Easy Wonderland Christmas Cards in Watercolor

1. About The Class: Hello, everyone. My name is Bianca. I'm a watercolor artist based in the Philippines. I'm also known as biancarayala on Instagram, where I share all my watercolor works and classes. Christmas season is here, and I'm sure nothing could be more special than a handmade gift for your loved ones. In today's class, we're going to learn how to paint fun, easy, and colorful watercolor Christmas projects. We will paint four candy wonderland Christmas signs full of sweet treats, frosty gingerbread collections, and lots of pink and purple colored elements, which you can use as a pattern design for gift tags or rappers, holiday card, or even a frame painting to your family and friends. This class covers modern watercolor techniques and can be enjoyed by both beginners and experienced watercolors, as I will guide you step-by-step on how to paint these four colorful projects. Pick up your brush and let's get started. 2. Materials: In our class, we will start with this winter wonderland snowman, followed by this dreamy snow globe, pastel colored gingerbread house, and lastly, this frosty gingerbread cookies. Before we start painting, let's first prepare the complete list of materials that we will be needing for a project. First is watercolor paper. This one that I use is made of 200 GSM. You can use a cellulose or a cotton made paper, and I'm painting on a nine by six inch paper in portrait format. Next is watercolor. The main colors that I'll be using are cobalt turquoise. You also need to prepare ultramarine blue and cerulean. Next is hansa yellow, [inaudible] pink, some shades of orange, like cadmium orange, and Mayan orange. Horizon blue, shades of brown like sepia, burnt sienna, and burnt amber. Amethyst genuine, and also an opaque white watercolor or a whitewash. For the brushes, I will use three round brushes from Silver Brush. These are black velvet, Silver Kolinsky, and golden natural. All round brushes in size 6 and 8. We will also be needing a mixing palette, this one, two cups of water, pencil and eraser, and some tissue paper. 3. Wonderland Snowman: Our first project, we will use the silver Kolinsky brush to paint this wonderland snowman. You may download the photo of the pencil sketch at the reference section so you can trace my drawing and enjoyed painting along with me. Let's start from the base color of the snowman using cerulean and a bit of [inaudible]. As you make them mixture, make the cerulean blue more dominant so it won't create a green shade. You want a cool neutral color for the shadow of the snowman. Now, I paint the shadow part of the snowman here under the hat to show its shape and dimension. I'm also painting wet on dry. I just add water on my brush to soften the edges and also delighten the tone. Notice that I leave white space unpainted to give highlight on the parts of the snowman. I use the same color to paint the cool shadow of the snow on the ground. I just create some random strokes to maintain the looseness of the painting. I also fill my brush with paint and splatter, some paint using my same brush. After this we let it dry before painting the hat. For the hat, I will use qinacadon pink. You can use other pink color that you have in your palate, it doesn't have to be the same actually. I will add just a little bit of opera pink to mute down the color of qinacadon pink. I will paint also a small portion with dense paint then spread the color later on using a clean brush. Now I'm spreading the color with a clean brush and then while the layer is still wet I will drop some more pink color to show the shadow part of the hat. As I paint the visor of the hat, I paint the under area with dark and thick paint to define the shape. To darken the pink shade, I will just add a little violet on my qinacadon pink color. This is the under area, I will make it darker to show dimension. Now I'm getting some purple pigments and some dark pink color on areas that I want to emphasize or I want to darken. Here in the under area of the hat and on the shadowed part of the hat itself. Now I will move on to painting the scarf. I'm getting a turquoise color and horizon blue. If you will see my mixture is really creamy, and I make sure that the first layer of the snowman which is the shadowed part is already dry before I paint on the scarf. This is important so that the paint will not bleed as you apply the color of the scarf. I make the edge of the scarf a little juggle for design and then just like what we did on the hat, I will drop some darker tone of turquoise on some parts of the scarf while the layer is still wet to show details and dimension. Now, here on this part of the snowman, I will add a little dark tone on the shadow so it won't look fat. I still use the cool, neutral color that we made earlier but a little bit darker to emphasize the shadows on the base of the snowman. I also darken some spots on the snow on the ground. When you're done with this, we can paint the wooden signage with [inaudible] and a bit of burnt umber. We just mix them together and get the right mixture or the best mixture that you want for your Christmas card. I'll just add some more water as my brush seem to be too dry. Then while this layer is still wet, I will drop some dark brown colors, again, to add texture on this wooden signage. I do the same thing on this second signage. Now I'm adding some cool shade on top of the signage to show the shadows of the snow on top of it. We imagine that these signages are tightly covered with snow. A base layer is done. I will be changing my brush to a synthetic brush, which is golden natural to paint the details of