Creating Digital Watercolor Paintings in Procreate

1. Hi! Class Intro: Hi, My name is Gena Holiday, and I am an artist, an illustrator for Minneapolis, Minnesota. I do a lot of digital watercolor illustration work. It's something that I work heavily in, and I'm excited to share some of my tips and resources with you in this class. I'll be teaching you three techniques to learn digital watercolor illustration will be using. I've had Pro your Apple Pen and the procreate at, and we'll be diving into some really quick, easy and fun ways to use watercolor digitally. By the end of his class, you'll feel confident creating digital watercolor artwork, and you'll be able to utilize many of these tips in tools for future products. The first thing we'll do is get set up for your project, so let's get started. 2. Setting Up Your Project: so the first thing that we're going to do is grab our apple pencil. You also need your iPad and you'll need the app procreate. Open it up. You'll see something projects that I've worked on in the past. We're gonna go ahead and create a new canvas by clicking the plus sign in the right hand corner. From here, you'll be able to see different canvas size options available. I also have some custom sizes that I've added, and at the very bottom you can create your own custom size as well. For this project, I'll be selecting the square canvas, which is 2048 by 2040 pixels at 72 d p. I. If you like to just resize it so you can see the entire campus on your screen, you can take your two fingers and bring them closer together. If you're looking Teoh, use something for Web. You can keep it at 72 dp I If you're looking to print it, I would recommend doing it at 200 to 300 dp I When you're setting up that custom canvas next, we're going to go into laying down our first sketch 3. Sketching Your Scene: So the next thing we're gonna do is create our sketch that we will do What a color on. So the first thing you want to do is make sure that you select a new layer whether to square buttons in the right hand corner. Um, and you can add a new layer. And then from there we're going to choose a pin or pencil tool that you can sketch with on the right hand corner. I love the choose that the color black. If I'm doing like a pencil sketch and then under brushes and sketching, you can choose a pencil I always used at six B. I use a lot of the standard tools that procreate has, and those have seemed to work for me. And so that's what I use. And then from here, you're gonna lay down your sketch ideas. So what you want to do and think about as you start to sketch is what, um, large objects or shapes can you use? We really want to focus on filling the space with really big shape so that the technique of water color and the different things that I'm going to teach you in the course you can easily see. So in this case, what I'm gonna do is I'm going to create a border of, like, floor owes and leaves, which are very simple shapes, they just drawing some curved lines for the leaves and then squiggly circles for the flowers. And then in the middle of that, I'm actually going to draw a girl. And you can follow my lead by just drawing like an oval shape for the head doing the hair. However you want it two lines that go out to the side for the neck and shoulders and then a line across for the for the shirt. And then from there, I'm just gonna fill in the space with some more leaf shapes in the last touch I'm going to add is 1/2 moon in the sky. I don't really like her hair, so I'm gonna go ahead and erase it. The tool that I use to erase like detailed lines is the studio pen. But one cool thing that you can do is if you're drawing, you can press your finger down on the eraser tool, and it will use the same brush that you are using to draw to erase. So if you're looking, this will help in common handy when we're doing watercolor. Right now, I'm gonna go ahead and use a studio pentti race. But that's just a quick tip. So from here, I'm actually gonna add a little bit more flowy here so I can add just more details and color to it and also to keep in line with those large shapes that we're gonna fill. Mostly, just focus on that. Focus on adding large shapes. You can totally do the same style of illustration that I'm doing right here, or you could do something on your own. The biggest thing to keep in mind is make sure that you're using large shapes. Also, just keep it simple and very. Abbott, You can also trace an idea by going to the image, adding an image into that A new layer. I'm actually using an image from unspool ash dot com, which has free photo images that you can use. I will share some of my favorite ones that you guys kid use for learning this process. We're gonna just enlarge that item that we want to use from this image. It's on its own new layer, and I'm gonna press the end on that layer and bring the opacity to the left, which makes it go lower so you can barely see it. Make sure that you create a new layer. Grab your sketching tool again. And then from here you're just going to go ahead and outline those main minds in that image . So in this case, it's a teapot. So we're going to make sure that all the lines on the outside of the teapot or taking into account and then any details that air inside and you can