Transcripts
1. 1. Introduction: Hey, everyone, welcome to a new watercolor
painting tutorial. And this time, we are painting
this cute, bluted bird. Hi. My name is Neha, and I'm a watercolor and
a colored pencil artist, and I specialize in realism
in both these mediums. As much as I love
painting flowers, I enjoy painting
and drawing birds, painting all those
intricate fine details and bring life to each and every smallest bit
of that subject. Watercolor is a
challenging medium, but by adopting a
layering technique with multiple
transparent layers, it becomes a very relaxing
and enjoyable experience. In this tutorial,
we will be diving deep into each and
every aspect of this bird And I'll also show you how to tackle yellow
parts of this bird. Painting with
yellow use is a bit tricky as yellows have a
very limited value range. But with proper techniques
and color mixes, I'll show you how to maintain the luminosity of this color. We'll also be doing a lot of fine brushwork with a lot
of beautiful details. I'll also be showing
you how I mix gray tones by using
only primary colors, and how I sometimes use colored pencils to
enhance my painting. I hope you enjoy painting
this bird as much as I did, so let's get started.
2. 2. Materials: Hey, everyone, so let's
quickly go through all the materials that you
require for this painting. I have used 100% cotton hot
pressed paper over year. Hot Press paper will help you paint all those fine details. Now, for the paints, I'll
be using some cenar and some Windcr and Newton
professional artist grade paints. I have mentioned all the
colors in the list of documents that is provided
in the resources section. For the brushes, I've used these miniature brushes
from golden maple, but you can use whatever
fine tip brushes that you have right from size zero
to size four or six. And these are the cheese
blender brush from Princeton, which I use for lifting
from size two to four. And for mixing colors, I just use an old brush to prevent my good brushes
from getting spoiled. For palette, I have just used a normal ceramic plate over
here, and other than this, we will be requiring
two bowls of water, a kitchen towel
and some tissues. So keep all your
materials ready, and let's start painting.
3. 3. Eye & Beak: Hey, everyone. So
our line drawing is ready on the
watercolor paper, a very light, but a
very clear drawing. And now let's take a gray mix. So this is a mixture of
French ultramarine blue, plus Windsor red, and
Cena yellow deep. Three primaries, I love
to mix my own grays. So this I'll be taking up
a bit here on my palette. Watering it down. Now, to this, I'm going to add a little bit of cobalt blue. Just want to make it a
little bit bluish gray. You can even continue adding
French ltramarne blue. So I'll just show you how
this looks on the paper. Now, other than this gray, I'm going to use
neat co bald blue. And then I'm going
to take lamp black. You can continue mixing your three primaries in a thicker portion
to get your black. But for this very small
tiny portion on the eye, I'm just going to use
a direct black color. So I'm going to use
number three size brush with a good fine point. You can even downsize
it to number one. And I'll start with cobalt blue, very watery, and as you can see, the highlight looks quite blue. I'm just going to fill
up the highlight. Remove all the water
from the brush, and then just remove some of the highlight with a damp brush. So now I'm going to take
a very watery gray. Squeeze off the excess
color from the brush, and this will go in the ring, which is surrounding the
eye, the ring of the eye. You can even put this
under the black color. I'm just leaving it for now. Very carefully with
the tip of your brush. And while that dries, let's color the beak. So I'm just taking a little
bit of blue mixed with gray. There is a white gap over
there and same thing down. Now, if there are any
water droplets on the fer, the metal part of the
brush, always clean it up. Otherwise, they will just
drop on your painting. And then I'm going to take that black for the shadow color. And with a watery gray, just blend it into the
bottom part of the beak. Now, let's work on the seed. For that, I'm just going to take a little bit of burn Siena, very watery burn Siena. I'm just going to apply over here for the thickness
of the seed. And then a little bit of gray, a white seed is never white. So you just concentrate on all the reflections and the shadows that are
falling on that seed. And then with a tamp brush, I'm just going to
soften those colors. So I must be dry now. Let's take lamp black. This is a thick color
thick enough to spread it nicely on the eye. I'm just going to go
around that highlight. Working very cautiously. Then I'm just going to take some gray applied on the
right side of the highlight, just to give it a
little bit of and then just soften it
with a damp brush. This g will also come
the black of the eye. Similarly, let's work
on the beak also. This gray will go on
the top of the beak. Just giving it some
shadow and some depth, and then just with a tamp
rush, just spread that. And for the blow part,
taking black again, making a little bit more Now I'm taking a very watery bluish gray for this white part. Just don't want to leave it
completely white without any color like this. So I'm taking my
number one brush now. And again, going into the eye. I just want to define
some of the areas. With the very fine
tip of this brush, I'm just going over
the black part, just redefining that
shape and then with gray. Dotting the outline
of that ring. Ale bit on the highlight also. And then with my damp brush, and just lifting off
more of the highlight. A little bit here
on the corner also. Then with a damp brush, just going over the beak again, just smoothening out everything. This is just the final finishing
touches to these areas. And then I need just
a defining line for the seed also over here. With this, we finish the
eye and the beak area. Now let's move on to the head.
