Transcripts
1. Welcome to the Mixed Media Tea Cup Party: Are you struggling
with consistency in your sketch practice? Are you stressed to ruin your watercolor sketch
and looking for easy and fun ways to add more texture and to make
your sketches more playful? Then this tick up challenge
class is for you. Yeah, yeah, I know another
te up challenge class. I already have a watercolor
te challenge class, but this one is different. Yes, why not? Never
enough te ups. I use teacups to
experiment and relax, to play and try out
new techniques. And this one is different with different
sketching techniques, and there are te ups
for my new book. So at the same time, you
see how I make my books. Hello, I'm Barbara.
I'm an architect, author of several
urban sketching books, and drawing teacher in the architecture faculty
in Brussels University. And I'm that kind
of person which fills whole sketchbooks
with teacups. Cups are my go to play
when I'm creatively stuck, they're perfect to
try new things. So in this class, I want
to share with you how I use mixed media to add extra
dimension to my watercolor, to make my sketches
more playful, energetic and more vibrant. By the end of this class, you will confidently
create playful, expressive sketches using
mixed media techniques, ready to apply them to any
subject that inspires you. Your class project is painting minimum five days off your coffee cups by
using mixed media. Please share your work with other people to
spread the beauty, and I hope you're enjoying
tec upps as much as I do. If you'd like to
make more teacups, head over to my watercolor
Teacup challenge class.
2. Mixed Media Materials : So in this class, I'm going to use
different mixed media. So we have watercolor. I have filled this
palette with ue paint, but I will also use
this u paint Bhminka. It's a super granulating
range pashminkaT is deep sea blubes and
they are small cubes. I put some also inside
of this palette. And then I will
use color pencils. I have a normal color
pencil, aluminums, and this kind of color pencil polychroms
This is Caron dash. This is fiber castle. But of course, you
can use other brands, and then I have
watercolor pencils. Different colors of
watercolor pencils, also Caron dash
and Faber castle, but other brands
will do as well. Tell me what you use when you post your class
project because I'm an art supply addict and I love to see other
art supplies. This is a blender pencil. I will use it sometimes. It's when you have put different colors or
hatching on your paper, you can blend it
with this pencil. It has no color.
It's just to blend. And then these are my
brushes I will use. I use synthetic
brushes in this class because I will not
only watercolor, but also use acrylic paint. This is acrylic paint
and acryl gouache. Acryl gouache is gouache paint
with acrylic binder in it, which makes it waterproof
when it's dry. This is a little
watercolor tube. I will mix with the acryl gouache white to make
it a bit beige. This is gold. And then we will
use wax crayons. These are neo Color
to wax crayons, water soluble wax crayons. Be careful because you also have non water soluble wax crayons. But I like when they
are water soluble. This is just white gouache. So it's without acrylic. So when you go over it with watercolor or wet brush
afterwards, it dissolves again. And this is ink. It's golden ink. I will add some gold to
some of the teacups, and it's waterproof ink. And you need a pencil sharpener. Some pencil lines need
to be very sharp. Well, I like it. And
you will need this. And this is my sketchbook. I will use this sketchbook. With smooth paper,
a friend made it. I'm not sure what paper it is, but it's a very smooth paper, which is nice when you use color pencil because if you have a very rough
watercolor paper, your lines will be quite
interrupted when you color them. I have been collecting these art supplies
all over the years, like ten, 15, 20 years, so you don't need to buy all
this if you don't have it. Use what you have
and experiment. I'm curious to see
what you make.
