Learn to Color Florals Using Alcohol Markers: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Alcohol Marker Florals : Introduction: Today, I'm going to share with you my process of coloring florals using alcohol markers. I'm sure you're going to have fun as you experience joy and immense satisfaction of coloring with alcohol markers. Together, we will sketch and color some bright, cheerful and fresh looking florals. Hi, I'm Pucha. I'm a watercolor artist and a surface designer based out of North America, and I welcome you to my Skillshare class. I am the author of the book Modern Watercolor Workshop, which recently launched and is now open for pre orders. You can learn more about my book on WW Mwacor workshop. I also license my art to various brands, and my artwork is published on several lifestyle products. I also create content which I share regularly on my Instagram account and YouTube channel, so be sure to follow and subscribe to get daily dose of art inspiration. If you have been following my classes, you may have joined me in the first class, I published about alcohol markers, a complete beginners guide to using them. More than 2000 students have watched and learned from this class, in which I have explained everything you need to know about starting your journey with alcohol markers. We talk about paper, different kinds of brush tips, coloring and blending techniques, and lots of dos and don'ts. If you're new to alcohol markers, I highly recommend you watch this class first. You can also explore my second alcohol marker class in which I teach you to create modern contemporary style artwork using a neutral or Bohemian color palette. It is a fun class in which we use alcohol markers to create simple and minimalistic pieces of artworks. And now in this class, we will explore alcohol markers to paint bright and colorful florals such as tulips, sunflowers, daisies, and pansy flowers. I will sketch and color each project with you in a step by step manner as I share all the colors watches and detailed coloring tips. All right. With all that information in place, we can now start coloring some flowers. 2. Supplies & Resources: Let's take a quick look at all the supplies we are going to use in today's class. I'll be using hu alcohol markers for coloring all the florals. It is a set of 120 markers that come in a variety of shades. The markers in this set have a broad chisel tip on one side and a soft brush tip on the other side. Some markers also have a broad tip on one side and a bullet or fine tip on the other end. It is up to you which marker style you feel comfortable to color with. For me, the brush tip markers are the ones that are most comfortable for drawing brush strokes and filling in small spaces. This marker set also comes with colorless blenders, which are colorless blending inks that help merge two colors seamlessly. We will be using these blenders more than often in our projects. The set also comes with a detailed swatch card. All the markers come in this black case in which you can arrange all your markers, asper color or any other way you want to sort them. When I'm not using this box or this coloring case, I use this wooden stand in which I keep all my markers, and they stay right in front of me helping me to choose the colors very easily. For paper, I'll be using marker pad, that is acid free, heavy weight, about 1:20 pounds or 200 GSM and allows maximum blend ability. If you wish to learn about paper that is particularly used for alcohol markers, then check the supply section of my first alcohol marker class. My marker pad also comes with this plastic protective sheet that prevents the ink from bleeding on paper underneath. We will also need pencil and eraser to sketch and trace the florals. Lastly, to make it easy for you, I have provided sketches of all the flowers that we are coloring in the class today. There is also a swatch card attached which has shade numbers and names of all the markets that I'll be using. You can go to the resources section of the class and download all of these sheets for your reference. 3. Tulip Sketching: For the first project, we will sketch and paint some fresh looking pink tulips. To make it easy to paint, we will trace down the linework first. I have provided the same line sketch for you to print and trace onto your working paper. Feel free to download it from the resources section of the class. To make my original sketch, I usually use a tracing paper and then go over the same sketch to transfer it onto my main working paper. The reason to starting out sketching on tracing paper is that I can use the same linework over and over if I wish to recreate the piece for recording purposes for a tutorial like this or for some other commercial project to maybe have it in different colors. As you can see, I'm simply going over the sketch with a pencil and pressing it slightly to leave tracing marks on the paper. Then I roughly go over the lines and lightly sketch out to make sure I can somewhat see the lines when I'm coloring. We are sketching two tulips and a couple of leaves to add a beautiful green contrast to the pink petals. Take your time to get the sketch right if you decide not to use the sketch that I've provided. Try to add some layered petals to the tips to show nice shading effect while coloring. If the lines appear too dark, you can slightly erase the darker lines. Now that our sketch is ready, let's look at the colors we will be using to paint these two lips. M 4. Tulip Swatches: If you missed the previous part, here is the sketch that we did together. I shared some tips regarding tracing the artwork. You can go to the previous part and check that out. We are going to paint two to lips and a couple of leaves. If