4. 4. Head- Part-1: So let's work on
the head region. So first, I just want to work on the white areas of the head. So for that, I'm
just going to take our gray mace, water it down. Make it really watery. Just let's check
it on the paper. A little bit more water. We are going to work
with multiple layers, try to make every layer
very transparent and light. I'll start with the
darkest region over here. I think I'll make it a bit. So this dark patch can take a little bit of
gray as the base. Okay. Always work in the direction of the
feathers moving. And work as if you're
working with pencils, small, small strokes, similarly here. Even this blue patch can
take a little bit of gray, which will act as
a nice shadow area on the white part of the head. As we all know, the whites
are never really whites, so we will have to make
it more interesting by giving all sorts
of colors on it. If you feel you have too
much color on the brush, then just tap it a
little bit on the towel. I'm also going to
mix a little bit of co bold blue to this mixture. Giving small small dashes, and I'll flick some of the
feathers out like this. Even here and a little bit of that tum part
which we can see. And While we are coloring
the white part of the head, it's also very
important to leave some of the brightest
whites as well. Don't cover the entire white
areas with grays and blues. Otherwise, you will
lose that white color. Moving always in the
direction of the feathers. And now for this section, I'm just going to
add a little bit of winsor violet, very watery. This is a very dark color, so use very sparingly
and use lots of water, mixing it with our blue gray. And I'm just going to
use the flicking motion. Taking our blue gray now. Again, violet gray. So try to see as many
colors as you can as the whites reflect the colors from its
surrounding areas. See the direction in which
the feathers are going and also see the length of
the feathers as well. I'm also going to
make a little bit of blue to this violet gray. Make it as watery. And you can make some of
the areas a little bit more darker. Don't worry. It is looking quite
gray at the moment, but when the dark
colors surrounding it, when we apply those, then these will look very light and leave
white gaps as well. You have to make the strokes half moon kind of
strokes and overlap them Okay. That is why just use very light color
so that when you overlap, they automatically get one
more shade of that color. In watercolors, it's always better to go light
because we can always darken it further in more
layers than lightening it. Lightening it is not easy. I'm just moving around
just seeing where I can apply this color
at the same time, leaving good amount
of whites as well. Okay. So now let's move on to
the blue area of the head. So for that, I'm just going
to use a neat cobalt blue, make it very watery
for our first layer. I'm going to work in the
direction of the head. So I'm flicking some strokes
from down going to top. I strokes. Flicking some of them
out of the head. Try to make it
look very natural. You can even turn your board. I'm starting off with
the very light color, which I can see as a highlight
on the top of the head. When you're working
like this with multiple strokes,
multiple layers. Let that layer dry
what you have done. Keep on moving around and only when the layer
dries completely, then you go over on top of it. Because if you work
on wet layers, then you might damage the paper and even your
colors will start coming off. This is our first layer, so we'll let it
completely dry over here. Flix some of the
strokes out like this. Now, let's work on this darker
portion around the eye. For this, I'm going to take a gray and co bald blue mixture. I don't want to introduce
any other color like Prussian blue
or any dark blue. We can make our dark blue
just by mixing these two. And I will go exactly in
the very darkest areas. Working with strokes
will also leave some lighter gaps through which we can see our
base colors as well. So this will automatically give some depth to the feathers. Now same color
will go even here. I can see more of gray. Using the very tip of the brush. And let's continue with
the same color even here under the beak
on the neck region. And the strokes
will flick inside the cheek area and also out into that violet
area as well. Now, actually, I can see some more blue co bald
blue in this region. Since we are using very
light watery colors, they dry off also very fast. I'm continuing with this blue
flicking some of that into the neck region and see how
my strokes are turning now. Flick one or two of them
into the head region and into the belly part as well. And now here, we have
more longer strokes. Taking more of blue, I'll start from here on
the top of the head now. Water it down if you
feel that you can see some more lighter
shades underneath. This process looks very tedious, but actually it's
very therapeutic. Now here, I've just
increased the speed. I'm going giving
the same color and now see how the direction is
changing on this neck area. It's looking very
scratchy at the moment, but we will be giving
multiple layers for the areas for
all these feathers. So ultimately, they are going to look very smooth and dense. At the same time,
you will be also seeing all these
feather strokes. We will leave this layer to. It's very important
to dry every layer in between your
application of colors, and then we will continue
after it dries completely.
5. 5. Head- Part-2: I left my painting
completely dry. Now, I'm just going to erase off all the pencil marks
only on the head region. Do it very slowly and gently. Watercolor papers
are very delicate. And always do this step after your painting
is completely dry. Otherwise, you'll
create disaster. A So this is our finishing stage, and I'm again going to
start with the eye. I love to work on the eye more because I feel in any portrait, whether it's bird animal
or human portrait. The eyes are the first
thing a person sees, so I really love working
more on the eye, making it as realistic
as possible. So I've just taken
Bins violet here, and I'm going in the corners of the eye and a little bit on the corner
of the highlight as well. Keep on refining your
painting as much as you can. What this will do
is it will just make the eye lo
bulge in the center. I'm going to take
a little bit of that blue on the top over here. And there into the painting, the more time you spend in
seeing the reference picture, the more details you
are able to see. Similarly, I'm just going to give a little bit finishing
touch to the beak as well. And with these small things, just spending another 5
minutes on your painting, you will see the difference. And then this tiny line
after leaving that gap, even here on the bottom beak. See that, everything
becomes crystal clear, a little bit shadow under
that peak on the seed. I'm just going to darken the bottom part of
the beak a little bit more like this and a
little bit here also. Now, I'm going to start working on the white
part of the head again. Taking this blue gray color, I'm just going to darken
some of the areas. Little bit of that violet gray. I'll be switching from
