Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, I'm needing thanks
for joining me today. I thought I'd do something
a little bit different. For next few lessons, I thought I would make
some shorter videos of just little exercises to help you practice
getting looser in your painting quite often
when my students come to me. But the one thing
that's in common is that they all say
they're too tight. They want to loosen
up a little bit. And for what reason? Painting loose, essentially
quiet, quite hard. It's very easy to get, to get tense and
tight in the work. So today the first one, we're going to do just a
series of little buildings. Nice sketching, painting
straight onto the, onto the page, not
overthinking it, and just using different times, different shapes of the
brush to make something that's convincing as
a set of buildings. Don't need to reference
for this one, we'll go straight
into the materials and get on with painting. Won't take you very long to do. And what would be good to do
is to do a dual couples do a little series with
different colors and see how you find it and
whether it actually does. Listen you up at all. I think we're ready to go.
2. Materials: Okay, this is what we're
gonna be doing today. Nice sketching for this one, I want you to just paint
straight onto the paper. I'm using 300 gram
Arches cold press. I'm not typing it down and I'm going to tilt it
while I'm painting. For most of the time, you'll
need a couple of brushes. I'm using two flat brushes. These are great
because these give you the shape of the
buildings and the roof without having to do anything other than rely
on the shape of the brush. So I've put in the
materials what these are. It doesn't, it doesn't
really matter. I use a lot of leaf brushes. I've got a 1 " and a two. Is that a three-eighth
for the small one? I've also got another little
synthetic round brush that comes to a really nice
tip for the fine details. In terms of paint, you can
use whatever you like. It really doesn't matter. I say a couple of times
through the video, just keep the pellet simple. The more colors you have, the easier it will
get to get muddy. So I'm going to use
some yellow ocher, some burnt sienna, and
some French ultramarine. Most of you were probably
had those lying around. If not, again, just
use whatever you like. I'm also going to use
just a little bit of indigo for these
really dark darks. You made a palette, a tub
of water, and some tissues. You'll need some
tissues for dabbing off the excess water. Coffee is optional, and I think we're probably
right to paint.
3. Building Shapes: Okay. So I don't want you
overthinking this one. Like I said in the introduction, we're not going to
sketch anything else. We're just gonna go
straight onto the page. I'm going to tilt my page just slightly so I'm
just popped up on my computer and
put in a riser or just something small underneath. Squeeze out some
fresh paint so I'm going to use some yellow ocher. You can use whatever you want, but keep the pellet limited because the
more colors you put in, this is some French
ultra I've got here. The more colors you put in, the greater the
chance that you'll end up making a mess
and making mud. So keep it, keep
it pretty minimal. And I'll put some burnt sienna. I use mine large flat brush. And I'm going to
paint five buildings. Now, if the thought of doing
five at once freaks you out, practice, do this the same process just with one building. Hold up to two or three,
then get to the five. You don't have to get
it the first time. Particularly if it
freaks you out and having a lot of
water on the page. So I'm going onto dry paper. I'm going to take
some yellow ocher, milky too creamy, yellow ocher. Just making myself a puddle. They're going to
use the shape of the brush to judge how
big my building is. So I'm putting a
horizontal inverse. I'm going to turn my hand 1234. Come back, closing that gap. 1234. I'm just going
to drag that down. Now it's very messy. That's fine. It doesn't need to
be tidy for this. I'm then going to wash my
brush and move across and two, a one in French ultra. Same idea this time I'm not
going to leave gets windows, I'm just going to paint
a straight brushstroke. So I might come a
little bit lower and just paint down again next, which might go a bit
higher this time. And so I'm going to use some
burnt sienna, make a puddle. I'm going to come straight down, come back to the other side, might go into the blue
one. On this side. This one, I am going
to leave some windows in lower maybe. So my horizontal
turn my brush 1234. I've got some Betsy
entered my paint their close up that little gap. I probably got enough
room there and then drag that down one more
on this side of me do one more burnt
sienna on this side. And again, a full shape, not know, looking
like the windows. Just strike. Now what I want to do, I want to work out where I think my buildings are
hitting the pavement, the road, the water,
clean my brush a bit. Mr. Rotter non tissue, I reckon, maybe about there. So I'm just dragging my dry
brush through that wet paint. Now I'm gonna do is pick up some French ultra and
I'm on the tilt. And I'm just going
to paint across. I'm going to come a
little way down, okay? And then I'm gonna
come out while that's where I'm going to restate the colors that are
coming through the water, particulars, yellow ones
are going to pick up a little bit of yellow ochre, little bit thicker than
I did the building. I'm going to come
onto where that join us and just drag that down. Same with the burnt sienna. Probably got enough burnt
sienna just to show you, bring that down. On this other side. Bring that down, probably
got enough of the blues. Lastly, I'm going to do before
I let you stop and don't like the these are
bleeding into each other. That's completely fine. I want these shapes all
melded together and we'll use the windows and
the down pipes and that kind of thing to
distinguish the shapes. And while that's still wet, wash your brush
again, dry it off. Fully dry brush. And I'm just going to drag just to touch through the water. They're going to come out and
I'm going to let that dry.