the snowman like, the orange nose and the other parts of the face. I just create a mix of bright orange with the colors that I have on my palette. I use cadmium orange, and a little bit of Mayan orange, and I make this stroke crisp and sharp. The shape doesn't have to be perfect. It just have to be thick and creamy enough to stand out. Then I paint the cheeks with the light watery mixture of orange. The same shade and mixture that I used with the nose. Let's wait for this to get dry. Then I will make a dark brown color, like sappier, to paint the stick arms. Again, make your mixture thick, so it's easier to create crisp and sharp lines using your synthetic brush. Make also the stroke a little shaky to show a more natural look of sticks or wooden sticks. Now, after doing this step, we wait for the entire picture to get dry before adding the details of the hat. For the hat, I will add some more details by using the same colors that I use. But this time, I will be creating a creamy mix of torques dots, and some wavy lines on the hat, as a design. Make sure that your mixture is creamy, so it would stand out on top of that pink hat. Feel free to do your own color combinations or your own design for your snowman's hat. Our goal in this class project is actually to enjoy, and to have fun in preparing Christmas gifts or Christmas cards for loved ones. Now, I will also enhance the dark shadows of the hat by mixing pink with some violet. Using the brown color that I have in my mixing palette, I will paint the smiling face of the snowman and it's eyes. I'll Just do a broken line to outline the smile. I enhance the shadows on the eye area and then let it dry first before adding that dark color for the ice. As we nearly finish, let's add dark details and outline on the wooden signage using dark brown color. My brush here is semi dry. That's why it creates some dark and dry strokes. I also use my finger to blend this layer on the base layer. Now, I will add the details of the eyes. Then don't forget to paint the other stick arm of the snowman with the same dark brown color. Let's add some dark highlights on the scarf by just making few quick and thick strokes. I still use my cobalt turquoise. But this time a thicker and creamier consistency of paint. You can also add a little bit of purple or amadeus genui to make it darker in cheath. Then just apply some strokes to show details and highlights. I also use my finger to blend the colors on the base layer. Now I feel that there's something missing in the body of this snowman. I think it would be nice to add some details like buttons for added design. Maybe I can use again my quinacridone pink to paint small details like pink buttons. This way I also build the connection between the body of the snowman, and it's hat. I'm also mixing a cool gray color to add highlights on the shadows of the snow. Lastly, let's add some small details on the snowman's nose using the brown color. Also, don't forget to write a note on the signage. You can write a personal note on this space. But for demo, I'll be writing happy holidays. This is our first project, the wonderness snowman. I hope to see you in the next video and let's paint the dreamy snow glow. 4. Snow Globe: For the second project, we will paint the snow globe with color from gift boxes inside. I will be cleaning my palette as I will be using the same colors, ultra art, and for the copy of the pencil sketch, you can find and download it from the resource section. The first step is to paint the glass of this snow globe using wet-on-wet technique. We will pre-wet the paper with clean water, but we will be avoiding the highlights portion of the glass and the gifts inside. Carefully pre-wet the section of the snow globe using a clean brush filled with water. Carefully do this step so you can avoid this highlight portion of the class and create a crisp edge as you do the wet-on-wet technique later on. After pre-wetting, I mix the same cool neutral color to paint the glass. I create a watery mixture of this cool neutral color. It's a mix of cerulean, ultramarine, and burnt sienna. Now while it's still wet, i drop a paint or watering mix of this mixture on the edges, and just let the paint flow naturally. Notice the white and painted space on the portion of the glass which represents the reflected light on the snow globe. You just paint around the globe, painting on the edge part, and just let the paint flow towards the surface. I will darken some portions of the glass by dropping some more color while the area is still wet. This also gives more contrast on this lighter part of the glass since we've pulled a darker color around it. When you paint wet-on-wet, you will create soft edges like this one. Now I'm just softening some edges here on this side using a clean damp brush. While waiting for this layer to get to dry, I will move on to painting the base of the globe using burnt sienna. I fill in the base with this color, and add some dark brown color while the surface is still wet. In this way, we avoid this fragment to look too plain and flat. It's important to do this step while the base layer is still wet so we can achieve a good blend of colors. When we add paint while the surface is wet, colors will naturally blend and will create soft edges. Now that the snow globe is already dry, we can start painting the gift boxes. I will start with the rectangular box at the bottom with pink color. I'm still using my [inaudible] pink in this left over pigments on my palette. To show the show dimension without outlining the drawing with different the tonal value of the two sides. One side is dark pink while the side facing me is lighter. We