Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello. My name is Monica, and today I will teach you how to make mixed
media painting. So my background, I am multidisciplinary creative
across photography, art, and graphic design. And I have been painting as
long as I remember myself. And honestly, I think it's one of the best parts of my life. Well, it's a big thing to
say, but, well, it's true. Painting and drawing
always being this space where I
can get to play, experiment, and
reconnect with myself, and I want to share
this joy with you. So in this class, we're going
to keep things real simple, real fun, and absolutely
pressure free. My goal is to help you to remove all hesitation around the art, about fear of it
not being perfect, about fear of blank page
and not knowing what to draw or making it
right or perfect. So don't worry none of
that's going to be here. So in this class, we
are going to make a small painting using free
mediums of your own choice. And by the end of this lesson, you will have a
beautiful drawing. You can hang up to your wall. You can keep it in
your sketchbook, or maybe you can send it to a friend you haven't
seen in a long time. And again, this class is
super beginner friendly. So even if you haven't painted
in a long time or ever, don't you worry you are
in the right place. So let's jump in and create
something beautiful to you.
2. Materials: Understand sometimes
it can be really difficult to understand
what you want to draw. So for that, I come
to the rescue. Here is a little photograph
I took years ago, and I'm going to be using
this as my reference. You are welcome
to use that, too. And yeah, shall we start? So what you will need is a sketchbook or a piece of paper. I'm using jelly wash
with a few paintbrushes, water, soft pastels, and
a massive box of pencils. By no means, you don't need to use the exact same
materials as me, but make sure you use paper
suitable for the main medium.
3. First Medium Gouache: I understand it could be really, really difficult to
start with a blank page. So my best tip for you is just
to put some underpainting. It is a great way to set
the mood for your artwork, as it will have some undertones
in finished artwork. And you see, I'm using
a very light wash, so just to get started. Lick in me, I have
painted before, and I have some already
mixed skyish color. So I'm applying that
just straight after. The main goal here
now is to make some marks and to
get it started, and you can think about how precise or how loose your
painting will be later. Moving towards the greenery, again, no need to count
the grass strands here. We are not creating realism. We are illustrating the
world through our eyes. So to begin with, you
can follow me and just roughly mark the areas of greenery looking
at the reference, and if you are drawing
from your mind, you have a freedom to
decide what goes where. While we are making the marks, I would like to talk a bit
about gathering inspiration. I am a strong advocate for
using your own references, even if it's a poorly
lit phone image of pasta you had in
that lovely restaurant. It's only for you to guide
your hand but emotion and even taste still lives with
you and you can visualize it. What I'm trying to say is that focus not on
the perfect picture, but strong emotion instead. Returning to our illustration, you noticed I have started
with a gouache base. While this is my personal
preference for building solid blocks of color before finscing details
with other media, it isn't a strict rule. You might choose to start with an expressive pencil sketch and allow those lines to remain visible through some
sequent layers. I am also using a larger
brush to focus on broad shapes rather than a
fine details at this stage. This is the key part of
trusting the process, allowing the foundation to settle before
refining the piece. Ultimately, these
layering choices are yours to make as you explore
your creative style. When it comes to color mixing, I am using a very
straightforward setup. I strongly recommend
sticking to simple tools, especially when you
are starting out. You don't need anything fancy. A ceramic plate or
even the inside of your paint lead works perfectly
as a palette for mixing. Now let's talk a little
bit about the colors. For this specific piece, I am working the little
bit muted colors. By adding just a touch of
black and white to my mixes, I can tone down the vibrancy. This is not only keeps the
overall color scheme cohesive, but also feels more
appropriate for our subject, natural landscape. Now, in case you've
done a mistake, not everything is lost. Here, I wanted to add some warm highlights
to imitate the sunset, but it does not
look good at all. So all I have done is used some sky color I have mixed before and
simply painted over. This is the beauty of gouache. It's fairly easy to fix a mistake because the
paint is so opaque. So now that our large blocks
of colors have settled, I'm beginning to introduce
some smaller details, primarily focusing
on the variations of highlights and shadows. This stage is crucial
because it helps us better understand and define
the underlying shapes within the composition. Since our landscape features
several rock formations, it might be tempting
to try and replicate every single texture exactly as you see it in the
reference photo. However, I encourage you
to resist that urge. Often, just a few
bold streaks with a darker shade are enough to suggest the weight and
raggedness of the stone. By simplifying what we see, we create a more powerful
visual impression rather than getting lost
in unnecessary complexity. To keep the greenery looking
natural and vibrant, I'm incorporating several
different shades of green, making sure to keep
the overall palette leaning towards warmer tones. Instead of using a single
out of the tube green, I'm mixing in hints of yellow and earthy browns to create that sun
kissed organic feel. Layering these warm greens from deep mossy
shadows to bright golden highlights is what gives the messy grass the
depth and dimension. This variety prevents the
area from looking flat and helps tie the foreground into the warm light or the
rest of the landscape. By using lighter,
more organic strokes, we can mimic that natural
unrefined texture without overworking the piece, allowing the viewers imagination to fill in the rest
of the details. Also, as you see, I
am blending the line between the rocks and the
ocean which are far away. This creates an optical
illusion of distance, therefore, adding more
depth to our final artwork. As we move into the foreground, you will see me switching to a smaller paint brush to add more definition
to the grass. However, the goal here isn't
to meticulously render every single blade exactly
as it appears in nature. Instead, we are aiming to
create a suggestion of growth, capturing the essence of
various wild weeds that grow in a way that is both messy and beautiful
in the same time.
