How To Paint a Realistic Leaf

1. Introduction: Painting a leaf may seem like a daunting task with all those details, little veins textures especially for beginner artists. But if you take it one step at a time, then it's not so scary. Hi, I'm a, I'm an artist and I'm based in Sicily, Italy. In this class, I will take you step by step from color mixing and matching. And then I will show you the first was the second wash, the third wash. Finally, I will show you how I add the details, how I paint the imperfections, if there are any in your leaf. By the end of the class, you will have not only your very own leaf painting, but you will have learned useful skills that you can apply to other projects. When you're painting in watercolor, I have included for you a tracing of the leaf in case you want to follow me step by step, but by all means you can paint your own leaf, just find one and do that. I have also included a PDF guide where I show you step by step everything that I go through in this class. You can download that and print it and keep it. Okay. If you're ready, let's get started. 2. Class Project: The project for this class is of course to paint your very own leaf. Now you can download the tracing I've provided for you and you can just follow me step by step if this is the first time you paint a leaf, for example, or extra brownie points. If you search for your own leaf and paint that after you've washed the class and had a look at the techniques I use. I do have classes on specific techniques for watercolor. Have a look at my profile. If you can brush up your techniques with the other classes as well, then once you've finished your leaf, don't forget to upload a picture in the project section. Okay? I can't wait to see your leaves. All right, let's carry on. 3. Color Match: Hi there. In this lesson, I will show you how I approach painting a leaf. This is a medlar leaf, I'm pretty sure that's the name of the tree. I start with mixing the colors. After having a look at my color recipe book, I start mixing Windsor blue, red shade. Then I add some transparent yellow. I choose the red shade instead of the green shade, because this is a dark green, is not very brilliant. And also the transparent yellow is a yellow. As an orange bias, it will tend to form together with the blue, dark green, which is a bit is brilliant. And that's what we need at the moment. And even so, I still need to mute it a little bit. I add a little touch of quinaquidronmgenta. I mix this green. This is the local color, is the main color of the leaf. From this one, I will make the other colors that I need, the lighter color and the darker color for the darker sides of the leaf. For the parts in the shade or a should say in the shadow. I note down what colors I used, then I take some of the mix. This will be the lighter color. If we were painting in oil, we would add white. But with water color, we just add water and we make the lighter shade of the color. I just, I add water to it. To make the darker color, I use a botanical Gray as I call them. This one is made with winter blue, green shade, quenquidmgenta and lemon yellow. I make this gray because it's more black. I will use this black in Dutaniamounts to make the green darker. I'm not going to use red because sometimes they tell you to use the opposite color in the color wheel to make one color darker. But if you use red, you're going to end up making a brown. If you use one of these colors, this botanical grays, then you will just make the green. But it won't essentially change the fact that is green. I'm just making this black color. As you can see, it is black. And then if you water it down, it becomes a gray. I will add that to the green. I take another part from the main green. So make sure you mix enough color and put it in another well, and then add a little bit of the time, the gray or the black, that will make the darker green that you need for the shadows. As you can see, you have a dark green, but it's still a green. When you put it on top of the previous green, it looks like it's a shadow the main, the lighter gray and the dark version. 4. First Wash: At this point with a very diluted version of your main color, which I call the local color, I just apply a wash all over the leaf. It would be just a flat wash just to give it a color. If the leaf is shiny, sometimes you could add a pale wash of cerulean blue for example. But in this case, I'm just going to do a light wash of the green just to start putting some pigment down. I will not do form or any shaping just yet. I'm putting this green all over. Even on the veins in the mid rib and the veins because when you add color, then the veins will look very pale. If you have a pale vein, it's okay to add the color, this face wash on top of it. And I left a little bit without color because there's a little bit of brown in the leaf. This is something else I do. I always turn the page around whenever I can because it's easier for me, at least, to work from the right to the edge of the leaf instead of the other way around. Because that way it's more difficult that I actually go over the edge of the leaf. You might not need to do that, but if you do, don't be afraid of turning the page as many times as you need to. So that's the first finished. 