Transcripts
1. What will we learn?: Let's doodle on the paints some gorgeous watercolor botanical using simpler techniques that any beginner can do. An intermediate artist will also get a ton of tips and tricks along the way. I will quickly go over supplies, but basically, all you need is a technical pen or a sharpie, or even a ballpoint pen and watercolors. Then we'll talk about using watercolors for super fun effects and how to make dreamy and loose backgrounds. Then we'll finish off introduction with some fun and easy examples of how to doodle. Then we'll dive into four fun projects that slowly increase in difficulty, but are totally doable and fun. I will guide you through my thought process and we'll give you tons of ideas along the way. In the last lesson I'll show you an example of how you can use the techniques taught in this class on any subject matter, not just florals. Once you finish the class, you'll have the ability and inspiration to create beautiful and magical works of art that you can hang up, give to a friend, sell, or put on a card. Your imagination is the limit, and all of this is possible with simple doodles and loose watercolors. How easy and fun does that sound? So, pick up your brush and let's get started. I can't wait to see what you create.
2. Supplies: The supplies for this class are super simple and you can get away with using whatever you have on hand. For the ink part, I'll be using Micron pens, but any technical pen will do the same thing. You can use different sizes to vary the stroke thickness, but you don't have to. You could also instead use colored sharpies, a ballpoint pen, pencil, brush pen, dip pen, or even brush and ink. It's really up to you how creative you want to get. But be sure to check if your supplies are waterproof beforehand if you're going to use watercolor on top. If you using ink on top of the water color, then it doesn't matter. If you want to learn more about painting supplies and illustration, I already made a class on that subject. I even made one on working with both ink and watercolor together. To get the most benefits from this class and the full experience, you will need watercolors. The general rule is the higher quality watercolors, the more saturated they'll be. But if you can't afford expensive paints, you can definitely go cheaper. This Winsor Newton Cotman series is currently only $13 on Amazon. The paints are very bright for student grade paints. You will also need brushes. Or if you just want to use one brush, you can use a bigger brush like this size 10 round brush. You can also get a cheap brush pack. The quality of your brushes is not super important for this class since we'll be extremely loose and expressive. But I recommend getting one larger round brush and a smaller one like this size zero round for detail. Of course, you will also need the basic supplies and tools for working with watercolors like water and paper towels. Very importantly, paper. I don't recommend using cold press paper because it's very hard to draw on with technical pens. Go with hot press if you can. My favorite paper is this Canson XL paper. It's super cheap. Even though it's cold pressed, it's very very smooth. I will be using it throughout the class. You will also see me using the Signo [inaudible] broad point white gel pen to add detail at some of the pieces. It is not necessary, but I highly recommend this pen. That covers everything you need to get started. So let's dive in.
3. Fun Watercolor Techniques: Before we begin, let's refresh your memory of some of the basics of watercolors. If you're completely new, I highly recommend you take my class for absolute beginners. But if you've painted before this lesson should cover everything you need to remember. First, let's go over the wet on wet technique. If I wet my paper with just plain water and then drop painting the paint will spread to the edges of the shape I make and it will mix. This is called wet on wet and in the first example, I used a lot of water and even added more in. You will notice that I overused the water and because of this paint will over-mix and some of the colors will get a little muddy. In this second example, I used much less water and this is how I usually do it. This is just right and you will get practice to get to here. In this third example, I used barely any water and also made sure to use very little water on my brush when I picked up the paint. The paint will barely spread this time and we will stick to where it starts. As you can see, it's a fine balance between paint and water. If you understand this, you will have a lot more control over the results you will get while painting with watercolors. Also remember that you can first put down a color. I even picked up a second color and continued painting and now I'm dropping more color in. You don't have to start with just plain water. In fact, I usually do start with a color like here, but do add colors into your initial colors. But you have to make sure that your initial colors are still wet to add more color in. If the paper is more dry, it will spread less just like I showed earlier. If you want to learn more about this I made class on color mixing and color harmony. But mixing on the pages is super fun. Don't be shy in doing it, especially in this class. It will give you gorgeous results, color combinations and texture. One more thing I want you to notice is the puddles of water. These will dry with a very gorgeous texture. Let puddles be, unless they're too big, then you can use paper towel to lift up some of the water or a dry brush. Now let's talk about using our brush. I highly recommend