Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Nadine, thanks for joining me today for this class, we are going to be painting
a grey-crowned crane. It's quite tricky
to say that one and there are two main
takeaways for this lesson. The first thing is getting
really dark darts, a really strong color, without leaving
streakiness of the brush, stepping up to see those
dry strokes when you want a really solid
area of color. Keeping enough pigment in here, even though it's wet and wet. The other thing that
we're looking at with this is the use of really soft and subtle shadows to make the subject really pop. In this case, the
shadows on the neck, across the cheek
here in the top of the head that suggests
that the crown, these is casting the shadows, and you don't need
a lot to be really effective and so that's what
we'll be working on today. We'll go through the
reference, the materials, and then step by step through
the painting and then hopefully by the
end of it you've got something that
you're happy with. So let's get started
with the materials.
2. Materials: We'll go through
the materials that you're going to need
for today's class. Starting off the reference
photo is from Pexels, you can find that on the
Skillshare page to download. If you're having trouble
with the sketch, I've also included a template that you can download
and use that. Now, I'm painting
a flat on a board, I'm not taking down, but if the buckling
bothers you then, wet the front and the back, tape it down and let it dry fully to stretch the paper out. I tend to flatten mine afterwards when
I've decided that I'm happy with the painting. Now, I'm using 300 gram
Arches cold pressed paper. This is a paper that
I always paint on, but if you have a
favorite brand, by all means use that, just use a good quality paper
or you will get frustrated. I have a palette, some tissue or
some toilet paper, a tub of water,
today, a cup of tea, very important, a HB
pencil and an eraser. In terms of brushes,
I'm just using three, so I've got these three here. These are all Neef that's
just my favorite brand. I've got a size 10 4750 OP Squirrel
Tech 1 mixed brush and I love this because
it holds a lot of water, comes to a nice point. I've got just a little
size 2 synthetic for the detail and getting
these lines in the crown. I've also got this which is a bright stiff synthetic brush. This is just for lifting
out some highlights, so it's nice and hard. In terms of paint, now I've got quite
a lot in this one, but don't panic, you
don't need them all. I've got a bunch
of Daniel Smith. The main part of the bird
is Daniel Smith indigo, I use a lot of indigo, I really like this
particular color. You can get the nice
strong darks and you also get this lovely gray-blue. Also, just because I love it, I'm using a little bit of Daniel Smith quinacridone violet, you can see that in here, now you don't need this, it's just that I really like this particular paint and so
anytime I can use it, I do. I've got a little bit of
Daniel Smith Van Dyck brown, that's just for
these little flips in the crown and to get
some darker shadows, and you could use
burnt umber for that. I've also got some Daniel Smith Hansa yellow
and some pyro red, can't find the tube,
but this is in here. It doesn't have to be
those particular colors, just find yourself a yellow
and a red that you like and obviously that's just for
the colors here on the bird. I also have some Winsor
& Newton yellow ocher, you could use raw sienna. This is another unnecessary, you don't have to have this, I've got some Winsor &
Newton quinacridone gold, it's a really vibrant color and I'm using that in the crown. I have some Winsor &
Newton burnt sienna, and also for the eye, I have some Winsor
& Newton cerulean. It doesn't really matter what
blue you use in the eye, you probably got something
floating around, you could mix some up
so don't feel you have to rush and buy that. I'm also using a little bit of white gouache for the
highlight in the eye, titanium or China
white would be fine with that if you don't
have any white gouache, I use that spectrum, not for any particular reason, any brand, and that is fine. I think that's all we're
going to need and we can start looking
at the sketch now.
3. Sketching Up: We'll start off with the sketch. I've got the normal HB
pencil, normal razor. With these, I don't want
you to get hung out on the detail of the crown. All of these lines in here, I'm not going to
worry about that. All I'm going to
do is give myself an indication of where the crown actually ends so
that I go to bide. Be careful with the shape
of the beak and the eye. I'm not going to worry
too much about down here. There's a lot of dark under
the genus like a wispy bit of feathering underneath here that joins into the red part. I'm not going to draw that in. I'm just going to deal with that when I get to
actually painting it. I'm not going to draw in
all of these feathers. I'm just going to
use my paintbrush to suggest that when we get to it. Give yourself a distinction
between the red and the white up here and pop the
position of the nostril in. The references you can
download from Skillshare page. I've also put up
there for you if you don't want to
sketch it yourself, I've popped on a
template that you can download as well and use that
to get your sketch ready. I think we're ready to paint.