you have sketched your own tips, then make sure they're big enough to occupy most of your page to get the proportions right. Also, don't forget to put a protective pad or protective plastic sheet underneath your working paper to prevent the color bleeding onto your fresh page. Have covered some extra tips regarding this in my very first class about alcohol markers, which is a complete beginners guide to everything you need to know to get started with alcohol markers. So make sure to check that out. Now let's look at the colors watches or shade card that I have made for your reference. It has all the colors that I'll be using to paint the tulips and the leaves. For painting the tulip heads, I've chosen a couple of pinks and peaches ranging from light peach to dark pink. I'm attaching a copy of this swatch card for your reference. If you're not using the exact same huhu markers like mine, that's completely okay. Try to find the nearrest shades and keep them handy. 5. Tulip Petal Coloring Part 1: Let's begin by painting the first tulip head. And for that, I'm going to start with the brush tip of the marker. I have chosen the lightest shade, R 19, which is called Bay Bage. That's the first peach color that we are going to start with. Now, we are going to paint both the tulips petal by petal. For that, we are going to start with one petal at a time using slanting downward strokes. We're going to start from top to bottom, slanting down, and then from bottom to up. We're going to cover the petal in that way. Hold your brush almost perpendicular to the paper and start making strokes that are coming in the slanting downward direction. We are going to try and cover half of the petal on the right hand side. So make sure your strokes are neither too small nor too long. We don't want to cover the entire petal with color, but we want to make sure that all the colors that we use while painting the petals are seen. So go slow and take it easy. I'm going to make some borders as I go along so there are no white caps near the edge. And now I'm going to go from bottom to up in the slant direction. And I'm making really small strokes by holding my marker upright. Don't press the marker too much, or else you're going to get really thick strokes. We want them to be thin and a bit sharp at the end. That's the first layer. Here's a close shot. Let's move on to our next shade, which is 20 called powder pink. It's slightly darker than the earlier peachy color. And when you use two colors that are very close to each other, shades that are very close to each other, you get beautiful blending. So we will try and use a couple of shades that are really close to each other, just to have a smooth gradation of colors. Now, I'm going to start stroking again on top of the first layer. I'm making really delicate strokes. I just making sure that I'm blending into the first layer. Also, as you can see, I've left a small highlight in the center of the petal. So we want to try and maintain some whiteness on the surface of the petal. Now, if you see closely, I'm making sure to go about in patches. I'm not just making these strokes all over the petal like the base layer. So I'm just doing it in parts and bits on the sides. Okay, let's move on to the next one. That's R 21 called fruit pink. From the peach color, we are moving on to a slightly pinkish color. And again, I'm going to place this third color on top of the first two layers, and I'm going to place it in patches around the two edges of the petal. We want to ensure that at all times, we are able to see maximum possible shades that we have used for blending. If you overlap everything that's underneath, then that's going to defeat the whole purpose why we want to use so many shades in order to achieve that color gradation. So go slow and try to make small strokes, ensuring at all times that you're not covering everything underneath. So let's take a closer look. You can still see the two shades that we have used earlier. Now, I'm going to switch to my colorless blender, and I'm going to merge all the three colors together. So this marker does not have any ink of color, but it's just a translucent ink that you can use on top of your layers to blend all the layers together. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see this closely, but it just brings all the layers together. As you can see there's this slight soft blurriness that it adds to the strokes, and that's exactly what the colorless blender does. Let's go ahead with the next color. That's R nine. It's called pastil rose. It's a beautiful, rosy pink color, and that's going to add a sudden contrast on top of the earlier layers that are pretty light. So let's try and add some strokes. Again, I'm going to place this color in patches. I think this color is really starting to add some nice pop of pink, and we're going to be very mindful with the amount of color that we use. I'm just being very cautious on the sides. I'm also smoothing out all the rough edges as I paint. A few strokes on the left hand side of the petal as well. Drawing a small border really helps to place your strokes at the same point and keeps you from going out of the line. At all times, keep holding your brush upright to get thin strokes. I'm switching back to the colorless blender and just merging the darker pink into the layers underneath. I'm just smoothing out all the sharp strokes. And it instantly adds a soft blurriness to the petal. Moving on to the next pink, which is pastil pink. It's a slightly brighter shade of pink. A bit on the neon side. And I'm adding this color because I really want a pop of pink at certain places. Now, feel free to move your sketchbook or your paper around just to get the right angle while