4. Roof Tops: Okay. I've been out
of here 15 min. I'm completely dry, so
I'm going to come in with now much smaller synthetic
brush, flat brush. And I'm going to just
put in the roof lines. I'm going to do that
with some burnt sienna. I've put it into my puddle here. See how dark it is
on a scrap purse. Right? So I'm just going to
come across 12345. So just align again, not overthinking a
gem mine vase at all. Watson, the paper. I'll
leave those there. That's not a problem. And it doesn't matter
that this has come across the top here
and give me this dark, so I'm gonna put some shadows
underneath there anyway. The other thing
I'm gonna do, I'm just going to start a
few of these windows. So I'm gonna take my little
synthetic brush now, go into a puddle of indigo. I want I need enough
water on my brush. The paint moves, but I
don't want it milky, I want it really solid. So a lot of pigment and water. Okay, then I'm going to
come into these gaps here and pull my hand
a little bit down. I'm not up on the tip. I'm fairly flat side of my brush to just
put in some shapes. And what I want to do is
not make them all the same. I certainly don't want to paint little squares to
show me the windows. I just want to suggest them. Come and do it on to
this one as well. Might just do twos there. Then I'm going to come into
these ones that haven't got any of the light
for the windows. I'm just going to
make some shapes. So 123 here I might do some
doubles and then some. So I just want to
vary the shape. And then I'm gonna come
out and let that dry. I'm gonna put a few doors, I guess in a few more windows
down the bottom here, but I don't want to
overdo it at the moment. So come up, let that dry,
then I'll come back in.
5. Some Details: I can't completely drag in a
couple of little things now, I'm going to take my
small flat brush. I'm going to suggest a
couple of doors in here. This area here is going to
be covered by a shadow, so I don't have
to get too fussy. So I'm gonna go straight
into my milky indigo. In this middle one. I'm just going to oh, that wasn't a very
straight line. It doesn't really
matter up a bit. I might use some French
ultra with this one. Maybe there as well. Okay. I'm not really going to
bother I don't think about There's two on the side. Now. I also I've got a re-state
remembering where my line is. He's dragging across so
that I can get my eye into where the building
where I think it's going to hit the bottom here. Now, in this area where
I think it's going ahead and type my
small synthetic. I'm going to take really
toothpaste, tea, French ultra. I'm going to just
put in some stuff. So I just want some
brush marks in here. I don't want to overthink it. I'm just scribbling
with my brush. Then I'm going to
do the same thing with some burnt sienna. Just changing,
changing my strokes. So I've got some horizontals checking a couple of
vertical strokes. I'm not going to overdo it. I just want a little bit of
nonsense in the front here, which will stop me having
to really painting a pavement or umbrellas or
seats or cut any of that. I just want a little bit
rubbish down the bottom there. While I've got this
small synthetic still, a couple of things, I'm going to put a little bit of a shadow underneath
the roof line. Some of them you've already got it here
on some of them where I've gone over the rectangle. I'm going to use some
milky Indigo initially. I'm just going to come on with my small synthetic
brush and paint. A milky wash of indigo. It doesn't matter if it's not. I'm particularly tidy.
Across the top there. Then I'm going to
take the same brush and I'm going to put in
some little aerials, wires on the roof line. Now, you need to have
a brush that comes to it that has a nice point. I'm going to put
it in my indigo. Just touch to the tissue. I don't want a whole lot
of water in my brush. Just want to check that I
can get a nice fine line. I don't want I don't want to go on and get heavy fat
lines like that. Painting in pigmented tissue. I'm just going to again
paint some nonsense. Well, most likely signing signing your name,
I'm just scribbling, making a few brush marks, little bit of nonsense, maybe a couple of horizontals as well. And
then come out of that. Now, where I put these notes, I recommend might
put a couple of other little windows
down next to them. So just maybe that one up because I've got that indigo while
this is still drying. I'm just gonna do a couple of little nonsense
marks in the water. Then I need I need these to dry. I'm going to come in
and play really hard. Indigo line, fine, indigo line
right underneath the roof. Then we've got a big
cast shadow to put on. And then the exercise
is finished. So let that dry and we'll come back and with
the darker shadow.