also add the line for those. Or you can make it your own and add your own lines. So what I'm doing is a little combination of both. I'm taking some of the main major lines outside that give it its structure. But then I'm also playing a little bit with what's inside and not following it too closely . You'll also just like if you ever use anybody's images, these are completely free. You do not have to credit the artist, but it's a great idea just to do that because we like to give credit where credit is due from the person that shot this image. Although this is a new piece of work, their idea of how all of these things air laid out is their idea. So I'm gonna credit each of those photographers in the project area so you'll be able to see and grab images that you think might work for this project. So once you got done doing that, you'll go ahead and hide that background layer. And there you goes your Scotch. You can use this press the selection tool. You could make it smaller, Um, and you can use this for the rest of the watercolor techniques that I'll be teaching for the class. Next up, let's take a look at some water color brushes. 4. Setting Up Your Watercolor Brushes: So next we're going to dive into brushes. You'll go ahead and create a new layer underneath your sketch layer by clicking the plus sign in the layers tab. I'm gonna delete that image that was there. We don't need that layer anymore and make sure I stay in that new layer. Click on the brushes area and just There's so many brushes had procreate offers, and it can be overwhelming. But for the purposes of watercolor what I have found a Z just 2 to 3 brushes that I use religiously. If you go into any brush that's on here, you'll see that you can adjust or edit different pieces of that brush to make them fit. What you're looking for. The watercolor brushes that I use mostly, if you go for the 1st 1 will show you. It's under artistic, and it's the Googoosh brush. The glass prize covers a large surface area. You can adjust how it renders, but I like the glaze adjustment within it. And then the 2nd 1 that I'll show you is the calligraphy brush and calligraphy. It is called blotchy. That brush is great for watercolor as well, so I'm going to show you some examples of using those brushes by clicking on the colors area and then choosing a light color and then left hand side at the top. That little toolbar. You can adjust the size of your brush, and in the bottom one, you can also adjust the opacity. So once I'm gonna turn both of those up on 100% and then just kind of show you a little bit of how that go wash brush paints. So by adding multiple layers, you can add more color like you would with a normal paintbrush. And then here's an example going back to that blotchy brush. Though this is Aziz Bigas, the Bacci brush goes. The surface area that it covers is a lot smaller, and then the consistency of the color that is on the page changes with that blotchy brush. It's more like a water saturated brush, but I like using both of those brushes when it comes to creating watercolor that looks realistic digitally, so those are the main brushes that will be using for this course. Go ahead, test them out, get acquainted and I'll see you in the next video. Next up will dive into the first digital watercolor technique 5. Technique 1 : Outline + Fill: So now I'm going to show you one of the three techniques that I use for water color. This 1st 1 will call it outline and color, so you'll create a new layer underneath the sketch layer that you have. And in the sketch layer that you have, you can click on that click on the in that little in that's on the right hand side and you'll see opacity and some other options come up. Bring the opacity all the way to the left at about 20% or so, so you can barely see that sketch layer. Now go back to the new layer and choose your color from the color will in the right hand side. And then I'm gonna use the googoosh brush, which is under artistic, and I'm gonna bring that goulash brush to about 50% or so. And this technique is all about outlining and then doing those breast strokes within. So I'm gonna outline this little handle on the Are the spout abs Arianna T on the teapot and then what you want to do is just color in like you're using a coloring book because we're using this brush. It's gonna look like paint strokes. Now, what you want to make sure of is that you color everything without picking up your pen tool . Because if you pick up your pen tool and then lay color on top of it again, it's going to create a darker, um, just a deeper, more richer layer of color on top. So I do that sometimes by toe add shadow. Um, actually, what I'm gonna do is I'm going to use different colors for each little area on this teakettle or teapot, and I'm going to use that same technique, keeping the goulash pin at about 50% and choosing a different color and then outlining one area of it and then coloring it in vertically or even horizontally. Um, like you would if you were painting with a smaller tip brush in each of those strokes that you use and that show up just really helped to make it look more hand painted. I mean, you could just keep practicing, utilizing this technique by choosing different colors for every section that looks a little