getting a bigger round brush like this, size 10 round. Notice how I can start with a thin stroke by barely touching the page and if I slowly press down, I can make my stroke thicker and thicker. If I slowly release pressure, I can go back to very thin. This is why the round brush is so versatile and I highly recommend it. You can do whole paintings with just this one brush. Practice doing thin to thick and back to thin and then do it in shorter intervals to make leaf shapes. I went over this in detail in my previous florals class and if this seems hard to you, I recommend you check it out. You will get more out of this class if you take it, but it's not necessary. Just practice making marks with your brush and varying the pressure and be sure to stay loose with it. You can also use your brush to make petals. Just by pressing down and then lifting quickly. If you mess up one, you can simply fix up the tip of your brush. I do recommend a smaller round brush if you're not used to using only one brush for fine details, but it's not required. Also, if you have a bigger clow brush like this one, you can also use it. It's especially fun to make petals with it. If you have any chip brushes or flat brushes, try them out to see what kinds of shapes you can make. Just get creative and utilize the potential of your supplies. There are no wrong answers in art. The worst thing we can do is stop experimenting out of fear of mistakes. Now, my paint is still wet. If I take plain water and paint in a loose background, it will pull the paint from the shapes are already made and make a gorgeous background. I love doing this in a lot of my art and I like to leave lots of specks of white of the page to make it even more playful. You can also drop more color in or splatter, by gently tapping your brush full of paint and water on your finger. The splatter will be definite with whatever brush you use and you can even use a toothbrush by flicking the bristles for a very fine splutter. I use the hairdryer set on low to dry the piece. As you can see, the results are gorgeous and the first one the colors blended a lot, but where we had puddles, we have gorgeous texture. In the second one, the paint mixed much less but where it touches, we also have a gorgeous texture and different colors softly blending. Also notice how saturated the paint tended to stay. The third one the paint mostly stayed in the same places it was put, but there's still that fuzzy, gorgeous feel and look of watercolor. In the fourth one, even though I put paint down first, notice how the blue and yellow still stand out because they were so concentrated and because I didn't use too much water. Also notice that small white spot from where I picked up the excess paint and water using a paper towel and brush. Now look at how beautifully the paint dried here. There were lots of puddles and this created a lot of texture. This is really the magic of watercolors. Don't be shy in using water and playing with it and notice how important leaving the white page is. It gives everything a nice contrast and aliveness. I hope you found this lesson helpful. Now let's talk about doodling florals.
4. How to Doodle: In this lesson, I'm going to show you examples of how to simplify flowers and doodle them abstractly by interpreting them in your own way using simple lines and shapes. We're starting with the humble Daisy. Notice how in the first example, I used simple circles for the middle and lines all around, and the Second I made it even simpler. The third is a little more complex because the petal shapes, I'm putting in a simple line pattern inside the petals, It can be fun to add detail like this. For this one, I made a simple circle and then quickly drew long thin petals, and for this one I did a simple circle and then use simple curved lines all around. This one just has a different center, look how much variety I cheat by looking at only one flower. The way you interpret whatever you see you will be unique to you, but just keep it simple, exaggerate and play around and you'll never go wrong. In the second example I use simple lines to draw similar outline, but I can also vary it infinitely like the daisy. Notice how simple my interpretations are. There is no wrong way to doodle. Here is another example in which I take something complex and doodle it simply and in my own way, even something as complex as this can be simplified, interpreted into fun doodles. The standard line also looks complicated, but just keep it simple. I'm using simple circles for the tips here, and I'm using simple lines here. Even the rows can be doodled into tons of different ways. I'm just being loose and playful, there are no wrong answers like I keep telling you. Now, another thing to keep in mind is patterns within I made a leaf shape and then added a lot of lines within. This can make a gorgeous effect and is in fact my favorite pattern to use. You might remember it from my ink Basics class when we did the patterns and textures worksheet. If you took that class, your worksheet can be super useful in this class. You can also outline something twice for a loosened sketchy feel. You really can't do a lot with simple lines and shapes, like in this funny example. In all of these examples, all I used with straight lines, curve lines, and circles. This is how simple it can be I encourage you to experiment with the amount of detail and realism that you use and be playful with patterns and textures. In the end, what you do is up to you, so I encourage you to do it your way. Just have fun with it. Now let's start with a funny illustration idea that uses the simple doodle flowers.
