Transcripts
1. Introduction: End of this video,
you'll be able to paint any anime character
you like on a canvas.
2. Materials: Let's start off with materials. So the first thing
you're going to need is a canvas, of course. And I just want to
mention that the canvas I'm using in this video
is in very high quality, which is why my painting
looks quite textured. But if you use a
better quality canvas, you'll be good to go. Now, there's many
different types of canvases you can use, but for beginners generally, I would recommend using a cotton canvas because
those are easy to use. Affordable. Okay. You're
going to need acrylic paints, of course, And you can use any
paints you have available. But for me personally, I like to use these two brands. One is from Art Rangers and the other one is a brand
called Keep Smiling. Yeah. These are my go
too because they're very affordable and amazing quality. Okay. Next you're
going to need brushes, of course, and as you can
see, mine are very old. I haven't gotten new brushes
in like three years. But you can use any
brushes you have at home. The only thing I'd
like to mention is the size of the brushes. You're going to need very
small and thin brushes, and you'll see why
later on in this video. Next, you're going
to need one of these thin, long hair brushes. I use them in line work and
just painting in general, as you'll see along
in this video. But if you don't have them, I would recommend that you go
out and get them right now. They're literally the most
useful art item I own. Next, you're going to
need a paint palette, and as you can see,
mine is very old. But if you don't have this, I again suggest that
you go out and get it, because we're going to be mixing a lot of different colors. And if you don't have a place to mix, it will be very hard. Okay, now this is optional, but I thought I
just mentioned it, but sometimes I like to
use poster paints as well. And I just use them for very
small areas where I want, you know, a specific
type of color. But I don't have that
in acrylic paint, so I just use poster paints. Okay, this is again, optional, but instead of using
white acrylic paint, I use acrylic Esso. And this is just because I think Gesso is a lot more
affordable and lasts longer. This is completely optional. If you don't have Esso, you can just use
white acrylic paint. But I thought, I just
mentioned it in case someone else is looking for
a more affordable option.
3. Sketching: Okay, step one is to sketch
the character on your canvas. Now, there's plenty
of different methods that you can use to sketch, and I'll be making a separate
video on that very soon. But in this video,
I'll be showing you this one called the
tracing method. What you want to do
is grab a piece of paper and cut it to the
size of your canvas. Then you're going to open the image that you want to draw on your laptop and place the
piece of paper on top of it. Then you're going to tape down the paper so it doesn't move. And then you just want
to trace over that. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you're going to have to increase the brightness of
your laptop and dim all the lights in your room so the image underneath
is more visible. Oh, and one last thing.
Don't press on your screen too hard because you can
damage your laptop screen. So just be aware of that. Okay, once you're done tracing, you can just lower your
brightness and alla, you've got the image
on your paper. Okay, for this next part, you're going to need one
of these charcoal sticks. And if you don't have them, an alternative is to
use black soft pastel. But what you want to do
is just flip your paper over and color the backside
with the charcoal stick. Okay. Once you're done
coloring the backside, you're just going to
place the paper on top of your canvas and tape it
down so it doesn't move. And then you are just
going to trace over it. Oh, by the way, you don't
have to do any of this. If you can just freehand draw the character
directly onto the canvas. This method is specifically for those people
who cannot draw. Yeah, if you can draw, just go ahead and draw on your canvas. Anyways, once you're
done tracing, just rip off that
paper on top and walla you have the
character on your canvas.
