Transcripts
1. Introduction: One of the most
important things to get a handle on with
watercolor is timing. Timing. Hi, I'm Nedi. I'm a watercolor artist
from Melbourne, Australia, and I want to do a really quick, really quick little
lesson with you today. It's all about relaxing, being loose, and helping
you to understand timing. So watercolor is all about how much water you've got on your page, how much
is on your brush, how much is in your palette, how cold your room is, how warm it is, what type
of paper you've got. There are lots of
variables with watercolor, and that can be a little
bit overwhelming, particularly when you sit
down and you try to produce a masterpiece and you get all up in your head and you get really tight and
really stressed, and it just ends up not fun. Watercolor should be fun, and that's what this lesson is just ease into it,
relax into it. We're going to go start to
finish without stopping. Really, really simple,
loose landscape. So we'll go through doing a little sketch and there's
nothing to it at all. We'll go through the materials, and I would say step by
step through the painting, but it's not so much
step by step as just going and doing now I have set this to all
levels because I think however much
experience you've got, it's a really good
idea to just even if you're a beginner
to just have a play, allow yourself to have some fun, use up some scrap paper if you're worried
about the cost of your paper and see what
kind of results you get. I'm really hoping that this
one lets you be a bit loose. If you're happy with what
you've done at the end, I'll get you to upload a
picture of your painting onto the project section on the Skillshare site.
So let's get started.
2. Materials: All right materials for today's really quick little lesson. I've got 300 gram arches,
cold press paper. I'm painting flat. I'm painting on board, but I'm
not painting flat. I'm actually going
to tilt the board up slightly for this one. I am going to tape
this down just because I'm wetting
right to the edge, just some regular masking tape. I'm not pre stretching the
paper because I'm lazy. That's why you can see this
little bit of a bubble. If that bothers you,
you can prestretch. I'm using just a
regular HB pencil and razor for the sketch and
I've got four paints. I've got a Windsor Newton
French ultramarine and three Daniel Smith paints. I've got a Transparent brown, hands the yellow medium,
and some indigo just to cheat for the darks
because it's nice and quick. Now, you don't have
to use those colors. You can use whatever
colors you like it. It really doesn't
matter. You could even do it in single
color if you wanted. Terms of brushes, I've got
a medium size brush that will go a fair distance
and a little synthetic for just some of these
details and the sizes are listed in the project
in the materials section. Other than that, I've
got a jar of water, palette and some tissues to help me when I make
a mess like that, that's probably all
I need to tell you. I'm not giving you a photo for this one. This is just
out of your head. Don't stress about that.
It helps it be loose. I have given a little template. I've uploaded a little
template for you of the sketch that I do,
but you won't need it. It's super simple. So
let's get to the sketch.
3. Simple Sketch: Okay. First up the sketch. Now, I'm going to keep
this really simple. The more you draw, the tighter
you get in the painting. So I just want a few
lines to guide me. So I'm going to give
myself a horizon line. Doesn't really matter. Where? Maybe a couple of hills, keeping it really rough. Then I'm going to put
in a body of water. So I've got river estuary, something or starting back here. So I want to be thinner
up the back here. And I'm just going
to bring that down. So I've got Oh, no
pencil lead there. Really messy lines. I've got land land, a
body of water here. Maybe I'm going to put
in a bit of a shed or house or some sort
of structure just to give me a bit of a focal point. Here. That is all
I'm going to draw. That's it. Really simple. Get that sketched in. Then
we'll start to paint.
4. Getting the Bulk of the Painting in in One Go: Okay. So we're good to go. Now, this is going to be
fast, and that's okay. That's the point.
I want you to keep moving through this all around the painting while we've
got a mix of wet and dry without overthinking
it, and panicking. No panicking allowed in this
one is just an exercise for getting a feel for
the wetness of the paper and how the
pigments going to move. So I'm using my decent
sized, medium brush. This goes quite a distance
without having to reload. I've got a bunch of
paint squeezed out, and I should have clean water, but I have dirty water,
but that's okay. We'll god with that. Now I'm going to
start in the sky. I'm going to imagine a
pretty gray, dreary day. And we'll pop sky in a
little bit of the hill, and then we'll come
into the landmass, leaving the water dry for now. We'll chisel out
this little building as we're putting
in the background. Just mind's not very straight. Make sure your verticals
are nice and straight. Okay, so I'm going to grab. First up, I'm going to make
it to break that, you know, fear of the queen page, I'm going to throw just a
touch of water really messy. I'm pushing into the
heel of my brush, probably not very
good for the brush, but I'm really
being quite rough. Throwing a bit of
water. Coming, it doesn't matter if I touch
the lls that's fine. So how wet? I've got a reasonable
amount of water on there. Then I'm going to pick up
I want a bit of a gray, so I'm gonna pick up a bit of my transparent brown and
a bit of my French ultra, just to make a little bit
of a milky milky gray. Yeah, that will do. And then I'm just
going to throw that on top of those on top
of that wet page. So it doesn't matter if
I've got dry bits in there. I just want it to
be really messy. Thing is with the skies that you want to put it on
and then come out. Don't muck with it.