different or every, you know, big shape that you see on the on the teapot. What I would do is test how different colors and how they have a look together by using the color will, um, you don't have to worry too much about everything looking super neat because the thing that makes it look most riel or realistic is the fact that there might be small mistakes. So you can see a little bit how I colored over the yellow and in the way that those that teal or back Aqua, I guess, And the yellow overlap is a natural thing that might happen if you were actually hand painting this. So I'm gonna go ahead and finish off the rest of this by outlining and shading in each of those areas and I'll show you my finished product. The last thing I'll do is turn off the sketch layer and you'll see the finished piece. Next. Let's move on to technique number two 6. Technique 2: Paint + Erase: So the next technique that will be going over I'm going to call paint any race. What do you want to do is create a new layer to paint on. Make sure to drag that you can hold on to it and drag it right under the sketch layer so that the color comes up underneath that layer. And then you also want to lower the opacity of that sketch layer like we did in the last video. So once you've done that, will move on to painting as we start to paint. Will want to create new layers for each piece or part of the illustration. So we'll have one for the leaves. One for the girl, um, one for her hair, the sky, etcetera. What I like to do is start with the farthest thing away on whatever I'm working on. So in this case, I'm using the girl. I'm gonna draw her face. I'm grabbing the goulash pin again, having it at 100% capacity and 100% size, and I'm going to lay down some color on her face. So the biggest thing to focus on when doing this technique is the water color texture or look itself. So what I like to use is large brush strokes, and we're just gonna lay down that color, and then we're gonna go back in and erase all of the things that are outside of the lines that we want to keep. If you don't like it, press the undo button and start over again. Just adding it thin layer, not picking up your pinto unless you want to add more color. And I add more color, or just like deep in that tone to areas where I want to add shadow. Um, and so that's what I'm doing here. So next we're going to erase the excess paint by clicking on the eraser tool. You can choose whatever brush you want to erase with. I'm going to show you two different brushes that I used to be raised. The 1st 1 is picking up that Googoosh tool again as a an eraser brush. There, you'll see as you take off the paint. You kind of get it more organic look, and the line is not as clean, but it's that same tool that you used to paint. So it comes off in a similar way that it went on. What I like to use, though, is a clean the racing tool and that if you get go under the inking section, you can grab the studio pen. And that is what I use often to erase like detailed areas. Because it is a small pen, we can get into some of those just really tiny areas to you race, and it gives you a really clean look once you have gotten rid of that paint that you no longer want. So I'm gonna go ahead and just clean up the rest of this around the girl, and then we'll move on to another section, so I'm going to jump up it to a different area. Instead of focusing on the girl, I'm going to create a new layer and work on the Leafs. So I'm gonna choose some green tones here. And because it's a smaller section, I'm actually going to adjust the brush size of that gosh brush and just start to fill in those leaves again. You want to start with a thin layer so lightly just move your brush or your pin down on the screen, and then you'll want to add additional layers, remembering not to pick the brush unless you want to add more color to that area and then just follow that with each leaf. What I like to do is change up the colors in the leaves, so every time I do a new leaf or what I'll do is do like 1 to 2 leaves in one color, and then I'll change it up at a dark relief lighter. One. You can also go back and add a darker tone to different parts of the leave to show shadows , and just doing that easily just adds more depth and interest to your piece. And then again, like before, we're going to grab our eraser tool. For me, it's the studio pin and then erase what is on the outside of those leaves. Another really fun way to add texture or to take color away when you're racing is to go ahead and use that Go wash brush, bring it up to 100% size and then just lightly taps different areas of what you've painted and you'll get that watercolor a factor. Look because you know, sometimes when you actually painted with watercolor, different areas have less paint on them. And, um, this is a great way to get that look digitally. So next I'm just gonna fill in the rest of the leaves. The next one that I do, I'm gonna show you another technique way that you can color it in. And that's just by using circular motions instead of the strokes. And that gives you a different look, but it's still that watercolor. I think this one even looks a little bit more natural, then just using those paint brush strokes. So just play around a bit with how you use your