violet gray to blue gray. Wherever I see a
little bit of blue, I'll be using that blue. This violet gray will
go And then same thing, I'll be flicking some of
the feathers out like this. Taking a little bit more
of that darker gray, going to increase the
intensity on this part, and some lighter gray
under that dark area. Now, taking at co bold blue. I can see some
feathers ad the eye. Again, darkening
this darker area. I can see some dark
gray here as well. The beauty of using
transparent watercolors, very light washes of water colors is you'll be
able to see all the layers, and that will give you a lot
of depth in your paintings. Similarly, I'm going to darken this area a
little bit more. Again, going over the center
region, the cheek area. Same half moon kind of strokes. More of blue F I always like to do this
finishing stage after giving a good amount of
break to your eyes. Looking at the painting with
fresh eyes always helps. So now let's darken the
top part of the head. Taking more of co bald
blue in this gray mixture. Let's make it a bit. It's dark at the
same time, watery. And with very light
flicks of flicky motion. Just give those
strokes very feathery. And always maintain
that direction. By giving these strokes, we are also leaving some
gaps through which all our light blue areas we are able
to see those blue areas. Now for this outermost layer on the head on the
top of the head, I like to use a little
bit of winsor violet. This will give an
ion of the head turning on the other side. So give me a little bit
of violet on the edges. Now continue with the blue. Not going over
that violet patch. With a damp brush and
just blending it. Now, our darker
area has dried up. I'm just going to give one
more layer to this dark patch. Now what I'm going to do is, I'm going to take my lifting
brush and I want to lift off some of the light from here. I just feel that it's become
a little bit too dark. I'm just going to lift off
some of the lighter areas. You can even lift off
some of the markings that you don't like or the markings which has become a little
bit. Like over here. So you can remove
your highlights with your lifting brush
whenever you want. Now, the next step is, I'm going to introduce
one more color. This is losinin blue, a very nice, bright
turquoisy blue color. So I just want to
give a glaze of that color to just brighten up some of the lighter feathers. Again, this color
is very, very dark, so you use it very sparingly and use a lot of water with it. I'm just filling up those
lighter gaps with this color. What will happen is
all your highlights will look very bright. And we'll leave this too dry. Now let's move on to
the neck feathers. Again, with the gray blue, just going with a darker color. Flicking some of those
into the head region. Taking more of cob blue, just neat cobalt blue. So the neck region, the color should be dark
on the top of the neck, and then it becomes a little
bit more lighter down. This darkening in area. As we all know,
watercolors become a little bit lighter
when they get dried up. So always check your values. Now to this, I'm just going
to add a little bit more blue and a little bit
of locine blue as well. This want to brighten up and at the same time darken
the darkest feathers. So I'm going to start
from top and flick down. Ms I'll start from right
and go towards left side. So that way you're getting a nice light color on
your left hand side. Now, with this very
watery tilcynine, I just want to give one more layer to the
top of the head region. And suppose if we
don't like any marks, we can always lift them off
later on. That is possible. And I just want a little bit
of that talc blue here also. This will just give a nice glow. So just a little bit of finishing
touches here and there, darkening that mouth area. So with this, we finished
the head region, and I'll see you in
the next part. Bye.
6. 6. Belly- First Wash: So we are done with
the head region. Now we are going to move
on to the belly area. So for this, I'm going
to take yellow color. This is oolin from
Winsor and Newton. If you don't have oolin, you can continue with
your lemon yellow. And now I'm going to activate
this gray mix color. So whenever we are working on light subjects like
yellows and whites, always start with your
shadow areas first. So now before moving forward, I'm just going to
mix a little bit of blue violet
into our gray mix. So I'll concentrate on putting
the shadow areas first, and then after the
shadow areas are dried, then I'll be giving a glaze
of yellow on top of it. So this is the way
mostly yellow subjects are tackled with. So just concentrate on
all the shadow areas on all the gray areas that you can see in between
those yellow feathers. And use very, very light
wash at this stage, we don't want to muddy the
yellow belly part of the bird. The yellow should still
look very bright. These gray shadows will add so much depth to the d
to the painting, sorry. And wherever you
are not very sure, just go with very light color. There is a dark
marking over here, even there I'm going to go. Now, under the belly, I can see some blue areas. I'm just going to take
neat co bald blue. Flicking in the direction
that I can see on the bird. Whenever you're working
on light subjects, you will see a lot
of reflected lights from the surrounding areas, and showing those colors on the bird really make your
bird look very interesting. So working around that leg now. So I'm switching between
my violets and my blues. Okay, flicking some of them
outside out of the body. Around the leg, also, there is a lot of shadow areas. A Leaving some lighter gaps is also equally important. Don't make the whole bird gray. I'm jumping around here. Now I'm just painting
under the wing. Keep your initial washes
very light because we are going to come on this area
with multiple layers. Squinting your eye and just looking out for
the shadows really helps and follow
all the directions that you're able to see where
the feathers are turning. That really gives you
a sense of realism. Keep your strokes very
feathery feathery and light. Somewhere I can see some
criss cross patterns as well and see how
light my color is I'll just show you how
I give these strokes. Okay? Keep them
very light and with a very free movement of
your wrist like this. Some gray areas
near the neck also. And I'm going to leave
that really light. There's a nice high
light over there. Under this wing also, it's very dark, but we'll
be coming on it again. Just going to give a little bit more on this area.
One more layer. Now, I'm going to
take that gray and just darken this
mark which is there. I'll add a little bit
of that lamp black. We are not making this very dark as in the reference
picture for now. We'll do that later on after we have finished
with the yellow. Now, I'm also going to add a
little bit of losinine blue, just to give that
white feather ale bit of glow and create
some interest. I'm just using the
same colors which we have already
used in this bird. So I left these shadow
areas to dry completely, and now we are going to give
a glaze of our yellow color. But before that, I
just want to erase off all the unwanted