5. Second Wash Left Side: After the first wash, I will start working in small sections. I wet one section, I still work, wet, wet. At this point, I add some clear water and then I dropped the color. I start dropping the color where there is the shadow, where the color is darker. And then I just diffuse it with a brush. Just touch the paint slightly, just tease it towards the light, but not completely. Then I just do this for each section. Put a little bit of water first. Just make sure the paper is not too wet and too dry. You will learn with the practice when to drop the color and I have a picture next to me. And I will follow basically where the light in the darks and I drop the cola where the dark. Then rinse the brush and just see the paint towards the high light will make this soft transition from the dark to the light. I leave the space because between one section and the other because I don't want the color to run into the other section, which is still wet. In fact, the first section, because it was still wet, I could still add a little bit more color, try to work in sections that are not touching each other. If you don't want the color to just run into the next section next to it. This process I just repeat for the entire leaf. I'm trying to show you here. As you can see the shine there should be a little bit of seen shine, that's when you want to drop the color. As you can see, I have a color picture. The color is different in the picture. Because when you printed, of course, I'll never be able to print a color which is exactly the same as the original. You will see a different type of green in there in the picture, but that's just to have your reference, you usually mix the color with your real specimen in your hand. It doesn't matter if you don't have the leaf anymore, but at least you have the color. And then I was saying I have the picture and I also have a black and white picture. Because the black and white picture really helps seeing where the darkest places are, where the light is, where you need to add the dark, where you need to add the light, There's no distraction from the color. It's a good idea, at least I quite like to do that. Normally, I have a black and white picture of the subject that I'm painting. It's probably also a good idea if you're not sure of the context of your painting. It's good to take a picture and then turn it into black and white. And then it will tell you straight away if you need to add more context in your painting or if you have enough darks and enough lights, just doing the same process, dropping the color first, wet the page, then drop the color and just rinse the brush a little bit. And with a damp brush, make sure you don't have too much water on the brush when you go back, just tease the paint a little bit so that it transitions smoothly from the dark to the light. I have simplified this leaf. I'm not going to do all the little tiny veins that you can see on it. You don't have to paint. You can if you want to, but you don't have to paint every single little tiny vein that you see in a leaf. I have simplified the shape quite a bit. I also here made the video a little bit faster. Not too much, but a little bit faster because it's the same process over and over again. But I was saying you can just represent the mid rib and the main veins. The secondary veins, you don't have to be lost in all of the little tiny veins that cover the leaf. Because some of the leaves are really difficult, they can become really difficult if you want to paint every single tiny vein. I wanted everyone to be able to do this leaf. I have simplified it quite a bit. I've added some of the veins at the end. You will see, but not all of them. You can have your leaf at the end and you can be proud of it. Just make sure when you're doing this process. Now, not to paint over the mid rib. If the mid rib should be lighter than when you get close to it, try not to paint over it. You will leave this little gap in between. There are of course ways to lift the paint if you go over it. I think it happened to me a little bit as well. But try not to paint over it because it's easier to do this way rather than trying the paint they already put down. Sometimes, depending on the type of paint you use, it might actually stain the paper so you won't be able to lift it completely. As you can see, it's already starting to take shape and already looks like a three dimensional leaf where there are some darks and lights. 6. Second Wash Right Side: I'm just starting on the other side because this section on the left, they're still wet next to it. It's the same process. On the right side, there is the light that is hitting it. There would be less dark basically only a little bit at the bottom, on the top of the vein, but it won't be as much as the other side. You should always try to observe your leaf even before starting. Take the leaf in your hand and look at how the light hits it, where the darks form, and where the light hits, where the highlights are. Always observe it really well Before you start. I didn't want to fast forward too much, but if you want, feel free to fast forward a little bit. But I wanted to show you the process as I do it without cutting too much. And even if it's a little bit faster, that's my entire process. No secrets here here, I'm just showing how I dip the brush in the water. And when I say rinse the brush, that's what I do. Just basically dip it in the water, touch on the side of the jar, and then if you think there's too much liquid, too much water, then just touch briefly on the paper towel. But this will be something that you will see with practice. And also it depends on the brushes that you use. I was forgetting to say this. I'm using Winsor and Newton brushes. I like to work with the miniature brushes, but you can work with the normal ones. With the