Okay, so skis on. I've got a bit of water
coming down here. The rest of my page is dry. So while I've got this wedge, I'm going to pop in the
suggestion of my heels. What I want to do is
remember not to paint through this little
house just yet. So now I'm going to mix
up. A bit of a green. So I've got some Hansa
yellow and my French ultra, maybe make it a little bit
bluer than yellow initially, and push those hills a
bit into the background. Now, I've got a
reasonable amount of paint and water on here, so still quite milky. And I'm just going to
drag that through. Now, as I come to this house, I've got to come up on the tip of my brush because I don't want to paint through that roof. So I've got to chisel
out. That shape a bit. I don't have to be too fussy. Didn't do a very good job
of that, but that's okay. Now, as I come across here, I'm going to leave a mix of some dry paper and some strokes. I want a few little
gaps going on there. I don't need to paint everything
through as a flat wash. So I just want a few little
specks of dry paper. G load up my brush again. Maybe a tud more yellow
in it this time. Then I'm going to try and start suggesting where this waterways. And see, I'm very loosely
based on my pencil lines, but I'm not really staying
particularly tight to it. That's a bit too yellow. Get
a bit more blue in there. On the other side coming in, I'm just dragging a
few points through. Okay. Got this bit in the front. Now what I'm going to it's
really, really messy. Then I'm going to
warm it up a bit as I come through the front. So in the foreground, I'm
going to make it a bit warmer. So I grab my transparent brown. I'm just going to throw in a
bit more paint in the front. Now I want to pop maybe
some more shrubbery. Maybe I want more
bushes in the back. I'm going to take
now creamier paint. So a little less water
than I had initially. See what kind of color I've got. I'm mixing up my
blue and my yellow. I'm going to throw maybe
a few Bushes and shrubs, trees thing in that background. Now, this is where because I've still got quite a
lot of water in here, these soft leaves
in the background, these little bits of paint. That's what I'm after.
Now I need to think about beefing up the tone,
increasing the tone. I need good tonal contrast in here, which I don't have yet. This is all very mid
tone to really light. So now I'm going to switch. Am I going to switch? Yeah, I
reckon I'm going to switch. I'm going to take a
smaller brush now, and I'm going to pick
up thicker paint. Stick with the same. I've got some blue and some
yellow, creamier paint now. Then I'm going to
come in and put a few varying my brush marks. So I'm dragging it, painting nonsense,
just making marks. I'm not thinking what's
happening up there. I'm just dragging some paint, seeing what my brush does. And I don't when I'm making
this green in my well, I'm not trying to mix it
all up into one flat green. I don't mind if I get this
variation in the colors. I, you know, I've got more yellow on one side,
more blue on the other side. So it just makes it a bit
more interesting than having a flat green. Moving along. So now because I've got
less water on my brush, my page is starting to dry, these aren't spreading
quite as far. Now, I want to start thinking
about where the shore, where the edge is
of this waterway. So now I'm going to pick a bit of my brown into that green. So I've got a little bit of
transparent brown brush, little bit of my green. And I'm going to
start thinking, Okay, that's one edge and probably
this one is darker, bit of my brown, a
bit of my green, throwing in a bit of paint. Messy, keeping it messy, just trying to get my eye in as to where the
edge of that water. Maybe I'll block off that one. So darker where I'm
seeing that edge. I can't see behind there. I can't see behind there,
so I'm leaving these ones, but just this edge that
my eye would pick up, throwing in a bit more paint. Okay. Now, I still got a little bit of water in the
page at the moment. So I can also just picked
up a bit of brown. Just going to flick.