make again dark pink color by adding a little bit of purple in the mixture. This side on the left is darker than this one on the right was just the one facing me has a lighter tone. I will add the details like the reborn and the design of the box itself later on when this is already dry. For the next box, I just choose from the color selection that they have. I think I like using forecasts color for the box and a green color for the ribbon. Now I'm leaving a white unpainted part to reserve this space for the ribbon. I will create a green color by mixing the same darkest color and Hansa yellow medium. If you will note this painting gift cards in this style are very straightforward, simple, and easy. What we need to learn is the right timing on when to apply paints so the colors won't mix up as we paint in one layer. I added now the purple ribbon on the pink box since it is already dry. So I just make a quick single stroke to show the ribbon. Then now for the biggest box, I will use a mix of yellow and orange and paint a pink ribbon on it. I'm still using the same group of colors that I mentioned and the same colors that I use in the Wonderland Stallman project. The good thing about choosing certain colors and using them for the entire project collection is that we build a uniform look and color harmony across all our projects. My mixture when painting the gifts are creamy so the colors are saturated since the gift boxes are the focal point in this snow globe. Now we paint the ribbon using a pink color. Now I get a mixture of the cool neutral color as I will be adding some dark spots below to show the impression of snow on the base. Notice that I will also leave white unpainted area below the pink box to show the snow. As we finalize the painting, I will add details in the signs on the gift boxes with a creamy mix of pigments. Feel free to design your own gift boxes and explore different color combinations with the box and the ribbons. Let's add some details on the base using a dark brown color just to show texture. Now, I will get an opaque white watercolor, you can use whitewash, and splatter it inside the snow globe for there is no effect. If you don't have a whitewash or an opaque white watercolor, you can use a white pen to do this. You can use a fan brush or a toothbrush to do these platters. Let us add some more final touches to complete our painting. We will be doing again some splattering all over the paper. As you do this splattering of different colors around, it's useful to cover the piece with a tissue paper so that the spatters won't go inside the snow globe. Or you can position your brush away from this snow globe so that you can control the direction of the splatters. This is our dreamy snow globe painting. 5. Gingerbread House: We are halfway through our Christmas project and I hope that you are enjoying the entire process. For this project we will paint this pastel candy-colored gingerbread house and I will still use the same mixing palette. But I will always change my water. The pencil sketch is still available inthe resource section Download it so you can trace and paint along with me. We'll start painting from top which is the roof covered in snow and I will use the same neutral color to paint the shadows of the snow Notice that I leave a white and painted portion on this portion of the roof. This is because I am painting only the shadows on the snow. Next, I paint a turquoise lining under the roof. Here I'm mixing a bright turquoise color and just paint it underneath Now, I'll create some darker stripes on the side of the house as if it was a twisted marshmallow pole. Next, I create a thick mixture to paint the face of the house. I still use my [inaudible] pink and carefully paint and fill in the color inside. I avoid painting the windows on this step as I will be assigning a different color for them. While the layer is still wet, I will drop some darker spots for additional texture on this particular wall. Now I'm dropping some darker tones while this layer is still wet for additional texture. I'm also adding some tiny details just to give extra design on this part of the house. Now I paint the door with turquoise. I'm leaving a portion of the door unpainted as I'll paint it including the windows with yellow inside. I'm darkening some parts of the mallow poles. I'm using my cadmium yellow or the Hansa yellow medium to paint the light coming from the windows. Then I will use the same neutral color that we've been using all throughout the project to show the shadows of the snow on the ground. Now I think this is a good time also to splatter some colors to add interest in our painting. I'm splattering different colors like pink, turquoise. Actually, all the colors that I have used in this project. Now, let's paint this ice cream cone-shaped chimney by the roof. I show the shape of the roof by painting negative space, painting this ice cream cone chimney and then later on adding some candy dots on top I also added details on this marshmallow poles, like adding pink stripes. Adding some more details also here around the door. For the tree, I will use three colors, pink, then green, then turquoise. I will create green by mixing turquoise and yellow. One advice I can share is to totally enjoy the painting process and take away the pressure on your shoulders. As I do all these exercises, I honestly feel very relaxed because the colors and the style are unrestricted and bring happy feelings. Feel free to choose the colors that will make you happy. The colors that will make you express the joy inside of you and just splatter, as long as you like it. Let's paint the base of the cone with a brown