coloring. That will also help you to maintain the direction of your strokes. Let's go back to the colorless blender and merge every together. I still have a white patch in the center of the petal to show the high light. Let's take a closer look. I really like how the colorless blender has blended all the pinks together. Now let's switch to the last shade of pink, which is R 15, also called cse or, however you may want to call it. I'm just going to place that as the last layer. I'm making sure to maintain the shape of the petal. Adding a bit of darker shade on the left hand side of the petal as well, and near the bottom edge. Let's add a bit of color on the top. All right. I'm going back to the lightest shade, just to make sure that we add back some of the color that we lost. So I'm switching back to R 19, and adding some lighter colored strokes. Let's blend it all again using a cos blender. And there we finish our first battle. 6. Tulip Petal Coloring Part 2: Let's proceed to paint the second petal now. It is going to be the exact same process and the same sequence of colors. We will start off with the lightest peachy color and then build on the colors step by step. This sure could appear as a lengthy process, and you may feel that it takes a while to finish every petal. But once you get a hang of it, you will be quite faster and start to enjoy coloring using the stroke method. One way that will help you to be quick at this is to always choose your shades ahead of time and keep them ready in the correct sequence of usage. I realized that doing this made my task fairly straightforward and gave me momentum to be in the process and actually enjoy it. So D try that out and let me know if that helps. Let's summarize the way we painted the first petal. One, start out with the lightest shade and end with the darkest. Two, make a rough outline around the petal to define the shape. Do this using the lightest shade. Three, start making strokes in a slanting downward direction. Four, make quick and sharp delicate strokes. Five, always hold the marker in a slightly upright position perpendicular to the paper. Six, don't forget to leave a high light in the center of the petal. Seven, try to use the colorless blender at every stage to blend two or more colors into each other. This gives a smooth color gradation, and the petal looks a lot softer. If you follow these steps, you should be able to finish both the tulip heads in no time. I did think of fast forwarding this part, but for those of you who are painting alongside me, would feel motivated to finish the project. So I'm going to keep this slow and real time. Also, to help you follow along, every time I make a color switch, I'm going to show you the s or the shade number on the lid of the so that you can see all the shades clearly once again. At all times, try and hold the marker lightly without any pressure to get thin and delicate brush strokes. The brush tip of these markers make it really easy to get such kind of strokes. To know more about different kinds of marker tips, refer to my first class about alcohol markers in which I've explained how the different tips work and other details such as functioning of these markers, and how these markers differ from the water based ones. We are now working with the last shade of pink to give some final touches to the petal. I hope you were able to follow along and finish working on the petal with me. In the next part, we will complete the center petal and the smaller back petals. 7. Tulip Inner Petal Coloring Part 3: Let's tackle the smaller petals now. We are going to try and paint the smaller petals the same way like the ones. But just that, we won't be having much space to show all the details. One way to deal with this will be to draw smaller brush strokes so that maximum details are seen. Other than having marker skills and knowing the right techniques, another thing that is very important while working with alcohol markers is patients. Pieces that have layering involved do take time, and you have to give this kind of art the time it needs so it can turn into something beautiful. Well, I'm just sharing a random thought that came to my mind while coloring and filming for this project. Once you're done with the brush strokes and layering, use the darkest shade to define the inner edges of the petals once again. This is how the center petal looks. I like how the petals are now coming together to make the whole flower. Let's paint the smaller back petals. Since these petals are small, we can ski a few shades in between and just color them using two to three shades. All right. This is how the completed tulip head looks like. I like the weight appears fuller and dense. Now, using the same shades and same sequence of steps, go ahead and paint the other head after which we will color the leaves and stems. 8. Second Tulip Coloring Part 4: Section of the video is slightly sped up since the process is fairly straightforward, and we have covered everything about painting the petals in the previous three parts, which are in real time. The second tulip head has fairly less petals compared to the first one. So this one will be easier to color. We are going to use the exact same shades and start from lighter color and proceed to the darkest with the use of the colorless blender at every color change stage to blend the colors together. In the previous part, I have summarized all the coloring steps that will help you achieve the right color gradation and delicate brush strokes. If you miss that part, be sure to check that out. I have also attached a swatch card of all the colors that I have used to paint these tulip heads. Please feel free to download that from the resource section of the class. Take your own time to finish this part, and you can always pause and play the video as needed. 