4. First Wash on Beak: Let's start this one with
my Size 10. Brush here. Really, just because it comes to a nice point and it will
go a reasonable distance. So going to grab a
piece of tissue, and I'm going to start
with just a wash of some burnt sienna, really milky burnt
sienna in the bake. And then I'm going to drop in some indigo to that
while it's still wet. I've some Burnt Sienna in here. Come straight onto the dry page. Push down. I'm keeping a little bit a lot
at the moment around that nostril just so that I can see where
that's going to be, by chance coming up
around the eye there. Then I'm not picking
up any more pigment. I'm just using the pigment that I've already got but a reasonable amount
of water in here. I'll drag that along
the bottom of the beak. Now I want to keep a gap between the top and the
bottom of the beak there. I don't want them to run
into each other just yet. So all the way
underneath the chin. Now while that's still wet, I'm going to type my
slightly smaller brush. My little synthetic,
[inaudible] to pick up some Indigo, some creamy milky Indigo, start up near the eye. And I'm just going to
drop that paint in. The page is still wet. I'm going to drag it underneath the nostril and then underneath. So I still I'm still retaining that white line between the top and the
bottom of the beak. Picked up a bit more paint. So I want this all nice and wet. I'm going to drag my
brush down a little bit into that Sienna across
the top of that nostril. I'm just washing
my brush and I'm just dragging my 10 brush, around the edge if that Sienna, where the Indigo makes it. I'm trying to retain a little bit more light on
the top of the beak there. I'm just getting in
that first wash.
5. Starting the Head: Sitting prevent 10
minutes and I'm fully dry in there now. Let's start on the
forehead here. I'm going to take
the same brush, my size 10 brush. Clean it, grab some clean water. Now, although I am dry
on the beak there, I am going to be a
bit careful not to touch the paint
there just in case. I'm just going to paint down that whole area
with clean water, coming over the top of the eye. This is really just to
help the pigment move, so I'll lift up and show you. Now, I would normally back off that pencil a little bit
before I started painting. But just so that you can see where I'm going,
I've left it on. I can see I've got a
fair pool of water there and I'm painting flat. Then I'm going to grab
some creamy indigo. I drop that in the top
of the head there. [inaudible] the excess water, put a little water on my brush. It's going to back that
off a bit so I can tease this pigment down a bit. What I'm after, I want
darker up to top here and I want to
retain a little bit light as I come to the
front of the head. I'm just coming up
to my pencil line. Now, this won't be dark enough probably the
first time around, we'll have to do a few layers. But what I don't want is
to see the brush marks. That's why I went
down first to help the pigment movement and
to not get those dry, streaky bits when you've got a really solid area of indigo coming out
to my pencil edge. Then dry my brush, and tease that pigment down. Now, I'm hoping to
have less water on my brush than the page. I haven't picked up
any more pigment. I'm just using what's
already there, and come all the way down
to the front of the head. Now, I do want a bit
more pigment under here. I'm just going to put my brush back here and drag that through. Everything is still really wet, so I've got time
to play in here. I'm just going to dry my brush. I'm taking the moisture
off my brush and I'm just running it so that I don't have a hard edge between my dark indigo
and my lighter indigo. Just teasing that down. Knowing that I've got
more layers to go, so we don't have to
get too worried. Now, I've got nice light there. If I've got a whole lot
of water in here still, it's going to push the
pigment out of the way. I need to be careful. if I look up here, if I hold up, see I've still got quite a
bit of water up there. What I'm going to do is
I'm just going to tilt my page and I'm just going to touch my brush to
the corner here. I'm just going to wick
off that excess water. If this dries first and I've got a whole
lot of water here, it's going to push back
out this way and give me a cauliflower,
which I don't want. Take the excess off my brush. Come back in here and I might actually come to set not
quite to my pencil there. I wanted it wet to start with, now I'm just helping it dry
off a bit so I don't get any nasty blooms
that I don't want. I'm going to come out of that, and I'm going to
let that fully dry.