brush and see how you can make it look more realistic using that gouache brush and coloring in those shapes and leaves. So once you have gotten comfortable with that, let's move on to the last technique. When I will finish off this painting 7. Technique 3: Selection Tool: So the last technique I'm gonna teach you is the selection way to do it. So we're gonna add a new layer. And then if you go back into the sketch layer, you could lower the opacity down, um, so that you can barely see it go again back into your new layer, click on the little s icon at the top left hand corner, and then that will put you in the selection tool you'll make. Want to make sure that it's on free hand, which you can see at the bottom left hand of the screen and just freehand trace outside of the lines that you have there. So in this case, I'm tracing that leave, and then I'm grabbing, making sure that I have my brush that I want to use, which in this case, is the goulash brush and a 100% size and opacity. And then I'm going to fill in that selected area using those same tips and tools on just using the goulash brush. As I've shown you in the previous videos, you're gonna fill in those selections, and so if you want to do use the eraser, you could hold down that you raise tool and it will give you that Googoosh brush as an eraser. And then you can go ahead and erase some of the paint off so it gives you that watercolor fact. And then if you click on the selection tool again, it will go away, and it will show you that piece that selected. So this is great. If you don't want to have to erase all of the paint on the outside, it's just a simpler way of giving that watercolor effect that I like to use. So now I'm gonna go ahead and fill in some more of those leaves and you can select them leaf by leaf if you like. If you close one area, you can stay in that same layer and select another leaf to color in. And so that's what I'm gonna do here. Just making sure that whatever I select doesn't touch, because I might want to make them different colors. And if they touch, it'll be harder for me to paint that way. So that's what I'm thinking about here. And these are all actually on that same layer that the initial leaf was was done on and then again, just adding in a thin layer, adding more color where I need it changing up the colors like we spoke about before on, and I'm gonna go real quick and just finish those up. - So here's another way that you can add some more water color effect that makes it look less digital and more realistic. By lightly tapping your googoosh brush down on the edges of those selected pieces, you'll see that the edge will dark in. And, um, the other areas will stay light. And it actually helps you to achieve more of a realistic watercolor feel where there's more paint on one side than the other. Another tip that is useful is learning how to lock your layers. When I've done a few different layers and I want to make sure I don't mess anything up, I'll lock it. So I'm going to do that here by taking my two fingers in sliding to the right. Once you do that, you'll see a little grid, um, come into that thumbnail in that basically shows you that it's lock. So now if I draw in any area outside of what has been selected or drawn, it won't work. Nothing will come up because it's locked. And then to take it off, you just slide your two fingers to the right again, and once that happens, you can add to the other areas in that layer. But if if it's locked, you could on Leah just what has been selected. So I like to use that. The next thing I'm doing is creating a new layer to do this selection for the hair. So right now I'm just outlining those lines that are in that sketch layer, and I'm because the hair doesn't connect in the middle. I'm doing two different selections on one new layer. So just to break that up, once I have made that selection, I'm gonna choose the color toe, paint the hair. I'm going to go with the kind of a reddish tone I'm going to lay down a thin layer by using circular motions, and you can tell when I, instead of just making straight lines strokes if I do it in a circular motion, there is a difference between how the paint comes out. I like to start with one light layer generally when I'm painting anything, but especially with hair because there's so much color and just texture and lines that go into hair generally, Um, and what I'll do after I lay down that layer is out at another layer, and I'm I usually make it darker towards the neckline areas where it would naturally be darker. So a lot of times when I am painting, I'm actually thinking about what it would look like. Is this hair color darker? Should this be deeper, just as you would if you were painting it. So now I'm adding an additional, um, layer with a different like a deeper color. And I like to just select, um, a similar color toe what I'm using in just a darker tone and just add some of that towards the bottom where the natural shadow would fall. And then I'm gonna just move it up on the color will again and grab a lighter tone to dio for the top of the hair. Um, which would be what is closest to the sign in this case, the moon in The last thing I'm going to do here is blend, so I'm going to go back and forth between the lighter and the darker