000 O a Let's paint the next petal now. Oh. Oh Oh 9. Tulip Leaves Part 5: To paint the leaves and stems, we will use a couple of shades of green. We will use a few lighter shades and a few darker ones. Try and pick fresh looking shades of green that are somewhat similar to these. I'm going to use about five shades and I'm going to start with the lightest shade first. Using the brush tip of the marker, we will outline the leaf just so that we have a good border to color in. Once you are done outlining the leaf, start making strokes using the same light green along the edge of the leaf. We are going to use the same style of strokes that we used for coloring the tulip heads. Except for the choice of colors and shape, everything else remains the same. We will also make some strokes on the other side or the other edge of the leaf. Make sure to leave a white gap or a white highlight in the center of the just like how we did for the two heads. Let's switch to the next shade of green slightly darker than the previous one and layer it on top of the lighter green. Try to choose shades that are fresh and a bit yellowish green in order to get that spring look and feel to your tulip leaves. Let's layer the other edge of the leaf with the darker shade. Let's switch to the colorless blender and merge the two layers into each other. Then we move on to the next shade of green, Shade number three, which is slightly darker than the previous one, and then we lay it again on top of the previous layers. Once you get a hang of it, the process is straightforward. You gradually move from colors from light to dark and lay them one after the other. After blending the layers with a colorless blender, I'm going back to the previous shade, the second shade, and then layering it again on top of the third shade, just to make sure that the colors are blending nicely. L et's switch to the fourth shade of green, and I'm going to use this color to slightly outline the leaf again, just to make sure that it looks bold and white print. And then I'm going to start adding the strokes. At all times, I'm not applying any pressure on the marker, or else, I would get really thick strokes. But in order to get thin and delicate strokes, just like I have been mentioning throughout the earlier videos, make sure that you hold the marker lightly and just flick it by lifting it towards the end of the stroke. So that's going to really help you to get sharp and delicate strokes. Again, let's switch to the colorless blender and blend all the shades into each other. Moving on to the darkest shade of green for giving some final touches. And that is how we finish coloring a tip leaf. We are going to use the exact steps and shades to paint the other two leaves. So I'm going to speed up the process video just a bit. While coloring the slightly curved, and go in the direction of the c making strokes, so the leaf looks flowy and graceful. Do h. Let's proceed to finish the last leaf. The last leaf is a bit curved. And like I said before, we will draw brush strokes along the curve of the leaf. I finished laying down a couple of layers, and then I am continuing with the darker shades of green, just like how we did for the first two leaves. And once we are done with the third leaf, we will do the stems together. So I will meet you on the other side once you finish your third leaf. 10. Tulip Stems & Shadows Part 6: Let's do the stems now and add some final touches in the form of shadows to lift the tulips and make them look slightly more detailed and sophisticated. Using the light shade of green, start coloring the stems roughly, without worrying too much about placing the color neatly. We want to be easy and light handed while coloring the stems. Then we switch to a darker shade and go over the stems, once again, just to show a light and dark contrast on certain parts of the stem. This instantly adds a character to the stems, and they don't look as if you carefully colored them in like in a coloring sheet. Keep some imperfections in the lines, and it is okay if you don't blend the color here. With a darker shade, I'm once again going to add some color on the sides. Just so that the stem looks bold. Adding in a few more details. But I'm not blending the color as much. Just making the color a bit darker near the leaves. Just ever so lightly going to blend in the darker colors, and that's the first stem. Similarly, I'm going to finish the other stem now. Okay, so here we finish painting our tulips, but we can take this artwork a notch up with some final touches. For that, we will add a slight shadow effect around the tulip head, leaves and stems to make the flowers look a bit lifted. I'm going to use two shades of gray for doing so. Let's start with the lighter or cooler shade of gray, which is very subtle, and you would barely see it once you start using it. Yes, we do want to go that light because we don't want the color of the shadow to take away focus from the petals and leaves. From the side of the tulip, start drawing a shadow line and come all the way down around the stem. Then switch to a slightly darker but cooler shade of gray and overlap the first layer of the gray to add the shadow effect. I. Don't press the marker too much. We want the grace to look as subtle as possible. Similarly, you can add the shadow effect for other tulips, leaves, and stems. You will notice that the w instantly looks lifted and so much better and elegant. Here's a close shot of the finished two lips. It did take a while to finish these, but I feel it is totally worth the effort and time. I hope you feel the same, too. 11. Sunflower Sketching + Swatching: In this