4. Painting the Hair: Let's start painting now. So when I first
started painting, I used to get very confused as to where I should
start painting. But as I gained more experience, I eventually realized that it's never a good idea to
paint the skin first. So usually what I do is I paint the hair first and then I do
clothes or any accessories. And then I do the skin
and then the background. So we're going to
start with her hair, and as you can see, there's two different
colors in her hair. So I'm just going to
really quickly shade the darker parts of her
hair on my canvas so I don't get confused
and suddenly paint the lighter color
over the darker parts. Okay, Once that's done, I'm just going to bring in my trusty paint palette and
make that orange color. In order to make
the orange color, I'm just going to add in a little bit of
yellow paint first. And then to that, I'm just
going to add red paint now. Don't add a lot of red
paint at one time. Just add a little
bit and then if you feel like you want the color
to be slightly darker, add a little bit more and
then just keep on doing that. If you add a lot of
red paint at one time, you will probably regret it. I'm telling you I've been
there so many times, I get excited and
then I just add a lot of paint at one time and
then end up regretting it. Make the same mistakes I did. Oh, by the way, I
forgot to mention, but just keep a cup
of water next to you because these paints
are usually very thick. So as I'm mixing, I'm just adding in
water to kind of, you know, loosen out the paint
and you make it thinner. Okay. So once I'm
satisfied with the color, I'm just going to use this
small brush and start painting the hair before use flick the bristles back and
forth to remove any dust. Then dip your brush in water to wetten it and
then dip it in paint. I like to start at the top and work down painting with
light, even strokes. Okay, once you're done
with the first layer, you're going to go in
with a second layer. I'd like to do two
to three coats per color just to make sure that I haven't left any areas and that the
paint is evenly coated. So I'm just going to
do a few more layers off camera and I'll
be right back. Okay, I'm done painting. So now let's move on to the
darker parts of her hair. So what I'm going to do is
I'm just going to add in red color into this already existing orange
color that I had. And I'm just going to add
in little by little until I'm satisfied with
how the color looks. Oh, by the way, I'm also
adding in water as I go, I like to use my reference
image just to compare that the color that I'm making is close to the color
in the actual photo. Okay, once I'm satisfied
with the color, I'm going to start
painting again. Starting at the top and
working my way down. Painting with light,
even strokes. As you can see here, there's a little corners that
I have to get into, which is why I'm using
this small brush. As I mentioned in the start of this video that
you'll be needing, so if you don't
have a small brush, this part will be
difficult for you. So definitely do go and get yourself a very
thin, small brush here. I'm going to use this long hair thin
brush, as I mentioned. Mostly I like to use
this in line work, but sometimes I do like
to paint with it as well because it's
just a lot more convenient and easy
because it's very thin and it just makes the
painting job so much easier.
5. Painting the Hat: Okay, now it's time
to paint the hat. So I'm just going to take
a little bit of yellow, and to that I'm going to add in a little bit of white
and a little bit of red. And I'm just going to
add a little bit of water to kind of
loosen out the paint. And the hat also has two
different colors in it, and this one is
the lighter color. I'm going to paint the
lighter part first, and then we are going to
move on to the darker part. Here I'm using a little
bit of a bigger brush because this area isn't as small as the hair because
the hair had like, you know, very small
edges and corners. So yeah, painting that with a smaller brush is a
very smarter choice. But here I'm just
using a thicker brush, and I think that works a lot better as compared
to the smaller brush. Because if you use a smaller
brush on a larger area, it will take so much time. Okay. Then I'm just going to shade
the areas that are dark and I'm just going to finish
painting the lighter parts. Now, I'm just going in
with a second coat. And because my
brushes are so old, sometimes they start
to crease a little. So I just like to go in with my fingers to
smoothen out the paint. Okay, Now it's time to paint
the darker part of her hat, and as you can see, it's
kind of yellow brown color. So what I'm going
to do is I'm just going to add a little bit of green and red into my
already existing yellow color. So green and red make brown, and because we already
had some yellow color, it's just going to make a
brown with a yellow undertone. I hope that makes
sense. Again, don't add in too much paint at a time. Just go in little by
little and hopefully you will get color that
you're trying to make. Okay? Once I'm satisfied
with the color, I'll just start painting, but this time using
a smaller brush, because the darker
parts of her hat are relatively less as compared to the lighter parts of her hat. So I'm just going in with a smaller brush to make it
more easy and convenient. Okay. Once the paint dried, I realized that it was a
little too dark for my liking, so I added a little bit white into that already existing
brown color we had. And I'm just
repainting the area. Okay. Moving on to this
middle part of her hat. It's red, but again, it has two different
shades of red. One is this red that
I'm painting right now, and the other one is a slightly
darker, maroonish color. So we'll make that later. Okay, so to make
that maroon color, I'm just going to add
in a little bit of black into that existing
red color I had. Don't add in too much black, just add in a little
bit at a time. Otherwise, your color
will be very dark. Now, I'll just paint
the area using my thin, long hair brush, because again, this area is very
small and I just felt like this was the
appropriate brush for this.