in the men initial tone. And I'm just staying within that same realm on the color well and just going either lighter or darker and blending those colors together so they all fit together. Now I'm actually going to add some highlights with the blotchy pin, so I'm locking that layer, adding a new layer. And then, under calligraphy, you'll find the blotchy pin. I have mine unglazed, and if you choose that little square but it on the left hands toolbar, it'll pull up that color picker. And then you can use a color that you already have on your screen and then adjust it to a color that you want. So I will. I often do that when I'm looking for, like, highlight or like two dark, and I will use something in that same family. And I'm adding this on additional line with the blotchy pin and just adding some more lines that just give just more texture and in dressed to the hair, because hair is lots and lots and lots of strands. And so I'm gonna add some light ones to highlight on top and mental darker ones. Um, on the bottom also like to use the adjustments tap to edit the color, and you can go to hue, saturation and brightness. And there you can actually change the values of all of those to something that you like better. So I usually do this at the end when I am trying to make sure that the colors work well together, and this is a great tool to use for that. So I'm going to speed up the process here, Um, these next two parts. I'm gonna do the scan tone and the shirt by using the paint, any race technique. And then I'm going to show you how I finish it up, using the selection tool for the sky and the moon. And again, while I'm doing the color for the skin tone I'm making short and in darker tones near the neck and where the natural shadow falls by using that gouache brush and just going over it in the new layer. So, um, I'm taking those same techniques from before and implying them, um, Teoh every separate layer, an area that I'm painting. So the next thing I'm going to go to is the sky, um, going to select the background area Ah, And then once that is done, I'm going to choose a color of blue Teoh. Um, do for this guy. But you know the thing that's cool about this, guys, that it's not just blue and it's like multiple shades and layers of blues. And, um, you know that sky blue and like the the white from the clouds there's so money, things that you can add to it. So I'm actually going to start by laying down a thin layer and using a lot of stroke so that you get a lot of texture. So I'm gonna finish off the piece by doing the moon in them, adding a couple different leafs that I missed. So I'm gonna create a new layer for the moon, and that just needs to be a layer on top of the sky layer so that we could see it. I'm gonna outline that shape from the sketch layer that's on top, and then I'm gonna fill it in with whatever color I choose. Um, here and I'm using that gouache brush again and using circular motions, toe ad, and I'm just that light layer of color. And now that last touch I'm gonna go back into that leaf layer and it's locked. Someone take my two fingers and swipe it to the right to unlock it. And now I can go back in and select areas that I may have missed in the past, or areas that I want a color and now that are completely new. And then here again, I'm doing that light layer initially and then adding more color as I add layers, I'm adding additional texture and shadow and thinking about all those things as I add more color to that to that selected area and that will finish off the their technique, which is selections Next up will be finishing the piece off with details and line work. 8. Finish Your Piece + Thank You!: So as we begin doing some lime work, you're going to create a new layer grab unthinking pan or calligraphy pen. And I'm actually going to touch that little square so I can grab the color that's already on their Bring it to a different shade in that same family and I like to use under calligraphy. I like to use the blotchy pin when I'm doing watercolor work. Otherwise, the ink bleed pin that's under inking and there's another one under painting called the Water Brush that you can use as well. Um, let's go ahead. I'm going to use the blotchy and I'm gonna make it about 50% size. And then I'm gonna go ahead and just outline the leaf, um, pieces. And I'm using that shade that's in the same family, so it actually comes out. We're really nice when you're doing line work there. Just get creative like I love doing line work. It's really fun to me. It's like soothing and relaxing because it's I don't think about it. I just add just fun, interesting things to the peace. So I like to play with lines or what you think should be there already which would be a line in the middle of the leaf. But instead I'm doing like diagonal lines on some of them. And then you can. Also, as you grab those colors from different shades, you couldn't go darker. A lot of times I will go darker. But then you can also even go lighter. And that will just add some additional, just fun and whimsy to what you're creating. And you can also totally go with a different color. That's nothing to do with that green tone. So I'm going to show you, like if I use an accent tone that is in this case, I'm gonna use blue like a deep, dark