seven, you have miniature and you have just normal brushes. I think actually this one is not the miniature, this is the number one, series seven. But when it comes to the smaller details, then I use the miniature ones. As you can see, if you divide the leaf into sections is not really that scary. You just concentrate one section at the time and you just finish that section and move to the next one. It's really not that bad, it's just a matter of practicing a little bit. Mostly I think practicing the technique because it's like driving. Once you know how to drive, if you can drive any car, they're all the same, so you can paint anything. As long as you have a technique that you like to use, this is mine. It doesn't mean that you will be happy to use the same exact technique. You might just want to do a weight on dry. For example, instead of waiting the page first, you just use your color straight on the dry page. I would advise you to experiment and try different techniques. Do different leaves with different techniques and see which one you like most. I think that's the only way to really discover how you like to paint in here. I'm just going to apply the paint on the very side of the leaf because it's turning down a little bit, it's rounding at the edge, it will be a little bit darker there. Exactly the same process. I wet the page and then apply the paint where there is the shadow. And then soften it with a damp brush. It's just a matter of softening the edges really all the time. Once you apply the paint, I always use light washes and build the color by applying more and more washes rather than going in straight with a really dark color. 7. Third Wash Left Side: Now I'm just applying a second layer, basically. As I was saying, I just darken the color by applying more and more washes. It might seem a longer process, but it will give you a differently, much better result than just going in with a thick, dark paint. Because if the paint is too dark, too thick, if you want to apply another wash on top, you might actually lift what you have, the paint that you have already applied, that layer, and then this will ruin your painting. The way I like to do it is just apply many different washes. But with color that is getting progressively darker and darker. That's what I'm doing now, is basically what I did before. But just with slightly darker paint, instead of adding a certain amount of water, I add a little bit less water or a bit more pigment is the same well that I used before, but I just added a little bit more pigment from my central well, the one with a local color. And I just repeat the process. This will strengthen the color and will make the shadows a bit darker. The highlights where the light hits will appear lighter. Just keep observing the leaf. Always refer to your reference image or your subject if you have it next to you. If you are painting a leaf for the first time, probably is better to have a picture because even if you have the real one near you. But if you look at the picture, a list for me was like this. It you make the three D leaf two basically image that you can follow easier and less scary than having the actual real object and trying to copy from there. And besides, you can do the black and white picture as well, which helps here. I've made the video again a little bit faster because again, I wanted to show you what to do, but you don't need to watch it in real time because it's just basically the same process repeated. You see here, have another brush, this is a number two miniature. If you want this technique that I do, you can use two brushes. Instead of rinsing your brush where you have the color of the pigment, you can use another brush. And you use that, you put it in the water, you tap it in. The paper towel is only damp, wet. Just make sure it doesn't have any water in it. And then you can use that to soften the edges of the paint. As you can see, I'm doing that now. I wanted to show you this other option. Sometimes like I did here, I use one option, then I use the other. It doesn't really matter as long as you end up with the result that you want. But I suppose the advantage of using two brushes is that you don't have to rinse the brush with your color. You keep one brush always with the color as you see here. Sometimes I rinse the brush, sometimes I just use the other one, but the end result is basically the same. And sometimes I just use the other brush only to wet the paper. And then I use my number one brush as I was saying, experiment and see what works for you. 8. Third Wash Right Side: If you notice, I always mix the color before I pick it up with my brush, because sometimes the pigments in the watercolor paint tend to settle at the bottom. Not all paints do that, but quite a few will do that. They separate. So if you have a mix, you might get some colors to this more than others. You might get a completely different color. If you don't mix your paint before picking it up, make this a habit. Always give it a little mix before you actually put the paint to paper. As you can see here, the mid rib already looks quite light compared to the rest of the leaf, but there is that greenwash at the beginning that we did. 9. The Details: We can start with some of the details, some of the main tertiary veins, the ones that you can see a bit more on there on the right that you can see it a little bit more. Also, I'm adding them because I wanted to show you the process in case you want to add more of the smaller veins. But it's the same thing. I apply the paint and then I just soften