6. Painting the Clothes: Okay, let's move on
to her clothes now. So she's basically wearing this green top and then a
white sort of cover up on top. So I'll paint the green
top first and then I'll do the white
thing on top that she's wearing in the end
because I personally just like to do all the
lighter colors in the end. So yeah, that's how
I'm going to do it. So to paint her top, I'm just using a thin long
hair brush because the area is very thin and this was the only
appropriate brush I had.
7. Painting the Skin: Okay, now let's move on
to the skin color now. Skin color in itself is a separate topic and
a separate video. I'll be making a
detailed video on it very soon because skin
color theory is real, guys, there's just
a lot to cover. Yeah. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to bring in my trusty paint palette and I'm going to add in a
little bit of white. Now, every skin color
that you're making, whether it's a dark
color or a light color, it will start with a white past. Anyways, I'm just
going to add in a little bit of red
into that white. Don't add in too
much red at a time. Add little by little. Okay? And then to that,
I'm just going to add in a little bit of yellow. Now, at this point,
you'll start to notice that your skin color
is coming together. But I'm just going to compare it to the reference
image just to make sure that the shade and the undertones,
it's all the same. I'm going to add in a
little more yellow and I'll also add in some water
to thin out the paint. Now, at this point, I'm going
to add in a bit of blue. Just a tiny amount. Very little. Don't add too much guys, It will ruin your entire paint. But yeah, the reason
why I'm adding is is just to make the
skin color look a lot more natural and neutralize
those colors and stuff. So yeah, adding blue is very important even though you might think it's not doing much. Anyways, after I
tested out the color, I felt like it was just
not the right shade. So I'm just going to fix
the color a little bit. I'm going to add
in a little more yellow because I felt like
the color was just too red. I'll also add in a little
bit of white because she's a lot more pale and my color
was just a little more dark. Okay. And then I will
just start painting and I'm going to use this
thin brush because again, this area isn't that big, and if I mess up, I can potentially ruin the hair. So yeah, using a small brush at this point is very essential. Okay, I fixed the color, a little bit of camera. I just added in some
more yellow and white because she was
looking very red. Now let's move on to the neck. Now the neck has two
different shades. One is a little bit
of a darker color and the other one is the same shade
that we used on her face. So I'll just mark
out the darker part and I'll paint the
rest of her neck. Okay. Moving on to the
darker part of her hair, I just added a little bit more red into that already
existing color we had. That's it. I did nothing
else, just some red. So yeah, that's why I
didn't record that part. But just add a little
bit of red. That's it.
8. Painting the Background: Let's move on to the background. What I'm going to do
is I'll just add in a little bit of blue
onto my palette. And I'm just going to
add in some white. And then I'll just mix the two colors while
adding in some water. Let's start painting, but this time I'll use a
way bigger brush, of course, because if I use a smaller brush on
the background, I will literally
be here all day. Yeah, definitely
use a bigger brush. So the background does
have some clouds, so I'm not going to
paint those areas. I'll just leave them white and I'll paint the rest
of the background. Now when you get really
close to the character, it's best to use a
smaller brush because there's a lot of tiny edges
that you need to get into. So just use a smaller brush. I'll also paint the sides of the canvas because leaving them white just looks really weird.