section, we will color a vibrant looking sunflower with really dense and detailed petals with some fresh looking leaves and stems. We will also learn how to paint the prominent brown center of the sunflower, which instantly adds a character and uniqueness to this beautiful flower. I have my sketch ready here, and I've provided this sketch for you to trace, and it is available in the resources section of the class. So please feel free to download it. Next, let's look at the colors that we will be using to color the sunflower petals and the center. I have selected a few shades of yellow ranging from light to dark. I have also chosen a few shades of brown to work on the center. For leaves I've chosen a few more deeper shades of green in addition to the previous greens that I used to paint the tulip leaves. I will be attaching this swatch card in the resource section of the class, and you can refer to it at any time. Now, let's begin with coloring the petals using the chosen shades of yellow. But before that, we need to lighten the pencil marks. 12. Sunflower Petals Part 1: Let's start with the lightest shed of yellow and color one petal at a time. Outline the petal lightly and start making some short strokes near the center of the flower, and a few coming down from the top tip of the petal. Keep the strokes slightly curved to maintain the shape of the petal. Leave some white cap in the center of the petal. Let's switch to the next shade of yellow, a slightly darker one, and we will start overlapping the strokes. These strokes will be slightly smaller than the base layer strokes. We are just going to layer the strokes in the same way, like we did with the lighter shade. Because the petals are smaller, the size of your strokes is going to be comparatively smaller compared to the strokes that you used for coloring the tips. Switch to the next shade and overlap the brush strokes again. And then I'm going to switch to another darker shade of yellow and overlap the brush strokes further. As you can see, I'm making really small and thin strokes to make sure that I'm not covering the colors underneath. So go with a very light hand and cover only as much as needed. And then finally, with a colorless blender, I'm going to blend all the shades of yellow together. I'm just going to go over the petal, making some colorless strokes. Let's take a closer look. This is how a petal looks like. In this way, we are going to finish all the petals one by one. Don't worry. It's not going to take a lot of time because the size of the petals is very small, so you will be able to finish all of these in no time. We will paint a few more petals together, and then I'm going to finish most of them and show you how it looks. Take your own time to color the petals and use as many shades of yellow as possible to show a nice color gradation. L et's paint another petal. I'm going to follow the exact same sequence of steps. Starting out with the lighter color. I'm making sure to follow the curve of the petal, especially on the sides. A few strokes coming down from the top tip of the petal. And then layering it with der shades of yellow. I think if you paint just one or two petals, you will get a hang of this and be able to paint everything quickly. Adding a darker shade near the inner side of the petal, and a few strokes at the top tip. It's really up to you how many shades of yellow you want to use. Blending it all nicely. And now I'm going to slightly speed up the process video and finish a few more petals. Now that we have finished painting all the petals that are in the front, we will go at the back and finish the overlapping petals that are behind the front petals. So the steps to paint these is again going to be the same. We are going to draw some deeper tighter strokes that are coming in between the petals that are overlapping the back petal, and then a few strokes that are coming from the top tip. So we will continue doing that and finish all the other petals at the back. And now we will paint the small white gaps that are in between the petals near the center. So I'm just going to use a darker shade of yellow, maybe a darker melon color or maybe yellow ocher and just fill in the gaps and make the center. So I'm just going to go ahead and fill up all the white gaps. And now I'm going to switch to yellow ocher, which is the darkest of the shades of yellow that I have slightly darker than melon yellow. And then I'm going to draw small brush strokes on top of the petals that are in the front. That will give a intense look when we paint in the center of the sunflower. So I'm just making the yellow color more intense. These strokes will be really small, so make sure you don't go overboard with these. It instantly adds to the sunflower and shows a good contrast with the lighter shades of yellow. I'm just going to go around the ring and finish doing that. So we now have all the petals completed and filled in. In the next section, we will paint the center of the sunflower. 