburg White Nights indigo color. I'm also using it on some feathers. I put it on the bottom to where shadows are. I smudge the indigo blue into the other blues with my brush. I'm painting the bottom of the tail feathers. I continue adding indigo blue on the bottom of the stomach, I'm using some quick, moves parallel to each other on the breast to indicate some delicate soft feathers. If these lines are too strong, you can apply a bit of water on your brush and smudge these lines while they fade back a bit into their background blues. As a finishing touch, I'm adding tiny white dots on the birds head. You can do it with gel pen instead of brush. You may want to do some dots with yellow or ochre color. Though it is really not a mandatory step. Fear free to explore new textures. You can also add dots on the feathers and on the breast area as well. When you are finished, let it completely dry. 9. Painting the Colorful Mist: Painting the Mist There are various colors I used for painting the mist. You may want to experiment on your own. So let me give you some tips on how to create a harmoniously looking colorful mist.: My favorite palette for creating colorful mists are orange, yellow, yellow, green, light blue, purple, and violet. This is the actual list of colors are used for this painting: Lucas's Mai green color (1170) For a light blue, I use St Petersburg White Nights Ceruleum Blue (503), for the yellow I use St. Petersburg White Nights, Hansa Yellow color (215). For the orange I use St. Petersburg White Nights Orange Lake (320). I use to kind of purples: One of them is Sennelier cobalt violet (911) , and the other is the Violet color (607) from St Petersburg White Nights. I also used a pink, which was Winsor and Newton opera rose pink (448) and finally, the ultramarine blue (511) from St Petersburg White Nights. Actually, it's very similar to a rainbow's color. I pick them because they create harmonious colors. You can pick harmonizing colors for your mist if you choose colors that stand closely to each other on the color wheel. So you need to choose the so-called analagous colors. Another important thing to notice is that more or less, I follow the black ink outlines with my colors. But I don't mind that all if one color flows into another color. If you want, you can try out creating a mist with only using 1-2 colors. For example, you can create lovely palettes by mixing various shades of purples with blues. Another favorite of mine is yellow mixed with greens. Fear free to experiment boldly with your colors. As you can see, I'm constantly jumping from one area to another so that it can dry up a bit before I'm returning with another color. I slow down the video so you can follow along. When you are finished, let it completely dry. 10. Finishing Touches: Finishing touches to make your painting more outstanding, you can use a golden gel pen to embellish it. Here I'm adding some golden dots on the moon's. You can't see much of it yet, but it will look beautiful in the sunshine. If you want, you can use a white gel pen instead of the gold. I'm outlining the stars, the veins on the leaves. So don't forget to outline the bottom hearts. I don't want precise lines, so it's fine to not follow the exact line art. Fear free to experiment with your gold pen. I'm outlining the Magnolia flowers. I'm creating some tiny parallel lines from the bottom of the petals. If you make a mistake, you don't need to worry, these lines will be only visible in direct sunlight. That's why I mentioned before to be bold and experiment with the gel pen as your heart wishes. Then I move on to the mist. I'm roughly following the black outlines, but I'm not afraid to totally deviate from the black lines here and there. Actually, this will make the painting more interesting. And finally, let's check out how it looks in the sunshine. As you can see, it gives a nice glow to your painting. But even if you place your painting in the sunshine time to time. Don't forget to frame your artwork with UV protected glass if you want to hang it in direct sunlight, otherwise the colors might fade out over the years. 11. Class project: Your class project. For this class, your class project is to paint this artwork after me. So first of all, print out the line art from the class resources. Prepare your painting materials and cut out some time from your daily schedule. Don't get upset if you won't succeed for the first try, after a bit of practice, you will surely succeed. Where you are finished with your class project, please upload it to the project gallery so that we all can see your beautiful artwork. 12. Do You Want a Gift?: Congrats for finishing this class. If you want to skyrocket your painting skills, don't forget to subscribe to my art newsletter for downloadable coloring pages, tips and tricks, foolproof painting methods and much, much more exclusive art watercolor related contents. Subscribe now to instantly download a pack of coloring pages right into your inbox. If you liked this class, please don't forget to check out my other watercolor classes. Please go to my Skillshare profile to see the full list of my art classes. Just to mention a few classes that are similar to this class: How to paint a rainbow dragonfly with colorful splashes, Easy pine trees with Galaxy background, 20 minute short galaxy hair tutorial Thank you!