pencil lines, which we don't require now. We don't want to see
any pencil lines, especially under the
yellow feathers. So now I'm just going
to activate this olin. Keep it milky to watery
consistency, not very thick, not very watery also at the same time because
it's a very light color. So now whenever we are
working with yellow now, it's not going to be
the whole thing yellow. It's not going to
be whole glazing of yellow because if you notice
in the reference picture, we do have some pockets
of lighter highlights. So I'm going to leave those
when I'm working with yellow. Here, I've just
increased the speed. I'll be doing the same thing. Just avoiding the very lightest
pockets of light color. Still following the direction, go over your shadow areas. They have to be completely, but even when you're
doing your yellow color, just follow all the
directional strokes. I'm going to avoid
that blue area as well because that's the
white part of the bird. Taking a little bit more color. ' Somewhere I'm going
over it again. As I feel, it's it's very dark, so just going over it again. So we'll let this layer dry completely before coming
on with more colors. So we are back to normal speed. The layer of yellow
is completely. Now our next color is
going to be green gold. And this will go in
all those areas which are shining and which are a
little bit of shadow area, but at the same time,
they are shining as well. So I'm just going to refill
all my colors again, and taking our gray mix also. So I'm continuing with
number two brush. Let's start with
this green gold. This color now will go
into all these shiny bits. See how shiny it's looking. It's a beautiful color. Just look out for this color. I'm not going to
put it everywhere. Taking a little bit more color. I find that green gold is a
beautiful color if you're working on yellow
subjects like sunflowers, and even this blue bird just gives that extra
that golden shine. Just going on some areas
which are in the shadow, and also which is giving
a bit of that shine. Leaving some pockets of
our orlein yellow color, that will give you a nice
depth in that yellow feathers. Now let's start with
our blue color. This blue color is going
to den this area a bit and still using,
very light watery. And even here on the body. As you can see, some of the
shadow areas are really dark. Now I'm going to
take a gray color. Just going to darken this area. Taking a little bit more darker I'm still working
with lots of lines taking still blue now, and I just want to darken
this area a little bit more. Taking a little bit of
Windsor violet now. Just adding this here to
create some interest. Oh. Fixing it a
little bit with blue. Actually, I'll take a
little bit of gray as well. And I'll just darken the
shadow under the wing. I'm still not going very
dark very soon because whenever you're
working with light colored subjects like these, it's better to work in
layers to make anything. Slowly and cautiously, I'm
making all the shadows. I'm taking that
blue violet again. Oh. The more darker
shadows you create, the more lighter your
highlights will appear. So don't be afraid to
darken your gray areas. So I'm going to take olin now. I just feel now all of our lighter areas
looking too light. So I'm going to switch
to my number four brush. I just want to give a
nice glaze of lain color. With very feathery strokes, I'm not rubbing the brush
too much on the paper. This going very lightly
over all the yellow areas. This will further brighten
all the yellows because we had given a very light coat
of yellow in the beginning. And then with the same blue
and with the same brush, I just want to inc of the
shadow areas here as well. Now, if you feel that some of your color is
looking too dark, then just with a damp rush, you can just lift them
off, soften them off. And with this, we'll leave
this layer to dry completely.
7. 7. Wing Feathers- Part-1: So I've turned my painting, and now let's work on
the wing feathers, and this way, it's more convenient to bring the
strokes towards me. Let's make this green color now. For this, I'm going
to use our gray g. I'm just going to use the same
colors that we have been using on this bird. To the gray, I'm
going to I'm going to add green gold and then a
little bit of cobalt blue. That this is a very
grayish green color which I'm looking out for. Since yellow and blue, they make a nice green. I'm not introducing any
other ready made greens. We already have bald
blue on our palette and we have already been
using green gold. Along with gray mix, I'm planning to make this
very dull muted green color. I'm going to add b of
the green gold and blue. It'll take two to
three trials to get the color which you want. Keep on mixing
these three colors. I'm adding more of green
gold and then more of blue. Again, I'll add
now a bit of gray. Let's see how this looks. I think this looks fine. A little bit more lighter, and it's good to go. Now, apart from this, I'm also going to take a little
bit of Winsor violet. Oops, that is too much. Remove a little
bit of that color. This color will come here just below the neck,
Winsor violet. Then I can see some blue also. I'll take our cobalt blue. So I'm taking my
number three brush. And I'll start with
windsor violet, a very watery Windsor violet. I'll start this color
just below the neck. Flick them into the wing area. If you have excess color, just tap it on the towel. We need very light colors. And the rest of the area
looks a little bit blue. I'm using very watery blue. Same thing with blue now. And I can see some blue even on the tip of these
violet feathers. And if you notice, there are some blue feathers in between
these green green feathers. The highlighted portion
looks quite blue. I'm just going to
apply this color. Now the next color we are
going to take is our green. I'll start from here, keep it very light
at this stage. Flick some of those
into your violet area. I'm not covering
that violet part, and I'm also going to leave those blue areas
that we have done. Moving in the direction
of the feathers. Flicking some of those
strokes into that blue part. Okay? And now we'll leave
it to drag completely. So now while that green part is drying, what I'm
going to do is, since we have turned
our painting, I can see some areas where I can add a little bit
more of these colors. So I'm just taking
board blue color and just applying it
more on the neck area. As you all know, from
all my tutorials, from all my paintings, whenever I turn the painting or drawing in a certain angle, I can always see some
areas of improvement where I can just
increase the intensity of the color or I just gives you a fresh
angle to your drawing. And if you get that opportunity to correct or enhance
your drawing or painting, then why not, right? So I'm just adding some
colors here and there, just going over this
face area once again. I'm just seeing where I can add more of this Winsor violet. Dear. Now I'm going to take this gray and just
darken this neck area, the chin area, a
little bit more, increase the
contrast a bit more. Even here on the belly. Going to take a
little bit more of Windsor violet over here. Of course, we are
going to come back on this belly section a
