Transcripts
1. Intro: Hi everybody. This is Mu. And welcome to my another
Skillshare class. Now this time around, I've just had a watercolor
workshop here at my house. I've come across like this, thought of what makes a Japanese
painting look Japanese. I have two things
that would make your art look more Japanesey. I hope you enjoy the class. It'll be a great card to create for your special
loved ones. For Valentine's, I'll teach you how to make a color look like it's
been inspired by Japanese art as well as like
creating your own king. We call in Japanese, which marks the
completion of artwork. We'll be creating
this with not a seal, but we'll be creating this with your watercolor brush
and a certain pigment, certain color that will look
have that Japanese flare. I hope you enjoyed the class
now. Let's get started.
2. Materials: I will get into the
materials that you would need for this class. First of all, you'll need
some watercolor brushes. I'll have a stand, it
makes my life easier. Also, you'll need some clean cup of water for cleaning
your brushes. Then you'll need some
watercolor paper for sketching purposes. I'll use the Fabriano. Then I also have this 85 di paper that would
be for my final project. Some people don't like the
texture, but I really like it. I'll be using that. This
one you don't need, but I might be using
ism. It's basically, it's got that
calligraphy ink inside, but these colors just
create like a Japanese feel to every painting
you do with it. But I'll be also using the Shamika palette because it's easier to work in a
very tight space like this. You'll need a pencil and
eraser for sketching and a paper towel for
wiping your brushes. Now these are the things
that you would need. Now let's get into the class.
3. Warm up: In this first class, we will be going through very basic
watercolor techniques. I do have some other
classes that I dive deeper into, like warm up. If you are not too sure, you might want to go to that class and do
some warm ups there. But I'll be going through
the basic ones that we'll definitely be
using wet on wet. That means initially we're
going to wet the surface and then put in, um,
basically pigments. Let me just show you here. I have a lot of blues
because I've been working on some swatching recently. I'll just use this
blue right here. There's few ways
to work with this, but I'll just lay down first a wet area because
we will be working with round shapes or hearts. For the final project. I'm just going to create some
pebbles there that is wet. Right now what I'm
going to do is I'm going to go into
this green here. I am going to lay another
color over the wet, that is a wet on wet technique. Now, you can also get some water then wet the
surface beforehand like this. I don't know if
you could see it, but wetting the
surface right now. Then I'm going inside this purple and then
drop in some colors. That's also a wet
on wet technique. And just let it do its thing. I'm going to do
another practice. Maybe I will try this surface, another surface,
but keeping like a middle line of no water. The pigment doesn't go through, the water is the only place
the pigment will flow into. I will leave that space, drop in some pigment here. Then I am going in with a different blue
from the other end. Then what you can do
is then connect the, I think I need a bit more water actually to connect these. I forgot which blue I
used to. It's this one. Then I will connect the middle
bit, it mingles together. Okay, that's a few ways
of doing wet on wet. Now, when you say wet on dry, I don't know how to
explain it sometimes, but basically initially
this is a wet on dry, the surface is dry and you're going over
it with wet paint. If you want to do two colors, you could also do that. I'm going to use a purple here. Then I am going to go
in with this black. But this is a dry surface
that is wet on dry. I think this layer
is pretty much dry. I'm going to show you like a layering technique which then would be wet
on dry as well. I'm going to use this brown. I'm just layering in lines. I don't think we'll be using this layering technique
as actually we are. Okay, but not in such details. You could go in with a green. We will be working on something like this that
I'm doing right now, which is layering another shape, a color on top of the
one that's dry below. What I'm doing is because water color is
transparent medium, it's luminosity
is really pretty. You can even play around
with adding a bit of water Here you can see the
underlying shape a bit more. That's also pretty. I think this is not really dry, but I'm just going to
show you another example. Say I want to show
that layer right here, the shape, the
outline of the shape. But I'm going to try
to create a circle. I might even. Let's see, what color should I choose? Let's just choose a blue. But I want to choose a transparent color from
here as much as possible. What I mean by that
is when you look at the information
of each pigment, it should come with
like which one is, it has more opaqueness to it or transparent like this one
is like semi transparent. This English Venetian red
is completely opaque. You can choose colors like that. I'm going to use this dioxysine, I don't know how you see it, but because it's a
transparent purple, and let's see what it does, I am going to be mindful of creating as much
transparency here. I want a very light purple to go over there on purpose
right here to show that there is a shape of that
other circle right beneath. I really like that
effect when it peaks a bit of what's
going underneath there, that's wet on dry as well. Okay, I think we're ready to go to the
next class for color. Just try out a few things, see how it goes. Yeah, let's get to
the next lesson.