13. Sunflower Center Part 2: To paint the center of the sunflower, let's draw a small circle, which will be the darkest portion of the center. Let's look at the reference picture and see how we intend to color the center. As you can see, we will do some color gradation using shades of brown, and then add some dotted texture in the end. We will paint the base with yellow ocher, and then use two to three different shades of brown to build the layers. For this, I'm going to use B R one, YR five, y 12, and y nine, which is yellow ocher. Let's start by using the broad tip of the yellow ocher marker and start coloring the outer circle around the sides. The broad tip will allow you to cover larger area easily in a very few strokes. At first, the broad tip may seem a bit tricky to use, but you will soon get a hang of it once you begin handling it. Feel free to turn the page around to find the right angle. Then I'm switching to terracotta, y five, a slightly darker shade of brown and laying it on top of the yellow och. I'm going to use yellow och again to merge the two colors into each other. Let's go to the next shade of brown, which is mahogony by 12 and lay it on the bottom side of the outer circle. I'm still using the broad tip of the marker. Now, using the brush tip of the marker, I'm also going to place some color around the smaller circle. We will also lay this brown near the outermost circle near the petals and achieve some color gradation to get some dimension. We will switch back to yellow ocher to merge all the colors. Let's go to BR one, a slightly darker shade of brown to add some depth to the center. I'm just placing this color on the bottom portion of the circle. I'm keeping the bottom portion of the circle a bit darker than the top portion to show direction of light and shadow. We want to make sure that we avoid painting the center simply flat and round. You can always switch back to yellow ocher to merge all the browns into each other. After layering all the browns, we will use the colorless blender to blend all the colors evenly. Now, let's paint the small inner circle. For that, we will use darker shades of brown and merge them into each other nicely. We want the center to be bold, so we will keep the center darker than the outer circle that we just colored. I'm using circular motion to paint the smaller circle so that it looks a bit dimensional and raised. Then I'm switching to the darkest brown that I have, y 13, chestnut brown, and adding a bit of texture around the circles to show the sunflower seeds. You can add some texture with the lighter brown as well. And that's it. This is how the center looks. In the next section, we will paint the leaves and stems. 14. Sunflower Leaves & Stems Part 3: To paint the sunflower leaves, we are going to use the same set of greens that we used earlier to paint the tulip leaves. In addition to those I have chosen a few darker shades of green, a dull greenish yellow, a deep green, and a shade of chromium oxide green. Let's start with the lighter shades of green and also take a look at the reference to get some pointers on how you can begin coloring the leaves. We will color the leaf using overlapping brush strokes that are coming outwards from the center vein. The direction of the strokes will be towards the pointed tip of the leaf. We will start with the lighter shades and then gradually build up layers as we reach the darker shades. Be sure to vary the sizes of the brush strokes. Let's begin with the lightest green and draw a rough border around the leaf. Draw the center vein as well and then start drawing brush strokes that are coming out from the center line. Use the brush tip of the marker and draw delicate strokes. The length of these strokes will be long enough to cover most of the leaf area. We will also draw some strokes coming in from the outer edge of the leaf. Then we will switch to the next shade of green and overlap the lighter strokes. The method of brush strokes is same like the one we used for coloring the tulip leaves. It's only the shape of the leaf that is different this time. Switch to the next shade of green and continue drawing the strokes. I'm using the darker dull green, and I think this shade is almost like olive green, and it instantly adds a natural look to the leaf. After that, we will use a colorless blender and blend all the greens into each other. Let's move on to the next shade, which is a deep green. It has a slight bluish tinge to it, so it will add a nice contrast to the leaf. Draw smaller strokes using this shade and you can place them at a few places. Then let's go back to the lighter shade and blend the colors even. I'm going one shade lighter again to blend all the darker colors. Whenever you feel right, use the colorless blender to avoid colors from looking patchy. Using the final and darkish shade of green, small strokes on the top layer and blend them in. That completes one side of the leaf. Using the exact same steps and sequence, color the other side of the leaf as well. Turn your page around such that you can easily draw the flicking brush strokes to cover the white portion of the leaf. I'm going to slightly speed up the process, but you can still follow the steps and color at your own pace. Once you finish coloring the leaf, use a midtone shade and outline the leaf ever so lightly to make it look bold. Let's proceed to paint the second leaf. This leaf is intended to be sideways, hence we won't be drawing the center vane of this leaf. We will color this leaf as one single portion. Use the exact same colors and start making brush strokes in a slanting direction. Honestly, there is no right or wrong while choosing the direction of your strokes, feel free to use your judgment and start building layers. If you like, you can even skip a few shades and create a slightly different looking leaf. The method and style remains the same. Now for the third leaf, we will use the center vein and divide the leaf into two sections like we did for the first leaf. We will again paint the strokes pointing towards the pointed end of the leaf. Finish one section f and then proceed to complete the other half. It is a challenge to include the complete real time footage in one section, so have skipped the process to show only important parts of coloring for this leaf. I urge you to complete all the projects at your own pace and not feel rushed. Use these videos as a guide to help you complete the project as you get a closer look into my process and style. Please remember that I took the same time as you to finish my projects, and especially projects like these where a lot of layering is involved, they do take time. Let's proceed to finish the last portion, which is the stem of the sunflower. Using the same set of greens, we will start filling in colors to the stem. We are not going to be precise while coloring the stem. Instead, just place a couple of shades in layers and blend everything with a colorless blender in the end. The same way we painted the tip stem. Now that we have finished coloring the sunflower, it is time to add some shadows. We will use the same two shades of light grays and color some soft shadows around the petals, leaves, and stems. The flower will seem instantly coming to life, and you will see a noticeable difference the way the artwork looks. This complete to re flower. 