little bit later on. But since I've turned the
painting and I can see some areas where I can apply that color, so I'm
just doing that. Now I'm going to take some blue, and I want to increase some of the shadow region on
the yellow areas also. Now, I'm taking some
blue violet as well. I really love using blue violet, especially when we are
doing yellow feathers, because with gray or with blue, the yellow turns green, but with blue violet, it it doesn't do that, and it gives a
nice shadow color. If you don't have blue violet, you can just mix violet with a little bit of
cobalt blue as well. Just increasing
the shadow areas. As I told you before, with yellow and with white, you have to go dark in stages, like, you know, go very slow. Don't do it dark at once. The whole bird, I mean, the whole yellow color
should still look vibrant, and we still have to
show the shadow areas. So it's better to go with very transparent water
washes in multiple layers. Now there's nothing on my brush. Just smoothing out
some of the colors. Now let's take some green also, which I can see here
near the tail feather. I'm taking our gray mix, flicking some of the color, some of the shadow area. I'm increasing some shadow
under that wing even here. So this will help when we
are doing the wing part. Using the tip of my brush. I'll further darken
this shadow area. So I'm just seeing and
defining those wings. So this is the entire shadow
region under that wing. And now with a damp brush, just going to soften that line so that it doesn't
become a hard line edge. Everything on the bird
should look very soft. Or So before we proceed further, my gray mix has got over. I'm going to show
you how I mix it. So I'll be using three
primary colors for this. French ultramarine
blue, ins red, and singular yellow te. This is my French
ultramarine blue. To this, I'm going
to add ins red. You can use any blue or any reds or any
yellows that you have. All these three
primary colors, red, blue and yellow will give a very beautiful, neutral color. When mixed in
different proportions, you will get browns and grays. And I like to mix a little bit more blue into
this gray mix. And I'll show you
how this looks, and it is my favorite
kind of gray. A little bit bluish violet gray. So let's take that in
the palette over here. So I always mix this color
gray color in the small bowl, and it really helps me
in most of my paintings. So now let's start with all the shadow all the
lines on the wing. So for this, I'm going to
use my five by zero brush. Now, one thing I have not
told you is I was doing this painting for this
company called as Golden Maple brush brushes. They had sent me these
brushes to try them out. That's why throughout
this painting, I'm using their brushes, and they're really beautiful, especially if you're more into miniature kind of very
detailed kind of paintings. That is why I had
selected this bird, very tiny bird to test
out these brushes. But you don't need to
use the same brushes. You can just use
your number o or 12 with a very fine point
or even your fine liner. So I'm just concentrating
on all the dark lines, but use a very fine point
brush for these lines. Now, I'll just use a little
bit of blue to our gray mix. I can see some of the
bluish gray here. It's a very dark blue. Then we have a
highlight over there. I'm just going to flick
some of this color into the lighter area like this. Small triangular shape. Do this very carefully
with steady hands. Let's make this blue color. For this, I'm going to use
French ultramarine blue. To this, I'm going to add blue to make it
nice and bright. Then to mute it down, I'm
just going to add this gray. And then a little bit
of co bald blue as well. More of gray. Let's test this out. A nice greenish blue color. And at the same time, I want a little bit more
of Winsor violet. So I'm going to take
my number two brush. And I'll start with this blue. Carefully, just seeing
where it is going to go. Watering it down. I've added a little bit more of co
bald blue to this mixture. And now it's very
light over here. I'm just going to
take lose blue, very watery and just
fill up this area. And taking our blue mix, just to darken
some of the areas. Let's continue with
the Talcnine blue and fill up this area, keeping it very
light at this stage. I'm leaving that white part. This is still tocine and
we'll leave it for now. While that is drying, let's finish off
this green part. I'm taking our green again. I'll just concentrate on all
the darker shadow areas. Just giving strokes. Adding a little bit of
blue to that green mix. Want to make some strokes
a little bit more darker. Okay. Now I'm just going to take this green gold and
adding it to our green. Just want to brighten
it up a bit more. I'm waiting for that
dark area to dry. It dries off very fast because we are using
very watery color. And now with this green mix, I just want to give a glaze to this entire green section
over the whole thing. And then I'll take
a neat cobalt blue. So we had given some co
bald blue in this area, just going it over it again. And we'll leave this to dry.
8. 8. Wing Feathers- Part-2: While these two
areas are drying, let's continue further down. Again, I'm going to
refresh my gray mags. That is why we need
loads of this color, so just make it a nice reservoir of this color
in the beginning. Now I'm going to use number
zero and not 50 because these lines are not as thin as the lines which weighted
on the top of the wing. Okay. And I'll start
from this side. With a steady hand, and you can go light in the beginning and once
you're sure of the position, then you can just
darken it further. With the very tip of the brush and with a very steady hand, you'll have to draw these lines. So this line will
act as a good base for us. One more. You can practice drawing if you're not drawn lines before, you can just practice
drawing lines with your brush on a rough
piece of paper. And now I'm just
taking this blue because as we're going
more towards the left, I can see more of bluer lines. It's thick on the top and then it's thinning as you go down. And, if the number of lines don't match to the reference
picture because we are doing a very this board
at a very small scale. Okay. Let's continue for the tail feather
in the same way. I'll start with this
line over here. For a steady line,
what you do is, you keep your entire
palm on the paper, so that way you'll
get enough support. And once you're
happy with the line, you can just go over it again
and give a darker line. Then it's turning a bit. Okay. I again switch to number two. Now, I'll be just
taking Talcine blue. Beautiful bright blue. I'm going to leave that
white gap white area. There's nothing on my brush, just with a damp brush, softening it. More of helocine. Carefully observing the
reference picture, same color. Now the tip of these wings, I can see some violet and even
here in the shadow region, And now there's
nothing on my brush. Just with a damp brush, just softening it out. Let's do the same thing
for the tail feather. This is still te blue. Now, I just need a little
bit of cobalt blue. For the lightest. One
over here down below. And then wins the violet. Very delicate work.
