Cats and Flowers Sketchbook: Master Textures in Watercolor & Procreate

1. Intro: If you love cats and are looking for inspiration for a next collection, client project or personal artistic journey, this class is for you. My name is Anna, and I'm award winning artist living in Berlin. My passion for painting cats and flowers has led to international gallery shows and collaborations with luxury brands. I'm also the author of the book on colored inks, gold Brilliant Inks. Today, I'll show you my unique way of painting cats and flowers in watercolor and procreate. Combining these two popular subjects can create artwork that is both personally fulfilling and commercially successful. We'll explore diss inspiration from artists like Stein Len and Louis Wain, along with textures of floral art and the art deco movement. We'll focus on textures and learn techniques that will help bring your artwork to the next level. If you work traditionally, you will need some watercolors or gouache. We'll even experiment with pressed flowers. If you prefer digital painting, we'll use iPad and the Procreate app. Of course, you can use any other software. We'll learn how to apply textures and digital paper to bring your artistic vision to life. I've also prepared some custom brushes and materials for you. As a result, you'll have a unique sketchbook page filled with vibrant textured illustration that can lead you to the next dream project. Okay, our fluffy companions are waiting, so grab your brushes, and let's dive into the world of cats and flowers. A perfect world for an artist. 2. Inspiration Cats: Welcome to the inspiration part of the class. There are millions of ways to paint a cat. And when you're looking for inspiration online, sometimes it's just impossible to stop scrolling. You browse all those stunning cat photos on Pinterest, and the time is up. So I love to have some printed inspiration in my studio, a book, or even a magazine or ad. Today, I want to show you some incredible artists I really love who captured the charm of cats in their own unique way. The first treasure is Theophil Steinan. He was a French painter and printmaker. Even if you never heard the name, you've seen his iconic black cat, for sure. You've seen it many, many times. Let me show you. You'll recognize it right away. That's right. So called hanoi. The artist lived on Montmartre, and it was his favorite subject over the years. He also painted cats in a very special way like this one. And just look at this painting, a global gathering of cats in Monater. This composition is very popular in children's book Illustration. And this one, the next one, you've seen on postcards for sure. I also haven't. And he also painted his wife and daughter a lot. Exactly. We can see right away that he was happy to paint his subjects. So this book is really nice exhibition catalogue. The next one is Louis Wain. I have this vintage poster book, which is quite amusing. I just have to have some printed materials in my studio. Louis Wayne was an English artist, famous for drawing of cats in anthropomorphic manner. I really love how he illustrated different emotions. He created a lot of various artworks. I think we've seen some of them in the movies, and you're going to explore both emotions and fashion and everything. It's really, really nice for inspiration. Just a small book. The next one is something different. Yes, it's the whole book about cats in various styles. I have a copy and translated to Russian, but you can find it in English, of course. So there are different artists and styles all very, very unique. So it's full of inspiration. I wanted to show you the work of TokujaroFujita. He was a Japanese French painter with a very unusual and distinctive style. It's a bit of a combination of both Japanese and European artistic traditions. You can see the type of lines and subtle washes in his work. They look a bit like woodblock prints, I think, used Ink, I love the expression of the eyes, and there are a lot of tiny details. So a lot of storytelling, I would say, in very special perspective also. And here is something even more expressive. Cats by Franz Mark. Let me show you three examples. He was a German painter and printmaker, and as you can guess, he was a main figure of the German expressionism. He painted a lot of animals, and he used bright colors like this one. He also was a founding member of the Blue Rider Journal. So here we can see a few examples of different but very, very unique cats. I love the way he used the color. And now you can see some of my artworks clearly inspired by the cat artists. This one is called The White Cat, and it's inspired by the literary favorite tale of the same name. In my professional work, I love to use a lot of details. Well, you can already see that. I think literature is a great inspiration for cat artworks. And another one is inspired by the novel, The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat More. You can also see a lot of details. Okay, I will see you in the next part. 3. Inspiration Flowers: Now that we've explored the world of cats can't be too many of them. Let's dive into the world of flowers. In my work, I love to combine the modern approach of painting a cat and contrast it with some flowers. So I love the books on botanicals. For example, floorlgu is a collection of botanical illustrations with wonderful textures and outlines and everything. And also some art and design history like the Artico movement. Is rich with geometric shapes, bold colors, and stylized flowers. Let's explore some examples of flo Elgumillustrations and article flower designs. This one is the star of my collection, the garden at Eichstat Amazing book perfectly printed with original illustrations and lettering. This edition is very close copy of the original Botanical Illustration collection of the plates. This book of plants depicts the beauty of the garden at Eichstat in Germany. Let me show you a few examples. The original was published in 17th century with elaborate descriptions, and I can almost imagine that. The flower, the beauty, the details, and the lettering, the calligraphy, everything makes it look like a treasure. These details, the quality of artwork. It's fantastic though we know that main goal of such edition was scientific. It's absolutely stunning, and I need to explore it even more. For now, I just browse the pages and enjoy the pleasant surprises. Here are some descriptions of the plants and flowers. Of course, I can't read it, but that's not a problem for sure. The book is a part of the collection of three books that I have. I love that you can see the smallest details and also the general impression of the size of the traditional botanical illustration plates. They used to be very important scientifically and a little bit artistically. Now, comes the next inspiration, but this time, it's different. It's a collection of Benedictus art deco designs. I found this book online in a very good condition. So it's a German edition, but it's also a translation. Eduard Benedictus was a painter famous for his floral art deco designs. I love the almost abstract shapes of the colorful flowers. These designs were used in fabrics. So if you also make surface pattern design, it's a great inspiration. He used pure colors. This is a very bright and high contrast. But of course, the quality of the print of this relatively old book is not super bright, but I like it so. So here you can see the various combinations of the abstract forms and shapes. Mostly pure color and abstract motifs. It's great for patterns, for fabrics, almost anything. And I love the way you can create a variety of impressions with just simple geometric shapes in one piece. I think we export a lot of beauty, and we are ready to move on. I'll see you in the next video. 4. Materials: Welcome back. For this class, you will need watercolors or gouache. It's a personal preference. I'll work in a cotton sketchbook. You can use loose paper. I'll talk a bit more about it in the next video. I also use some extra slack pressed flowers. I got mine in a hobby store. Well, ideally, you can make some of your own. That's definitely a next step. And in the second part of the class, I'll work on iPad in the Procreate app. Don't forget to do on the brushes and especially the textures I'll be using. Of course, you can use any software. You can use any brushes, and the textures will work anywhere. Now, let's take a closer look at the materials. Here are the materials. You don't have to have everything. I'll just show you what I use, and maybe you'll want to try some of them. So first, I will use watercolors, different kinds. This one is basic set of watercolors in full pens. I use them all the time, and these are so called liquid watercolors. I won't use them in main demo the class, just for the warm up. I really love the effect, but the quality is very different. So just try it out. Use the paper you're going to paint on. It's very important to test the paper first with the liquid watercolors. Then I'll have some watercolors in tubes. I love the combine various brands to have a nice contrast of texture. The size is relatively small, but it's enough for high pigmented paint. So I have few colors. And these are super granulated watercolors. Nowadays, many brands manufacture them. It's just my favorites, especially this one, it's called Lunar black. So obviously, this paint is the combination of three pigments. Usually, you can find the name of the pigment or the number. It should be a letter and a number on the back of the tube. So it's a combination of three different pigments, and you can always find what's inside. It's just super convenient to have it all in one place. And these are other colors that I love, and I'll show them in the warmup. Then I will use white gouache. As usually just very important part. Then we'll have a pencil, just a normal pencil, and, of course, a kneaded eraser it's great because it doesn't damage the watercolor paper. I use it all the time to lighten up the sketch. Now, brushes. I prefer working mostly with round brushes, but it's a personal preference. I usually use sizes two, three, and six. So this one is for larger areas. And I also have a really, really nice mop brush or a French brush size 12. It's synthetic and it holds a lot of water, and it can be a substitute for natural hair. So if you want to change the classical mop brush or French brush like this one, this one is for fine details. A nice substitute to it would be a synthetic mop brush. And here's the set for our breast flowers and ventures. We'll talk more about it in a special part of the class. So basically, you can apply flowers. I have the set here, got it. Especially for this demo. Really nice color. Basically, you can apply flowers using acrylic medium like a clear gesso. It has no color and it's simply invisible or just use the normal gloom. I love the design of this bottle and the smell, so I just got it because of the design. And of course, the tweezers. It's also part of the process to keep things neat. Then I'll use paper towel and masking tape. Also very cheerful. Oh, and of course, the paper. Mostly I will use cotton sketchbooks. It's super nice. I have the bigger like one. It's like a sheet of paper, and I have a small travel cotton sketchbook. You will see it in warm up exercises. I will see in the next video, we'll also talk about sketchbooks. 