6. Starting the Crown: It's been another probably
10 minutes now and this is pretty dry,
thinking here now. I'm actually going to
start in the crest. There are a few layers to this. We're going to start simply. I'm using probably four
different colors in here. You don't have to do that. I'm going to start with
my little synthetic. Make sure it's clean because the last thing I've
had on that is indigo. I've got some yellow ocher, some quinacridone gold,
some burnt sienna, and some Van **** brown. So really I just want some
yellows and browns in here, and we're going to
just do some striping. I'm going to start off
with my yellow epithets. I'm just going to lock my wrist and start dragging
some lines through. Now what I don't want to do, I don't really want to drag
a line all the way up. I want to have some broken
lines. It might help. You might want to
turn your page if you go to make it easier, because I do need to follow the direction that these
feathers are going. I'm going to water
my brush here. Coming off the page as
I come up and around. This is probably another
reason that I don't type down. I'm not overthinking this. I'm just putting in some lines. I started with my yellow ocher. Now I'm going to move
to my crack angle and just do the same thing. Then I'm going to pick up the same thing now with
some burnt sienna. Come the other way as well if your brush comes
to a nice point, and I don't want to
really heavy fat beat up the top there. It depends how easy you find
it to get your hand in. I've got my basic shape in with a few different
colors and now I'm going to take some Van ****, you could use some burnt umber. Now here, I'm going to come up and be a bit more broken, a bit more spotty. So I'm going to leave some gaps. Everything is
pretty dry up here. I haven't had much
water in those stripes. I'm going to put a few just down the base here
where the crown starts. I'm going to fold my brush,
just dragging a little bit of that Van **** at the start. I finally got some on my brush. We've got a few layers still. We'll come back into this, so you don't need to
overdo it initially, but I just want to
get my shape right. I'm going to come out of that and I'll
come back into there once we've finished some of
the rest of the head.
7. First Wash for the Eye and Reds: I'm going to start now in
the reds that I've got here. What I'm going to do is put a
little wash of some yellow. I've got some handsy
yellow here, page is dry. Coming on to that be
careful that indigo want to watch that I
don't put too much water onto the indigo because
it will keep bleeding. Start just with the yellow
wash first when that dries, I'll come back in with some red just because red's
a bit tricky to paint with and it can get a little bit pale and a little bit stupid
if you're not careful. I'm just going to come
now. There is dark underneath here just to
make it easy for myself, I'm just going to paint
the whole lot initially so underneath. Now, it is hard to get pencil off on the
yellow so again, I would probably back off
these pencil normally before I painted but again so that
you can see what I'm doing. I've left it on. I'll just let that dry and while I've got my small fiddly brush. I know for the first wash
in the eye so I am going to use some cerulean I've got here. I'm just going to paint this
very little a bit strong. I won't reasonably
that light for the first wash so I'm just trying to drop a bit
more water in there. Just a flat wash of cerulean going to come out
and I'll let that dry.
8. First Wash on the Neck: I think we're going to
start to get the shape of the neck in the
suggestion of the body. I'm going to take
my size 10 brush, pass in clean water. I'm actually just going to paint down the neck there with border. I'm going to try not
to touch that yellow. I think it's dry but stay out
of it for the time being. Come along that pencil edge. I'm not soaking, I'm just damp. Just want a little bit of
movement with my paint. Now coming into the back here, I'm just going to
end up painting a few stripes to
indicate feathers. You can see, I'm patchily wet, in that I'm not sopping. Now I'm going to grab a
little bit of indigo. I'm going to start
up in the top, underneath the crown there. Chase that around because there are lots of
darks to go into there and underneath
this yellow. I'm just letting the
water weak that down, keeping it nice and soft, chasing down the back
of the neck there. In the front here, I'm just
going to drag my brush. The page is a little bit wet, so I just want a really patchy milky wash
through the front there. Just picked up a bit more water. I'm just dragging that through. I'm just going to drag my brush, I don't want to touch there. I don't want them to
bleed into each other. My page is basically, I've just wet it with
some weak indigo. Now I'm going to grab just a
touch of some queen violet, queen violet goes along
way so just a little bit. I'm just going to drop that around into that wet page in a few spots, not
overthinking it. Just putting a little bit
of something else in here. Down here, I'm going to
drag my brush through. Now what I want, I want a suggestion
of coming into broken dry brush stripes
here. I come through. My brush I haven't quite
good enough water in there. I'm just going to
drag a couple up, because we can build up to that. I'm just starting
to decide where my neck trails off, really. Remembering to not touch
those two together. Just a suggestion of
the first wash. Now, while this is wet, so on not soaking, I'm damp. Here, I'm not going
to create big puddles of water like I did
when I was in the head. I'm damp, not saturated. I'm going to start to build
up some of these ducts. I've got this little
gap between the yellow and the indigo
now that's dry. I'm going to put my brush into really thick creamy
toothpaste, indigo. I'm just going to touch
it into that wet page. I'm just going to let
that run, tease it up. Really, I'm just chiseling out the shape of that sec there. Now I wash my brush, take off the excess water. I'm just going to run my
brush along the edge. I want less water on my brush, then in my page because if I introduce a whole
lot of water there, it will run absolutely
everywhere. Just dragging it along, wash my brush, teasing
out to my pencil edge. Now, it's quite
warm in my studio. If it was cooler,
I'd probably be able to get in here
and put some darks, I didn't mean to do
that, through there. But because it's
quite warm in here, this has started to dry. If I start playing in there now, I'll get into great. I'm going to come out of
that and let that fully dry knowing that I've got
a lot more to go into it, but being happy that I've
got my first shaping.
