Transcripts
1. About The Class: Christmas is the
perfect time to show tangible love to our
family and friends. What could be a better gift than a handmade art
piece that relieves precious and timeless memories, paintings that will speak
personally to one's heart? Hi, everyone. I'm Bianca Rayala, I'm a watercolor artist. My works revolve around the
beauty of life and nature. Watercolor has
tremendously changed the way I appreciate
things around me and I see it as a special way to communicate a personal
story and a message. Over the years, I have
taught thousands of students across the
world and it is my purpose to inspire people to discover and pursue
their creative passion. In this class, we're
going to master the expressive style of
painting with watercolor through four interesting
holiday plots that will surely relieve your fan
memories of Christmas. What I love most
about painting in loose and expressive
style is that it's focused on bringing
out the essence, the mood of the picture, rather than the
reflection of real life. To start, I'll share
the right materials that you need from
choosing the right paper, appropriate brushes, and
color combinations to use. You will learn to paint a glowing lamppost on a
winter night setting. Then we will practice drawing a little girl's
figure and convey a soft atmospheric background. Next, we will paint a misty winter landscape with puppies gazing
out of the window. Lastly, we will create a
loose family portrait and explore ways to use it as a gift idea or holiday gift tag. By the end of the class, you will have a better
understanding of how to paint in a loose
and expressive style, plus, you will have four
heartwarming artworks that you can give as a gift or use
as a card this Christmas. I'm excited on what
you can create, and I hope this class
would inspire you to create handmade watercolor
gifts for your loved ones. Let's get started.
2. Materials: Expressive style of painting
is the art of using small and big strokes to capture the essence
of the subject. It doesn't seek to paint a
reflection of real life, but the artist's impression
towards the subject. We aim to capture the
life and story of the picture in our
own interpretation. In this course, we will master the art of
expressive painting as we paint four plots
that will surely relieve the beautiful
memories of Christmas. We will start from
learning to paint a glowing lamppost
on a winter night setting and then we
will practice drawing a little girl's figure and convey an atmospheric
background. Next, we will paint a winter landscape with puppies
gazing out of the window. Lastly, we will create a loose family
portrait and explore different ways to use it as a gift idea or holiday gift tag. Let's see the materials
that I will be using to do all these projects. Let's start with the paper. I encourage using
cold press paper, which is 100 percent cotton. Cotton paper has a better way of absorbing the
paint and water, which gives us better results. Now for the brushes, I primarily use these brushes, the Renaissance red sable hair, size 8 or thin, and Silver Silk 88 ultra
round synthetic brush, size 6 or 8. Let me share you also
my watercolor palette. The colors that I will use are yellow ocher, burnt sienna, Indian red, perylene
violet, quinacridone rose, neutral tint, amethyst genuine, horizon blue, lavender,
Payne's gray, indigo, olive green, cobalt blue, perylene red, new gamboge,
and titanium white. Other materials that I will
need are: pencil, eraser, a board and a tape to hold the paper and to
create nice border, two cups of water
and mixing palette, tissue paper and some
scrapbooking materials for creating gift tags. I have here a waterproof, fine pen, vellum paper, scissors, and
[inaudible] string, a gold paint, and also this
[inaudible] thermal printer. This is an inkless, portable printer which instantly prints photos from the phone. It is so convenient to use and perfect for creating
small gift tags. I will show you how to use this on the latter portion
of this class. I will list down
and share the photo of all these materials that I use in the project
description below this video. I also provided the photos of the pencil sketch and
final painting of all the projects in
the resource section found in the Project
and Resources tab. That's it. Let's not make this any longer because
I'm excited to paint along with you and
I'll see you on the next video for our
first class project.