4. Second Medium Pencils: For my second medium, I chose coloured pencils. Honestly, I use them
every time when I paint. It's just kind of the
finishing touch for me. I love how it looks on
paper, but in this scenario, I think coloured pencils
will do a great job creating that rockitexture and the
wild feel of the landscape. So what I do, I am simply choosing a similar
colored pencil to the area painted in wash and almost recklessly
adding some scribbles. Try and you will see how much character it gives
to your painting. Think about all the
highlights and shadows again and give some
extra volume to it. If you are using
coloured pencils, I would recommend using wax based pencils instead
of the oil based ones, as wax based pencils
allows more blending and layering in comparison
to the oil based ones. But that's only if you're
using pencils at all. So you see how much texture and detail they add
to my painting, only making a few light
but intentional scribbles. Now as we move on to the grass, I am quite like having such a huge variety of
different shades of green. So I am leaning
towards the warm tones and add random stripes
to imitate the grass. Again, there and there, just to suggest it is a grass, not every single blade of it. Also, don't forget as we
look at the distance, objects look smaller to us, so apply this rule to
your vegetation too. Going up the hill, grass strands can only be a few pencil marks, and in the foreground,
you can spend a little more time adding detail and making
it more defined. Me personally, sometimes end up covering an
entire painting in pencils with that just a little bit mindset,
but you don't have, and honestly, I would suggest to keep it more
simple rather than overwork it unless you are like me and enjoy quite busy
scenes, of course. But even now, I am just adding a few more lines
to these binoculars, and I think we can leave it B.
5. Third Medium Soft Pastels: Lastly soft pastels. To be perfectly honest, I haven't used them in a while, so it is a fun
challenge for me, too. What I like about them that
pigments are very vibrant, and as I mentioned before, I used a bit muted tones in
this landscape painting. So adding a little something that pops might be a good idea. Also, they are really
easy to blend, even if you're using a finger. Well, some people say that you should never blend with fingers because of the natural skin oils and it can ruin the artwork. But in this particular
case, I see no harm at all. So what I do is exactly what
I have done with pencils, but adding a little more heavily like these clouds or fog
raising from the water. So if you choose to add soft pastels on top
of coloured pencils, note that the axin
pencils prevent soft pastel to stick to
the paper, and for some, it can be an issue, but I find it quite
interesting way to add yet more
texture to the piece. Now using some yellow to add that extra pop and enhance
that golden light feel. Another good thing
about pastels is that if you think you
slightly overdid it, simply blend it and it
all tones down easily. Okay, so this is a
surprise element. This is just a simple
white posca pen. I find it super useful to
add bright highlights. So this one is my go to tool, whichever media
you might choose. And I don't use it
much just to top up the highlights to the max and create that gris
padges where needed. So some final pencil strokes
around the binoculars, and I think we are done. A
6. Outcomes: That's it. In this short class, you learn how to
gather inspiration, create a simple sketch, and get comfortable with free
paint mediums you chose. You layered, experimented,
let go of perfection and hopefully discovered how free mixed media
painting can be. What you created isn't
just a little artwork. It's a reminder that
your creativity is worth showing up for. You took an idea, brought it
to life with your own hands, and made something unique
that didn't existed before. I'd love to see
your final piece, so please share it in
the project gallery. It is such a great way to
celebrate your success and inspire others who are
learning alongside you. You so much for spending
this creative time with me. I hope this class helped you to reconnect with your
playful artistic side, and I hope you will
keep painting, exploring, and trusting
your own artistic voice. If you want to learn more about my artistic voice and style, you can look up my Instagram,
which is right here. And yeah, see you later.
Monika Sleke