color. Now, let's paint some rainbow lollipops on the side with the same colors in your palette. You just play with quinacridone pink, turquoise, and green in painting the entire gingerbread house. We're almost done with this project and the last step would be adding the final details and highlights on the tree and the windows. I'm darkening some parts of the stick, the lollipop sticks, and the cone under the tree. I'm using an opaque white paint to paint the details on the cone and also highlights on the lollipops. I'm adding some splatters as I noticed that the middle part between the tree and the house are empty. I will also be adding some candy dots on top of the roof. This is what I was telling a while ago about painting or contouring the shape of the roof. We contour the shape or we redefine the shape of the roof by adding some colored candy dots on top of it. That will give an impression for the viewers that this is the edge of the roof filled with snow. But be careful not to fill the entire roof with these dots. Feel free to add designs, to do this splattering using different colors on your work. Remember that this style is totally unrestricted and the main purpose is to enjoy the process. This is our painting of the gingerbread house. 6. Gingerbread Cookies: For our last project, we will be painting these yummy gingerbread cookies. Make sure to get a copy of the pencil sketch at the resource section so we can start painting. Painting these cookies are very simple, and the steps are pretty the same for all the cookies. We start by painting the base outline of the cookie with burnt sienna, then proceed on painting the colored frosting or design of each cookie. Let's first paint this Christmas tree. I get the milky mixture of burnt sienna, so it won't be too thick in consistency. I Just paint the outline of the cookie first. Next, I create a green mix using turquoise and the yellow, to paint the inner part of the Christmas tree cookie. I still use a milky mixture to paint the inner part. I will leave the wavy design unpainted because I will be painting it with a bright pink color later on. Now using a little bit creamy consistency of paint, I paint the pink color for this wavy design in the cookie. I will also add some colored dots around the tree once the green paint is completely dry. For the last step, I will paint the right edge of the cookie with dark brown to show dimension. This step is very important to avoid making the cookie looks flat. I do some splatters with the green color, then we will repeat the same process in painting the gingerbread man. Now we move on to painting the gingerbread man cookie. We begin by painting the entire gingerbread with burnt sienna then I will leave the zigzag designs on its hands and feet unpainted. Same as what we did with the Christmas tree for the right side edge of the cookie, I will also paint it with a dark brown color for dimension. Here I'm painting dark spots on the right side edge. Next, I paint the ribbon with dark colors, once the brown paint is almost dry. I will also drop some darker pigments while the layer is still wet for additional texture. If you feel that your base layer is too light, feel free to add another layer of a darker tone to make your painting lighter and livelier in color. Now we do these splatters and then I will paint the face later on when the layer is already dry. Now let's paint the middle. Again, we paint the outline with burnt sienna. We carefully do this using a round brush, and then the inner portion, I will paint it with pink. The process is basically the same, but the fun part on doing this is decorating the details. It's actually makes me think of creative ways to design the piece, and it is as if baking your own gingerbread cookies. When the layer is still wet, feel free to drop darker tones to brighten up the painting. I also outlined a dark brown paint on the right edge for the dimension. Now, for the small cookies, I will assign colors that are not yet dominant in my work. These colors are turquoise and yellow for these Christmas ball cookies. I will start again by painting the outline with burnt sienna then followed by the inner color of the cookie. Now, let's splatter some colors to build the home position of our painting. Notice how I hold my brush and how I position them. It would affect that the direction of the splatters. For the hard cookie, I will paint it with basal pink. To get this color, I will be mixing [inaudible] pink and white. Don't forget to add this dark brown outline on the right side edge. Feel free to splatter colorful paints around the painting. For added interests and composition. Let's finish the piece by painting the happy face of the gingerbread man using an opaque white watercolor or a whitewash. I will also use my white paint to add details on some of this small round cookies. This is our final painting. 7. Special Message: Thank you so much for taking this class. I'm so glad that you've made it this far and I'm so excited to see your four Christmas card paintings. Always paint to inspire and paint from the heart. Enjoy the process of learning and don't give up when you don't make it on your first try. Keep on trying and practicing. Feel free to send me a message on Instagram if you have questions and I'd be happy to help you. I have provided on the resource section all the references that you will need to complete your projects such as the pencil sketch and the final painting. I also have other Skillshare watercolor classes about seascapes, landscapes, floral paintings, and more so I do hope to see you again on my other classes. Thank you so much again and have a blessed Christmas.