3. Project 1 Glowing Lamp Post: Welcome to our first lesson. In this class, we're
going to paint a lighted lamppost on a
winter night setting. Our goal here is to bring out the glowing light of the lamp by creating a contrasting
background that portrays a cold and
peaceful evening. Let's start with
a pencil sketch. I imagine dividing my paper
into three sections and I position the lamppost on
the first third section. I make it big enough to dominate the page since this is
our main focal point. I start with the top part of the lantern and followed
by the steel post. I will also add a
steel post below the lantern and make it
as straight as possible. When sketching, it
is important to consider the proportion and
alignment of the object. If the lamppost is not straight, the painting wouldn't
look that good even if you execute the applications
of colors correctly. To give you an overview
of the process, we start by painting the
light from the lamp. To paint light in watercolor, we leave the brightest part
of the light unpainted. Then around it, we will
paint a yellow-orange glow. To make it shine brightly, we need to create a dark
contrasting background after it. Let's paint. I get a diluted mix of new gamboge mix with a
bit of burnt sienna. I paint the inner part of the lantern but leaving a
small portion unpainted. I intentionally painted the
yellow beyond the border, then I will soften the edge around the unpainted
portion to create a soft transition from the brightest light
to the yellow color. Next, I mix new gamboge
and perylene red to create an orangey color and paint the
outer area of the lantern. It is gradually making the
color warmer as we go out. I notice that I'm losing the
white unpainted portion, so I just use a clean brush
to lift off the color. I intensify the orange
color a little bit more. Then, next, I will mix the colors
for my background. For the background, I use horizon blue and
amethyst genuine. I paint with this color on
the other fragment first, then I will use a clean brush to softly blend the blue
and yellow color. Since I added violet color, which is amethyst genuine
to my blue color, I prevented having a green color when the blue and
yellow color meet. I paint the area with the same blue mix and
soften the blend. Now we need to create
depth by creating a darker color for the background using
the same two colors, but this time adding
more amethyst genuine to get a violet shade. Notice how thick and
creamy my mix is. It is really dark and saturated. I add some indigo to get an
even darker and richer color. I also add a bit
of perylene violet to create variety and interest. I also play with colors
in the background. The important thing
in doing this step is to keep your mix very creamy, rich, and saturated. If you have a very
watery mixture, the light in your nightscape
will not shine bright. Using the same colors, but varying the
proportion of each color, I create a play of colors
and depth in the background. I also tilted my paper so
the paint won't backflow. As you go farther
away from the light, the background should
get even darker. Now that I'm okay
with my background, I will splatter some
clean water using my brush to create natural blooms that will
give extra texture. Next I get the
yellowish color to show the reflected light on
the banner on the post. I painted just a portion of it. Before we add details
on the lantern, make sure that the fragment
is completely dry. Since it is a bit wet, I will not work on it yet
and maybe I could go back and add some splatters
first on the background. Using new gamboge
and [inaudible], I will enhance the tonal
of value of the lantern. On my initial stroke, I noticed that my paper is still moist and
paint still bleeds, I will use a heat gun to
dry the surface first. As you do this enhancing step, make sure that the
fragment is really dry to create crisp and
hard edge strokes. I get a mix of neutral
tint and amethyst genuine and will paint the
upper part of the lantern. My mix is still creamy to
get a very dark solid color. I also use my
synthetic brush now, so my brush won't contain
much water in it. I want my strokes to
be really dark and defined and using
a synthetic brush makes the work easier. As we paint this
part of the lantern, we need to blend light and dark. As I paint the black portion, I use a clean brush to soften the blend with the
lighter portion. This step is very
important to make the overall look of the glowing
lantern closer to life. I continued on painting the
base of the lantern with a broken stroke so we can
maintain the looseness. As I paint also the
sides of the glass, I don't paint it with solid
black from one end to another since we need to
portray the glowing light. I will just enhance the
side of the lantern by adding light layer
of a warmer color. Be careful on doing this
step as we don't want to loose the light that we
preserved on our first step. Soften the edge with a clean brush to have
that smooth gradient. I continue painting on the post, still with a very
dark neutral tint. The tonal value of the post must be darker
than the background, so it will stand out. Next, let's paint some shadows of snow here on the
banner using lavender. I paint just a portion of
it with lavender and add some random strokes of red to portray the text on the banner. I will also add some dab of neutral tint just to make
the outline more defined. Let's finalize the
lamp by adding some dark spots here
in the bulb area. Lastly, using an
opaque white paint, I get a very thick amount
of color which mean very minimal amount of water and make splatters
around the background. Different brushes make different splatters
size and effect. Try experimenting first to check which brush would make the
snow effect that you would like best but make
sure that the paint is really creamy so it will
not fade out after drying. I will add some white spots on the lantern to portray snow. For this I get the
paint straight from the tube to make
it really white. This is our final painting. Make sure that your
work is completely dry before removing
the masking tape. On our next lesson, we will be painting a little girl's figure and convey an atmospheric
background. It may look intimidating, but trust me that you can do it. We will paint it in a simplified way so you
can surely follow along. See you in the next video.