15. Daisy Flower Petals And Stem Part 1: In this section, we will learn how to color a white daisy flower. For that, we will need two shades of light or cool graze, which we used earlier for coloring in the shadows. A lighter gray and a slightly darker shade of gray as shown in the swatch card. We will also use the colorless blender as always. A couple of greens to color the small stems and leaves. We will use the fresh looking yellow green shades and a couple of yellows ranging from light to dark to color the center. For the petals, we are going to use the white of the paper to show the white petals and use the grays only on the tips and around center to show definition and shadows. I have already traced the flower. I'm going to lighten the pencil marks quite a bit to make sure that the lines are not seen through the white petals in the end. It will be tough to erase pencil lines once you lay down the color. Let's begin with the lighter gray. Using the brush tip of the marker, we will draw a soft border around a petal and then make small delicate brush strokes near the center and bringing them out in the direction of the petal. Don't press the, hold it lightly to make soft strokes. Then we will draw a few strokes coming in from the outer side of the petal, leaving some white of the paper in the middle. In this manner, start coloring the petals one by one. Keep the petals as light as possible. Try to hold the marker upright to get really small and delicate strokes. Let's continue coloring in the petals with the first layer of light gray. At all times, turn the paper around to find a comfortable angle that will allow you to make seamless strokes. I have finished coloring all the petals with a lighter shade of gray. Let's take a closer look to see how the flower looks at this point. Now we will switch to a darker but still a lighter shade of gray to add some overlapping strokes and enhance the petals with some shadows. Keep the length of the strokes smaller than the previous ones. Then with a colorless blender, we will blend the 2 grays nicely to get a soft look. In this way, we will finish all the petals once again. Okay, so I have finished layering all the petals with the darker gray. I'm making some final tous to the petals with the lighter gray, and then they should look all right. Now let's move to the stems and leaves. I'm choosing three of the earlier greens that are more on the pestle side and spring like greens. Let's start with the lightest green and place the color on the stem and small leaves. I'm going to be intentionally imperfect about placing these strokes. We are going to keep the strokes a bit sketchy and not fill in color too precisely. The same way we colored the stems for tulips and the sunflower. Then let's go to the next shade of green and roughly make some strokes. After placing the darker green, use the colorless blender to soften all the marks. Then I'm switching to the third shade of green to add some final touches and darken some areas around the leaves and stems. Hold the brush pen upright to get thin delicate lines. And then, as usual, we will blend everything, blend all the sharp lines with the colorless blender. 16. Daisy Flower Center Part 2: Moving on, we will color the center of the flower now. We will begin with the lightest shade of yellow. You can use the same yellows you've used for coloring the sunflower. I'm using the same shades using the brush tip, start stippling or dotting inside the center portion. Switch to a darker shade of yellow and stiple lightly on top of the earlier yellow, making sure you don't cover the whole area. Move to the next shade of yellow and stip around the sides to show light sores and shadows. Then using the darkest yellow. I'm going to add some details around the circle where the petals start and just make finer details to make the center pop out. That's it. This completes our daisy flower, and I think it looks. I e to skip the shadows for this one, but feel free to add some if you like. 17. Pansy Flower Sketching and Swatches: L et's paint a pansy flower in this section of the class. I'm tracing the flower that have provided in the resource section of the class for your usage. I'm simply tracing it over with a pencil, and once done, I'm lightly sketching on top of the pencil impression that was created on the paper. When I was coloring the pansy flower to create a reference for the class, I tried to color it using the brushstroke method and the color gradation method. And I felt that the color or the shading method looked much better for this and hence I decided to go with this tile. The flower looks a lot softer and delicate. Let's look at the swatches of the colors that we will be using to color the pansy flower. I have picked out about five different shades of violet color, ranging from soft pestle lavender to a deeper purple. I would suggest using at