It's pretty dry. You're going to say I'm
just a bit of interest in the front here by just
flicking in a bit of paint. So it's very watery, and I'm just tapping the
brush to get a flick. And it's funny. Some people
are really good at flicking. Some people really struggle
to actually get it to click. I tend to put my brush
flat and tap that way. Alright. Now, I'm going to
maybe switch now. What do? I'm going
to do some water. So in the water before
this is all dry, I'm going to get well,
clean ish brush. I'm going to paint
into that dry page. I've got pencil there. I'm
not quite sure how I manage that into the back here. And then I'm going
to just let it touch in a few places before it dries. I'm getting just a little bit of bleeding of the colors from the landscape into that water. Then I switch my brush.
Back to the little one. I'm now going to
pick up some indigo, and I want some stronger
marks through here. So you could use a stronger mix of the brown and blue together
to get a nice dark. I'm cheating and just using some indigo because
it's just faster. All right. I'm just
varying my strokes. Horizontal coming up
a bit on the tip. I've got this mix of bits of white dry paper
and bits of wet paper. Then I want to think
about my building here. I'm going to just drag a bit of really milky indigo through
the side of the building there maybe a bit through the top and then I'll come back to the roof
line in a minute. With that indigo, I'm also
going to drag a little bit. Just strengthening
my tone through those through the shoreline. And it doesn't
matter if it blades. That's probably enough
black at the minute. Now I'm going to
go and actually do some of my blue and my
brown, so a bit warmer. Well, I've still got
indigo. That's too. I don't I put that on
and it's too heavy. I'm going to do
rather than panic, I'm still a bit damp up there, wash my brush and just
soften that back a bit. It was too solid. Then I might chuck a bit of green on there
because I've still got some water in the page. I can still muck in there
without getting into stripe.
5. A Few Details Before it Dries: Still so I'm happy with how that background
is settling in. Don't really I see
my pencil lines there, but that's alright. I still need more strength in my darks through this foreground through
the edge of the water. So I'm just picked up really
thick transparent brown. Just chucking that in R
toothpaste consistency now. Really strong through there. And I'm going to
walk a little bit of that brown on either side
of my building there. Now I want to think
about this structure. I want to put a little
bit of cast shadow, well, a little bit of a
shadow for the eaves, I guess. So I'm picking up. I got a bit of my transparent
bound, a bit of my indigo. I'm going to drag a line
underneath the roof line. And then I'm going to just pop. Push my brush down on the side, just a couple of darks in there just to show
that that's a building. Okay. All right. Still not quite dark
enough around here. Still a bit messy in
there, but I'm going to let that dry off a bit
before I come back in here. I quite like the yellow
that came through there. I'm going to put a few
reads and things on the edge here to
suggest reflections. Pick up a little bit
of my what have I got? I've got some brown
and my French ultra. So I've got reeds on
the shoreline here, but I'm going to let them
drag into the water. My waters still a
little bit damp. So I'll get a little
bit of movement. It doesn't really matter. It's just that idea of there's something on the shore and it's then coming into the water. Don't overdo it. You want a few. You don't
want to get too. You can always add more later. Now, I'm still losing. Each time I'm putting
a dark on the edge, I'm still not dark enough. So I'm going to pick
up a bit of my blue, a bit of my brown and
just drag that through just trying to strengthen
where I think. It needs it. A few more and
vary your strokes. Then as it's drying, some pretty dry around here now. I can come and put a
few little solid marks. Maybe there's a fence, maybe there's something else
going on up here. I don't have to get
too carried away, but I can strengthen up. What's happening
behind that building. And then I probably want
a few little marks. Just put a few little
dry marks in there.
6. A Final Word: Hopefully that didn't take
up too much of your day. I would like you with this one to do it a couple of times. Do it two or three times, to see the different
result that you'll get. It will change every
time you do it. And I think that's part
of the joy of working quickly and that mix of wet
and wet and wet in to dry, seeing what works and getting a good feel for what happens, depending on how much water
you've got on the page, how much you've
got on your brush, and in the palette,
how warm your room is. Just allowing
yourself to have fun because it's such a beautiful
medium to work with. So when you get to the end, you can upload one
of your paintings. If you've done multiples, feel free to upload them all. It'd be nice to see how you go and feel free to use different colours. Use
your favorite colors. You don't have to
use what I've used. So thanks for joining me,
and I'll see you next time.
Nadine Dudek, Professional Watercolour Artist