4. Project 2 Happy Girl: Let's start drawing
the little girl holding a Christmas
gift on this lesson. When I sketch human figure, I also focus and start on the general shape of this
object from top to bottom. Here I start with
a basic outline of the little girl's
Christmas hat and then the rod outline
of her hair and face. If you want to save some time and focus on the
painting process, you can download the template
of this sketch for tracing. You can find this
in the resource section below this video. Here I started drawing the
gift box and the ribbon. Next, I draw the winter
jacket starting from the fur down to her right
arm around the gift. Here you can notice
that I didn't draw the details
of the face yet, and I also keep my sketch very loose by sketching
with broken lines. As we learn expressive
style of painting, the main thing that we need to factor in when
sketching is to have the right proportion
and enlightenment of body parts so the subject
won't look awkward. Now I start drawing
the basic lines for the facial features. Remember that we
don't aim to reflect a realistic image of the girl. What we want to bring out is
the essence and the mood of the subject through
expressive brush strokes. Here's the sketch of the
little girl tightly hugging her Christmas gift with her right arm resting
on the table. Now, to give you an overview
of the painting process, we will paint the
girl in one layer, just like how I do it on my
other human figure classes. Since we will do
it in one layer, it means that we need to set up the appropriate tonal
values on this step. Then once it's dry, we will paint the soft
background, and lastly, we will enhance the
details and contrast to bring more life
to the painting. Are you ready? Let's start. I create my color mix
for this skin tone using burnt sienna and a
little bit of yellow ocher. I add a little perylene violet and water to have
a milky mixture. I start painting the
face with a light wash, and then I add a bit
of perylene violet on her cheeks and chin
for a pinkish glow. Next, I make a
slightly darker mix by adding a bit of horizon blue to my existing skin color and paint the side of the nose
and shadow on the eyes. Notice that my brush
doesn't have much water. That's why my strokes are like
dry brush on moist paper. Next, I paint the shadows on the white fur on her
hat with lavender. I don't paint the
entire fur fragment, but just the shadows. Here I'm painting
the hat with a mix of Indian red and Berlin red. My mix is still creamy, so I have this dark vibrant
red color for the hat. Let's put dimension on
the hat by painting some dark spots
using the same mix, but with Berlin violet. Now let's move on to
the fur on her coat, I still use lavender
to paint the shadows. I also left unpainted portions. Next, I make a nice pink mix using perylene violet and
connect with down rows. I paint the bottom part
of the arm with dark and add a bit of water to create
this blend of dark delight. Doing this step creates a
rounded dimension for the arm. As I paint the inner
part of her coat, I don't actually
mind the details, but I just made sure that the tone is darker
than this sleeve, so they would look
separate and distinct. Next, let's paint the gift box. I use horizon blue with a
bit of amateurs genuine, as I paint gift box
instead of making it like a solid fill of color
I vary the tone slightly, and also the ratio
of the color I mix to have an added
interest on the gift. Make sure to make the tone of the other side of gift
lighter to show dimension. Here I am just doing
negative painting to bring out the form of the gift and separate it from the girls coat. Let's paint the
ribbons with yellow. I flatten my brush to
create wide stroke. Next, let's paint the gloves. I will use olive green
with a bit of indigo. Again, don't make a
solid fill of color. There must be a
transition from dark to light tone to show
dimension on her gloves. I darken the area around the gloves to show
shadow on the box. When you're done painting the little girl make sure to dry this layer completely before
painting the background. For the background I will
use olive and indigo. I will prevent the
area with clean water, carefully outline the girl
with this clean water. Now, we can start painting. With a saturated mix of paint, I carefully paint
around the girl. As light is coming from
the left we will make their right side background
a little darker. I will not fill the background
with color completely, but since the paper is wet, my paints will create a
very nice soft edge around. I splatter some clean
water for texture, I also check if I have painted even the small parts completely. I paint a table next, we the semi dry brush
stroke using indigo. I didn't pre-wet this area, that is why I'm able to create this dry stroke in contrast