3. Cup 1 with Watercolor, Gouache and Color Pencil: So, welcome to the first day of the tickup challenge
with Mixed Media. In this sketch, I
will use watercolor, color pencil, and gouache. So I have this series of
pictures I got from my editor, and there are pictures of
her Japanese cup collection. And I make these paintings
because I'm working with her on a new book
about tea with T Somer. So these sketches you see
here will be published in the book about tea
as illustrations. So for me, this
mixed media class is perfect to take away the fear of ruining your watercolor because watercolor
is quite difficult. And actually, I found also in
the feedback from students that the fact of
playing and adding other media to the watercolor makes it more fun and playful. It makes the watercolor more
playful and less stressful. So I start with watercolor wash. And when I
make the watercolor wash, I immediately look at where the darker parts are in the cup. So where is the shadow to
make the cup look round. And again, don't worry if your wash isn't perfect
because afterwards, we will add gouache
and color pencil. So the purpose is to play
and have fun and relax. It's like a meditation. And if you don't have
these kinds of colors, please always use
the colors that you like and that you
have in your palette. And if you don't have
these art materials, just use what you
have in your home, and maybe you have some different art materials
you like to test out. So as you see here, I'm playing and
trying things out. I tried to I tried to make a
texture with a bubble wrap, but I didn't like it. So I put aside the bubble
wrap for another cup. Also, you don't need
to sketch these cups. You just can sketch any cup you have at
home or pictures you find on Interest or on another website of
cups that you like. When I finish this
watercolor wash, I leave it to dry. And when it's dry, I will add the birds on it. Don't forget that when
the watercolor dries, it will get lighter. So don't be afraid to go
dark in your shadows. The darker you go
in the shadows, the more light you
will bring in the cup. So now the watercolor is dry, and I use a white gouache
paint to draw the birds on it. You can also do this with
gel with a white el pen. If you do it with a brush, please take a fine brush with a fine tip and hold the brush quite vertical so you have control over the
thickness of your lines. And so you see, well what
you are doing and when the tip of your brush
is touching the paper. So I draw the white birds
now, and afterwards, I will use flack pencil to draw the little head and the
little feet of the birds. I sharpen the pencil well. It's Garan dash, color pencil, so another watercolor pencil, and I like it because
it's very pigmented. So it's really nicely black. Make sure that
your paper is dry. And also, if you
use color pencil, it's best to have a
smooth paper if you want very thin lines and if you
want continuous lines, because if you have
a textured paper, your lines will be interrupted. So also when the gouache dries, it becomes a bit lighter
and it's a bit transparent, so I will go over it another
time to make it more white. Now it's your turn. Please post your cups
in the class project. One by one, you can
edit the project, and I'm very curious
to see your project. And
4. Cup 2 with Watercolor, Ink, Wax Crayons and Color Pencil: So welcome today too. Today we will sketch
with watercolor, wax rayons, ink, and
acrylic gouache. So this is a very fun cup. With flowers and full of colors, and I start always
with color line. So in this class, I will never use
graphite pencil because I don't want to have these
black graphite lines. I want only great colors. So these are wax crayons, which are water soluble. There also exist wax crayons
which are not water soluble. You can use these
as well, of course. I start with the
shadows in the cup, and for a shadow gray, I use a mixture I made myself of ultramarine blue and
transparent orange. If you mix the gray, it's best to use
transparent colors. So watercolors come in
transparent colors, semi transparent colors
or opaque colors. And if you mix, several opaque colors together, you will get a muddy results. So I like to use only
transparent colors for mixing. Don't worry if your
caps are not totally correct and totally correctly copying the picture because
we're not copy machines. We're just playing.