5. Super Easy Ink First Project: For this first illustration, we're going to use floral doodles just like I showed in the previous lesson. Stuck up on references of florals and you can find really, really cool ones on Pinterest. I even have a board of a bunch of flowers that you can check out or you can do it from your imagination, it's really up to you. But start with drawing many straight and curved lines, varying their height. These are the stems and you can do more or less than this. If you want to include things like insects or the sky, be sure to make them shorter to leave space for the other things above and then just doodle in florals on the end of each stem. There is no rule of where to start or how to do it, just do it. Also, you can add simple leaves using basic shapes to make it even more interesting. Try to make every flower unique and vary their sizes and shapes, include fun patterns and textures, and just be playful. Once you're done, you can add some grass in between the flowers by using toulon strokes that meet or maybe do your own thing, you really have no limits. You can make your grass and flowers overlap, but I chose not to for a simpler look. Now take a step back and see where your composition can use more florals to make it more balanced. You can draw a second stem from any flower you made and copy that flower. Try varying the size and angle for more interests. Notice how all of my flowers are drawn with simple lines and shapes. Just by varying tiny details, you can make infinite variations that are very fun to look at. Once you're happy with your composition, get your water colors out, and let's paint in a fun background. I recommend you pick only two or three colors to keep them minimal feel. But it's really up to you, so don't let me stop you from using every color on your palette, rainbow might look really cool. I picked up a little bit of purple and yellow and let them mix with water for a subtle color and I start loosely painting around the flowers. Notice how I'm not neat at all and I leave random specks of light all around, especially around each flower. Also be sure to paint this quickly because you want the background to be wet everywhere when you add more color in for an even look. I'm dropping yellow in random parts and purple as well. I'm just dabbing the paper with a brush full of pigment and water. I'm also alternating between picking up yellow and purple with lots of water when painting the background and when they touch, they blend into a muddy eggplant color. Just be sure not to use too much pigment at this step and lots of water for a light wash, so that the contrast between the ink and the watercolor is the greatest. Notice how the outer edges are very loose and that adds even more water to make them softer. Once there is a water background all around, I can start adding splatter in by picking up a lot of paint and water on my brush and lightly tapping the brush on my finger around the whole composition. I do this with yellow and with purple. Since the background is still wet, it will blend beautifully. It's up to you how much splatter you want to add. I find that most people are too afraid of overdoing it and don't put in enough, so give yourself permission to do it a little bit more. There's really nothing to fear, after all this is a loose painting. Now, I'm sprinkling salt all around the composition for a gorgeous effect that I highly recommend you tryout. You could also try using a dropper and dripping rubbing alcohol for a fun look, or just dabbling with paper towel for a texture. Or you can just do nothing at all, it'll look beautiful either way. I thought the piece could use a little more color, so I decided to splatter on some turquoise as well, which blends into vibrant green when it mixes with the yellow. I use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process and make sure to set it on low when you do so and don't leave it in one place for too long. Then I gently remove the salt with my fingers. As you can see, the salt created a beautiful and subtle texture and the piece feels super dreamy. I stayed really loose and let the water and paint interact naturally for this beautiful effect. You have to let the watercolor do its own thing. You can't control everything, and that's the beauty in it. Notice why I left a lot of white space around the flowers and the background. If you decide to try out this illustration, get creative with your colors; how many flowers there are, what shape they're in, and the way you doodle them. Doing ink and then watercolor on top can really work for a lot of different things. You could have done a floral with an ink and then writing inside, or just brushed lettering and then a loose border color background on top of it. The possibilities really are endless, so have fun with it and explore. I hope this lesson helps loosen you up and get you warmed up. Now, let's try putting down watercolors first.