Now with a damp brush. With the damp brush now, I'm just softening
both of those colors. Taking a little bit
of that tell signing, even here, and a little bit
of French ultramarine blue, for the shadow over here. I left this painting
completely to dry, took a good break. And now I'm coming
in with my eraser and erasing of all
the pencil lines. Making it nice and
clean of graphite. After such intense work, just give some
rest to your eyes. And now I just want to give some finishing
touches to this part. So we'll work from top
to bottom now again. So winds violet. And I'll take this blue. It's okay if it's Ft mearne
or Cuba blue, any blue. So these are the final
finishing touches now. And let's take our green mix. Now it's more of a dry brushing with very little
color on the brush, and I'm using it in
the form of pencil. This darkening here in there, I'm taking violet for this light patch and even
a little bit of blue. Let's start working
on this blue part. Taking our blue mix. I'll start with
the shadow region. Tap off the excess color. Try to work more in
a brush technique. I'm taking more of
telocin in blue now, very watery. Still watery. Leaving that lighter area, taking darker blue for
all our shadow areas. You can even use a little
bit of our gray to increase the contrast to
increase the shadow areas. Again filling up
that lighter area. Now, the base of some of these wing feathers
has violet on them. Okay. Now, that color is a
little bit still lighter, so I'm just taking a damp brush to lift some of that color. And now I'm going to take my lifting brush and we'll lift some of the
highlights with this brush. So just wet your brush a bit and just go over the areas that you want
to lift very gently. This brush is soft. It's not very stiff, so it'll not damage your paper, but still do it very gently. And at the same time, I'm
just going to lift off some of the highlights from
this green area as well, since this brush is in my hand. Taking more of Violet now. Back to Tin. Now, I just realize that I have missed that white
patch over there. I accidentally went
over that with color. So I'll just take
my lifting brush and lift off that lighter area. So this will be a good tip for you if you have done
mistake like this, and it happens all the time. So not to worry. We can
always lift it off. And I'll take thee again. Fill up this area. Make it a little bit
more darker so that that lifted part looks more brighter. Let's wait for that part to dry. Meanwhile, let's work on
this part of the wing. Taking a bright tocin blue. A little bit darker blue. Taking a little bit
of that violet gray, just want to enhance some of
the shadow areas. Even here. This bird has beautiful wings, so let's make it
nice and bright. Very detailed also. Taking more winsor violet. Now, this color
will go over here, which is the base
of that blue color, and it will also go
under that white gap. So we're creating a shadow so that that white
part looks lifted. So now all our shadow lines, the dark lines are looking
a little bit lighter. I'm just going over them
with the gray again. With multiple washes
on these lines, the lines have become
a little bit lighter. So let's darken them so that all our brighter colors will
just pop up from the page. If you make a mistake
while drawing lines, say if it's not very
straight and very wobbly, then you can just take
your lifting brush. Even if it's a little bit
thicker than you want, you can just take your
lifting brush and just away the edges
of the lines. Okay. The ends of these lines
are a little bit lighter. Now I'm going to take a blue Even the lines
to the left side, they are more of blue than
gray, creating this shadow. I'll add a little bit
of gray to the shadow. See how immediately
it looks lifted up. Continue doing the blue lines. I'm still using my number two, and I'm able to do that with the fine point of this brush. Okay. So now let's take a lifting brush and remove
some of the highlights. So this is again, tonal adjustment stage
where we increase the intensity of some colors and remove some highlights,
especially here. So this will start giving that instant shine
to your feathers. And if you have missed out accidentally gone on any
of your highlighted areas, then this is the time
you rectify all of them. It will also give a variation in that very tiny area
of light and dark. As I said, you can chesel away the lines if you find
them very thick or if they have gone a little
bit here and there. If you're not happy
with the line, you can just sel them
off at this stage and then come back to it
with your color again. I even want to decree some of
this shadow line even here. It is looking a
little bit too deep. Can give some detail to
the white feathers also. I also want some highlight
on the neck area. This lifting of some color. Then with blue, you just go over that lifted area just
to make it look natural. Now, I also want to lift. Of course, we are
going to come back on this belly section to
give more details. It is still looking quite
rough at this stage. I'm also going to lift some of the highlights from
the neck also. This will also give
you that extra shine. Little bit here on the head
also. This is the fun part. Removing color is so much more
fun than applying colors. But don't overdo it. You can even soften out any of your strokes which are
looking too harsh. You can just soften them out, make it look nice
and soft feather. I'll continue even on this neck. A little bit here and there. It will just elevate your paintings so much. Okay. Now, let's move on to
our tail feathers. I'll start with Violet
for the shadow. And I will take a bold blue. With gray, I just want to
darken all our shadow lines. Just neat them up. Let's increase the shadow even
under the wing over here. Mixing a little bit of violet. T neatening the
edge of this bird. So now, with the damp brush, I'm just going over
all the wing feathers. Just to smoothen out everything. Sometimes what happens is if you remove some highlights,
they look very harsh. So just going over it
with a damp brush. It just deposits some
of that dark color into the highlighted
areas and just makes everything totally
well adjusted. I'm also going to
add some locnine blue to this over here. Just to show that it's getting that reflected
light from the wings. I love playing with
reflected lights and shadows in lighter subjects. They give you so much of
opportunity to be creative. And with this, we finish
the wing over here.
9. 9. Finishing touches- belly: So here, I've turned
my painting again, and let's finish off
the belly of this bird. We need a little bit of
tweaks here and there. So I'll be jumping around with all these same
colors that we have previously used on
these yellow feathers. So some reflected light, some shadows, and
even some yellows. Taking our green megs, and creating a good amount
of shadow around that leg. So I'm being so cautious with all these grays on these
yellows because in the end, the yellow feathers should
not look dirty or muddy. Okay? It should still
look very bright, and it so still
have that effect of a lot of shadows in
between the feathers. So I think this is most a
f layer. I don't remember. I'm going to take more of olin and just brighten up
some of the yellow parts. Yellows are so light in color that they fade
off also very easily. So you have to give multiple
layers of yellow to get that intensity of that color. Taking green gold. With all these layers and so many colors on
this yellow part, it also looks very painterly. Now I come in with
my lifting brush. Just going to lift off
some of the highlights. With this technique,
it will also soften out some of
the very harsh marks. Just want to lift out,
especially here in this highlight region
under the shadow. It's giving that
instantly that shine. In the finishing stage, I apply colors, I remove colors. Adjust all the tonal values on that particular area
till I'm satisfied. After every lift,
just wash your brush, and again, come
back on that area. Otherwise, you will
be depositing that lifted color into some
other lighter area. Here, I'm just
softening those lines. At the end of the day,
your bird feathers should always look very soft. Though we are working
with so many lines, I should not look very scratchy or as if it has got
some electric shock. So try to soften all your hard lines whenever possible and make it look
nice and soft, fluffy. I'm also going to
darken a little bit of shadow near that dark area. Taking this green color. I'm still coming more and
more towards this leg area. It's looking too much in shadow, but then I don't want
to go very dark. Creating that criss cross lines. I just feel this shadow
is looking to hh. I'm just softening it off. So judge your own painting. You painting might require a
different kind of approach. Maybe you need more color or
maybe you need more lifting. So to this at the end of the
painting, with fresh eyes, take a good amount of break and maybe just turn your painting and your reference
picture upside down. That really helps for me. Tricking my brain
helps me get results. So why not? Okay? So I'm just emphasizing all those gaps in between
those criss cross feathers. This is my size two chesel
blender brush from Princeton, and it's my favorite
brush for lifting. I'll just flick some
of the gray here also. Just going over the head
region for the last time, a little bit of
that cobalt blue. If you're ahead of the
bird is looking fine, then don't do this step. But I always keep on
finding some things to do. I'm just giving a light
glaze of co bald blue on the back of the neck so
that all of lifted areas, they will just look more softer. I'll just get a little
bit of that color. This is again optional. We had already gone over
it with our wet brush. In the same way with
the locine blue and just going over some
of the brighter areas. As watercolor tends to
dry a little lighter, sometimes you feel to need to give a little bit
more of that color. I'll also add this here on the bottom part just to
show that reflected light. So with this, the top
part of the bird is done, and in the next part,
we'll be tackling the feet and that iron rod.