So you will notice that this cup is not really totally like
it's in the picture, and that doesn't matter. So I make the flowers and some leaves and some
branches in the cup. And then I like to add some wax crayons in
the wet watercolor. So I use it in the
wet watercolor, so the pigment would
dissolve a bit and would be transported
by the water. And when I use it in
the wet watercolor, the wax crayon
becomes a bit mushy. And, of course, I
like to splash. I like to splash
paint on the cup, and I always use colors that I used already in
the painting when I splash, and I like to not use to
dark colors to splash. Now I'm adding ink, and it's golden ink, and it's waterproof ink. So when it's dry, it
doesn't dissolve in water. So I can add some watercolor
afterwards as well. Again, don't forget that
when the watercolor dries, it becomes a bit lighter, so don't be afraid to go dark, especially in the shadows
to bring in light. So when I'm tired
of watercoloring or when there's something that didn't work well
in the watercolor, I just add color
pencil or wax crayons or anything you like. You don't need to use the
same materials as me and you don't need to copy
the same cups as me. I'm copying these Japanese cups, and I will put the reference
picture in the class, but you don't need
to do the same. Just use your favorite cups and favorite colors and
favorite materials. When you want to erase the
edges of watercolor wash, you can do it with a
strong synthetic brush. Don't do it with
natural hair brush. Otherwise, you will
damage your brush. So I will add some
golden acrylic gouache. Acrylic gouache is
a gouache paint, and there's some
acrylic binder in it, which makes it non
water soluble. So when it's dry, it won't
dissolve in water anymore. And I like to add some
gold to the painting. And this acrylic gouache is less transparent
than the ink. So I prefer to use the gouache
to add some extra gold. So please share your cups
in the class project on the platform for
everyone to see because it's always so inspiring to
see what other people make. And I'm very curious
to see your cups and your favorite colors and
your favorite art supplies. Have fun and play, and let's not take ourselves too seriously and just
have fun and play, and the result is what it is.
5. Cup 3 with Watercolor, Wax Crayons and Color Pencil: So welcome to the next lesson. In this lesson, we're going
to sketch a fun Japanese cup with beautiful light blue and
indigo little balls on it, and a very beautiful texture
in the bottom of the cup, which is perfect to
do with watercolor, of course, and
with color pencil. So I hope you're having fun. I start again with watercolor, and then I will detail it
with color pencil and create textures with color pencil and finish up the shadows
with color pencil. So again, don't worry if your
watercolor isn't quite what you would like it to be because we will afterwards
add color pencil to it. So I use watercolor pencil on wet paper because that creates
some beautiful texture. The pigment of the
watercolor pencil dissolves into the water. And we also use wax crayons because they
have much more pigment. They're much more greasy
than the watercolor pencil. Again, if you want to
use other art supplies, please feel free to do so and post them in the class
project which brand you are using and what different
materials because that will inspire
other students. So I throw the blue balls with watercolor in different
blue shades and I'm taking the paint
directly out of the tube because I don't want to add too
much water in it. I want to have really dark blue balls straight with the
watercolor paints. And as the paper is still damp, the watercolor pigments
flow a bit into the cup. So that's exactly what I like. And then I take also the light
blue balls in serlem blue. So I don't use exactly the
color which on the picture, but I just use my
favorite colors, and I insist that you also use just your favorite colors
you have in your palette. So when you have too much
watercolor on the paper, just take it away with a tissue or with a
thinned dried brush, you can absorb it as well. So what's the interest of doing this series and challenges, it's to create a consistency
in your art practice. The consistency in
doing this sketching regularly is key to train your skills and to
train your sketching muscles, you have to develop your sketching muscles,
your watercolor muscles. And it's like when you learn a new language or when you learn music or when you
learn how to write, you have to practice, and that way you will draw yourself through
the resistance and find time to do it and you will improve dramatically
if you do it regularly. So here, I finished
the bottom of the cup, and in the meantime, the top of the cup is dry, so I will go in it
again to finish it off. I didn't quite like what I did, so I just put a new
layer on it and continue until I
quite like it a bit. So I make a contour in dark
blue for the dark blue balls, and in lighter blue, wax crayon for the
lighter blue balls, and this on the wet paper. So the pigment flows
a bit onto the page. And I will again add