5. Notes on Sketchbooks: So we've discussed the materials. I also want to say how important it is to choose the sketchbook or paper that works for you. Every artist has unique personal preferences. For my final artwork, I prefer high quality loose sheets of watercolor paper. It just brings me more freedom and flexibility, and I have a lot of sketchbooks, and they all are for different purposes. And yes, I always have reason to buy a new one. Most of them are like diaries to keep recording all the experiments and remember what worked and what didn't. So when creating something new, I can always find unique color combinations or the sequence of steps I recorded in the sketchbooks. Some sketchbooks are more like a plan for larger projects. I love to have a roadmap. Surprisingly, it works best for my focus and creativity. This way, even if I don't have time, I can open up a sketchbook and there are some prepared outlines or some task, and I can just enjoy the process. And I know we are all very busy with many responsibilities. So a little planning makes so much sense. If you want to learn more about sketchbook types and layouts, you can check out my class on sketching with markers. And now let's move on to the next video and talk about texture. 6. What is Texture?: Welcome back. If you look around you, you'll notice the amazing variety of textures, the cotton fabric of your clothes, if you prefer cotton like I do, the wooden handle of your brush, the velvety feel of paper, even the shiny surface of the monitor or tablet you're washing this cloth on. All these textures bring interest to our eyes, and we can add so much to our artwork by using these details too. Texture is both a visual look and tactile feeling of the surface. In watercolor painting, we can create this illusion by adding textures with a variety of brush strokes, layering and washes. We can even expand it and add almost three dimensional objects like pressed flowers. In this class, we will focus on textures created on top of the first layer of watercolor on paper. On top of the first wash layer. This will help bring depth and interest to your work and even create some mood. The key to creating unique textures is free experiment. Try to play around with materials you already use. Watercolor brushes, pencils and paper and see what textures they create. Paint some dots, opaque and transparent brush strokes, combine them together, and just play. In the next video, we'll talk about basic texture techniques that we'll discover in this class. I'll see you there. 7. Basic Texture Techniques: Now that we know what texture is, let's discover some basic techniques that help bring your artwork to the next level. There are so many techniques. If you're interested in some special effects, I have the whole class on watercolor special effects, so you can check it out. It's super inspiring. Here are the basic texture techniques. The first one is wet on dry, the super basic one. For this technique, add some marks or paint on the dry paper. The texture is created with a variety of brush strokes or pressure. It's great for fine details or for outlines. The next one is wet on wet. For this technique, you apply wet paint on wet paper, creating smooth dreamy textures. For example, it works great with liquid watercolors. The next one is dry brush. For this technique, use a dry brush with paint and almost no water to make some rough marks on the dry paper. The brush strokes are visible. As a part of it, I also love to use flat angle technique. Well, that's how I call it. You hold a brush at a very flat angle to the paper, creating a lovely pattern. In the next videos, we will practice these techniques. We'll make some warm up exercises and see what textures they create. I will also show you how I applied them in my real illustrations. 8. Pressed Flowers: Okay, here's one more video before we dive into Praxis. I just couldn't resist including this new obsession of mine. I add pressed flowers to my watercolor and mixed media paintings. They bring unique charm and texture to the artwork. I got mine in a hobby store, but you can easily make your own. I think I need to make a flower press. In the next demos, we'll experiment with using pressed flowers on our watercolor paintings. Let me show you what I'll be using. And then we'll move forward to our warm up exercises. Here we go. I got myself a few packages. They can be arranged by color. Here's my sketchbook page where I applied pressed flowers. So basically, there are two ways I use them. This one is created with a normal glue. You've seen this one before. So I use it in the main demo the class. I just apply the glue right on paper and then put the flour on top. I love the way the flowers look so subtle and natural this way. It makes sense to protect the page. So every time you turn the page, it can damage. So I put a piece of transparent paper on top like this. The colors are super subtle and nice, and I love the feeling of lightness it brings when you use something not ceiling. And this way, I wanted to keep the texture in a very interesting way, the combination of the paint and the texture of the flour. So I used a sheet of transparent paper. I just used a tape or glue to put it on top. The second way is to use an acrylic medium. I prefer clear gesso. When it dries, it looks almost invisible on the page. Let me show you the example. But it seals the artwork. Here, I put the flour on the page and then brush it with a clear gesa on top. It acts like a glue little bit, but when it's dry, it seals the artwork. Of course, the parts that were covered with it. In our case, the flowers. You can touch them, nothing happens. It's super protected. You can turn the page and do whatever you want. The flowers are not so subtle anymore. So these are the ways I use breast flowers or even some herbs. And, of course, you can try some other ways, too. I think we're ready for the warm up exercises. Let's move on. 9. Warm Up: Contrast: Welcome back. I'll use two complimentary colors, red and green. You can see how I use this effect in sketchbook illustration. Just by using these two contrast colors, we can immediately add interest and impact to our artwork. Just a few elements are enough to create these effects. I use a cotton sketchbook here, and I always try to make notes with color swatches and even the number of steps. I used to create the artwork. Now, I'm going to protect the edges with a masking tape of another cotton sketchbook. I got myself a really nice one with cats. So it will suit the class. And then using the mop brush, I'll add a lot of water and apply thick layer of green paint. This way will have a nice wash ready for the texture. Well the colors in tubes work best for this practice because it's easier to apply this way. Let me show you. I have some tiny tubes, but it's more than enough. The paint is thick enough. Then I will use a contrast of the liquid watercolors to create a beautiful and unexpected texture. But first, I need to create a first layer. The surface should be very wet, so I think I need even more pigment. This process is super satisfying. So if you feel that you need additional inspiration, you can just make swashes this way. Now, the surface is super wet. And I'll add the drops of red straight from the bottle in the random manner. Like so. Let's see how it works. And drop Super. It looks like magic, and we can't control the pattern. Beautiful texture appears without our efforts. I love this effect so much. Great. I will use a hair dryer to let it dry it takes time. Liquid watercolors are very unique. So they behave differently. And here it is. I will remove a masking tape. It's always a favorite part. You know what I mean? And our first warm up exercise is ready. We can move to the next warm up. 10. Warm Up: Flower: Welcome back. You remember this fluffy fellow. These pink flowers, let me show you, um. They were created after the warmup that I'll show you right now. We will use different color, but the principle is the same. I will work with large mob brush and paint a huge circle of petals using carmine watercolor. I will use a smaller brush first. I think it will work better. So I'm using the color, which is called permanent carmine. It's a brand name, so you can use any color or just red. So with a lot of water and a very, very low angle, I paint the petals. Like so I almost roll the brush on paper. The angle is super, super low. I keep the brush at the same angle so you can even roll it in your hands. So I paint this huge, huge circle first. After that, I will paint a second circle, a bit smaller inside. So we'll have a beautiful flower that can be used in pattern design, and it's a great warm up. Then I'm going to paint a second circle in the same way. The bigger brush works better because it holds more water, I think. It should be a bit darker, so I take less water. And keep going. I can rotate the canvas. It's not a canvas, but it's just a watercolor paper. So the circle is almost complete. And now I want to add some texture to it. So what should I do? I want to intensify some strokes, like so. So I do the same with another brush, just add more paint closer to the edge of the flower. This will create a bit of depth