with a soft green background. Here, I'm just painting over it those white spots
around the girl. Next, I will splatter some
yellow ocher paint on my green background portraying a Christmas tree behind her. Let's paint the little girl
starting with her hair. Then by adding neutral tint, I will paint strokes on
top to show some shadows. I feel like adding more
splatters of green here on the left to enhance
the background and also add few dry
stroke on the table. Let's go back to
painting the face. I'm now using again
my red sable brush as I want a soft and
loose straw for the face. I start from the brows with a basic stroke using brown mix. The same thing I
do with her eyes. Since we're painting small, little dots and dubs
of the brush is sufficient to convey
the facial features. You don't have to worry
about the details as it is not the focal
point of the painting. I now paint the lips
using pearl violet and still doing very
light gentle strokes. I change my brush again to silver silk and add
dark dot on the eye. See how a simple and small dot can make the picture complete. I will do the same dot on
the nose and below her lip. Now let's enhance
other details like painting the shadow on her gloves to separate
it from the gift. I will also add some more
strokes here on her lips. Let's add some highlights
on the gift box and also ribbon using
buttery mix of paints. We need to darken
the ribbon a bit to separate it from
the girl's face. I will also do some
negative painting to define the shape of her face. Lastly, let's add
some highlights of lavender on the white fur. Here, our painting is complete. I hope you enjoyed painting this little girl
as much as I did. On our next lesson,
we will paint a nice winter landscape and
pop gazing out of the window.
5. Project 3 Puppies: Welcome to our third lesson. Our subject is so
interesting because it's like painting two
plots in one picture. We'll paint a misty
winter landscape and two puppies inside the
house using out the window. Let's start with
a pencil sketch. I start with the outline of
the curtains in both sides. I make it loose and
not so straight. Then here on the
lower left side, I'll place the two puppies. I do the same drawing
principle of starting from the head going down and focusing on the general outline. I uploaded the pencil sketch
on the Resource section, if you need a copy
for your guide. Next, let's draw the
horizon line and some lines to portray the dried
trees on the backgrounds. I'll start with the base wash of the landscape and the interior
including the puppies. Then on the second phase, I'll enhance the
contrast and add details to finalize
the painting. Using lavender and a
bit of cobalt blue, I paint the background
with a milky wash. I am painting wet on dry. I also avoid painting the
outline of the puppies. I also tilt my board slightly
to let the paint flow down. I make the upper portion richer in tone by adding more lavender. Next, I mix lavender and burnt sienna to paint
the wall fragment. We will make the colors cool
because of the winter mood. Next, I use yellow
ocher and a bit of burnt sienna and lavender to paint the window frame and wall. Proportion of the paints in the mix to create
different shade. As I paint the wall I carefully avoid painting over
the puppies figures. Next, I put [inaudible] genuine and my leftover lavender
paint for the curtains. I make it a bit darker
in tone as compared to the background so it will not look like part
of the background, but rather a middle ground. Since my background is still moist when I painted
the curtains, the colors are softly blending. Don't worry about this as
we will add few strokes later on to define the
shape of the curtain. I dry the [inaudible]
completely with a heat gun before I start
doing the second phase. Now, let's add a
bit of details on the brick wall by painting some strokes with a
dark brown color. I move my brush sideways
to paint the bricks. Don't make it too dark so it
won't overpower the puppies. For our next step, I will define the window frame with
a thin dark stroke. I use [inaudible]
and lavender to make an opaque
grayish brown color. Let's paint the puppies now. I get a creamy mix
of neutral tint. I felt that there is a
small wet portion on the background that causes the paint on the puppy to bleed, so I need the dry it well and I need to create a hard
edge on the dog's outline. Even though the puppy is black, we need to take note that the
tonal value should still be followed so it will not look
flat like a silhouette. With that, I change the
tonal value by using paints grade to paint the
lighter tones of the head. Next, I paint the puppy's shirt with horizon blue
and blending some olive green for extra interest. Again, don't make
it a single fill of color to show the form
of the dog's muddy. Let's complete the first