some watercolor to it. I take serlem blue for
the light blue balls. And now by making
a second layer, it's becoming a
bit more textured. I start really to like it a lot. So I think you can
see on the video that my page is
really very wet now. I will add some darker blue. I tried some different colors and I like the
Sminke paints a lot. It's the super granulating
range of minka paint, and there's some
deep sea blue I like a lot and some
indigo blue as well. And then these little balls have these beautiful
little sticks. So I sharpened my watercolor
pencil to have a fine tip, and I draw some sticks
into the wet paper, and I want them to be very fine. I continue the shadows in color pencil because I like to have the pencil
lines in this sketch. And you better wait
till the paper is dry. If you want fine pencil lines, So in the cup, I make some vertical lines
to make the cup look round. But in the cast
shadow on the table, I make catching in all different directions
because I don't want to make any shadow
showing in any direction. I want the atension
to be on the cup. So I use indigo blue and purple. These shadows are made
with color pencil, so they are not made with watercolor pencil on a
dry paper, of course. Otherwise, you will
damage your paper. So, again, if you want
very fine pencil lines, you better use a smooth paper. Otherwise, the texture of your watercolor paper will
interrupt your pencil lines. When I put the indigo and
purple on the sketch, I use a blender pencil to blend the indigo
and purple together. And this blender mixes
the two colors together and softens the
lines on the paper. Well, so now it's your turn. I'm curious to see your caps. Please sketch any cups you like. You don't need to copy mine and share it in the
class project and mention which materials you used and the story
behind your sketch. And I'm really curious. I look at all the
class projects, and I'm always very curious and happy to
see your project. And I'm sure they're inspiring for all the
other students as well.
6. Cup 4 with Watercolor, Wax Crayons, and Watercolor Pencil: Hello, hello. Welcome to this new
lesson where we will sketch a kind
of tulip shaped cup, which has some
different decorations in the different tulip
shaped facets of the cup. And I don't really have a
great picture about it, so I will improvise a bit. Again, you don't have to
sketch the same cup ame. You can just sketch
any cup you want. So I start again
with watercolor, and we will add some wax
crayons and color pencil. So I start with a
beautiful green. And it's, again,
a green mixture. It's some ands green
by Daniel Smith, and then some forest green by SchminkeT granulating color. And then the most fun part of this cup are the little
flowers on the side, kind of blue curls, not really flowers
with some blue dots. And for that, I use
the wax crayon, which I use on a wet paper. And I'm suggesting
these little curls with a lovely light blue. And, of course, I will add some blue watercolor
to it as well. The shape of the cup
is really challenging. I'm not totally happy with it, but it doesn't matter. Now, I will make this lovely
striped pattern on the side, and I have sharpened
Sepia watercolor pencil, and I'm using it on damp paper, and it's really fine stripes. I sharpened pencil really well. And I made grounding wash watercolor wash of
titanium buff by Daniel Smith. And this titanium buff
is kind of lovely beige, sand color, a kind
of peach color. So I don't want it to
be completely white. And I'm making the curls a bit
darker with a darker blue. On the picture, it looks
like kind of more indigo, but I prefer to have
a lighter blue. And again, just use
the colors you prefer. You don't need to respect the
colors you see in reality. We're not copy machines, we're just sketching and having fun and using our
favorite colors. And the fact of using your favorite colors will
make that bit by bit, you will develop your
signature style and people will recognize
your color choices. So for the shadows, again, I use my mixture of ultramarine blue and
transparent orange. I'm hoping you're
having fun with these teacups and
experimenting and playing with your art supplies and try new mixtures of art supplies
in your sketchbook. And the more you practice, the better it will go. So I want to finish
this cup with shadows shadow rendering with
hatching of color pencil. And I use, again, very sharp color pencil, poly chromos color
pencil bi fiber pastel with indigo blue. And I hatch in all different
directions on the side of the cup and on the table for the cast
shadow next to the cup. And the hatching just next to
the cup is very more dense because the shadows are always darker close to the object than further away
from the object. And I find that this color
pencil hatching over a light watercolor wash
gives a very lovely texture. And you see that when
we are adding shadows, the light in the sketch will
get brighter and brighter, and also the shape of the object will
become more visible. Now it's your turn. Please
sketch your cup and make a picture of it and tell me what art supplies you used and post it in the
class project.