6. Super Fun Watercolor First Project: For this illustration, we're going to put what we learned in the watercolor techniques lesson to use. Be sure to watch that fully before trying this to make it much easier for you. Keep in mind, that there are infinite ways in which this can be done but don't be afraid to copy me exactly either. Copying is a great way to learn. I start by using water to which I add a little bit of paint so you can see it and make a simple flower shape by using two strokes for each petal, and then I dropped coloring using water-like technique. It's up to you what colors you use but remember that you can move the paint around by guiding it gently with your brush. I painted another flower shape and while both of them are still wet, I painted a large outline of a floral shape. Notice how simple it is and where it touches the previous flowers, the paint blends and moves. I drop my color into it and continue painting like this. Notice how loose I am and all the shapes overlap in one layer and create a beautiful gradients where they touch. Then add some smaller flowers all around the composition to make it more balanced and notice how I stepped three colors in the whole piece. These colors sit right next to each other on the color wheel, so they're very harmonious together. This really helps to keep things unified. I also noticed how I greatly varied the sizes and shapes of the flowers. This really helps give complexity to the piece even though it's so simple and it makes it much more interesting. I finish off the water colors by adding a simple splatter, and then I use a paper towel to add texture by simply dabbing it into the wet water colors. Once everything is dry, I can start doodling with my micron pen. This time it's different because we already have the floral defined and I'm just adding small details to make each flower unique and interesting. Since the floral shapes are ready exist, you can be as abstract and experimental as you want. Sometimes, all you have to do, is add a tiny detail or a center. Don't outline every flower perfectly or outline every flower at all. It's much more fun if your ink deviates from the water color shapes and adds on instead of defines and being super playful with every stroke. I'm not overthinking it. Notice how in this flower, I used the curved line pattern. Can you tell why it's my favorite pattern? But also notice how abstract it is. I'm not making perfect outlines of the petals. They don't even look like petals. Also notice how each design is different and it utilizes the same simple lines and patterns. With this flower, I didn't follow the shape and instead made my own unique petals. This gives it a cool effect to different shapes overlapping but showing different flowers. Also make each tiny flower unique. I don't copy the same thing over and over, though that could look cool. Now this middle shape is huge and it has endless possibilities. I choose to do a fun pattern inside it but not filling in the whole shape. Notice how I treat the water color parts as if they're solid parts by drawing the lines of if they're coming from behind it. The white space, the pattern, and the water color all play with each other so well here. This gives it a really cool and surreal effect and also adds mention. It's good to use a similar style near illustration to keep it unified. I finished the flower by making one side of its petal in the repeating lines pattern. Now since there are some dark parts in the water colors, I can add details with my white gel pen to heighten the contrast and make the illustration even more interesting. This really helps to make things pop and adds a lot of dimension in detail. I do so sparingly using only simple shapes lines. Once I feel like the composition is complete I stop. It's up to you if you want to make here is even more detailed or more minimal than mine. Listen to your own inner artistic voice and style, and don't overthink it. The result is gorgeous and so fun, it was really easy to do even if you don't have much experience in drawing or painting. After all, everyone can doodle, just let yourself do whatever you want and have fun. I can't wait to see what you create. Now let's take a floral composition that is a little bit more complex, but I know you can do it.