the edges with the dump brush. This is the technique with the two brushes. And again, you might want to practice a little bit this technique, but basically you apply the wet paint on the page, on the dry painting. And then you just soften the edges with the brush. Make sure you don't have to moisture too much water on the other brush because otherwise it would be pushing your paint away. The pigments will be pushed by the water. It needs to be just dump enough so you are able to soften the edges of your paint that you have applied. Always look at your reference photo or your object that you're painting and then see where these extra darks are and see exactly look where the light falls and when the dark falls. As you can see, sometimes I pause for a few seconds just because I'm looking at the picture. It doesn't have to be exactly the same. I don't do photo realism. You might want to do this if you want, but it doesn't really have to be photo realistic. It is botanical painting we're talking about. It should be as close as possible if there are some specific things that are just present in one plant. For example, if I don't know hairs or something that is specific to that particular type of plant, then you need to add those, but it doesn't have to be photo realistic with every single little tiny vein depicted in your painting. And even for botanical painting, if you want to do a botanical illustration, where is scientific? That is for a journal for example. Then in that case you want to be as close as possible to the actual specimen. But if it's botanical painting decoration for your own home, for example, or even to sale, then it doesn't have to include every single little detail. If you want to submit your work, for example, to the SBA, a Botanical Society, for an exhibition. In that case, you do need to be very close as, as possible, as close as you can to the actual plant. To the real plant with both the color and the representation. If the veins go a certain way, if they do a certain pattern, then try to be as close as possible. But botanical painting is not only that, for decoration of your home. You can sell prints at the end of the day. Those ones, they don't have to be completely exact as a picture, They can be simplified like I'm doing with this leaf. For example, probably if I was to submit this leaf for an exhibition, a botanical art exhibition, I might have added more details, of course. But because it is to show you my technique on how to paint a leaf, then at the end of the day, you just basically use the same technique to add more details. I didn't go into a huge amount of details, but as you can see here, I'm adding the smaller veins. It's all a matter of darks and lights. You don't need to leave these little veins white. Some people think that they have to leave them white. And then they make these huge veins. And there's no need for that because as you can see, I'm adding them now. And it is the suggestion that there is a vein there because there is a shadow where the leaf is dipping because of the vein, it forms a shadow and that's where it tells you that there is a vein. I hope I'm making this clear because I'm not sure it's clear to me, but I hope it makes sense to you as well. So no need. Even the secondary veins, I didn't leave a white part there unless it is actually really big. The secondary vein, you don't need to leave a white space because once you add the darks and lights, then you can tell exactly where the veins are. Um, hopefully it's making sense, as you can see is always the same technique. You just add the color and then you soften the edges. You need to soften the edges towards where the shadow goes. There's something else, hopefully I'm explaining. Well, look at subject, look at your picture and over, look which way the shadow falls. If you look at the leaf and painting on the right side, the shadow is dissolving towards the mid rip. There is a sharper edge on the other side and it is soften towards the mid rib. I'm turning the leaf now. It might be a bit more difficult to see, but you can post the image and see what I mean. 10. Strengthening details: In here. I'm just strengthening the darks even more. So I'm using the darker color. Just going over just where the shadow is deeper. So close to the vein and close to the mid rip. Again, I'm using both the brush with the paint and the dump brush. I just make sure that I don't paint over the mid rip. I soften the edges as well. Now it really makes those veins abdding a little bit of a shadow on the left as well, on the edge of the left because it's also turning a little bit downwards. So it forms a little bit of a shadow there as well. I'm still using my number two brush, miniature brush, to soften the edges, but I'm using a smaller brush, I think now has switched actually again to my number one. But it depends where you are painting, which space. If it's a smaller space, don't be afraid of changing and swapping your brushes around here. I'm just using just a tiny amount of paint in the brush to hint at the smaller veins. There won't be too pronounced. These veins, it's just a tiny amount of paint. I do this little tiny extra veins just to give a little bit more texture to the leaf and show that there are a few more small veins all over the surface of the leaf. They're so light, they don't really need to be softened or anything. You can just leave them as they are. Again, practice on a piece of paper if you're not sure how to do this because they need to be really light, a very light touch and very small amount of pigment in your brush. You need a brush with a very fine point. That's why I like the winter Newton brushes because they can keep a very fine point. So as you can see, the leaf is been simplified, but still you have all the main forms and it has now the three D effect of the leaf, of the original leaf in here. I've noticed that maybe that little part could do with making it a bit darker. It's always good to keep checking in case you need to add a bit more darks. 