blue and add it to the leaves that it also helps it to just pop a little bit. But the blotchy pen I really like because it's like adding a thin watercolor brush to the outline for the line work, and I think it works really well with these types of pieces. The best way Teoh just learn to do line work is just to think of it as like outlining and then like adding details that are not there in the initial piece. Next time I'm actually gonna move on to doing like, the hair and like the face. So I like to use an under inking. I like to use the Inkley pen or the studio pin, which is a little cleaner, but the ink lead kind of lends to like more of that water car feel. So I'm actually going to go ahead and outline her face. I'm gonna add in some details to her face, and I'm also going toe do the hair just adding some extra lines because, as we know here is many, many, many different strand, and some was gonna add some extra lines to give it a little bit more umph, if you will. - So I'm gonna finish off the line, work in the detail in the face and ab the lips. They're also gonna add some color to them. So I'm gonna create a layer underneath that I'm gonna use the gouache brush for to paint some color on her lips. I like to use that and then bring it down to a smaller size and then just fill that those lips and and then using that studio pin, I'm gonna clean up those lips. I like the color as it is, but I'm also going. Teoh had some blush to that. So I like to use the skin tone as a guy to add the color so I will select the color from the skin tone and then move it to a red or pink tone, and I feel like it adds a more natural blush. So I like to use the goulash one for that as well, and add some just rosy cheeks there. And then the last thing that I like to add a shadow I again using the same tone that was there on their skin. By pressing that little square but in and finding their skin tone and then moving to just a little bit darker of a tone, you could get a nice shadow that you can add. I'm gonna add that on the side of the face that's not closest to the moon. So really, my best advice to you is to have fun. Try putting things in new layers so that you can adjust them look easier. Um, I'm gonna add in some extra fun, little possess line work to this piece, and we'll see the finished results soon. - So there you have it. That's my finished piece. And I'm excited to see what you come up with for yours. Now, I'm going to be finishing this teapot with some line works. I'm creating a new layer on top of that water color. I'm using the ink lead pin that you confined under thinking, and I'm going to do something a little different here by just using colors that I wouldn't normally use just to outline it. And I'm gonna focus mostly on grabbing the shape of the teapot, but then also adding in, um, some details in, like, fun little quirks that you would not see with just the water color. This is completely optional. You did not have to add any line work to your pieces. You can keep it with just the water color lines that we discussed and what I've shown you in three different techniques. You can use them in whatever way you want. This is just an additional piece that helps to just finish off what you've started. And it's a lot of this type of work that I do in illustration. So I'm just showing you some of my techniques and some of the tools that I use in order to do line work again. This is completely optional. So now I'm just gonna finish off this piece and we'll see the finished product here. So So there you have it. Those are my tips for line work, and next, I'm going to show you some ways to fill the background. The first way that you can feel it is with just using the gouache brush at a very large, um size. And you can just create a new layer behind the layers that you've already have for the work and then just use light strokes. Add additional strokes for more color and you have a little textured watercolor background Come. Just gonna add in some shadow that like it's in a table to finish out that idea. The next way that you can do this is by just using the color fill. So if you choose a color and you pull that circle down to your canvas, it'll fill the area. That's really quick, easy way to do it. And then, lastly, is a mixture of both so filling that area with a color the same when we just did, and then on top of that, creating a new layer with that Goss rush at a very large, um, size and then just free handing some strokes in the background. I'm gonna do some kind of like swirl. And so I'm gonna add some different shades of that pink that I'm using for the background. And then I'm also gonna add, like, white in there as well. I think this works really well with when you're doing this guy as well. And there you have it going to finish it up. Here is a more little line doodles and and just to add something fun to the teapot. And I'm excited to see what you guys come up with, and I can't wait to see your class projects for this. So that's it, guys, Thank you so much for taking my course. I hope you learn some really valuable techniques that you can use for future projects for yourself. Make sure that you upload your project to the project area and if you have any questions, leave them in the discussion area. Thanks