7. Gorgeous Floral Composition Project: This piece will be a little more advanced than the previous ones. If you find it difficult, my other floral class will really help you come up with floral compositions. You can always take it and then give a sample of illustration and try. But if you're already comfortable with loosely painting florals already have experience, you'll be just fine. If you're a complete beginner, I don't want you to psyche yourself out in any way. This is why I kept the florals very loose. You can copy me exactly and follow along to speed up your learning process. But you can also do your own thing. It's loose florals, there really isn't a set guideline on how to do it. Just be playful and explore your brushstrokes. Now I will not be using references in this, but you should and can if you don't have experience in painting flowers at all. It's better to use references in the beginning. Your brain doesn't really know what a flower looks like. It didn't really memorize it. It's not going to feel as alive as if you use a reference first, even though our flowers are very loose. I highly recommend it if this is your first time painting flowers. To start the painting, I loosely paint in a flower shape using many strokes for each petal. This one is based on the paeony, my favorite flower. Notice how loose I am and how it's shape is oval, but you could have made it more of a circle as well. I add more color and while it's still wet and start my second flower, which is based off of a a rose. To paint the rose, I start with a lot of pigment on my brush and paint around an imaginary center point, being careful to leave lots of white space in between. I then wet my brush in plain water and paint around by pushing my brush down for thicker strokes and make sure to leave white in-between but look how beautifully the blue blended into the water. These are my bigger petals, so you can make them thicker or you can make them smaller for more closed rose. I also add some purple in the petals and in the center to make them more vivid and increase the contrast. Now this last floral, I didn't have any particular flower in mind. I just used simple brushstrokes and vary their angles and sizes and even added some little dots. I dropped another similar color at the bottoms. See this was simple and it really does look like it's a floral of some kind. You really can make this up. Then I add simple leaf outlines to help balance the composition making more interesting. The outlines are really fun because the rest of the piece is solid, so it really gives a nice contrast. Notice how I made all of them very similar, even using the same colors. This really helps unify the piece. Notice how all of my lines are slightly curved. This gives it a more organic feel. Also notice how I vary the sizes and sometimes the whole leaf comes out and sometimes only a portion. As you can see in the rose and the top of the paeony, the green blend into the flowers because the first layer was still wet and attached. I personally love this effect, but it's up to you if you do too. If you don't like this kind of effect, you could have waited for the flowers to dry first. I use a hairdryer and set on low to finish drying the piece, and now we can use our technical pen to add in detail. Before we start inking, I want you to notice that the top-left part of the composition feels empty and lacking, which ruins the balance of the piece. This was done on purpose that I can use just ink to balance it there. This is where your imagination kicks in. What are you going to put there? I could put another flower with just outlines or I can just add a detail like I do here. Whatever you do, do not be afraid of messing up because it will hold you back and just enjoy the process. If you make a bad piece, you can start again. You already have the experience and you got better with the second trial. You grow more from your mistakes than your victories. I start off by drawing in little hearts to cover the paeony. Now, this feels more balanced. I then make the petals into fun hearts as well and then drawing stems for both flowers. I also put a fun pattern into both of them but I do varied a little, even though they're both just lines. Now for the yellow flowers, I draw in stems, but I do not outline them. I recommend not to outline everything because your piece will lose some of its magic,and it might feel overworked. I add simple leaves by outlining similar shapes to before, but notice how I don't trace a new lease, but instead draw new ones sometimes overlap with the watercolor ones. This makes for really fun effect. I drew the line pattern in the hearts and some of the petals, and I do find circle pattern and then a wavy line, one in the rose. I outline the rose loosely, not everywhere, and then add more leaves and little circles and dots around the piece. What I'm doing right now is eyeballing it and seeing where the piece could use more detail to help balance the composition even more and make it more interesting at the same time. Also outline the petals in the paeony, the stems and some of the leaves for a sketchy feel. But notice how I didn't do this to everything, by varying the amount of detail all around and by changing how I do simple things, I make the piece feel alive and intriguing to look at. I add the line pattern, the rose petals in some of the leaves to make them match more to the rest of the piece. Now we're done inking. To finish the piece I add little white dots, varying their sizes and spacing with the gel pen. I love doing this to make things look like they have glitter on them and maybe like a star effect. It really helps make it pop and it's better if you do it on a darker watercolor parts. I also add in some last minute watercolors in the hearts and on the stems, but notice how I painted it messily, I did not stay inside the lines. The piece is done. I really love how this one turned out. It was such a blast to make and I cannot wait to see what you make. There is so much potential with this kind of composition and it's really super easy and super fun to me. You could even find one of your old floral pieces that he didn't really like so much in just ink on top of it. You might surprise yourself and make something gorgeous. Now let's illustrate something a little bit more realistic but still loose.