very, very nice effect. Just want to intensify it. And now I'm going to lift up, lift out some pigment, L. So with water and paper towel and super wet brush, I just lift some paint and support this three dimensional filling of the flour, super simple one. You can do everything with just one brush. The flour can be super small. So I lift the paint all over the place. Now, let's try. And now with a lighter color, I will fill the gaps between our circles. It should be lighter. This way will have a beautiful contrast. Also, I use the same color every time. This effect can work great for pattern design for surface pattern design elements or for some dresses, fashion, you can use just elements or parts of this flour. It's really nice warm up. Now, the last part inside, we will move to the middle with a lighter. But first, let me intensify this layer. The rest of the flour is dry, so when I add pigment here, I don't disturb all the other layers. You can experiment and add another color, but I just wanted to show you this effect because it's pretty easy and very impressive. Now the middle with a light light light color. I keep the brush low like so Sugar. Now I'm going to add a striking contrast with some blue to this very, very middle. Right here. Super, you can create a flower with many, many circles. I cob with blue, and I will add this striking little dot that will immediately add interest. Let me show you right here, right here. It looks lovely, and it can be applied to so many designs. I think we created a lovely sketch, and we can move to the next warm up. 11. Warm Up: Supergranulation: Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed the practice. Now I wanted to tell you about one of my favorite and easy watercolor effects granulation. So what is it exactly? It's a special property of the pigments to cluster on a paper creating a unique texture. This can result in a variety of textures from subtle speckles to amazing abstract patterns. Some pigments granulate naturally, like Indian red or ultramarine. Or the entire series of paints manufacturers with a specific effect. My favorite paint is Luna black. I use it to paint black cats. Let's explore some examples together. Here is my fluffy and very serious dark friend. You'll meet him again in the digital part of the class. And here are the pigments that I used to paint him. So I love to combine a few colors in one layer for this deep, deep effect. Here are some swatches of the supragnulation colors that I have, and I use them on this cat. Let me show you the watches. So you can see that they are darker on one side, and then the texture becomes much more visible. So for the black color, I love to combine three different shades of this super granulated paint, and you will see it in our warm up. I will just create a background with them, but I use them to paint the black cat. And now we can get started. So I will prepare the paint, the lunar black, then violet, and then pink. You should test the colors first because the texture is very, very different. Now I put a lot of water on my cotton sketchbook. A lot, a lot of water. The paint, yeah, I can check that's well enough. Super granulated paint is a bit different than normal watercolors, especially in tubes. So it's a good idea to test them first. Now, starting with the top left corner, I begin adding the pigment. The black, the luna black. At first, it will look like a normal black watercolor. But then you will see the small particles granulate beautifully. Then I will use violet on another corner. And then I will add pink at the bottom. It's important that we leave some white space between the colors. This is where it will granulate most beautifully, like on my Black Cat illustration. Here comes pink. You can see the texture is a bit different. So every color is a bit different. Beautiful granulation over here. And I will add some water here to move the pigment a bit for the beautiful Contrast. Like so. Then I will use a hair dryer to speed things up. I will roll the brush a bit, just experiment and see what works best for you and what colors will you use. No rules here, for sure. At least somewhere we can do whatever we want. Now, I will use a hair dryer, and here it is, magic. So we have a beautiful effect, and I think that I will scan it and use it somewhere for sure. Beautiful, beautiful design, and background. So it looks a bit like my black cat. I think we're ready to move on. Right. 12. Warm Up: Restricted Spread: Welcome back. Here's our big cat once again. You can see the beautiful pattern dexture on its fur. It's created with just one layer using the restrictive spread technique. Here I made the watches. The properties of pigments react in particular way. Basically, one pigment restricts the spread of another. And this is what we're going to practice in this small video. Now, I'll show you the example. First, I'll take naples yellow, and then I will mix it with cadmium orange. Please note that the choice of the pigments is not random, so I will mix these two colors. It will take some time. The orange, cadmium orange should be brighter. Yes, this one. So I will mix these two colors. And we have this beautiful beautiful orange light orange, yellow, light orange color. And then I will add Siper brown. Sometimes it's also called Van dike brown. So I think it will work. Let me try. I take some Siper brown and using the round brush, synthetic. It should be not super soft. I add the stripe, like so. You can see the effect right away. Beautiful texture without any efforts. You can see how it reacts on our mix. We can even try some marks. You can try different pigments on top like Venetian red to add interest or something like sepia. We can add wonderful touch just by layering these heavy pigments on top. Beautiful beautiful effect, and it's not complicated. I really love the way that you can't control much and have this beautiful variation. Now, let's try less yellow and more orange. Let's see how it looks. You can experiment with variety of recipes. Now, let's see how it works. It should also work. Like so. Yeah, the effect is different, but it's still here. It's great for painting cats, lines, all the beak cats, all our fluffy friends, and we're ready to move on. 13. Warm Up: Layering: Here we are. One more warm up to choose from. For this cute fellow, I used a layer of orange as a top layer over the whole painting, even with a bit of red, but that's not necessary. Let me show you how it works. So I made some notes over here not to forget. I will sketch three clouds you can sketch any shape. It doesn't matter much. And I will color them in, let's say, cobbled blue, violet, and cadmium red. And then I will use a top layer with transparent orange to see how it reacts. Let's begin with cobalt, just a cloud. I don't know why a cloud, but I think it looks very beautiful regardless of the drawing skills. You can just paint any shape. When it's done, I will use a hair dryer to speed things up a bit. It's a good warm up to cover the whole shape with a color. You're going to have to think about any composition or anything at all. The second cloud will be violet. I think this color is called Kinecridon let every brand is very different. But the number and the letter on the pigment will always be the same. So if you're looking for specific paint, you can try different brands and find out what you love. Now the next one will be red, cadmium red. That's one of my favorite colors. Let's put it in this corner. So I will use a hair dryer and we'll show you the layering technique. Vinyl touches. Here we go. Our clouds are dry, and let's try a transparent layer on top. I love to use a color called chromium orange, but any orange or yellow that is transparent enough will work. So you can just try what you have in your color palette. Let's apply it to the first cloud. The effect will be immediate. It creates mood right away. You don't have to use even brush strokes, just some broad impression. I love this vintage feel. It creates mood immediately. Some yellow can turn to green. It depends on the pigments and on the brands. It's a wonderful texture if you want to add painterly feel or a vintage look to your artwork. Even this tiny cloud without any composition is really nice right away. Then we will add added to the red. The red gets even brighter right away. It's perfect for painting flowers. Very, very nice effect. I would say even striking at some point. Now let's try the third. This should just add another color transition here. Beautiful color. Very, very different one. It's a lovely effect to add interest and depth to any artwork. We explore a lot of effects, and I'll meet you in the next video. I'll see you there. 14. Demo: Cat Sketch & Colors: Come back. I'm happy to see you still with me. Now we will create a beautiful painting of a cat with flowers. You can paint with me or get inspired to create your own artwork. If you want to follow along my example, I've prepared a pencil outline, so you can use it and save some time so you can get straight to creating. Let me show you the colors I'll be using and we can get started. Here is the sketch. I love to make pretty detailed pencil outlines. Then I lighten it up using needed eraser. That's my usual process. So I use just a normal pencil to make very, very detailed drawing, and then I just use only parts of it. During the process, I decide what works best. Now, I will use a kneaded eraser to lighten it up. The quality of cotton paper is super nice, so I don't have to worry about ruining it. That's why I use kneaded eraser. I use it all the time on any paper. So I lighten the sketch, and then I'll show you the color palette that I'll be using. The first color is cadmium yellow. These first colors off of the flowers. So I will take cadmium red, and then I will take orange. These two work great together. I love this orange from the tube. Here, it's called permanent yellow orange, but of course, you can use any brand. This one super nice, and I love the texture. So we'll have this bright mix for the colors. It looks like fire a little bit. Then what next? We will need something for the leaves. At this moment, you already know how the artwork looks like. So you have the idea. I will use olive green for the leaves. We have this beautiful mix, and I try to mix everything together to see how the combination works. Just in case you never know what happens. Sometimes some surprises are not super nice. So I test everything on the same paper or on the cotton paper. Now, this is red, and this is the mix for the fur. I want to use not just a brown, but a mix of cadmium red and ivory black. And I can also add burnt sienna. So you can see the beautiful rich brown color when we mix red with ivory black. So it's just a black and red. You can use what you have. I love this rich, brown or red black color. And I will use burnt sienna also for the mix. Here we have more neutral brown, and then I will add another layer on top, like we did in warm up exercises. It's a hromium orange. At least it's called like this in my set, and this one is for the eyes. Mine is called Peacock blue, but of course, you can use copleblue or Turkeys blue, something bright. I'll write down all the names I'm using in class materials for you, so you will have a better impression of what I'm using. 