Fresh and Fun Birthday Card Making With Watercolors

1. Welcome to the Class: When it comes to gifting, I personally love to make handmade birthday cards. Let's create some fresh and fun birthday cards using some easy craftwork and the medium of watercolors. You can use these cards to give a nice, personalized touch to your gift and make something special. He, every buddy, you're most welcome to my new class, myself, uthwikPil. I'm a self taught, independent artist and an interior designer by profession. I personally love to explore different art forms and styles and not stick to one particular thing. So if you are joining me, you'll find a variety of classes that I create. There are two beautiful cards that we are going to create, having different color scheme. We are going to start by understanding the class projects in detail and all the elements that we are going to paint. Before we start with the class project, we are going to understand about all the art supplies that we are going to use to create these beautiful cards. No need to worry at all in case you are missing out on any particular art supply. You can go for any other good alternative as well. The first step is to create a beautiful base, which is going to be square for the cards. Then we are going to create a beautiful abstract background using the medium of watercolors. There's this beautiful golden ring that we are going to create using a nice circle, which combines with the background, then we are going to paint these beautiful leaves forming a nice wreath around the circle. We are going to add a small color palette which enhances the entire card, followed by a beautiful, happy birthday message that we are going to write using some beautiful calligraphy. At the end, we are going to write a personalized message and complete the entire birthday cards. No need to worry about the output. Just enjoy the process of creating. You're free to explore and experiment with the entire card as well. Allo, it is going to be a very interesting concept to create birthday cards, and I'm very sure that you're going to enjoy the entire class. The class is absolutely suited for beginners and also intermediate and advanced level artists can try it. So without any delay, grab your art supplies and join me on this creative journey. 2. Details About the Class Projects: Hey, everybody. Now let us talk about the class projects that we are going to create. No need to worry about the output, enjoy the process of creating. I'll be giving you the details about the cards that we are going to create. Observe them one by one and carefully follow these steps. So as you can observe, I have placed both the cards on the desk surface and extremely sorry about the lighting. So let me talk about the first card, which is having this beautiful green color scheme that you can observe. So the first element is going to be this beautiful abstract background that we are going to create using green color. There is going to be this little color palette that we are going to add, followed by this beautiful golden circular shape that we are going to create. Then we are going to paint these little leaves using watercolor in a green color. Then using some beautiful calligraphy, we are going to write happy birthday and a little message that you can customize according to your convenience, it is absolutely fine. Combining all these elements together, we are going to form this beautiful card based on a green color scheme. So now apart from this particular card, we are going to have another card, which is going to have a beautiful blue color scheme. So the elements are going to be same. We are just going to compose it in a different manner. We are going to start by creating a beautiful abstract blue background using watercolors, followed by this little colour palette that we are going to create using some colored sketch pens. We are going to add this beautiful golden circle on which we are going to paint these little leaves forming a beautiful wreath. Then we are going to add a beautiful, happy birthday text using some beautiful calligraphy, using a black marker. On the bottom part, you can observe a beautiful message that we are going to write using a blue pen. You're free to customize the message according to the event. It is absolutely fine. So by combining all these elements together, we are going to form these two beautiful fresh and fun cards based on happy birthday. You can change the subject according to your convenience and create the cards as well. And you can write it in your own handwriting as well. I hope that you got an exact idea about the class projects that we are going to create. These are two beautiful birthday cards that we are going to create, and it is not at all compulsory for you to create it in the exact same way. You're free to explore and experiment with the entire class project. Now let us move towards the next part. 3. Art Supplies: Hey, everybody. Now let us talk about all the art supplies that you will need for the entire class. I'll be giving you the details about the art supplies one by one. No need to worry about having the exact same art supply. You can go for any other good alternative as well. So as you can observe, I have placed all my art supplies in a systematic manner so that I can give you the details one by one. So let us talk about the watercolor set that I'm using. These are watercolors from Bonfll and it is just to give you a reference, you can go for any other good alternative as well. So now let us talk about all the colors that you will need to create these two beautiful cards. So the first one is brown, then we have yellow, then we have blue, green, and dark green. These are five basic colors that we are going to use to create the entire class projects. In case you do not have the exact shade, it is absolutely fine. You can use any good alternative as well. Then the next art supply is a simple color palette that you can observe is already having some colors in it. So try to have enough space in your color palette so that you can take out multiple colors and have enough space for mixing, as well. Then the next art supply is a simple glass container in which you can already observe some colored water. Of course, we are going to take some