9. Starting Details in the Face: I'm drawing here now. I'm going to do a few
little fiddly things. I'm going to pop initially
people in the eye. I'm just going to take
my small synthetic, grab some really solid indigo
and I'm actually going to tilt my page because it's really difficult because I've
got the page flat. If I don't tilt it up, I'll get the wrong I would
actually get a circle. I'll get more of an ellipse. I've actually come
out a little bit of my own circle there [LAUGHTER] after the
same paint a circle, mine is very circular, but I don't want to keep
fiddling with that on my wall that's wish and
I've got painting there. If I keep marking with it, chances are I will get
bigger and bigger, so I'm going to leave that and say I'll have to
deal with it later. Now I'm also going to drag while I've got the indigo on my brush. I'm going to drag a bit
of paint around the eye, it's a milky wash.
[NOISE] I'm going to wash my brush and I'm just going to drag my damp brush through where I've just
painted that indigo. It will push the pigment out to the edge so I'll get a
larger part in the center. While that's drying, I'm
going to put my red theme. Now I've got that
base of yellow. I'm just going to take,
I've got some pyrrole red here, my small synthetic. I'm just going to paint
a wash over that yellow. I want it a little
bit darker down this end so I'm going to
take tiny bit of my queen violet into that wet page and just drop a bit
of that queen violet, so not much water on my brush
is quite a bit of water on the page there
just drop that in. Dry my brush and tease that out because I want that violet to transition up into the red, so I'm just wearing the edge where the violet
is joining the red. Because as I've been teasing it I have diluted my pigment a bit, I'm just going to
take the touch more violet and just drop it back in. Just a gentle transition
and while it's still wet, I might actually say clean
that brush take the water off. I'm just going to drag
my brush just a touch through the front just to get a little bit more large
just at the front there, but I can't have if my
brush is really wet, I'll cause all blooms in there. I need less water on my
brush and in my page. Then I'm going to do
the red down here. [NOISE] Same small synthetic straight
onto the dry yellow, making sure I come right to
the edge of that first wash. I don't want to see
a flash of yellow, I want that edge. Now while that's still wet, a couple of things
I'm going to do; first thing I'm going to wash
my brush and I'm going to just run it along that edge, so I've got a flash of the yellow coming
up at through that red and then I'm
going to drop it, it's actually very
dark underneath here. While I've got
water in that red, I'm just going to
drop some indigo, so really creamy indigo
into that wet red. I'm just going to
tease that down a bit knowing that I'll
have to build up the darks, but it just lets
me start to think about where I'm going
to go with that. I'm just dragging
my brush through. I'm going darker to last in that because I've been
teasing that through. Again I have lost some of the strength of my
pigment up at all, so I'm just going to
grab some more indigo. Now you can wait until this was a 100 percent dry and do it by wetting down the page
and dropping it in. You don't have to do it
is just a lot taking advantage of when the
page is actually wet. Now, when I look at this, my red here, it's much stronger than my red up here
I'm drying up there, so I'm just going to come back on and just re-state that red. It's really milky to
cranium bosh of the red, back at the top of that. [NOISE] Now I'm dry
in my eye here now. I can worry off that little spot I had there so I have just gotten rid of that with a damp brush. That was much easier
to risk it than trying to do it while
it's still wet. Now I'm going to put a wash of indigo over the
top of this eye. It's really milky initially. I'm going to put my
brush in my palette, take off the excess
water and I'm going to paint with indigo
through that eye. I'm just washing my brush and teasing it into
the wash underneath. Now because I've done this, I've taken a lot of the
pigment out so now I'm going to pick up a bit more indigo and in the very top
of the eye here, I'm going to drop a bit more
pigment, wash my brush, type the excess water off and just tease