15. Demo: Cat Flowers & Leaves: Let's begin. The first step is not necessary at all, but I love to adapt with it. So I decided to show you my process anyway. So as a first layer, I add a subtle subtle layer of subtle subtle yellow like naples yellow or any other, and a bit of cobbled blue. I've learned this technique while painting landscapes, and I find that it works great for portraits and painting animals, too. I add a bit of cobalt on the side, and smooth touches will make it even more transparent, like so. I soften the edges, and we have a beautiful gradient as a first layer. And then I will let it dry. I will use a hair dryer to save some time. So it's dry the magic of video, and now I begin to paint the flowers. I will use the same mix that we discovered in the previous video. I will start painting our beautiful orange flowers using the color mixes that we already know. I begin with the top left corner because I'm right handed, obviously, and you can change the starting point. It doesn't matter much. So I put a sheet of paper underneath my painting hand, not to smudge everything. And I mix the color right on paper. I use the synthetic brush size six. And I paint the outlines of the petals. Mike the pigments right on paper. Like so beautiful transition. These colors are so cheerful, so I really enjoy the process. I use more of orange here and more red closer to the middle of the flower. You can notice that I leave a lot of white space between some of the petals. I will paint them later with a lighter color just for the interest. Like this. We have a very detailed sketch. So it's not like a coloring book, but still, I don't think about composition at this moment or any other thing than paint itself. Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this small mop brush and soften the edge just a bit. Like this. I feel that it works best. It holds a lot of water, so I can easily make these gradients right on the flour, right on paper. We have a very beautiful color combination, so you can't do anything wrong at this point. You just paint as you feel, and it will look beautiful, for sure. Super cheerful color combination. So this is the way that I'm going to paint all the flowers surrounding our main cat character. Mixing the pigment right on paper and leaving some of the white space just for the beautiful effect. So I will continue in the same manner. So here comes the third flower. We already have the two of them painted, and I do the same. As you can see, our initial layer already brings beautiful color play. So I want to support this composition by adding third flower. So we have this three beautiful color splashes. The details are not so important. It's a sketchbook, and though I do love very detailed artwork. Here I'm a bit more relaxed about the number of details. So the petals and now the brighter red. If you add the second layer while the first one is still wet, you'll get these beautiful gradients and color transitions. Like so. I will work with any colors. Doesn't matter. Especially if they are in harmony like this one. And I just paint the shape of this flower, like, so the next step B leaves. But before that, we need to paint this beautiful flower with a variety of colors. I'm using yellow closer to the edge and paint the petals. Remember the direction of the brush stroke. Now, let's intensify some of the petals here. When I see three flowers at the same time, I can better plan the impression. Red and orange are very heavy, so they will cover transparency. We don't need too much of them. They are a bit like a gouache, sometimes. Let's add some texture here and here, keep in mind the direction of the brush so like we did in warm up, where we painted a flower. No. This one, this one, I think our flowers are ready and we can paint leaves. We will need another color. Like we discussed in previous video, I will use olive green. You can try different greens. I'm using the one from the tube. It's really nice. I've tested it on this paper, so I'm not afraid I will paint leaves over here and here and here. So all over our fluffy character. Let's begin. I'm using this beautiful olive green and begin on the left side using the round synthetic brush size six. Basically, you can use just one brush for almost all the artwork. I leave some white for the wines and add a bit of color over here. You can even add some yellow or orange right away. It's a very beautiful color combination, so it will unify our artwork. That's why it's a great idea to plan a color palette upfront. When I was starting out, I never did it, and it was such a surprise for me to find out how to do it because I always worked with intuition mostly. And now I love to plan everything ahead a bit, of course, not everything. Now, let's add a few leaves here. It's still a sketch, so I don't paint too many details. Again, like I would in my other artworks. You can dilute the pigment with water to get subtle color and use just a little bit of water if you want to get intense lines like this. So these are like shadows. You can paint the edges, it's still a sketch, so you don't have to worry about some parts looking to lose. Now, the stem. We just need to support the shape of this flower. I leave some white. Like so. And then we will need a few greens over here. I will make it brighter a bit later, for sure. One layer won't be enough. At the end, I'm going to add a transparent layer of orange on top of these greens and I will work in the same manner for the rest of the leaves on the right side. So our flowers and leaves are almost ready, and we will work on our character. I will just add a few small touches. Okay, let's move on. 16. Demo: Cat Fur: Welcome back. So let's prepare the mix for the fur. As we already tried it, we will use burned sin and a bit of ivory black. Of course, you can use just the brown color that you love. For example, van **** brown. But when you mix watercolors, you always get a unique combination that changes on the paper, and it makes your artwork much more beautiful. So I begin by adding the mix to the ear. I'm using a mop brush with a lot of water, and I paint the whole area of the cat, avoiding the ice and the areas around ice. We will use white gouache later. So it's not scary if you color the ice also. But still, they will be blue, and we don't need too many layers. So I just prepare the first layer for the fur. And as much everything with water, it should be very subtle. And as any water color, this mix will be lighter when it's dry. So we will use a lot of layers for the fur. I think it's the most challenging part in the whole cat painting in any cat painting, is to get the face right, to get these stripes and the expression of the face. The eye smoothen it up, smudge the edges a bit, soften them. And now the first stripes. Don't be scared. I know it's super challenging, but it's just the first layer. We will repeat this step many, many times. I mix the color right on paper here should be darker. These are the main stripes. Like tiger stripes. So we need to support the illusion of depth, the three dimensional feel of the face. So these stripes help us to achieve this goal. They support the shape of the face. Here we'll have small, small mouth. And when it's dry, it's going to look very beautiful. At this stage, it's difficult to believe it. So cheeks, here we have a lot of fur and here. I want to make soft edges. So I need more water. So if you made a mistake or there are no mistakes, of course, but you can always add a lot of water, and it will just be the first shadow layer or something like this. At this stage, everything will look very, very nice if you soften it, like so. Like, so now, the tip of the ear. So it's important that we paint very, very particular parts of the cat like eyes, or the stripes. This way, we can recognize the shape of the cat, and it will look nice regardless of the rest of the painting or the sketch. So let's add even more stripes. Here and the nose. The nose should be very, very dark, and we will add some red, even magenta on top of the nose. For the contrast with flowers, with greens, some fur, here and here. And then I will paint eyes with small round synthetic brush. But for now, I just paint the impression of the face to have everything in right place. Mm hmm. So it looks really nice, I think, and I will take a small small brush and I will paint the ice carefully with the same colors, I paint the outline of the eyes like so. I usually use the brush size two or three for that. I don't use any expensive brushes for this size, I just found some very, very affordable ones in the local art store. For example, mop brushes should be really really great, it makes sense to invest when you buy a mop brush, lasts long and the difference is huge. And for the small synthetic brushes, it doesn't matter so much. Beautiful outline. We already have the impression of the cat over here. When we will add color to the eyes and the layer of white gouache on top, you will see the transformation right away. Now let's add a bit of darker color. I think we should add I think we will add red right away on the tip of the nose. Even magenta. Like so. Super. Yeah, it's a great contrast with green of the leaves. This color sand will be a great idea for the focal point of the face. So I add a bit of orange on the