9. Painting the Clouds: It's time to paint the clouds. Now, there's actually
two different ways that you can use to
paint the clouds. One way that you can paint
the clouds is like this. Now these clouds
are very cartoony, but I'm not going to
do that this time. I'll try to make my clouds look a little bit
more realistic. What I'm going to do is
I'm going to use Q tips. Yes guys, you heard me right. We are going to be using Q
tips to paint the clouds. What I'm going to do is
I'm just going to dip one side of the Q tip
into white paint, and I'll just start
painting the clouds. But instead of going back
and forth or up and down, I'm just going to go
in circular motions. There's actually no right or
wrong way to paint clouds. You can paint them
however you like. I feel like with the background, you have a lot more
creative freedom as compared to the character itself because the character
does look a certain way. So you do have to paint the hair or the clothes
in that particular color. But with background you
can literally do anything. So just be creative and paint the clouds
however you like. And paint them as many
clouds as you want. But yeah, I'm just going
in with a little bit blue to diffuse the colors and
make it look realistic. To be honest, I have no
idea what I'm doing. I'm just going with
the flow and trying to see what looks good and
what doesn't look good. Also, you don't really have to paint a sky in the background. I just painted a sky because I thought it
did look really good. But if you want, you can
paint anything else. Okay. I ended up painting more clouds at the top
because I just felt like the top part looked really empty and the bottom part
looked just too much. So yeah, Even though
the clouds at the top weren't in the
reference picture, I just painted them.
10. Line work: Let's move on to the last
and most important part of painting, which is linework. Now, I just wanted
to mention that, as I said in the
start of this video, that the canvas I'm using
here is very low quality. I did try to line this painting, but it turned out terrible. I'll be teaching you how to do linework on a
different painting. To start off, you're going
to grab a small container and to that you're going to add in some black acrylic paint. Now you can either add in black ink or you can
just add in water. This is completely up to you. U normally I like to
add in black ink, but whenever I'm feeling lazy, I just add in water. Like how I'm doing here now, when it comes to how
much water to add, you want your paint to be
liquidy but not too liquidy. Because if it's too liquidy then when you're
like trying to line, the water will just
spread everywhere. And trust me, it won't
be a pleasant sight. But if you don't add in enough water and your
paint is too thick, then lining your painting
will be a headache. Anyways, once you have the right consistency of the paint, you're just going to grab
your long hair brush and you are ready to
start lining, Okay? So you're going to dip your
brush into your paint, and then you're going to
remove any excess paint by sliding your brush against
the walls of the container. Then you can just start lining
like how I'm doing here. Now, this does require
a lot of practice. It's actually all about practice because all you're
doing is just keeping your hand as stable as possible and applying a constant
pressure on your brush. If the pressure you're
applying on the brush changes, then obviously the thickness
of the line will change. The main trick is just to apply a constant pressure and keep your hand as stable as you can. A tip I'd like to give is that if you place
your arm on a table, then instead of moving
your entire arm, you'll just be moving your hand. Hence, your hand will
be a lot more stable. Just keep practicing and
you'll eventually get there. And again, this is impossible
without long hair brushes. Definitely go get those
if you don't have them.
11. Class project + Outro: That is it for this video. I really hope that you
learn something new. But now let's move on
to your class project. I want you guys to try and
recreate this painting. I specifically chose
this one because I feel like it's a lot
more beginner friendly. I think the hair and the
clothes are very simple. There's two different
shades of gray used. You're just going to make a
lighter gray and then add in some black to make the darker
gray. Same with the blue. You'll make the lighter color by adding white to blue and then add black to that color to make the darker one for the eyes. I did do a little
bit of a gradient, but if you feel like
that's too difficult, you can definitely skip that. But other than that, I think
it's a very simple painting, The background is
also white. So yeah, that's it for this video.
Make sure to finish your project so I can
give you my feedback. But yeah, I'll see you
in my next video. Bye.
Iqra Saleem