7. Cup 5 with Watercolor, Acrylics, Ink, Acrylic Gouache and Color Pencil: So welcome to the fifth lesson. This is a very special
sketch with watercolor, color pencil, wax crayons, acrylic paint, and gold paint
and acrylic gouache paint. So very special cap. And it's very
beautiful Japanese cap with a lot of fine details. So don't make the
sketch too small. My previous cup was
a bit too small, and so it's very difficult
to make beautiful details. I first made drawing of the decorations of
the cup in clear water. And then I add some indigo
watercolor paint in it, and I let it flow a bit freely. And then for the flour, I first draw with watercolor
pencil in the clear water. Make a bit lighter washes
in the clear water. And I tried to imitate the very handicraft
style free hand painting of this beautiful cup. But it's really tricky
and not so easy. So I took this very
fine lettering brush, synthetic lettering brush to try to make some very fine details. I try not to trick
myself in trying to make a very photographical painting of this beautiful cap because it's so beautiful that I just get disappointed with
myself if I try that. So here I want to
address the fact that I don't like
this painting very much and how it's
going and that most of the time a difficult thing with watercolor is
that in the beginning, it always looks a bit ugly. So you have to persist and just continue until you
kind of like it. So that's why this
adding other media like wax crayons and color
pencils help me to get kind of faster over the fact that
in the beginning, a watercolor looks
kind of ugly and the watercolor is not doing exactly what I
would like it to do. So with adding
other media to it, you kind of pass by
that more quickly. So I'm trying this new
Acric paint I bought, and it's a very beautiful blue. And I'm adding this
acrylic paint on a very watery surface
because acrylic paint is quickly a bit too thick
and not transparent. So I add it in a very watery
surface on the paper. If you use acrylic paint, make sure to use a very
strong synthetic brush and make sure to clean it very well in water
before the paint dries. Otherwise, you can just
throw your brush away. And here I use a very
strong synthetic brush to erase a bit of the paint. And if you do that, make sure to use a
strong synthetic brush. And as I find the painting a bit empty, I'm making a golden
background to it because this fits so perfectly well with
the blue, I think. I use an acrylic ink. So that means it's
waterproof after it dries. And I use also acrylic goh in the ink because I found the
ink is too transparent. And as I don't like the press
strokes, before it dries, I push a bubble
wrap on the gold, which gives a lovely texture. And then I will leave
it to dry and I will make the shadowing
in color pencil. I start a bit here while the
surface is still a bit wet. So that's not a very good idea, but I just want to
continue the video. So it's better to
leave it to dry. And I will also do the shadows, the gas shadows on the
table next to the cup, and I will go in all
different directions. So to soften the edges of the watercolor wash
for the shadows, I wrap wet synthetic brush
on the edges of the shadow. And if you do that, please be careful not
to damage your paper. So I used for the
etching of the shadows, indigo pencil and again
some purple pencil, color pencil, and I think this purple fits very well
to the gold and to the blue. So if you want to splash, you better use quite thick brush and really a lot of paint, and then you can splash and you better use colors that you used in your painting
if you want to splash. If you use new colors
for the splashes, it will sometimes look a
bit alien to your painting. And the splashes are
quite nice to link different elements of
your painting together. So here the splashes link
the background to the cup. So I hope you're having fun, and I'm curious to
see what you make. So please post your
class project pictures in the class on the platform, and I look to all
the class projects, and I'm always very
happy to see what you make and to see what
you experiment. And if you have questions, please ask them in the discussions or in the
text of your class project, so I can help you.