nose. We will soften it up later. We will smug everything with water. No worries. If it's too bright, it doesn't matter much. You can always add some brown on top to saturate it a bit. But for now, we will add the bright ascent. This orange will also be a great contrast with ice. So we will have a striking and bright impression. Now, let's add some to the ears. Like, so And so. And the next step will be super challenging and very magical. I'm using white gauche and our mix for the firm to soften everything up and to add the depth to the fur, like so. I just paint with a mix on top of the fur and around the eyes. I'm using a synthetic brush, which is hard enough to handle white gauche. It's not as soft as watercolor. So I add the white, and you can see the transformation right away. The beauty shines through the layer and the color mixes unexpectedly right on paper. So that was our plan all along around the eyes. Still, it's the first layer, and I will repeat the same step over and over again. Not too many times because it's still a sketch, but if it would be an artwork for a gallery show or book illustration, I would make several layers of the white. So it will look even more realistic in some way, of course, in some way. It is still stylized. Portrait. Now, let's add white here and continue working in the same way all over the cat's face. And of course, then I will use a smaller brush and the darkest darkest color to paint the outlines of the eyes again and to paint the stripes again on the same places. If you feel use too much water, you can always use a napkin to parts and continue in the same way. So I keep repeating the steps many, many times. I add white to the flowers. I will add white to the green a bit later. Now I just want to unify the artwork by adding white elements on top of almost every part of the painting, but very lightly. Now we need to add a few strokes on the stem. And then we can move forward to the most interesting and inspiring part painting blue eyes. Yeah, I think it will work like this. Let's move on. 17. Demo: Cat Eyes: Welcome back, and we are ready to paint this beautiful blue eyes. I use a pico blue color, which is quite similar to coupled blue, I think, or turkeys blue. So using a lot of water and just a plain blue color. I add the blue paint right on the eye, avoiding the highlight area, like so mop brush works perfectly for that. I have a really, really small mop brush, so keep that in mind. Just a few few, few brush strokes. Now the second dye. And while the first layer is still wet, I will add more intense color. I leave the white of the paper for the highlights. But of course, I will add white gouache on top. So if you forgot to do it, it's not scary. I love the contrast right away. We have. So I add the contrast near the highlights here and here. The character shines through and soften it a bit soften it a bit like so. I will lift some paint around the edges just with water. Like so. I lift out some pigment, so we will have this deep impression. And then I will add darker layer around the edges for the shadow. So here we have beautiful edges right now. Very, very soft color transition. Even the highlights are slightly visible. We will use white quar so we don't have to worry about it much. So what's next? Darker color around the edges like shadows. Like so. I'm using more brush, and it creates soft edges by default. Now, let's smoothen things up. Anyway, smudge everything a bit. Like, so we beat the same step all over again. The left eye, the same step. And we should keep in mind the shadow and light areas. So everything will look natural. I lift up some pigment with a smaller brush because the eye is not so big. So I keep refining everything till it feels right. And what I'm going to do next is I want to add shadows with greenery around our cat. And for that, I will use our mix with olive green together and add it around our cat character, like so. It's just the impression of the leaves, not detailed, the impression. We have a beautiful effect, and now I'm going to add a darker stroke on the pupil. Like so. Now that we have this dark background, we can better arrange everything in front. So what comes next? We need to add highlights with gouache as we discussed before. Let's add a few, few dots. Here and here. And of course here also. Let's move on to the next part. 18. Demo: Cat Layering: Welcome back. In this part, we will work with white gouache again and paint another layer of fur. We'll soften the edges and support the three dimensional feel. Now that we have the ice, everything looks clear. I will use both synthetic brush and mob brush. This way, I can paint faster combining the fine lines and soft edges. This is how I usually work. So I add a brush stroke with synthetic brush and then soften it with a mop brush. You can do it with just one brush, but it's just faster. And this way, you can cover the large areas in a very comfortable way. So I paint the shape of the face, and now everything looks so beautiful already. We have a few layers done, and each layer brings interest to our work. The areas around yes is super important. Here we paint very accurately. We have white areas above and the bottom of the eye, and some fur here. Keep in mind the direction of the fur. It's very important. Some strokes over here. I will add some depth to the flowers. So the area around the eyes is the most important. So I work on the second eye, the white gouache. Is a bit tricky because when it's dry, it becomes lighter, and you have to use a lot of layers if you want to have this deep, deep, deep effect. It's better to use few layers than just one thick brush stroke. Now, the chin and, of course, we need to soften everything, to smudge everything right away. So these areas are not that important, so I just use one brush. And I continue this way over and over again. An Now, let's add some depth to the flowers. I carefully add details with red carmine on top of our beautiful orange flower. Maybe I should use a mop brush instead. So we'll have unified look like so, right? Otherwise, it's too sharp. So I add a top layer. This will help to convey the three dimensional effect behind the middle of the flower. So petals are visible, and then we'll have the second flower here. The contrast with ice is amazing, and I will add a bit of red even on the green leaves. On the darkest parts here. Like we did in the warm up, we're unifying the whole artwork. It's one of the ways to do it. It's one of the simple ways to do it to use the color palette and to add a bit of every color in every area. Even here, just a little bit. We tested everything first, so no surprises. Okay, now let's brighten it up. So and let's add some dimension. We need shadows for the value. We need to show the petals, the hint of the petals just a little bit. And then I will continue with fur and white gouache again. But till then I want to add darkening a bit. This leaves should be slightly, slightly visible. So I think it's enough, and now I will continue with another layer of fur and white gouache and So I will take the darkest color and add shadows and tiny details that I feel are missing. We're almost done. I just add things that change during the painting process, so I want to fix them a bit right now. For example, this should be a bit brighter and I add more white. Some areas should be darker and I add more Brown. Right now, I can see everything better. The flowers are so bright, so I want to correct this part a bit. It's very challenging part. Now, I will add more highlights and whiskers over here on top and here and here, very light brush stroke with a small small brush like this, an impression. Great. I think it looks really nice. We're almost done. We're just adding final touches before we move to the pressed flowers. So here some whiskers. In a very expressive manner. So what's next? I think we should increase the highlights. Make them brighter. You can do it so many times. And this eye so the closer to the finish of the artwork, the smaller brush I'm using. Highlights as super important. The eyes are the center of our artwork, so we should be very, very careful. We're almost almost done. I'm just adding fine fine details. You've seen it when we talked about technique, textures, and the different texture types. Now let's move to the final part, pressed flowers. 19. Demo: Cat Pressed Flowers: Okay, one more thing. Let's add even more shine to the eyes by using flat angle technique once again. The one that we discussed in the video on basic techniques. I decided I will need to add another layer. So I use a brush at a very low angle and little water to add texture on the edges. Like so. You can add it a few times and then soften it up a bit and then add again. This will create beautiful beautiful depth. That's it. And now I want to add a subtle orange on top of the entire painting. Not the whole painting, but just parts of it, of course, around the cat. We also practice it in the warmup. Like so. I'm using a mop brush and a very, very diluted orange paint. This will unify the artwork. I think we did the same in the warm number five. We want to unify our painting, so it will be entirely ready for the pressed flowers. The contrast is lovely. The blue eyes, the orange around the cat. Everything looks lovely right now. The red of the nose, super. I think it's almost done. It's difficult to stop, of course, but I think the main idea is clear. I add just a hint of orange to the face near the nose. So we'll have this beautiful, smooth transition. Super. So finally, I think we can finally add pressed flowers. Here's our magical set, and here we go. As we talked about earlier, the flowers, and I will just use normal glue. Our artwork is entirely dry, so I will just put a glue on the area that I think will work best. With this strange brush. I just love the design of this glue. Of course, you can use just a normal one. So I put some glue and using these tweezers, I will transport our subtle friend like so straight to the sketchbook page carefully, like a little something super soft and super gentle, like this. Okay. Now, let's think about another place maybe here. Let's pick another flower. We want to have striking color scene with pressed flowers. Careful hops, the petal, but it's not that important. These pressed flowers