puppy by painting its legs. I darken some portions on
the left leg area and I also add a small stroke to show the front leg leaning
on the window. Now, that the layer is moist, I try to lay a darker
and thicker paint to show some details or
crease on the shirt. Let's move to the other puppy. I use ocher and burnt
sienna as its base color. I add more sienna and
amethyst genuine to my mix if I need to
create a darker tone. If I need a lighter tone, I just add water to my mix. This is to dilute the color. I bring dimension
to it's body by darkening the spine
and bottom area. I also slightly darken the
left side of the puppy. Using a watery mix
of peri and violet, I make a quick stroke
for it's color. I did the same stroke for the first puppy to
add highlights. Next, let's define the curtains using lavender and horizon blue. I start with the
swift stroke and then soften the same stroke
with a clean brush. We do this to define
the edge and make it separated from the
landscape background. I do the same step on
the next curtain on the right. Let's do the trees next. Using lavender and neutral tint, I start painting the ground
with some broken strokes. I don't make it too dark
to show this sense. I changed to a synthetic brush
to paint the tree trunks. Again, I make the stroke
very light in tone. I sometimes dab the stroke with my finger to
fill the hollow out. I also hold my brush near
the end of the handle and in 90 degrees angle
to make the stroke shaky and with less control. Notice that the trunks and branches are painted
in broken lines. Next, I use my sable
brush and does light dry brush strokes to
show a misty background, still using lavender with
a bit of neutral tint. I darken the curtains
a bit more for extra contrast
since we are using almost the same color for the winter landscape
and curtains. I also put some dark
highlights on some of the trees to show trees
in different distance. Let's just add some details in the middle ground just to
enhance the composition, like a small brick wall covered with snow
here on the right. The loose strokes
we are making is sufficient to create an
impression of the elements. I will add a few more
dark spots here on the brick wall just to
finalize the fog on. Lastly, I will add some spots of white paint on the trees to show falling snow
on the outside. Make the white paint really
thick so it will stand out. I will add few accents of
white too on the puppies just to build connection between the landscape and the puppies. I let this layer dry completely and we are
done with the painting.
6. Project 4 Doodle Portrait: We are down to the last
project on this class. Thank you so much for
taking each lesson with me. For our last class project, I will be sharing one
special demo that you can definitely use this
holiday season. We will be doing an
expressive family portrait. I will share how to create quick doodle portrait and apply watercolor and ink from
my own family photo, which you can apply when drawing your own family if you'd like
to use it as a gift card, or to draw your friends, as it is also a wonderful gift idea
not just this Christmas, but on all other occasions. Let's start. When doing
portraits on this tile, we focus on two things; the general shape of the face, and gesture of the person. In this way, even though
it is only a doodle, we'll still achieve
resemblance and captured the memory and moment behind
the photo we are painting. As I draw my husband, I start observing
the general shape of his head and also the gesture. His head is slightly
leaning on his left, so I need to factor that in. I don't finish his
body at the moment, but proceed on
drawing my son next. Again, I look at the general
shape of his face and hair. Check the angle of
the face and his arm. Next, I draw my daughter, looking at the same
considerations, but this time I also need
to ensure that the distance of our heads are not too
far from each other. I sketch in a free hand, not being so particular
if it looks perfect. Remember that it is a
doodle and we are not aiming for an exact
replica of the photo. We're just capturing the moment through a quick fun sketch. Now that all our heads
are positioned already, I'll go back to drawing
my husband shoulder. This time I check the
angle of his shoulder and the proportion so his arm won't look too big or too small. I will also draw his shirt, but will not completely
finish the entire upper body. As for my son, loose
general sketch to show arms and hand is okay. No need to actually draw each finger to
simplify the process, and not to get stressed
with non-essential details. I just focus on getting
the general outline of their clothes and gesture of
arm to complete the drawing. Now as we draw the face, we have to keep in
mind the angle of the face to position the