8. A More Realistic Approach: Now, this last floral illustration might be a tiny bit more challenging for you because this style we were illustrating will be more realistic. If you find it hard to draw what you see are realistically then check on my previous classes shows you how you can draw anything from a reference by using three simple steps and then come back and give it a try. I know you can do it. Anybody can draw really. Now, you could use photo references, but it's always better to have the real object right in front of you. Even going outside and finding a wildflower and a leaf is enough to work with. I had a floral bouquets on my desk and simply cut off two flowers and a leaf for inspiration in this piece. You can start by setting them and then take one element at a time and pick where you'll place it in the composition. You can rotate it around with your fingers and put it in and with different angles. That's the cool part about having it in the real world. This will really help you to understand the flower. Later on, you might not even need references to painted realistically from different angles. I sketch out each on the composition and putting in the basic shapes or outlines. This is important when you make a more complex piece, because at this stage it's very easy to erase and redraw. Once I'm happy with the sketch, I can start inking but if you don't feel comfortable getting straight with the ink without a more detailed sketch, by all means, refine your sketch more first, I just like to keep my lines loose, so I always sketch loosely and just concentrate on getting the right proportions when sketching a subject, but that doesn't mean you have to do the same thing I do. Everybody has their own way of making art. Notice that even though I'm more realistic, I'm still not being perfect, I'm not drawing each individual petal perfectly. I'm just observing the overall shapes of the petals, and how they react, and how they come out, and drawing them quickly and loosely. Also notice the circle pattern in the center of every flower. This simple pattern may be just simple circles is gorgeous and it's very similar to the actual flower it's based on. A lot of beautiful and simple patterns are found in nature, so keep your eyes peeled. Now I do the same thing with the other floral and belief. I'm not copying exactly, but more understanding the shape and getting inspired from it. This method is more quick and loose, but if you want to copy exactly, go ahead, it might look really, really cool with loose watercolors on top, is just not my style, but it might be yours. You will notice that I deviated from the initial sketch quite a bit, but adding more elements and moving some around, but the main flowers, the focus, the piece the' where I first put them, because those are very important and I wouldn't just risk moving them around with ink. But as you can see the sketch really isn't set in stone, it's slipped to me what the final piece will look like, so don't use that to hold you back, but it really helps in determining where the focal point is and what the proportions are. Every time we do complex piece, be sure to sketch it out first. To make the composition more interesting, I pick random large leaves and do the line pattern within them and I align them again for us get to feel. Notice how I don't do with every single leaf from more contrast and also do the same thing with the petals, but adding slight lines inside random petals. This is less of a pattern and more of a texture. It's based off of the texture of the real flower that I had in my hands. Now I'm ready to start painting. I start by dropping a mustard yellow into the centers of each flower. Notice I don't stay in the lines. But you could have used any other color really doesn't have to be realistically what the colors are in your flower. Even blue would have looked very cool. But like I said before, don't stay in the lines. It's much more fine like this and loose. Well, at least for this now, if you really, really want to stay in lines, I'm not going to stop you. But the contrast between loose and detailed as super fine to do, I also pick a couple of lists coloring, and don't stay in the lines as well. Next, I adapt my brush, varying the pressure for different looking dots all around the lines of are based off of the other floral. I use my size here around to add some blue inside random petals using the same simple line texture I used earlier. Now the dots are not fully dry yet, but they are slightly. When I use plain water to paint a loose background, I'm taking the paint out of them that isn't fully dry, but there's still staying there just very subtly and make sure to stay super loose while doing this elise specs of light at the page. Now while this layer is still wet, I dropped concentrated amounts of blue paint into random parts, paying attention to balance and harmony and then I tap the brush my finger inspired the mustard color in the background as well. I sprinkle