super beautiful accent. These pressed flowers will look lovely everywhere. But when you think about painting and composition and you just use them as elements of the composition, it makes everything look even more amazing. Now we will need to put something on top. If you use clear so it's a bit easier. But I didn't want to use any acrylic thing on top of this cat. So let's add something on top. Let's pick the flour. I feel myself like a scientist with these tweezers. I also had to Google the translation of this word in English because I don't know this name. Okay, now, something on top. Like so. Super. Okay. That's a wonderful effect. I think we're almost done, and I will add something on the left right near the green leaves. We have this yellow one. Most of the pressed flower sets are already prepared with colors and shapes, so you can just why one and use it. Like, so we're almost done. And now that I have all these breast flowers ready, I will add the last one. It's also difficult to stop because it feels like you can add more and more. So now we have everything ready, and I want to add some small details just to unify the artwork. Here, I want to add soft edge. We're just adding unity to the whole artwork now that we have flowers, everything is bright enough just to get the general impression of the artwork. So I feel I should soften the edges a bit and even add some orange here for the composition to support the focal point of the painting. I think we've created a beautiful cat with flowers with focused textures and depth. I hope with a cup of coffee or a green tea, you will join me in the second part of the class. We will discover even more beauty together. So I'm very happy with the result. And I'll meet you in the next video. I'll see you there. 20. Thoughts on Digital Painting: Thanks for joining me in the second part of the class. I'm sure you've created something beautiful or you have plans to do so. Now we will work digitally. I worked professionally as digital illustrator for many years, but nothing moved me forward as an artist as much as traditional art. In digital art, you can undo mistakes, make changes, experiment without fear of ruining your work, it's great for client projects. But it's super important for your growth as an artist to embrace the challenges of traditional art. I deeply believe that these both techniques can fuel each other and help us grow as artists. I'll be using iPad and Procreate app, but of course, you can use any other software. If you use Procreate, don't forget to download the digital assets in the project section of the class. I've prepared some brushes and textures for you. This will help add charm of the traditional art to a digital painting. In the next two videos, we'll talk about Procreate savings, so you can skip it if you use other software, and we will move on to the demo. 21. Procreate Settings: Welcome back. Before we begin, let me show you some of the settings I love to use. I go to settings, Procreate and make sure simplified us is off. This way, I have better control over the steps. Then we go to Apple Pencil, and I turn off the double tap. I don't use it, but there are different actions you can assign to it. Instead, I use squeeze option that is supported by my pencil, and I use it to show color palette. You can use it with a double tap, too. Then I will go to Procreate and make some settings there. Let's go to Procrit. We will make a new canvas by pressing this folder with plus. I usually use this size. If you plan to print your artwork, make sure to set a DPI resolution to 300 or higher like 600. Here's the number of layers that you have. For my style, I don't use many layers, so it's not that important. Some creatives use the screen resolution of 72 DPI if it's only for web, but you never know, so I advise to use 300 or even 600. Then we will tap create. Here's the size, here's the resolution and number of layers all set, and we tap create now let's go to the range icon, which is action. Then we go to preferences to controls, and here are all the options. Make sure the assistant drawing is off. This way, we keep our natural way of drawing. Here's what I also use. Let me show you. I use full screen for finger tap. Let me show you how it looks. Let's open some artwork, for example, this one, now for fingertap. Yep, the full screen. Now let's get back to our preferences. And then another setting. So we're back to the gesture controls. And here I use clearly a tap and the scrap is on. Let me show you how it works. It's really nice new gesture for me. I make a few steps on a layer like this, and then just rub it like so, and the layer is clear. So these are my personal preferences. Of course, you will have your own, and I'll meet you in the next video with another tip. 22. Pencil Pressure Curve: One more thing. If you draw a lot, it's important to take care of your hand. I've drawn professionally for many years and prefer art supplies with a very light touch. I don't use colored pencils much and prefer brushes. Here's my personal preference for working with Apple pencil in Procreate, which you might find helpful. Here we are. We go to the wrench icon and tap pressure and smoothing. You can change the pressure of the pen and pull the arc up. This is my usual setting, but you can always reset it, like so. I use it as a general preference, but it can be done for separate brushes as well. Something like this. Let's move on to the next video where we'll talk about how to apply textures. Super interesting. Let's move on. 23. How to Apply Textures: Welcome back. I have a lot of textures on my iPad. I love to use real art supplies in digital work because they add charm and uniqueness to the artwork. You can find this whole collection in my botanical bundle. So there are two ways to apply texture. You can use digital pieces of texture or use texture brushes. They will apply as you draw. We will explore the first option. And then I will show you another one, too. The same works for using paper. So we go to actions. Add insert a photo. You can use it as a top player or anywhere else. Let's choose some texture, cover the entire image, like so, and then change the blend mode to multiply or something else. You can experiment and try different modes. So I love to use overlay or multiply. Then we play with opacity, and you can also change the saturation of the texture like this. This is how I usually work. So you will have this beautiful grainy effect. I usually use it on my artworks as a top player. Then another option is to use brushes. They behave like usual brushes, but instead, they paint with texture, like so. So you create this screen effect using a brush on top or on any other layer. You can even change the default size of the brush. Of course, you can change the plant mode like we did before. And let me show you how to change the default size of the brush. You go to brush properties and change the minimum size. This way you can work with more details. That's right. Meet me in the next video, and we'll talk about using paper and stems. Let's move on. 24. How to Apply Paper and Stamps: Welcome back. Before we move forward, I wanted to show you how to use paper textures and stamps. That will immediately add depth, interest and unique feel to your digital art. I've prepared some custom textures for you. Don't forget to download them in class resources. Now, let's explore how to apply paper textures and stamps in Procreate. Here we go. As we discussed in previous videos, there are two ways to apply paper as a digital texture or as a brush. My favorite way is to use a high resolution digital image as a separate file. I create a new layer, go to actions, add insert a photo. I pick an album with watercolor papers. I have some special effects here, and the paper should cover the entire canvas. When I use it as a bottom layer, I don't change the blending mode, just opacity a bit. But sometimes it makes sense to change the blend mode for the top layer to multiply. You can also try different blending modes. With paper, it's always a bit of experiment. Now, let me show you how it works. With one of my favorite brushes, I use it to paint petals details. So the mode is multiply, and I've also included it as a bonus download for you. So you'll find it in class resources. This is the brush, very soft and painterly petals. So if you paint on top of the paper on the top layer, multiply mode works best. You can see it right here. You change the pressure of the brush, but the effect stays the same. Of course, you can also use paper as brushes like we did before. They will behave like usual brushes. Now, let's explore stamps. They also behave as usual brushes. In standard Procreate set, there are some stamps in water tap, and I'll be using my splatter stamp. You can use any stamps or download this one. So I change the size of the stamp and just use it as a brush. You can also add some color. You click the alpha log here, so everything you do stays inside the shape of the stamp. So you can easily change a lot of things. Let's pick a color, something something bright like yellow, then we'll need to choose some other brush, of course, any brush. We know this one. And you can color the stemp or the part of the stemp with this color. So it can be anything you can color just parts of it, and it can be really nice effect. We will use it in our work. You can also change the shape and the size of the stamp like usual object. And I think we're finally ready to move to our digital painting demo of a black cat. Let's move on. 25. Demo: Black Cat Hydrangea: So we begin by creating a canvas. You already know what we're doing here. We create a new canvas, and I already have my sketch ready, and I just add it. I usually lock the layer and change the opacity. Let me show you. So I lock the layer, so nothing happens, and I usually make it a bit lighter. So it doesn't bother me much. Here we have a color palette. And if you want to use your own personal strokes, you can use any ink Brush on top layer and draw your outline like this. Or, of course, you can use this sketch for the purposes of the class. Please feel free to use the sketch that I provide. And also, please keep in mind that I have a reference photo open on my other old iPad. So it's not that I'm drawing from my head and imagine