facial features correctly. The eyebrows are aligned
on the top of the ear while the nose on the
bottom of the ear. I use simple curved lines to draw the eyes,
nose, and mouth. When you're done
with your sketch, lighten the pencil marks before tracing it with a
waterproof ink. You need to use a
waterproof ink to prevent it from smudging
when you apply water color. After tracing, I clean it again and erase
all pencil marks. Remember once you painted
over the pencil marks, it won't get erased anymore. Let's start painting. My basic mix for skin tone is yellow ocher and burn chino. I paint the face
with the light wash. I also add a bit
of persian violet on the cheeks and chin area. Next I paint the arm
using the same color mix. I just darken the bottom portion of the arm for dimension. I will use the same skin
tone mix for all of us. Next, let's paint the shirts one by one starting
from my husband. I make a mix with a slightly darker tone as
compared to the skin tone. When painting clothes,
we apply the same step I taught on our second
lesson, the happy girl. When we paint the clothes in one layer we paint it by
controlling the amount of water in our brush so
we can create light and dark tones in one layer. Also, even though we have an ink line art for the drawing, we should still apply
appropriate values to show the dimension
of the body parts. This is essential to prevent
a picture from looking flat. I leave the edge for this shade like this for a loose edge. Now like paint my son next. Painting portraits in this style seems slow pace but it's
actually relaxing to do. It's like taking
it slow to prevent our beans from going
beyond the border. Yet applying the techniques
we learned on painting in one layer from our
previous lessons. I will now paint my self, I will start with
the base wash of my shrink then later
on I will darken the back part to separate the arm fragment
and make it this thing. Now let's paint the hair, I'll use [inaudible] paints
gray for the hair color. As you paint the hair, make sure that the face fragment is dry already so the
colors will not bleed. This is my doodle family
portrait in watercolor. I encourage you to
try this project using your own family
photo as a reference. You can practice also
with your friends photo, which would be a great and
personal Christmas gift idea. I will show you a quick and
very simple way to make this portrait to a gift
tag on the next video.
7. Project 5 Gift Tag: I love giving and receiving
personalized gifts. Here let me show you the
family portrait that I did in the previous lesson and I put
it in a nice simple frame. I also previously
did another one but without color and
made it as a gift tag. Gift tags with your
family portrait makes the gift look extra
personal and special. I thought of sharing with you a very quick and
easy way to do it. Well, after you create
that your family portrait or any of the other projects that we did in the
previous lessons, take a photo of it
using your phone. Better if you can capture it on natural light for
a great lighting. You can adjust the
brightness and contrast of the image on your phone
according to your preference. Next, I will bring the photo
using my pulley printer. It is a thermal printer that prints images in few seconds. I printed my photo
in a sticker paper so I can easily stick it
on that tag later on. You can also use a
regular printer to do this project but what
I like about using a portable printer is the convenience of
printing without the need to transfer the file from
my phone to a computer, resize the image, and cut the printout especially
during the Christmas rush. Here's my printout. I'll stick it on a
small piece of card and add a few gold details
for a holiday vibe. Using a felt pen I'll
write a simple note like Merry Christmas and our
family name underneath. Don't forget to punch a hole and add a string or a ribbon. Here's a very easy-to-make personalized Christmas gift tag.
8. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much
for joining me in this class and I hope
that you got inspired to create handmade watercolor
gifts for your loved ones. I also invite you to
take my other class, the winter wonderland Christmas card class here on Skillshare, where we will be painting fun
and colorful holiday cards. I'm excited to see
your paintings. I listed down all the materials, the printer and other tools that I used in the project
description below. You may also download
the pencil sketch and final paintings in
the resource section. Don't forget to upload
your work and leave a review if this class has
helped you in any way. Thank you so much for joining me in this class and I really do appreciate your love and
support for all my classes. I pray that you have
a wonderful time with your family and have
a blessed Christmas.