that around there. We have to get it
right initially, the strength of time. If you're starting to
fiddle, just come out, let it dry and then we
can put a second motion. While we're still in here, we're going to work just
in this wash of the face before we start adding more darks and details and
mucking around in the beak. Initially, I wanted
a little bit of shadowing under here so I'm
going to wash my brush, sticking with my
small synthetic, going onto dry paper, a bit more water, I'm staying in the bottom
of the cheek here. I'm just dragging a bit of a
wash, really milky indigo. I'm on the cheek. I'm going to dry my brush and I'm just going
to run my dry brush roughly along that edge,
bring it just now. I don't want to touch that red up there except
possibly still wet, but I'm just off to I've
got this raggedy edge here. What I'm after now
while that's still wet, is a bit more indigo, I'm just going to drop
it into that wet page. Just to the access
of my brush pen and I'm just dragging that around. Now, I may need to go
stronger than that, but I need to come out
of that and let that dry because I don't
want to overdo it. It's easy to add more, hard to take it off. But this is just the start of
a little bit of shadowing. I'm also going to
put a little bit underneath the eye here. Same milky wash going
onto dry paper, wash my brush [NOISE], and then I'm just running my brush along that edge just to rough it
up a little bit.
10. Working in the Beak and Forehead: We're going to strengthen up. I like the light that
I've got in front here, but I need the dark
to be stronger. I'm going to take
my size 10 brush, take some clean water, and I'm just going to paint down that black area with water. The whole lot. Come
all the way to the edge of that first wash.
Then pick up some indigo, I'm going to drop that in. They're effectively doing
what we did first time round, but we're just strengthening
up the tone now. Over the eye into the
front of the head here. Then I'm going to wash
my brush to take off the excess water and
then I'm just going to tease that pigment
because I'm still keen to keep more
light in the front. I'm just dragging my brush [NOISE] along the joint so that I get a nice
soft transition. Then if it's still too large, I can take a bit more
pigment and drop it in. I've got darks to go underneath
as a shadow on the beak. Before I get to that,
I'm just going to draw, strengthen up the
dark under here. Now while I've got
this on my brush, I now want to come
and put in the darks around the back of the head
here and underneath the chin. Thick indigo. I'm going to stop
at the top here. I've got enough
water in my brush that pigment won't move, but I want a really
nice strong dark here. You need to have a
brush that comes to a nice point so that I can control getting around that red. I'm making this edge, it's not a smooth edge. I've got some little
blips coming out in here. I don't want just a smooth line. Here, I'm going to
bring this around. I'm completely draw under
here, under the neck. I'll bring that all the
way across that red. [NOISE] Wash my brush. No. I have to [inaudible]
water off my brush then. I'm just trying to
drag my damp brush along that join so I
soften that edge a bit. I just, need to be careful. I'm going to switch
to my smaller brush. I need to make sure my dots
come all the way up to that, below the cheek. I do have more dots
going to the beak, but just in here I want to make sure that I've
chiseled out that shape. I've just picked up more
indigo with my smaller brush, and I'll just drag that through. I'm drawing pretty
quickly, so I'm going to stay out of that bit. But while that's all drying, I'm going to come into the beak. There's a shadow to
go underneath here, but I want to introduce
a little bit more stuff. I think I'm going to introduce a little bit of violet into this beak just to be a
bit more interesting. So I'm going to type
my small synthetic and I'm just going
to roughly wet down. We are not touched that indigo. Come up and touch to that
ring around the eye there. Wet down a little bit on
the bottom of that beak. I could do this with
a bigger brush, but I'm trying to be the careful so I'm using
this small synthetic. Wetting down, then I'm going
to take while that 's damp, take a bit of violet.