6. A Few More Details: Okay, completely dry
again in about 5 min, and I forgot about the
horizontals as well. So two things I'm gonna do. I'm gonna put the really solid dark and then
they think truth. And I'm also going to suggest the levels in
between each floor. But what I don't want to do
for the underneath the roof, I'm gonna do a nice solid line. But for these beats
in-between the floors, I don't, I don't want
to paint a line. I want to suggest alive. So broken minds. Solid friend Nathan, brief. So here I've got really
strong indegree. All right. So there'll be lots
of shadow there, really strong underneath
my hands, really shaky. I had about four coffees and
apparently that's to me. Okay. Then same same stuff on the brush and I'm
going to come in. I just painted my
tissue to get off the excess so that I
didn't have a B. Once you paint, don't have
to do absolutely everyone. Just want that suggestion
and I'm gonna do a couple of articles as well. I don't have to do everywhere. I will say you get down pipes and things on
these buildings. It's just, um, just need
a few lines around. Okay. So again, I keep I keep telling
you put it on there, you got to come out
and let it dry. But I do need to let that dry because the next
thing I'm gonna do is put the big shadow on. And for that, I don't want
any of these to move. So I need to be sure that it's
have been left maybe ten, 15 min again, depending on
the temperature of the room. But I really need to come out
of that and let that dry.
7. Adding the Big Shadow: Okay, so we're completely dry
now and it makes sure that my page is on a slight tilt. I'm going take my large flat brush and I
want to make myself up a puddle of burnt sienna and French ultra
to make a shadow. I need to make up enough of these that I don't
have to stop partway through and make up more would be better if I had
a clean well, a joint. So I'm going to
come into this one that's got some
other colors in it and just try and not touch them. My French ultra sienna. Just to mix up a nice
dark, test it out. Because you want to
see it's not too bad. It will dry lighter. So you don't want to go so dark that you can't see anything underneath, so
that's probably around. Okay. Someone come on to
this first building. I'm going to paint
down and finish here. Then I'm going to drag a little
bit of it into the water. So straight on down. Next one. Next one I might, I might come that way, doesn't really matter what
shape your shadow makes. The idea is that I'm trying
to release some lights here. The top might come there. Maybe I'll make a change in shape a little bit on that one. And then this last one
I'm going to come. So you can see I've
got, you know, there's a lot of water on there. See there. The minute this looks very
dark, I won't draw that dark. And I'm going to wash my brush, take off the excess, and I'm just going to
drag the bottom there. So I'm drying my brush
each time into the water. Then I'm going to
clean it again. Then I'm just going
to drag a couple of lines again, like we
did at the start. Just through there. And I come out and let that dry and see how we
see how they look.
8. Final Comments: Okay, So I'm completely
dry here now. My maybe, you know,
not, not terrible. You will probably still keep
drawing little bit lighter. And that's all I'm gonna do. So I don't want you to
get hung up on this. It's also with these
kind of things where, you know, I haven't
taped it down. So I haven't painted to the age, but it's always
good to just go and see way you'd put
them at around. If you've got a bit
that you don't I don't really like this bit
here, but that's okay. I can cut that off
for a comb-over. Decide what bits I
live and what bits I don't love that this is
framing is just the exercise, but you get the idea. Have a play. Try a few different
color combinations. Try some contrasting colors, try whatever your favorites are. Again, keep it, keep it small. Use up the scrap piece
of paper and just get a feel for managing when you've got a lot
of water going on and not getting too hung up on making these
buildings that I did. They weren't straight.
They weren't very tidy. But your eye straightens come up and you don't really
don't really notice, so you don't have
to get hang up, hang up on all the detail. That's very unrelated. I'll try and film a few
more other exercises like this to try and try to
loosen you up a little bit. And if you're happy
with what you've done to post a peak for me in the project section
to have a look at. And I can always, I'm always
happy to give feedback.
Nadine Dudek, Professional Watercolour Artist