4. Color: For this color class, we will dive into
a bit of scrolling through Pinterest to
find inspirations. Well, that's what I usually do, but I would like to
say that a lot of Japanese colors are
Japanesque colors. My point of view are
quite desaturated. And I think that comes
because a lot of the Japanese art that we think are the block prints that
are made through the blocks, then they tend not
to be as vibrant. I'm going to show you how to desaturate a color and make it feel like it's like
that Japanese feel. But we'll go through pins
to see some inspirations. First we are at pins right now, we are going to
look up Japan art. Then here you
instantly get like, this is one of my
favorite paintings. But basically you'll get that desaturated, more
monochrome colors. You see a lot of black
grays and a hint of yellow. I think that's basically, that quite explains
what it's like. It's mainly black, but
a bit of vibrant color. Maybe one color that
is quite vibrant. This one is pretty much brown. Yeah, it doesn't
have any vibrancy. It uses a lot of neutral
colors. What else? Again, here, black with a hint, but you get the feel it's
not a Japanese artist, but still it gets that
Japanese vibes out. There's a hint of
blue, light blue, almost like lilac, red and yellow here. There's a desaturated
blue at the top left with some very vibrant
reds and blacks. I haven't still found
anything that I quite like. Let me just scroll into this. This is pretty a bit of
red, brown, and grays. Blacks, basically. What else? Oh, that's
really pretty. I like that. But yeah, I don't think
that's made by a Japanese. Um, that's really
pretty. I love that one. Okay, I think I'll make
something around these colors. So that will be blue with
yellow and desaturated, almost like yellowish
brown in the background. Let's stick with that and
let's go back to the warm ups. Okay, now that we got some certain look into
some Japanese colors, I would like to create some. First, there was a lot
of use of reds for sure, and some really vibrant reds. But then they tend to
use a lot of browns. Brown, blacks. Now, I think a lot of you have heard that it's
not really fun. It doesn't make the painting interesting when you use blacks, but I tend to disregard that. But if you wanted to create your own like muted blacks or colors, I highly recommend using paints. Gray pins. Gray is a very beautiful color. We looked at one painting just
right now that had blues. This is a Prussian blue. Then they used something
quite close to yellow ochre, but that could quite
look a bit too intense. Now what I could do is
I could either mix in a bit of this pains Gray, think I added a bit too much. Yellows tend to be not as
strong as other colors. That is like a
lovely yellow ochre mixed with paints gray which
looks quite desaturated. It's quite enough, I think. Then it also, I think it was almost like a
yellowish background, but it was more muted
and look like yellow. I could even add a bit of more sepia and
black to create that color. Those colors were used. Also one way to
desaturate a color. Like say I want to
use the same yellow. But I want to desaturate it and make
it a bit more leaning towards the gray then I
can, what am I doing? Okay, yellow, ochre. We have to look
at the opposites. Now, let me just quickly
explain the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Right? Then the opposite
of yellow would be red, blue equals violet,
orange, and then green. You'll have to mix a
violet to desaturated. Let's just get this violet right here and mix it in
maybe a bit more. Then you'll get a
desaturated yellow. And I could even
add more yellow. I even like it more
than this yellow ochre. I think it's a really
pretty muted color. This could be the background. Actually, I'll just
write my notes. Yellow ochre. Ochre. That's Y 42 that I'm
using from Schminka also. Plus Dio, zine purple. Basically it's a
PV 23 by M gram. I really like that combination. Then I could also just add more yellow and then
make it more vibrant. I think I'll stick with that
color. I really like it. Then you could even mix. I want some vibrancy. I want some muted, vibrant, and like this yellow. Let's think. I want three colors. Let's try picking three colors. Because the final project, I'll be creating
like three hearts. I would say the top, I would want this yellow. I want it to be quite vibrant. Let's just go with this then. For the middle, I
want to desaturated. I would that color that I
maybe I'll mix a bit more. I want to even a bit
on the purplish side, that is a beautiful color. I'll go with that a bit
leaning towards the purple, I might add a bit of
green to create like, I don't know, maybe
I went overboard. And then finally,
for the final piece, I want something
even more vibrant. And this is probably
not really used too much in Japanesque art, but I'm so in love with
cobalt turquoise colors, I might even use that. I think one color that you like that is
vibrant wouldn't quite hurt the total effect of
that at the end creates, I think it should be okay. Also, you can call crazy with the colors. It
doesn't really matter. As long as you have like one or two desaturated
muta colors, I think it should work. Finally, at the end, we'll go into Da, which would basically place that feel to the final piece to
make it a bit more Japanese. Okay, I think we're done. Let's go to the next lesson.