Too much violet. I'm just going to get some
more water and drop that in. That it was too much pigment, rather than panicking and
trying to lift that off, I'm just flooding
it with more water. I'm just washing my
brush down a bit. I'm wet along the bottom here too so I'm going
grab a bit more. There's not so much that I
can say a whole lot of bother in the reference such as
like I like the color. Now that that's all
wet with my violet, I'm just going to try
some of them here, I'm going to drop in cute
little bits of indigo in spots just get a bit of
interests happening in wet. I'll dab there, just working a little bit of paint around and
seeing what it does. Darker on the bottom than
on the top of the beak. I'm just going to
drag that around. I'm just [NOISE] wanting
the paint do its own thing. If you get too heavy, just drop some water in. What I don't want is
a really flat brush. I still have to
fill in that light there with the top and
the bottom of the beak. I'm not quite ready
to do that yet. Here, as this is drying, I'm actually going to
force some blooms. You can work out how dry
your page needs to be, how much water has to be out
of it before when you put. You can work out. When I drop water in there, you can see it's
pushing the pigment, so I can use that to give me
some interesting patterns. If the page is too
wet when I do that, all that will happen is that
all the pigment will run into each other and I'll
just get a flat wash. If it's too dry, when I put the water on, nothing will move
out of the way it'll just stay the same. It's a good way of judging
when you get blooms and cauliflowers without
it being too importantly, or if you do get one
or you don't get one, it doesn't really matter, you won't ruin anything. I'm going to let that
settle in and dry, and I'm going to put my
dark in the nostril. Here, what I'm going to do, I'm going to paint down with water that curve and a little bit further
than I need it to go, pick up some indigo
and I'm going paint a touch of
indigo in there. I get a sharp edge on the top of where my page is dry because although
I wet all these, I'm not wet there. Then I'll get this soft
blade coming out this way. I'm just washing my brush.
I'll just drag that. Washing my brush, and worrying it
over that wet edge. Just lifting a bit
of a highlight. I've just lifted clean brush, just little bit of
light into there. I'm not completely dry, but what I reckon
I'm going to try and do it and just see what happens, I'm going to close this gap. I've just picked up
a bit of indigo, not much water on my brush. I'm going to drag that along. I'm going to wash my brush, take off the excess water, and just smooth that in. I don't want to introduce a
whole lot of water in there. I just want us move that back. Just be careful, when you come up to
this bit of the beak, if you took that
little line here up, you get a smiling bird, which depending on
what you're painting, that might be fine, but I don't want to make
this a smiley bird so I'm tweaking that a little
bit down at the back there. I feel like I've got too
much light around the eye, so I know I did lift
that when we put it in, but I'm just going to
back that off a bit. So I'm picking a bit of indigo, and I'm just going to strengthen that wash. Leave the
light at the top. I'm just going to get
it a little bit darker. I also want to strengthen my shadow in the eye
so it's dry up there. I'm going to come on with indigo to the top
part of the eye , to halfway around, wash my brush, take off the excess water
and drag that down. Just wasn't quite strong enough. I've been in there a
bit, I need to come out of that for a while. I think I probably
still will need a darker wash on the
base of the beak there, but I'm going let that dry and come back in and do the
body and the crease next.
11. Next Layer Crown and Body: We have a few more details
to go in the face, but what we're going to do next is a little bit
more in the crown. We're going to move
up the body a bit. In the crown, I'm going to
take my small synthetic. [NOISE] I'm going to
take some yellow ocher, clean water preferably, make a milky puddle
of yellow ocher. I'm just going to drag bit
of a wash through the crown. I'm not coming past
the back here, but I've just got to flat
wash dragging that out. This is a lot wetter than
when we first went on. This light down
here will hurt me. I'm going to take
a bit of Van Dyck. I'm just going to
close in that gap. I'm running my wet brush along the indigo edge with
a little bit of Van Dyck so that I back-off that latch where my fingers are touching the
top of the head. We're not quite
finished in there yet. While that settling in,
I'd come into the body. I'm going to switch
to my bigger brush [NOISE] I'm going to
wipe down, clean water. Little bit just in the
top of the head there, coming underneath that red bit that into the front
of the chest. Then I'm going to partly wet it. I'm going to leave it dry here, partly wet down the front of the chest and just
drag my brush through, painting with water
through the back here. I'm keeping this edge dry.