salt in for a fine texture, and that's a more yellow on the left side since it felt lacking, you can add more paint after you sprinkle salt. Just be careful not to move the salt crystals. Add more dots are on the piece and splatter in some more blue and feeling the composition is done. I let it dry fully. To finish out the piece, I use my white gel pen to add circles around the piece and drawing the line pattern in the yellow leaves. This made it more interesting, but be careful not to overdo it. You can always add more, but you cannot take away in traditional art, it's a really fine balancing game, but don't worry, you'll get used to it. The piece is super fine and whimsical, the loose watercolors and fun patterns with lots of detail, all contrasts and work together. I encourage you to work from real flowers and do this type of artwork in your own way as well. This will look even super cool with just one realistic flower and a wash behind it. It's really fun to experiment and to work with real flowers for fun, realistic feel that clashes with the looseness of your watercolors or you can invert this and make super realistic watercolor flowers with very loose and fun inking patterns and details and doodles. I can't wait to see what you make. Now, let's do the first person that will show you that you can really do this with any subject.
9. No Limits & Goodbye: I made this last video to show you that you can use the techniques and styles you learned in this class to illustrate any subject you want. It doesn't have to be something floral. Anything will look good like this. I just really like florals, I thought it would be easier to focus on one topic in this class. Here is an example of how I can use ink doodles and loose watercolors to illustrate another subject. This example also isn't as simple as ink first or watercolor first. So pay attention to how we'll use both mediums over and over and keep switching between them as the piece progresses. This is how I usually work, I decide to paint a simple bird in a teacup illustration. I start by sketching out the shape of the teacup and I doodle over it loosely like I showed you guys in a botanical doodling lesson. I don't close all my lines and it's nowhere near realistic, but that's the style we're going for. Also, notice I left a big space that's hop line because I'm going to put a bird's body in there. So always plan ahead with things like this. Now for contrast, I decided the bird will be done with just watercolor and will not have ink outlines, so I paint in an oval for the body and drop more coloring as of painting too loose outward strokes as if its tail is going into the sky. To make the teacup match more, I paint in loose florals and a yellow outline. I also add some blue florals and a polka dot pattern all around. I also decide to add some of the turquoise in the bird and I splatter some more on for a fun white-on-white action. I dried it with the hairdryer set on low and notice how the puddle's been, how they turn into gorgeous textures. This paper is also different from the one we were using earlier, and every people make texture's a little bit differently, same thing with different paints. Next, I define the bird using simple lines and shapes using my micron pen. Just by giving it a beak and eyes, you can already tell it's a bird. Notice how fun the wing pattern is and the tail and how different they are, but still simple and the same exact concept fused everywhere else. See, it's not just florals, I add a little white dots all around with the white gel pen, I lettering a cute saying. I also add arts all around with the ink. I just want you to realize I'm making all these choices as I go and I keep switching between ink and watercolor. I paint in some of the arts and then use plain water for loose background and splattering colors we already used in the piece and we're done. I made this piece by being super loose and playful and just going with the flow. The final result is super adorable and I love the feel of it. As you can see, you can use this techniques you learned in this class to illustrate anything you want and you can get very creative with it. I want you to give it a try and please, please share what you make in the project gallery, because I love to see what you make, whether you do botanical illustration from on the previous lessons. You do it your way, you copy me, you incorporate only a couple of techniques, or you paint a completely unique subject matter. I want to see what you make and so do the other students. I can't wait to see what you come up with. I know I keep saying that, but I really can't wait. I really hope you enjoyed the class and if you want to continue learning with me, check out my numerous other classes. If you have any questions whatsoever, leave them in the community section of the class and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I guess that's it. I'll see you in the next class.
Yasmina Creates, Artist & Creativity Cheerleader