5. Test: Okay. So I've already sketched out what I'll be working on
to lay the colors on top, but you can always go to the
resources section when I have the outline of the sketch that I'll probably be using. Yeah, initially, like
where I got this idea was from stones Karen's, I forgot how you call it, but the stones, the pebbles
that are stacked up. I really saw that a lot in Japan while I was like
hiking back in the days. It came from that idea. But I just created into
like a heart shape. You can just do it freehand. It doesn't really matter
what shapes they are. Just imagine like
heart shapes that are almost stacked up
like those stones, but they are transparent. That's the image
that I got from it. And I thought it fits that minimalistic approach
which I quit like, okay, I would try to do that. Remember the layering technique? Please think about
basically which one you want to bring forward. I think the warm colors
tend to be coming forward and the dark
ones tend to go back. I want this one to pop out. What I'm going to do is I am going to layer that one
because I want it to be the yellow yellows are usually not as strong
as the other colors. I think I might
desaturate it a bit. Let's test the colors
before layering it. I'll test it right there. Yeah, I think that
should I'm going wet on dry right
here a bit more. I could even go over it with the vibrant yellow and some bits, when you create variations
like it even looks prettier, just go with the flow. Just see like which
one looks better. I would add a bit of ll there. Okay, I would wait
for that to dry. I think I'll lay this layer
right here down right now. Because I want the final, the purple layer to
layer that at the end. I like that vibrant color, but I might drop in a bit
of blue at the bottom or even some browns
to desaturated. I don't like that,
but it's fine. We're still testing things out. Okay. And for this one, I like to test out a
totally different color. Maybe I'll test the one
out right here, red, blue, and then kind of like maybe
black leaning CPA colors. Okay, I think I might
even use that red. Let's see, I want the
top one to pop out. And then for the bottom, I think I'll use maybe
the black and the CPO. And then in the middle, I'll use the blue to make it more fun. I'll just add in a
bit of that purple. Okay, I'll just wait for
these to dry up completely so I can go over
the final layer. But I might even pop in a bit of different red right there. Okay. And I'll wait
for this to dry. Okay. Now that these have dried, I will work over it. I think I quite like
that color actually. I might do that for the
middle right there. I like that a bit of hint
of the green that goes in. I might even add that as well. Again, I am going to
open up that space right there on purpose to let people
be able to see through it. Then I would add a
blue right there. A bit of that purple as well could even go a bit darker. Okay. And then for this one, I would use the paints gray a bit too much water
Then being mindful of that layer down there trying to leave as much
luminosity as possible. And then I'll drop in a
bit more right there, because dropping in there wouldn't affect
that area as much. And then a bit right there, I'll drop in a bit of purple just for some
interesting looks to it. Okay, we're pretty much done. You can adjust the layers. You can even go like second layer if you want
some bits like stronger. But I just like that
muted desaturated look. I'll just stick with this and not work on too much
layering for me. I think I still like
that one the best. It's just my
preference and colors. I just like how
vibrant that one is. For the final piece,
I'll go with this. I might change this one a bit. Yeah, I'm not too sure. I'll make this more
desaturated even. Maybe go for like a more
purple look like that. I quite like that one. Maybe I'll add a bit of
black to a really pretty purple and just use that
instead, but we'll see. Okay, let's get to
the next lesson.