Pick up a bit of indigo. I'm going to drop it again
to that top part, like that. I'm just taking the
excess off my brush. Drag that down to the front, leave the chest there. Clean my brush doing
the same old dragging it down the join between the
wet and the dry page there. My pigments disappeared
quite a bit. I'm just going to pick
up a bit more pigment and drop that chisel like shape. Just smoothing that down. I'm after that soft shadow
there in front of the chest. While that's drying, I'm going to take a little
bit more indigo. I'm going to stop in the wet there and just drag
the shadows through. I want coming from wet page
into the dry page to just suggest that these
crisp feathers are casting a bit of
a shadow on the back of the neck there. Then I need to come out of that. Then I'm coming into
the body down here, picking up some indigo. I've got a mixture
of wet and dry. I've got some dry strikes. I've got some blading. If I don't blade, just grab a bit more water
and drag it through. Don't come up, don't
touch where you wet up here because that
would be disastrous. Staying out, picking
up a bit more. Again, I'm drawing
pretty quickly. I'm just going to say, my page
is drying really quickly, so I'm just going to drag a bit more pigment and
water through there. I had that down, but let's
just draw it off straightaway. I've got some pigment, some indigo, a bit of water. Now I'm just going to drag that through to suggest
the back feathers. Remembering again that we
can add more if we need to. Hard to take off. I'm just going to pick
up a bit of violet. If you don't like the
violet, you don't have to do that. It's not obligatory. Just drag a bit through. Then I want to strengthen
the shadow underneath here. While this page, it is wet now, I'm going to pick up
some more indigo. I'm just going to drop
in thick indigo into this wet page to
strengthen up that shadow. This is why I didn't
want the back of that neck wet when
I've painted down here because I wouldn't be able to chisel that shape out without
bleeding into the neck. Wash my brush, just
soften that edge. Then I feel like I probably
want a little bit of that just at the front of the
chest to balance that out. I'm a little bit down there. I'm just going to grab
some indigo and just pop that in front of the
chest, wash my brush. Drag that down. Again, as I said, we can add
more if we need to. Hard to take it off. I think I'm probably
going to come out of that and decide later whether
I need anymore of it. I'm just going to tidy up. I haven't quite come to
my pencil line here. Just going to tidy up.
I'm still wet there. While I've got the
indigo on my brush, I need to stay out of that. I'm getting these blades and
blooms and things in here. I don't mind that
adds interests. What I'm going to do is I'm going to come into
the bottom of the beak here and it's fully dry there. I'm going to pick
up some indigo, milky to creamy indigo. I'm just going to paint, wash on the bottom
half of that beak, take the excess off my brush. Drag that down, round, might as well switch
to my smaller brush. Just going to blend
that in a bit. I just want slightly
stronger indigo on the bottom of that beak. While we're doing indigo, we're going to put the
shadow underneath here too. I'm picking up
indigo and painting. I'm completely dry up there. Painting a shadow there. Clean my brush. I'm going to soften
the edge there. I've just run my clean
brush along this part here and then I'm going
to strengthen the shadow. I've picked up some more
indigo and into that wet page, I'm just going to drop
some more indigo. For the highlight in the
eye, I'm just going to put my brush in the
[inaudible] and I'm just going to pop back 3/4,
just a tiny highlight. I'm going to come out
and let all that dry.
12. Finishing Up: Probably just a couple
more things to go, I'm going to take a
little bit of tissue, and I've got my
stiff brush here, pop it into clean water. Take off the excess water. Now, in the crest
I'm going to come [NOISE] and just lift
out a few highlights. [NOISE] I'm pushing down and
just dragging it through. This is just all about
adding a little bit of interest without
having to work very hard and it will
depend as well how heavy your wash is in here
as to what actually leaves. You've got to push pretty
hard to get anything to move and you need to keep washing your brush. This might be one of those times when you can't particularly see very well on the video
what it's actually doing. It won't be until you've
got it in front of you, but you can see
what it looks like. Then I'm probably going
[NOISE] to just give ourselves a few more solid little
flicks of Van **** brown, to top this crane,
so I'm just going to get top of the crown rather. I get a bit of a puddle
of Van **** brown. I want to take the excess off my brush because I don't want
a whole lot of water here and I'm just going to go through and re-stage just a couple of these little ducks because mine are quite pale and I just want
to strengthen up. I don't want to overdo it, let me turn my page around. I don't have to match up with one of the
colored stripes, they can be on white paper. It doesn't matter the eyes. We'll fill in the
missing details. Just a couple and a few
lowest spots as well. If you start fiddling
and thinking, well, I don't know
where to go next, where do I need more, come out, sit back for awhile because you can very