10. 10. Feet & Branch- First wash: Okay. So the bird
is nicely done. It's looking so cute, and now let's finish off
the feet of the bird. So I'll be taking my
number zero brush, and I'll be painting all
the dark shadow lines, all the wrinkly
lines of the feet. So I'm taking my gray color a little bit more
from the reservoir. I'll start right from here. And then with a damp brush, I'm just going to
soften that line. A little bit lighter line here. Now I'll be drawing
all those creases, wrinkles, I don't know
what they are called. But all the dark lines and the shadow lines
in between the toes. W to make a little bit of that bald blue into
our gray mixture. Trying to imitate
the bony structure. It's not a very straight line. And here, I have
increased my speed. I'll be just doing the same
thing on both the legs. Okay. Same thing on the other one. This area is quite
in the shadow. Then I'll flick some of
that dark gray color into our belly feathers. Oh. There is one claw coming
from down the other side. So I'm back to my normal speed, and I'll be taking that blue and we'll start
with the midtones now. So there's a nice
highlight in the center. So just with a damp brush, I'm going in the center. Continuing with that blue, on the left, and then
on the right also. I'll take a little bit
of that windsor violet and just drop in on that blue. And then with a damp brush, I'm just going to lift off
all those lighter highlights. Apply color and then lift
off with a damp brush. I'm mixing a little bit of
that tylosnine blue with a co bald blue for the toes, they're looking quite bright. Again, I'm just applying color and then
washing my brush off, and with a damp brush. I'm just going to lift
off the lighter areas. I'm doing this because
the area is so tiny, it's difficult to just
leave the highlights. So it's better to color
and then just lift it off. Same thing on the other two. I'm just taking my
lifting brush to lift off more refined highlights. I'll take that
violet for the claw. This is just our first
wash and we'll be giving more details after
it's completely dry. Taking more of blue on the toes. Apply color and then lift
it off with a damp brush. Sure. We'll leave this to dry and we'll come back to it after this
first layer is completely. Meanwhile, let's
work on this branch. I'm calling it a branch, you can call it iron rod
or railing, whatever. For this, I'm going
to use brush now. So I've refreshed my
palette over here. So this is our
gray, cobalt blue, talcnine, blue, and a little
bit of winsor violet. As you can see, I'm using the same colors that we
have used on the bird, just to keep a harmony
on the entire painting. And for this rod, now we are going to
work wet on wet. So with my number four brush, I'm just taking clean water and going over the entire rod. Keep the water within the
pencil boundaries and also take care of the feet
which is next to it. The leg is completely dry, so we don't have to
worry about that. Now I'm going to take cobalt blue because
here on the top, I can see some beautiful
highlight, blue highlight. Going to take that blue. A and let it let it spread how much ever it wants not to
worry about that. And then we will take gray and start right from
this bottom line. I'm finding this angle
a very awkward angle. I should have
turned my painting. When you work at
an awkward angle, you tend to make mistakes
on your painting. You also will injure your
wrist in the long run. And I'm helping those two
colors to blend together. And now with the
tip of my brush, I'm taking that gray and this color will go now
on the top line also. If we notice on the
reference picture, the top and the
bottom line is gray, and then we have that
highlight in the mile, not exactly in the middle, but that shows the turn of that. After this with a
clean damp brush, I'm just going to lift off
that highlighted area. You might have to go over
it two to three times. The painting is wet, so it will take a little bit tough time
to get your highlight. After lifting every time,
just clean off your brush. Now the painting is still wet, so I'm going to
feed in more color, more gray color here on the top, or sorry on the bottom. Just creating that texture. And we'll leave this to dry. Okay. So I've
turned my painting. This is more convenient for me. And again, I'll be just glazing this
section in the middle. Okay glaze the whole
section with clean water. Very careful around
the feet of the bird. And we'll start with bald
blue again in the same way. Just drop it here. A little away from the top line. Take a little bit more color. Actually, there is a lot
of water on the paper. I'm just going to dot
the color this way, it will get deposited more. I'm also dropping in
some winsor violet just to create interest. And now let's take a gray taking from my
bowl of gray color. Use the very tip of
your brush to go into those tiny corners. And even if you make a mistake, we have a lifting
brush. So don't stress. Okay? This is gray. And then on the top of the rod. It's looking all
muddled up for now, but it'll be fine. We are just going to
lift off that highlight. The paper is very much wet. You might have to do this
a couple of times more, or you can just wait
for the pain to dry a bit and then you can
start your lifting process. Now I'm just going to
add a bit more color. Still lifting. Okay. And if you're getting any of these
crooked lines don't burry, we'll come with
our lifting brush and fix up all the edges. So let's repeat the same
procedure on this part also. So I already applied clean water glaze and I'm now
going in with cobalt blue. You can even add a little bit of locine blue again just to create some interest. Taking gray now. So remove all the water from your brush and start lifting. And a little bit more of gray. I will leave the sto dry.