everything as I go. Of course, I don't follow the photo straight, but I still have the idea of the black cat that I'm painting. So I will work with my sketch. So I don't need this top layer, and I will make it a bit brighter. And I'm going to apply the first layer of paint on top layer and create a new one in multiply mode. We explore this a lot, and this is how I usually work. So I pick a brush, and make this first layer of subtle yellow like I would do with the real watercolors. So I use a dry sponge texture brush and light yellow color and cover all the outline. Then I add Von so I change the size of the brush, and this one is a bit sketchy, so I don't need sketches has another meaning, I think. So this is a bit sketch mode, I would say, and you don't have to think about shapes or anything else at this moment. So I cover the ear, the head, almost everything here. Later, I will erase some of the edges. So no worries about it right now. I can add a few more colors just for the interest. It's like painting with oils, using glazing. It creates beauty just by using the variety of hues. Then I'll show you the principle of how I paint hydrana, the flowers, petals and basically everything else. I use the vintage paper brush and add some areas of paint. Change the size a bit of bacity. I use dark violet closer to the middle of the flower and lighter color closer to the edges. And then I will smudge everything using dry sponge brush. And so I use the lighter color closer to the edges, the lightest violet on top. Later, I will even use white color. You can change the brush, anything. I will smash it, and then I will repeat this step over and over again. That's why I can use very, very broad stroke at this very moment. That's a cool tip to use with color palette, by the way. Now the brighter, even super bright color on top. This one should work. Hydrnga can be so bright and it can be red. It can be so beautiful with different hues. I saw this one in our holiday, so even blue will work. Then I want to try and add a bit of color on top. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to smudge everything using dry sponge brush as we discussed, like this. The effect is immediate. So you can see right away, it looks like a painting. You can change the opacity of the brush. This will change the effect it makes. So you can find the perfect balance, at least somewhere you can find it in your artwork for sure. And now you just smudge everything and make the smooth transition like you would do with a brush. So I will repeat this step a few times. I can try different colors, make it darker, and then smudge it again. So it works like with traditional painting when you blend a few layers, and it makes a beautiful deep effect right on paper. So now I'm going to use a few brush strokes on top, and I will work in the same manner on all other flowers and also our beautiful black cat. You will see the same principle all over again. I will color all the flowers, all the petals, and then our black cat. Let's move on. 26. Demo: Black Cat Hydrangea Petals: Welcome back. And we continue painting the hydrangea flowers. I use the same brushes as in previous video. I use darker color under the petal edge and the brighter violet closer to the top of the flower. You can almost randomly combine the colors from the color wheel. Don't forget to download the color palette. So I use the darker color here. This way we create the illusion of depth. And a bit of three dimensional feel, which is quite nice for the hydrangea flowers. This one is most detailed. I keep in mind the direction of the brush stroke. It's not that important, but I still love to have this visual dynamic. Now, the blue you can use as many colors as you like at this point, of course, from the color palette of the violets and blues, when you smudge everything, you'll have a beautiful gradient like this, a bit darker. Here, and next, I'm going to use a writ pen and paint the darkest dark inside the flower. You can use any brush from the drawing tab. Actually, it doesn't matter much, but it should be a bit like inks or pencil brush, so it should be not so transparent. So I paint the darkest darks. This way, we have a beautiful illusion of depth and almost three dimensional feeling. I have a really strong wind behind my window. Now, it's two big. And then I will much everything like we did before. So it doesn't matter if the color is too dark or if the stroke is not so perfect, which is absurd. Now, let's see what we have here. And next, I'm going to paint the highlights with white right closer to the top edges. This way, we will have a beautiful contrast and three dimensional feeling. I use a bit of white, but not that much. I will repeat the same step all over again. But now you can already see that I'm basically sculpting the petals. You can work with more details on the front flower and leave something to imagination for the background. I really love this one, and I want to add a lot of highlights here. So I add a lot. I keep in mind the direction of the brushstroke as we did before. And then I'm going to smudge everything and you will see the bold and dramatic effect it will have right away. So I'm going to use the same brush and I smudge everything with a very light touch. You can change the opacity of the brush, and this will also change the strength of the smudging here and here, we have beautiful effect. Now, some shadows will soften this one. You can see the three dimensional feeling. I usually hide the sketch layer from time to time just to check how everything looks. It looks really nice. So I'm going to repeat the same steps on all the other flowers and petals. I will add lighter violet as a basic color and add shadows with darker one or blue underneath the edges. So now I'm going to move to the left side, and I will do the same, but it won't be so detailed. Since we here we have a cat's face, and I don't want to be too much distracted. I begin with the same steps and I can skip a few I can skip a few layers. Let's see how it looks. I use some broad strokes, and it will be modern enough for a beautiful effect, especially near the cat's face around the cat's face. I will use the same color, and I will also keep in mind the general composition and the feeling of the painting. As you've noticed, I use large broad brush strokes. I swatch the color from the right side to save some time. Maybe here. Just the impression of the battle. I leave the space of the cat untouched for the moment. This part looks like a sketch a bit. But then I will smudge everything again and it will be quite fine. Let's see how it looks. The edges will be raised later, so I don't have to worry about it right now, and I think we're ready to move forward to paint our black cat, the most challenging part. I'll see in the next video. 27. Demo: Black Cat Fur & Eye: Welcome back. We are ready for the challenge, and we're going to paint our black cat. I'll be using the same brushes and same principle. So I will begin with a dry sponge brush, and I will use some dark color to put the first layer of paint for the fur. Something like this. Very, very broad strokes. I use the blending mode of multiply, like we did before, like I showed you in some videos. So I cover the whole fluffy body of our companion. And here I will be more careful. I try to keep in mind the shape of the face and draw the brush strokes around the eyes, I will add a bit of bloom. Like I would do with traditional paint. You've seen this cat in watercolor in my sketchbook. We explored it in super granulation part of the class, and I was so inspired that I thought that this would be a beautiful demo in case you want to try a few tricks. So I just mix the colors right on the digital paper like I would do in traditional artwork. I color the whole body. And then I will add a bit of color on the ears. It's still a bit of a sketchy. Again, not sketchy, but sketch, sketchbook style. So it's not super precise or super detailed. Then I'm going to add a bit of red to the ear. It's not the red red, but it's a mix of violet, I think. So I will add it here, I think it's too bright. So I just mix everything like I would do with gouache or watercolor. This way, we have a beautiful, unique texture on the cat, and it won't look super digital in a sense of this word. Now, let's add some strokes of lighter color to support the outline of our fluffy companion and this should be enough. Just a few strokes for outline. Then I'm going to add a few color cents with ink brush. But before that, I need to color the whole body. Black and blue work great together. For example, if you're painting a raven or a cat or a black cat that looks like a raven, you can add a few lines over here. These brushes are a bit transparent and this way you have a beautiful layering. Here some shadows. And I will add the light layer of blue all over the cat's fur. So now I'm going to add a few colour scents using ink brush. You've seen this brush before? It's a red band brush. I add some details here. And next, I'm going to check how everything looks without outline, like we did with flowers. So I use a lighter color to paint. So did a few lines here. And on the face. This illustration is not super detailed. You know, I love extra detailed work. This one is more of the impression. It has a painterly feel to it. Then I will support the outline with the same color. No too bright, but maybe a bit here, just paint how it feels. And in general, smudging everything again works great. So I will smudge. The face. Everything looks smooth. That's our goal. And now I'm going to see how everything looks without outline. Well, it looks really beautiful. And without outline, it will look even better. Three dimensional feel and the depth of the artwork. And now we're going to paint an eye. It's the brightest part of our illustration, and we're going to use the ink brush and the yellow color. It's quite easy. We just color it with yellow, paint a few shadows and white highlight on top. We have a limited color palette. So this bright bright yellow shines right away. Let's put a highlight here and here and here. You can even smudge it a bit to make a beautiful smooth color transition. When you have highlights and everything put together. Then I'm going to paint whiskers. I still have the outline, so