11. Imperfections: Now I'm doing the little imperfections in the leaf. I've mixed a brown. I basically use the same colors, but if you use different proportions of the red, blue, and yellow, you will get a brown. You need to add a bit more red and a bit more blue, and then add the yellow, you will get the brown. I have some classes on color mixing where I show you how to the browns. So if you don't know how to mix the brown, you can always use a mixed brown and then change a little bit by adding some yellow or some red. Just experiment and see how it goes. I tend not to use the browns as they are ready mixed. I always try to change it because it makes for a more natural look. I basically applied a lighter wash in the center and then a more thick version of the paint on the side. And I am using a small brush, I use a stipling action because that will give an appearance of texture. Just use a little stipling, it will make more texture. I'm applying a very light wash of the brown in the leaf as well in the petiole, and then just strengthening a little bit of the midrib. But again, that's different with different leaves. Then I will apply a little bit of the brown on the top of the leaf as well. Because the brown here is quite darker, it doesn't matter if there is the green underneath. You can apply it and it will still look like there is a little bit of the leaf is starting to dry there. A little bit of an imperfection there. So I hope you have enjoyed this lesson, and I hope you will apply the newfound skills and techniques and make your very own leave. 12. Bonus Color Mixing: I wanted to add this little bonus lesson just to show you how I mix the colors. In here, I'm mixing Windsor blue red shade. Just take a little swatch. Then I add Queen Aqui magenta and transparent yellow. I mix the blue and the yellow to make the green. And then I start adding the magenta to make a deeper green and the saturate the color because otherwise it's a bit too bright. I take a watch of that. What I do is I usually add a little bit of water so I can see what the color looks like when it's ware down. Then here I'm adding a bit more yellow, transparent yellow, just to see what it looks like if it's got a little bit more yellow. So sometimes you need a lighter version for your lighter areas that you're painting. Then here I'm making a darkening mix. I mix winsor blue green shade quinequidromgena. This makes violet. Then to this I add lemon yellow. My lemon yellow is from Daniel Smith, but you can use winds or lemon. If you don't have the lemon yellow yellow, which is cool yellow as you can see, it starts to form the dark, blackish gray. Sometimes you just have to adjust the color a little bit because you don't want it to be too blue or too red. As you can see here, I just added a little bit more red, a little bit more blue. Just play with the colors a bit. It doesn't have to be right the first time. Don't despair. Just keep adding a little bit of your color and you will see that you will get there. Then I just water it down to see if it's actually gray or if it's got a tendency to either the blue or the red. Usually you want something as neutral as possible. I'm adding this card, a photo of this card, to your download, so you can download it and have a look at it as well. Here I just write, plus more water. What's going on then? Here I'm mixing brown. I'm using window blue, green shade, Quena, gudromgena, and transparent yellow. Again, these three colors, if you mix them in different proportions, instead of getting black, you will get a brown. If you add a bit more red, which in this case is the magenta, you can see that you have a brown. If you vary the amount of yellow that you add, you will have a lighter brown as well. Then I mixed another brown instead of the window blue green shade. I used the winds blue red shade just to see the difference. When using a warm red, you get a warmer brown. I hope you found this little less useful. As I mentioned, you will find this little card on your downloads. 13. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on completing the class. I hope you have found the useful and I hope you have enjoyed it. The next step is to keep painting. Of course, find some leaves, keep practicing paint. Some green leaves, some brown ones, some red ones. Just keep practicing because that's the only way to improve. Don't forget to post pictures of your leaves in the project section so we can all see your masterpieces. Also, don't forget to follow me here on skill share, so you can be notified as soon as I post a new class. If you want to keep in touch, you can follow me on social and I have put my links somewhere down here. You can also check my skillshare profile to see my other classes on watercolor painting and other subjects to if you liked the class and you found it useful, I would be very grateful if you could leave a good review that would really help the class. It would also help to stay on skillshare so you can find it again and other people can find it and benefit from it. Thanks again for watching the class. I'll see you in my next class.