6. Japanese Signature: Okay, we'll be trying
to create our own. Now, what is when you look at
Japanese like calligraphy, calligraphy art,
or any art forms, Then you'll see it typically on the left hand side,
at the bottom. And then they'll finally stamp
it with those red stamps. That's called to say that
it was basically completed. Usually there are two stamps, but just for simplicity, we're going to create one
stamp that's yours digitally. There's a site that will allow you to do
this really easily. We'll look at that and
then I'll let you know how you can do it for
your own first names. And then basically usually
it's on the left hand side, but I quite like to put it on the right just to give it a
bit of western mix to it. We'll be creating that. I will use cadmium medium because cadmium red
light as a color. If you have some warm
red around your palette, I think that would be
the best color to use, because the stamp inks usually really look
similar to that color. Okay, let's get into the
screen and all the resources, the links that I've used will be in the
resources section, so make sure to check that out. This would be the
link that I would have in the resources section. Please check it. First of all, there's this bit I wrote
name. There's a search bar. You'll put your name, my
name is Mu. I'll put Mu. Then it then you have to tap on the blue
mark at the bottom. It'll basically give you your
name in the Katakana style. You would copy that. Next we will go into
the other link where it will create a looking
image for you. You'll paste your name here
and then you click on Done. Then it'll give you what look
that would be in a style. You can also tap the tabs on the right hand side and choose which one you want. But I like this clean look
that it has right here. I'll be using this. This is how you can
create an image of what your Japanese
stamp will look like. Now let's get into
actually trying to mimic this with our
watercolor brushes. This is somehow
what it looks like. I will try to mimic
that and draw my own. It just takes a few practice. I'm just going to go over it once and see how it looks like. That would be. You could also create
a bit of a box as well because some of these could have like a box like
look to them as well. Some could be really
light in color as well. I'm just going to create what I want it to look like because I know how to draw Japanese Akana and
name in Akana. I'm just going to have a
few practices. Goes at it. But yeah, just try to
mimic what you see. And just give yourself enough practice until
you like what you see. I think I quite like
it when it has. I think I just like my
normal handwriting actually. I think I'll just go with that. But yeah, just give it a shot. Just try many things. What do you like? I
think I'll go with that. Okay. So let's get into
the final project.
7. Final Project 1: Okay, so let's get into
the final project. I already sketched my heart. Now, this outline of the sketch will be the
materials resources section, if you need any help. Okay, but I'd like
to get into it. I've also used a needed
eraser just to make the outlines a bit less obvious, but that's your choice
if you don't mind it. It looks pretty when you can see when you can see the
pencil marks as well. I've got some clean
water as well. And we'll work on the top
because I want that to pop out. I'll be using the yellow color. I've made it a bit desaturated, but I am going to basically drop in
different pigments of this color to
create more fun. In the final look of the piece, I do commission portraits, portrait painting, especially, I just love painting children. But it's so funny because a
lot of the time in creating these cards or even
like artwork really goes into the figuring
out the study stage. It's so funny when
some of my customers, clients would be like, oh
my god, that was so quick. But it was quick because I did the
preliminary studies and sketched it and then got the composition cracked
and all that stuff. Yeah. Because we've already
done the color study. The sketch, what sign stamp
we'll be using at the end. Spit should be quite,
relatively easy. Easy but fast. Okay. I think I like how that looks. One trick into making the pencil marks less
obvious, if you want to, is just charging in a very heavy pigmented
brush into those areas. I'm keeping this layer
right here obvious. Less obvious, more lighter. Then I'll add a bit of that. Maybe purple right there, just to create some interest. Visual interest. Okay, we'll be waiting
for that to dry. While I'm waiting,
I'll be working on the bottom layer right here. I'll be using the
cobalt turquoise light and I'll go very light first. And even creating these
dry brush strokes might be quite nice actually. This paper, can
you see this bit? This paper, because it's
cold press but even more so textured than regular paper that I've noticed with
other brands and stuff. It's really easy to create
these dry brush techniques, which is initially
just not loading your brush as much
with pigment or water. Just going over
like that and then it'll just create
those brush marks. I'll leave that like that. Then I'm going over
some areas with more intense blue loading charging into some areas. Again, I'm being mindful
of that area right there, that I want to not add too
much pigment at this stage. But I might add maybe
even more yellow right there, saturated yellow. Okay, go quite like
that. More blues. Okay, I think I'll
leave it like that. And then finally, once
this is totally dried, I'm going to work
in the middle and I've decided to use
a mixture of B R 33, which is a Shaka's
Mahogany Brown got another palette right here, because I just love
this color combination. This is called the