clear water. So it is important to have water whenever you're working with watercolors. Then we have a simple tissue napkin on which you can dab your brushes to remove excess amounts of water and color from. You can also use a tissue paper. It is absolutely fine. Then comes another art supply, which is a simple rounder in which you can already observe, I have fixed my pencil. So it's a simple tool which is also known as a compass that you can use to create a circular shape. So you can take out a little pencil out of it and fix it, as well. And then this tool helps to create a nice circular shape. Then the next art supply is a simple pencil that we are going to use to write happy birthday before we write it with a black marker. Then comes a simple ruler having a 15 centimeters dimension that we are going to use to cut our rectangular watercolor paper into a perfect square. Then we are going to have two markers that we are going to use. So the first one is from Artline, which is a simple black marker that we are going to use to add minute details to our card and write the text. Then there is this metallic marker, which is completely golden. So these are two markers that you will need to complete the class projects. You can use any other good alternative, as well. It is absolutely fine. Then a simple pair of scissors that we are going to use to cut the watercolor paper and convert a rectangular shape into a perfect square. Then comes the most important art supply, which is the brush that we are going to use to paint. It's a simple quill brush of size too. You can use a round brush as well, but a quilt brush will work better to create a nice abstract background. Then comes the next art supply, which is a simple blue pen that we are going to use to write some text on the bottom part of the happy birthday text. Then comes these beautiful colored sketch pens, having some blue, green and brown in it. You can use any colored sketch pen to create a little color palette in the card. Now comes the last art supply, which is the watercolor paper that we are going to use. So the watercolor paper that I'm using is from Canson. It is an A five size sheet that we are going to convert into a perfect square, and it is 300 GSM. You have to make sure that you use a good GSM paper, which is basically the thickness of the paper so that you can apply heavy washes on it. You can use any other good alternative for watercolur paper as well. So these are the two class projects that we are going to create, having two different color schemes, using all the art supplies that we talked about right now. I hope that you got an exact idea about all the art supplies that we are going to use to create these beautiful birthday cards. Now let us move towards the next part. 4. Card 1 - Green Leaves: 5. Card 2 - Blue Leaves: Hey, every buddy. You are most welcome to the second birthday card, which I have named as blue leaves. So let us start by creating a beautiful abstract background. So I'll be using my quill brush of size two, and we're applying a nice thick coat of water on the entire surface of the paper. Now simply flip the paper and apply another thick coat of water on another surface. This will help you to stick the entire paper to the desk surface and apply a nice thick coat of water on the entire surface. In order to create a nice abstract background, we are using this wet on wet technique. In which we apply a nice coat of water initially and then color. Now, this card is having a beautiful blue theme. That's why I'm using a lot of blue color from the color palette, add a little bit of water in it, and simply dab your brush in this random manner. You'll observe that the color will automatically spread since it is having a nice coat of water on the entire surface. No need to worry about painting it in the exact same way, since it's an abstract form of painting, so there might be a little bit of difference between your painting and mine, and it is absolutely fine. In fact, you are free to compose and experiment with the entire color scheme, as well. You can observe that we have created these beautiful blue color patches. Now apart from this, we will add a little bit more color on the left hand side as well. In case you find that your paper is a little bit dry, you can reapply a little bit of water. This will help you to make your color spread in a nice way. I'll take a little bit of brown and green together. And I'll just apply the color patches on the left hand side. You can observe the way the color is spreading automatically, and you'll definitely enjoy this particular step because it is very much satisfying. Again, let me repeat that it is a mix and match of all the colors together. So no need to worry about perfection. Try to paint in a very slow and steady manner, create your own abstract background. Make sure that you leave a little bit of white space in the center part. This will help you to write happy birthday in a clear manner. I've taken a little bit of more blue colour, taken some more water in the brush, and simply tap your finger onto the brush to splatter some color around. So you can observe the color is applied to the paper in this dotted manner. I'll be using my black marker from art line, and we are going to create these little dots in an abstract manner again. There is no specific way of applying it. You can just randomly apply these little dots around. You can make a little bit of bigger dots as well in certain areas wherever you want to. You can carefully observe that these little black dots creates a beautiful contrast with the color and the white paper. Now, apart from this, we are going to use a simple rounder to draw a circular shape. You can already observe it is having a small pencil. Try to keep a little bit of distance from the paper edge and create a simple circular shape. No need to hurry at all. Take your time and make sure that the circle is visible to you. The pencil line is a little bit lighter. I hope you can observe now, once the pencil line is done, we are going to use a simple golden marker to apply it over the pencil line. Now, this particular golden marker creates a beautiful contrast with the white paper and the color that we have applied. So it basically creates a nice shiny aesthetic