easily overdo it. It's probably all I'm going
to put in through the crest. We just need to finish up
a couple of small things. I need a shadow across the
white of the face here. [NOISE] I'm going to take for that milky indigo and I will
test it before [NOISE] I use it on a piece of paper because I want
this pretty line. That's probably about
the right tone. Really, they should follow the curve of
these ones down here. I'm just going to make
it up as I go along. But before I do
this, I would say, if you've got a painting
and you want to add the shadows on and you're not really sure
where to put them, take a photo of your painting
printed off and just paint it onto the printed off version to see if you've got
them in the right place. It won't paint the same,
but it'll, at least, give you an idea of whether you've got the shadows
in the right place. I'm just going to come
straight onto the page and just give myself a few little lines starting from the top of the red
there and coming through and I'll come out. Then I'm going to
strengthen the shadow up underneath the chin. I just painted
that. I'm going to go if the page is dry there. Slightly stronger
indigo onto the page. It's pretty much
the same thing as we did the first time round, I just want to mean it, add a little bit more now. Then I've got to wash my
brush and just soften that, roughing up that edge. I'm thinking I'll probably
drop just a touch more. Actually, let me try. I'm going to drop a little
bit of Van **** into my blue, pick up a little bit
of brown it just makes it a little bit darker. That page is all nice and wet, wash my brush and I'll
just help worried that attribute to help us sitting to the first layer of indigo. I might just strengthen a bit underneath the eye as well here. Again, I want it [NOISE] rough, I don't want a really
tidy wash this around the dry paper and then I'm just roughing that up
with my clean brush. As I'm looking at this
I've got a flash of light here that I
might close in. I'm just going to come onto
dry paper and I'm just coloring in this piece of the bit of the crown,
the head there. I just have more out
there that I want to. I'll wash my brush
and just remove it. You know what, let's
see it might not work. I've got the crown, I've got a bit of
light here I'm just wondering whether I can give
a cast shadow there as well. If I take now a
fairly solid indigo, let's see what happens if
I just drag a couple of lines across the top
of the head there. Just to finish up,
very nearly done. I'm just looking the beak here, it keeps bugging me. I wanted something a
little bit more in here, so I'm going to take
my flat brush again. [NOISE] I'm just going
to drag a bit of a highlight underneath that
join and if I don't like it, again, I can cover
it back in again. Just 100 percent happy in there. I don't know whether I might
even put one on the top. [NOISE] Let me just see if
I can leave just a touch. It depends what you've
got in front of you. Again, if I put in a highlight like that
and I don't like it, I can very easily backfill it. That is one area that you can mark around in without
getting into trouble. The very last thing
I'm going to do, I just want a little bit
of warmth on this cheek [NOISE] and then
we'll be finished. I'm going to take some
really milky clean water, really milky yellow ocher, clean tissue as well. [NOISE] Let me grab
a plain tissue and I'm just going to pop a
little bit of paint on and then just dab my tissue a
bit because I want just the softest of yellow on there and only a little bit
and you might not actually be able to see
that very well in there. That should be all right. I went onto dry paper, switched it around, took a
little bit off with a tissue, dropped a little
bit more yellow in, the yellowish green,
and then I will come out and let that fully dry. I'm sitting back having a look, I know I said that
was the last thing, but as I'm sitting here, this shadow is dissipated a little bit so I'm just
going to erase like that, stay with my indigo. I'm going to start actually
underneath the chin here. While I've been painting
this has dried off. I'm going to come all
the way underneath onto dry paper around the
back of that neck. [NOISE] I'll washing my
brush and just soften that. I think, sometimes
what happens is that you put your dots
in and you think they're dark enough and you
don't go back and restage once it's fully dry and they become a bit pale
and I think that's when you get that insipid watercolor. You really need
to make sure that your dark tones really
are nice and strong. I'll just scratch
a bit more paint onto the pre-wet on the layer. Grab my brush. Again, I know I
keep saying this, but I don't want to
introduce more water each time I'm coming on with my
brush so I'm washing it, taking off the excess water, and then just dragging
it along because if I introduce a whole
lot of water here, this will push out. I think that's
probably where I would leave that dry for
a day come back, make sure that your darks
are still strong enough. When you get to the end and you are happy that you finished pop a picture up on
the Skillshare site. I love being able to save them and I can give you any feedback, if you need any, might
not need any at all but I love seeing them all finished. Thanks for joining me today and I hope you
enjoyed the class.
Nadine Dudek, Professional Watercolour Artist