least three different shades, if not five or six. We will also need a couple of light yellows for coloring the petals along with the violet. We will be starting out with the yellow and then merging it softly with shades of violet as we come towards the outer edge of the petal. A. 18. Pansy Flower Front Petals Part 1: Let's lighten the pencil marks and begin coloring. Start with a lighter pastly yellow and start laying it down from the center of the flower on one of the petals. I'm starting out with the brush tip of the marker for smaller area, and then switching to a broad tip to cover larger area. Switch to a slightly darker shade of yellow and use this color to cover more than half of the petal. Then with a colorless blender, soften and merge the two yellows into each other to avoid harsh lines. Then I'm switching to third shade of yellow, a darker yellow and applying it around the outside edge, leaving a small gap to add in the violet. Let's blend the yellows again with a lighter shade. Now, let's use a light shade of lavender around the outer edge of the petal and blend it in softly with a yellow layer. After carefully applying the violet layer, I am again switching to a yellow to blend the colors into each other. This is something you'll have to do softly, making sure the bright yellow is still visible around the center portion. I'm going back in with the soft violet again and just placing more color around the edge. Merging everything once again with the yellow, and that is how it looks. Let's move on to the next two petals on the side now. You can vary the amount of yellow and violet on the petal. Start out with the same lighter shade of yellow and begin from the center of the flower. You can use circular motion to apply and blend the color in. Once you have the yellows in place, shift to the violet and apply it around the edge. I'm reapplying some yellow, and then using the colorless blender. Then I'm going back to applying some more let around the edge, and that's it. Let's color the third petal now, and this time we will start with the violet color and from the outer edge of the petal. I'm using soft circular motion to apply the color. Next, I'm now going to introduce the yellow color from the center portion of the flower and blend it into the violet portion using a colorless blender. 19. Pansy Flower Back Petals Part 2: Let's move on to the top petal of the flower. I'm going to color the top petal using shades of violet and introduce a deeper shade as well, which is quite bold compared to the other shades. If required, I have a shade slightly darker than P four as well. That's P five, but we will use it later if we need to. But for now, we will stick to the last shade as P four. We won't be adding yellow to the top petal. Pansy flowers are seen in a variety of color combinations, and you should definitely try coloring this flower in other colors as well. Let's start with the lighter color and slowly build up colors as we move towards the center of the flower. The center portion will be the darkest area. I'm moving on to the next shade here and just blending it softly. Then slowly transition to the next shade, if you decide to use so many shades like me, if not, then just blend the colors you have chosen to use. Because I want to achieve a seamless blend, I choose to use a extra shades. Okay, now let's move on to the darkest shade of purple. Apply a bit of color in the center portion and blend it using the lighter shades as shown previously. Just blending it in. The blending process surely needs some patients. If you really want to achieve seamless color gradation, then we prepared to blend in a few shades a couple of times. Now, I wanted a high contrast near the center portion, so I decided to use a slightly bluish vile shade. And this time I'm just going to let it sit there and not blend it too much. If you take a closer look at pansy flowers, you will notice that they do have a patchy dark portion near the center, and that's exactly what we want to achieve. This time I'm not going to blend this darker shade a. All right. That's the overlapping petal. Now let's go to the back petal and color it using the same process I showed for the earlier petal. This petal is a bit small, so that's not going to take a lot of time. And also, because there's hardly any area for us to blend, we're just going to use one or two shades. For smaller areas, always use the brush tip of the marker that will make filling in the color a lot easier. Now that the petals are done, we will color the stem using a couple of shades of green and blend them in. For the final touches, we will draw veins in the center portion of the flower using a darker shade of purple. Use the brush tip of the marker to get these lines. Take a final look at everything and make some finishing touches if required. I'm just darkening the center portion a bit. 20. Next Steps & Wrap-up: As a class project, I would like you to color any or all of these plorals using alcohol markers. If you feel extra creative, feel free to color some flowers other than the ones we've covered in the class today. How about some daffodils, Gerbia daisies, or maybe poppies? You can apply the same techniques you learned in the class today. Submit your projects under the project and resources section of the class, and I'll be glad to provide detailed feedback. And finally, like I always say, if you like this class, to please leave a review under the review section of the class. Also, drop in your suggestions if you would like to learn any other topic using alcohol markers. I'll be more than happy to consider your suggestions and make a class around that topic. Thank you so much for joining me in the class today. I'll see you in the next one.