element to the entire card. So I've completed the circular shape using my golden marker. You can reapply another coat to make the circle look a little bit more darker. Now, once we are done completing the circle, I'll take a little bit of brown color from the color palette using my quill brush, and using the tip of the quill brush, you can just add these little strokes on the entire golden line. It will make the circle look a little bit more darker and add a little bit of depth to the entire wreath, as well. Now, we are going to paint some beautiful blue leaves around the circle. I'll take a little bit of darker tone of blue, and I'm starting from the topmost portion. You can observe the way I'm using the tip of my quill brush to paint these little leaves on the entire surface of the circular part. So we are starting from smaller leaves initially, and slowly we will increase the size of the leaves. You'll definitely enjoy this particular step, and it is very satisfying painting these little leaves. It is very easy and simple. You just have to use the tip of your quill brush and create these little pointy shapes coming out of the circular line, of course. So the leaves are basically emerging from the circle line. So now you can observe that I have slowly increased the size of the leaves. Now as we move towards the right hand side, we will slowly decrease the size of the leaves as well. You can add these little strokes as well in order to create some little branches. Try to have less amount of water and more color so that you can get a highly saturated blue color. And in case you want to decrease the amount of water from the brush, just simply dab it onto the tissue paper. This will help you to remove excess amount of water from the brush. So now we have painted the leaves on the top right portion. Let us paint few leaves on the left hand side as well. These steps are absolutely same. You can paint the leaves in different sizes and slowly add them onto the circular surface. No need to hurry at all. Take your time and paint in a very slow and steady manner. Try to have more amount of color and less water in your brush. In case you find that your brush is having excess amount of water in it, just simply dab it onto the tissue paper. It will help you to remove excess amount of water from the brush. So you can observe that I have added a lot of leaves on the left hand side, as well. I'm just creating these little strokes coming out as branches. So we are almost done painting the leaves on the entire circular shape. Now let us add a little color palette using these beautiful colored sketch pens. These are random colors. You can use any color that you are having. In case you do not have sketch pen, you can use crayons as well. So I'm starting to just add these little circular shapes, having some blue, green, purple, and brown. So this time, I am creating the color palette in vertical manner. In the first card, we did it in a horizontal manner. So we have added a bunch of five colors together in a small circular shape. So this basically creates a nice aesthetic and makes the card look a little bit more attractive. Now comes the next part, which is adding a text message which says happy birthday. You can write any other message according to your event or whatever purpose you are using it for. So I'll use a pencil initially to create a nice reference so that in case there is any mistake, you can rub the pencil line and just make it correct. So using a pencil, we are going to write happy birthday. So let us start with happy. No need to hurry at all. Try to write it in a very slow and steady manner. You can write it in your own way. I'm just trying to use a nice calligraphy handwriting. In case you want to use bold letters and a simple handwriting, it is absolutely fine. So I have written happy birthday with pencil initially, and I'll be using my black marker from Artline, and we will just trace the pencil lines. You can observe the beautiful strokes that we get using a black marker. Right now, it's a single stroke. We will enhance the letters so that it looks a little bit more in contrast with the background. I have written happy. Now I'll be writing birthday. So we are done writing both the words and let us enhance the letters by adding these black patches in certain letters. This will help us to create a beautiful contrast with the white paper background. Similarly, you can add it in happy as well. So again, let me repeat the same thing. You can write it in your own handwriting. It is absolutely fine. I'll be using a simple blue pen to write a beautiful message on the bottom part. You can write the message according to your convenience. It is absolutely fine. I'm writing wishing you a lot of happiness and success ahead. You can write any message that you like. It is absolutely fine. So we are done writing the message and completing the entire card. Let me take you a little bit closer so that you can observe all the details carefully. Combining these little elements together, we have formed this beautiful happy birthday card using the medium of watercolors. I hope that you enjoyed creating both the class projects, and I'll be very excited to see it in the project gallery. And I also hope that you enjoyed the entire class and got to learn something new. Now let us move towards the class conclusion. 6. Class Conclusion: Everybody, you're most welcome to the class conclusion. I hope that you enjoyed the entire class and got to learn something new and creative. I personally love to make handmade birthday cards whenever I'm gifting any loved ones. And in case you want to use it for a different purpose, it is absolutely fine. You just have to change the message. One thing that I always tell my students is to practice on a regular basis, and no need to worry about the output. Enjoy the process of creating. I would be very excited to see all of your class projects into the project gallery, so do not forget to add them into the project gallery. It's a very humble request from my side to you to leave a review for the class as it encourages me a lot and my class can reach many more students like you. At the end, I would like to say, keep learning, keep practicing. Thank you so much for joining the class and happy painting.