it's a good idea to do it right now. Then I will hide this layer till the end till the end, till the final step. Now I'm going to add just a few strokes with inky brush and paint highlights. I create a new layer on top and just draw this here. And here. This should be enough. Of course, I will smudge it afterwards also, but not that much, because usually we see the whiskers of the cat. And then I'm going to add highlights on the entire artwork. So I hide the layer and work on the highlights with just lighter color and our usual brush. I add highlights on the whole cat. Now the next step. I will duplicate the outline layer. So I already love how things look without it. I will make a copy of this layer and look at just in case something happens. That's a habit from Photoshop, and I will also duplicate the cat layer just in case. It's always a good idea. Let me show the whiskers. Then I'm going to smudge it. Let's smudge everything. I need my hand, uh huh. And now I'm going to duplicate this layer also. So now we have the file that is modern enough to make mistakes if we want to. So what I'm going to do is paint over the outline and then smudge everything like we did before. This way, we will have this painterly effect of the painting. I use the word paint too much, but still you understand what I mean. And I use the light color right on top the very edge and right on top the outline. I use different colors, and then I smudge it like so. This will bring realistic feel right away. There are no lines, but still, I love to keep a few of them, and that's the mix of my style. So I keep the smudging to the very light light light touch. You can smudge the outline using subtle brushstroke, like so. So I basically soften the outlines with a smudge dog. I'll see you in the next part. 28. Demo: Black Cat Petals Details: Welcome back. And now we're going to work on the edges. Remember, we have this outline layer. I made a copy just in case. So now I'm going to use eraser and wintere paper brush, and I'm going to lighten up all the edges in our illustration, like so. This subtle work we bring unity to our illustration, and I just love to use this way of working. So I work all over the painting, and I lightly delete the outline, like so, especially right on the edges. Here and here, we already have the shadows. And then after I'm done with the outline, the cat's face, of course, I will repeat the same steps with highlights and shadows again. Here, we don't need any outlines here, especially near the lightest parts where they are clearly seen closer to the cat. Here and here, we should have the unity of the whole illustration. And now I'm going to draw the darkest shadows. Once again, areas that look too smooth. I need to support the shadows to make the shapes more visible. And then I will match them again like we did before. So now I just smudge two, and I will just smudge the edges softly with the color of the background. Like so. This will create different shape. So you can use your intuition a bit, what feels right, what shape you like, best. It's a difficult part. We don't have to smug too much, just to give the impression with a very light background. And then I'm going to work on the eye again. So now I'm painting the eye, using the rib and I paint a highlight again, and then I'm going to smudge everything and then paint again and smudge again. This should be darker. Absolutely. The outline around the eye should be more visible, and then I'll try to smudge it a bit. But still, I want to keep the outline sharp enough to draw the viewer's eye. But of course, it's also a personal preference. Sometimes soft eyes look very beautiful. I smudge the face, soften the features, whiskers. Super important part of the cat and the nose here. A few details here. In part, it's simple, but it's super, super important for the whole impression from the artwork. And I'm going to repeat the same steps with flowers and petals again. We painted our black cat, and now we need to unify the whole artwork. I can work on details forever, but it's time to move on. We need to add balance. Our artwork is almost ready. Let's move to the next part where we'll add final details and texture. We will add depth, interest, and unique feeling to this illustration just by applying texture from the traditional art technique. I will add a few lines closer to our main character. The petals are more visible and then smudge it again. This process can be endless, but we need to move on. I'll see in the next video, we will add details and export our beautiful illustration. Let's move on. 29. Demo: Black Cat Textures & Stamps: Welcome back. Here's our beautiful illustration, and we are ready to add final touches and a paper. But before that, I need to smudge these wins a bit. Like so. So they won't be so detailed. So I will create a new layer for the paper and put it underneath the cat. This one will be for the paper here. Then I go to add and pick the paper texture. For example, let's choose this one. And I cover the entire canvas. Then I'm going to change the opacity a bit, so the paper will look lighter. And I think I want it to look less saturated, so we can easily do that. This way, we have a balanced artwork and I create a new layer using a multiplayer mode. And here I will add a texture. Repeat the same steps. We add special texture. You've already seen this one. I cover the entire canvas again. This texture is on top. So here are different blending modes and some effects are really beautiful. I love this one. It looks super nice, but the opacity should be less. Usually, I change the saturation of the texture on top. This way, I can use almost any texture with a beautiful grainy effect, right on top of any painting. So the saturation is done. We can change the opacity, and it looks amazing right away. The depth, everything has a perfect balance now, and the paper should be adjusted a little bit. And now I want to add some stems. I will create a new layer. On top of the cat. Change the blending mode, and I will pick the splatter, like I showed you in the videos before and put a few splashes just like so. We can easily transform it, rotate it, change the scale, follow your intuition to find the balance of the shape, how it feels right. So dynamic, something like this, or maybe I should rotate it a bit. Then change the opacity a bit, and I think we can lighten it up with a razor. It will look more natural this way. Like when you use some splashes from inks and we can now rotate it again. Yes, it looks better now. I will add another one on a separate layer, so it'll be easier to transform a new layer, change the blending mode. And the same brush, something like this. We can rotate it to keep the balance, so they won't be symmetrical, just to add interest like it would look with the usual splashes or random brush strokes, and I lighten it up with an eraser. Something like this, maybe change the opacity to keep the balance. I will look like we have a beautiful background. Painterly feel with a combination of some expressive strokes and splashes. I think we created a beautiful artwork. I love the play of textures, and actually, you never know how they would work. So it's always a good idea to experiment and to try the plant mode for every layer to see how it works. That's the beauty of using the traditional textures in your digital illustration. I think it's always a pleasant experiment, a very joyful one. Now, let's export our cat. We go to Actions, Share, pick a format. Usually, it's speck and then we save the image. Super. I'll see you in the next video. 30. Your Assignment : Super, I'm happy to see you've made it this far. You watched the entire class or some parts of the class. And now you are ready to work on your own illustration, featuring our fluffy companions and flowers. Your assignment for this class is to create a cat and flower illustration using any techniques we've learned in this class and upload it to the project gallery. You can follow along one of my demos or experiment and discover what you love. You can share just a sketch. It's always so inspiring to see what you create. I'm always very surprised. Feel free to use the materials I've uploaded in class resources. There are brushes if you work digitally, a color palette and an outline. This will help you save some time. If you want to add something more, I have a whole procreate bundle available on skill share. It's a unique pack of watercolor and ink brushes with custom paper textures and more. Just check it out. And of course, you can always get inspired by my book Brilliant Inks. You can also share your project on Instagram. I love to report artworks. Don't forget to tag me right on image, so I can find it. Okay, we have one more video to go. 31. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on completing the class. If you're like me, you'll probably watch it again. I hope you enjoyed exploring the perfect world of cats and flowers, and next time you'll scroll through the cat images. You'll think about textures. Today, we've learned how we can enrich our artworks. Don't limit yourself to realistic textures. The key to creating unique textures is free experiment. So observe the world around you, the fabrics, metal, the plants, and imagine what brush strokes you would use to depict them. Try to play around with materials you already use. Sketchbook works great for recording your experiments or collecting small studies. It's your feeling for the subject that makes your art unique. And our fluffy friends and flowers are your joy to study. Digital painting offers so many benefits. You can undo mistakes and have no fear of ruining your work, but it's super important for your growth to embrace the challenges of traditional art. I think these both techniques can fuel each other and help you grow as an artist. So if you enjoyed watching this class, please leave a review. It means a lot. Just a few words would be great. And you are very welcome to check my other classes. I'm sure you'll find a lot of inspiration. You can also press the following button above somewhere to get notified about some news, giveaways, new classes, and projects I'm working on. And you can also follow me on Instagram. That's it. I'll be waiting for your artworks and get back to my imaginary cats. See you next time.