8. Cup 6 with Watercolor, Acrylic Gouache and Color Pencil: So welcome to Day six. This is a very special
cup with a kind of dark blue indigo blue
background with a lot of texture and some very
beautiful cherry blossoms. I'm making a blue background with different kinds of blue. There are Sminka blues
like glacier blue, deep sea blue, and also Indigo and Idantrin
blue by Daniel Smith. And while everything
is very wet, I mix different kinds
of blue in the surface. I also add ultramarine blue, and so my cup will look much more bluer than the original. But like I already said, just chooe all the
colors you like. It doesn't have to be
photographically correct. And when the blue
background is dry, I will add some acrylic
gouache to paint the flowers. I will draw the
flowers in gouache on the blue cup with
a very fine brush. With this acrylic gouache, I add some watercolor of a very light yellowish color because I don't want
flowers to be too white. If you use acrylic push, you better use a synthetic brush because when the acrylic dries, you can't dissolve
it anymore in water. So if you use a very
expensive natural hair brush, you might throw in it. So with this lettering brush, if you want very
fine drawing lines, you must keep your
brush quite vertical. In the video, I'm not keeping it very vertical
because otherwise you only see my hand and you don't
see my painting anymore. So I'm giving an
impression of the flowers. They're, of course, not
photographically correct, but I want to give
an impression. When the flowers are dry, as I don't like the background, I will paint blue
between the flowers. This looks quite complicated, but it's actually not
very complicated because the acrylic paint is a bit thicker than the
watercolor paint, and so it stays quite
easily between the flowers. As you see, the bottom of the
cup wasn't totally dry yet, so it flows a bit
into the paint. I just dab it with a tissue. Again, I make the shadow side of the cup darker than
the light side. And I will immediately already paint the
shadow also a bit on the table and add more
shadow inside the cup. And for that, I use
a kind of glacier, black by Sminka which has
a very beautiful texture. It's very granulating. And I add some torquisPlshes just because torquis
is my favorite color. Now I'm erasing a
bit the edges of the shadows of the
watercolor wash with a synthetic brush. It's a quite cheap
synthetic brush by Escoda because this can
damage a bit your brush, and I'm also erasing the
light side of the cup to make it look much more like
a strong light coming on it. And let's again make the hatching for the
shadows with color pencil. I use again my indigo pencil, and I will add some purple pencil lines because I like a lot these
purple pencil lines. I'm sorry, but when
I hatch like that, the camera is moving
a bit on the table. I'm sorry. So I add purple, and I like quite
much this purple with all the blue shades in the cup I think it fits very well and gives a kind of
warm glow to the blue. Let's splash also a bit of purple watercolor on
it to finish this cup. And there are some
highlights to do, I think, with just white
acrylic kah because I lost some light in
the border of the cup. So watercolor purists
will say you are not allowed to use white paint in your watercolor
because the white of the watercolor should
be the white of the paper. But don't listen to them, do whatever you like. And now it's your turn. No progress without action. I'm looking forward to see your cups in the class projects.
9. Tea Cup Wrap Up: You made it. Congratulations.
In this class, you've learned
valuable techniques to elevate your
watercolor sketches, how to confidently
combine watercolor with colored pencil for
vibrant bold lines, using gouache and acrylics to add beautiful highlights
and fine details, enhancing textures and depth with water soluble
wax crayons and watercolor pencils and adding crisp finishing touches
with color pencil. And coloring, hatching
with color pencil, enjoying a playful
and relaxed approach to overcome creative logs
with your watercolors. And I hope this
will help you with all your other sketches as
well and not only with takeus. Be sure to share your
finished project so that everyone can get inspired
by your unique creations. Thank you so much for
joining me in this class, and I've loved sharing this
artistic journey with you. For more inspiration, you can follow my work on Instagram. And if you like to receive occasional free tips
and free tutorials, please subscribe to
my website and you can get my newsletter
with videos and tips. Please consider also
leaving a review. Leaving a review is truly
helpful for the teacher and to help other students discover classes that they love. And, of course, don't
hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts
in the class discussions. Happy sketching and thank you.
Barbara Luel, Architect, Author and Artist