11. 11. Erasing & Lifting: Okay. The painting
is completely dry, and now let's erase off
all of the pencil lines. This is a step I always do after the first wash
is completely dry. Now we will do
some cleaning job. We'll take our lifting brush, and we'll remove any
hard line edges or any highlights that we were not able to leave when we were
doing our first wash. It's better to do this
after the first layer. Otherwise, your
colors will start becoming more permanent
with more layers. If you find any mistake
in the painting, just immediately rectify it, let the painting completely
dry and then lift it off. So I'm just removing this
hard line edge over here, just making it nice and smooth. Take a wet lifting brush and just wriggle on the areas
that you don't want. And then with a clean
tissue, just lift it off. If you want a little bit
more highlights on the toes. Again, this is the
time. You can do that. Or if you have gone with your mixes, when you
were doing the rod, if you have gone on the
toes with those colors, you can lift them off as well. Okay. So I just got a hard line even on
the top of the rod. You can also take
this opportunity to correct the shape of that rod. While lifting, you can
just chase a off or you can just push some of the color and make it
into a right shape. Again, we will
leave this and then we'll come back on it
with our details. H
12. 12. Feet & Branch- finishing details: So Let's start working on
the details of the feet. I'm back to my number 50 brush, and I have a good mix of dark gray over here
in my palette. I'll start with the very
darkest shadow areas, darkest stones on the feet. I'm going to darken
these lines again. O So let's do the same thing on
the other leg also. Now let's take a
world blue color. I'm going to mix it a
little bit with that gray. And and I've switched
to number zero, and I'll start applying it on
the right side of the leg. The right side of the
leg is in shadow. I just watering it down for
the brighter blue here. Then with a damp brush, just soften it off and lift
off some of the color. Taking a little bit
of winsor violet also for the claw, especially. And then gray. Let's continue the same thing on the
other leg as well. Increasing some of
the shadow area here. So I've switched
to my number six. You can continue
with number four. Okay? And I've refreshed
all the colors with grays and blues and violet
and even lamp black. So with this brush, I'm loading it with grays, and I'm directly going
on the paper now. We are not working wet on wet. This is wet on dry
so that we can get that intensity of
color immediately now. And as you can see, I'm not
going up till the edge, leaving the edge a little
bit lighter. Like this. Now wash your brush
and with a damp brush, just soften the top edge. So leaving a lighter edge will indicate that the rod is
turning the other way around and soften the
bottom edge as well. You can even use your lifting
brush to soften that line. This way, you will
get a little bit crisper and softer line. I'm going to drop some dots of gray just to create
an uneven texture. It's an iron rod and it's
not a very smooth rod. It's got some texture on it. This will give that
illusion of texture. Now, same thing, let's
take this gray color again and start from
the bottom edge. Now here, I'm taking
the color up till the edge and immediately softening the top edge
with a damp brush. And then I'm going to
take lamp black and just add this to the bottom edge to create
more darker shadow. Very little color just on
the tip of your brush. Don't want the entire rod to make it quite
dark black color. Now, I will take gray and just
drop in some dots of gray, just create some uneven texture. This has to be done when the
painting is a little bit wet. And we'll leave this to. So let's do the same thing
on the remaining two parts. So that's why I have
just sped up this video. The process remains the same. You take your gray, leave a
little bit of outer edge, and then with a so
with a damp brush, just soften the edge
from above and below. And then feed gray
into the bottom edge. Carefully going
around those claws. You can work with your smaller
brush around these areas if you don't have a good
point on your bigger brush. And then just soften
it with a damp brush. Just drop in some dots of gray, and now you take your black. Taking my sel brush. If you feel softening the top edge and
the bottom edge. If you feel the color
is on the gray, d, the just drop in
little drops of, very small drops of water. That will also create a
good. Same thing here. If you feel you have
applied too much of black, then just lift off some of
the color with a damp brush. Now, this is a very
awkward angle for me, and as I told you, when you have awkward angles, you're
not comfortable. Then you are bound
to make mistakes, which I did over here. I'm immediately going
to soften that line. Correct that irregular edge, and then just drop
in some texture. So now we'll leave this to dry and we'll come back to it
after it's completely dry. So the painting is
completely dry now. And now what I'm going
to do is going to take gray plus blue. This is co bald blue. I'm also taking some neat
coal blue at the side. And I'm going to glaze our highlight with
this blue color. We had not used this
in our wet on dry because I just wanted to keep it very simple with
only gray and black. Now after it is dried, I just want to feed
in that blue color. Now with gray, I'm
just going to create more color and going to
create more texture as well. So I've switched to
number two brush. I'm just tapping it, keeping my brush
flat on the paper and just giving some
very irregular marks. This way, the grays are also becoming more darker and we
are also creating texture. Then with a damp brush, just soften the
highlighted line. O and repeat the same thing on the remaining part
of the rod as well. Whenever you have so dark, intense color in your painting, don't try to achieve it
in one layer in one go. Do it in at least
two to three layers, and that way you will get
it more natural looking, and you'll be also preserving
the lights in that area. Use transparent washes,
very watery washes. We will leave this to dry now. I'm just going to
lift off some of the highlights more
with my chesel brush. After doing the very
dark colors on the, some of the colors on the feet of the bird are looking
a little bit lighter. I'm just adding a bit color
just to brighten them up. So I left this painting to dry, and now I'm going to show you a small cheat with a
white colored pencil. So suppose you want a
little bit more highlights and you don't want
to go in with any of your lifting or any
ga. You can just use your white wax based pencils really work well on watercolor to give
highlights, especially. So I'm just using this pencil to just brighten up
some of the highlights. Again, this is
completely optional. If you want to leave your bird as a complete watercolor painting, you don't need to do this. But this is an option if you have missed out on any
of your highlights, whether it's the
highlight of the eye or something on the
feathers or on the toes, you can still rectify your bird. Not using it much, very sparingly on the very
brightest highlights only. Okay. So here we come to
the end of this tutorial. I hope you learned
something from this, and I hope you enjoyed
watching this tutorial.
13. 13. The finished painting: This bird was so much fun to paint with all those
small brushes. So I hope you give
this painting a go, and we'll see you in
the next tutorial. So Bye.
Neha Subramaniam, Neha Fine Art