mahogany brown, I think that's how you say it. And then I mix it with ultramarine blue PV 29 and it makes this
really pretty color. It's so it's almost like violet, but let me show you. It's almost like violet but then it's almost like a black ish look as well. It's so pretty. It's like, that's what I
just think when I think of Japanese art that yeah, I think I'll be using that for the final heart
right in the middle. Okay. We'll leave it
to dry for a while. Okay. I've waited for it to dry, but these papers really
soak in those colors now. It looks too bright
for my liking. I think I will go for a second layer just to
intensify those colors. Because once I lay that
dark violet in the middle, I can't really work on
the other two because they're going to be lighter in pigment than the middle one. I'm going to work into
the colors a bit more. This is going to be a
wet on dry technique. I always get myself
confused and try to keep the edges
crisp as possible. How you do this is basically make sure the
lines are straight, where the pigment is flowing
as much as possible. The reason why this
area got a bit more crisp is because
I'm very mindful of keeping that area right there transparent as much as then
I'm mixing that purple a bit. A bit of fines is actually okay because it gives that
organic is look as well. But these papers are especially difficult to make that crisp blind because of the
texture of the paper. But I'll try my best. Okay, and then I'm going to drop in a bit of desaturated look. Okay. I think I like
how it looks right now. And then I'm going to work
into that turquoise color a bit more even, maybe add this green
turquoise, which is A, B, I believe 36, but it's a very
heavy granulating color. It's darker than the
cobalt turquoise light which is a G 50. Believe it or not, this
is a pigment green. This is a pigment blue. Uh, yeah. But anyways, I will try to intensify
that look bit, creating that dry brush effect, then working its way up. And then we've been using that other deeper
color and there. Okay, I think I like it, but I might even intensify it
a bit more. Be right here. Okay, I think I like it. And then we'll wait for this
layer to completely dry.
8. Final Project 2: Work on the final layer. I like how it's looking so far. I think I will wet the area
slightly with the blue. My partner will not like it
if I destroy this table. It's our dining table
and we love it so much. We got it made in Singapore, back when we used to live there. Just look at this
beautiful, beautiful color. I just love this color. It's so beautiful. How many times am I
going to say this? If you're the outline
of the hearts get very light and you can hardly see them for the
final layer that you go in. You can always draw over it. Once it's completely dried, it shouldn't be a problem. Sometimes I do that as well and I'm trying to that I guess I didn't wait it for
to completely dry, so it's lifting up
right there, so Okay. Now I will go over some bits
that I would like to add. More value Be right there. I think I kind of, I don't know, it doesn't look
quite Japanesque at this point because I guess
I use too much colors, but I still like it. Okay. I think I don't want to do too much for this final layer as
it will just make it too. Again, Japanese art is
quite subtle in color. I went overboard, I think. Okay, while we're
waiting for this to dry, we'll be creating
your own Japanese, your own Japanese
style signature. I've already mentioned
how to create this. I'm sure you've
already practiced. Let's get into Yeah, creating your own signature. Now, there's many
ways of doing this, but usually it's on the left. You could do it on the left, but I just like how everything will be
tucked right there. I will do it like that. I like having it a bit lighter. The size of the signature should match basically the
size of your art. That's usually how
they determine what size they want to create. I think I'll go with that. There you have it. Complete it? Yeah. I hope you
enjoyed this class. Yeah, I don't know
what else to say. I really like how it turned out there's some blooms going on. Maybe I should have waited,
but I actually like that organic to the whole piece. It'll be a great I think
card for my husband. Yeah. If you're really
interested in more of these Japanese art, please leave a
review and comment on it and share your artwork. I know that people
do like this stuff. I'll try to create more
classes like that. I'm also interested in, actually you can create these like stamps quite easily with something
you have at home. I think I'll be making
one for my own because I've never really quite did it once I got
here in Germany. I think I'll go back
to that practice. If you want to know that,
then leave a comment. Yeah, I'll see you
in the next class. I hope you enjoyed it.
Bye bye everybody.
9. Final Thoughts: Okay, I hope you
enjoy the class. This was the one that I've
created before for a test. This was the one that I
created during the class. These are two different papers, but I really like
this rough texture. It helps it have more
of that Japanese flare. I think the caddy paper is
really lovely for this work. I hope you enjoy the class now. Don't forget to post your
projects because I like to see what variations
you come across. For the project section, I'd like you to create organic
minimal heart shapes like this with the Na of your own personalized
one, with your name. It'll be lovely if you can share those and leave
me a review as well, so I know what you
specifically enjoyed. I hope you can let me know what things you would like
to learn in the future. Okay, thank you so
much. Bye. Bye.
Miwa Gardner, Watercolorist- Watercolor for Relaxation
