Painting a Blue Jay in Watercolors: Nature's Elegance

1. Preview: Hi guys. Welcome to my skillshare class on painting a blue jay. I'm Chris a watercolor and digital artist as well as a teacher. In this class, our focus will be on painting a blue J perched on a twig with some lovely flowers. We'll have fun experimenting with various shades of blues and using an analogous color scheme to bring this beautiful painting to life. I believe this tutorial is suitable for artists of all skill levels. If you're a beginner looking for a challenge, you will be able to follow my instructions and create this artwork with ease. The tutorial is broken down into short, manageable parts. I guide you step, step through the entire process to help you get started. I'll provide resources such as a list of the supplies I used, ready to print line drawings in different sizes, and the reference photo. You can also refer to my finished painting for inspiration and guidance as you work on your own painting. If you're ready to create something beautiful, let's dive right in and begin. 2. Your Project: For your class project, I encourage you to follow along with my entire process and paint with me. However, if you find the entire painting to be too much at once, feel free to focus on just one section. You could choose to paint a single flower, a cluster of flowers, or even just the bird itself. The main goal is to apply the concepts and skills you've learned in the class and create a unique artwork that reflects personal style. Please don't hesitate to share your progress shots and the final painting with the class. You can upload them to the Projects and Resources section by clicking on Create Project button. Providing a brief description of your process and any challenges you faced during the creative journey can be helpful for both fellow students and me. This allows for valuable feedback and support. If you encounter any questions or concerns during the process, feel free to ask in the discussion section. I'm here to assist you in any way I can. Lastly, I highly recommend watching each lesson before you start your painting. This will help you become more familiar with the techniques and better prepared for what to expect, leading to a more confident and enjoyable painting experience. If you find this class helpful, I would greatly appreciate it. If you could leave an honest review, your feedback will help me create better content and assist other students in deciding whether to take this class or not. Thank you in advance. 3. Resources: I've prepared some helpful resources for your project, which you can access in the Projects and Resources section. In the resources, you'll find the PDF file containing a list of the supplies I used for this painting. While it's not necessary to use the exact same supplies, I recommend using 100% cotton paper. For the best results, you can use your preferred paints and brushes. You'll also find a reference photo and my finished painting, both of which can provide inspiration for your own artwork. Additionally, there are line drawings available in different sizes that you can print and transfer to your watercolor paper. You can choose the size that suits your preferences. Feel free to explore these resources and use them to create your own unique, beautiful painting. If you have any questions along the way, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Enjoy your project. 4. Introduction: Hey there. Today we're diving into the colorful world of watercolor painting. Together, we're going to create a beautiful portrait of a blue jay. Blue jays are known for their vibrant beauty and I'm excited to help you bring one to life on paper. Before we dive into the painting process, let's chat about the preparation process and the ideas behind this artwork. First off, I wanted to paint a bird as my main subject. After browsing through various bird photos, I stumbled upon blue jays. They caught my eye because I hadn't painted anything blue in a while. The hot weather outside made me crave some cool colors. I chose a stunning blue jay photo as my inspiration. Next, I worked on the composition for the painting. I tried a few quick thumbnail sketches, but nothing quite clicked. That's when I turned to Pinterest for some creative inspiration. Vintage illustrations and postcards often have fantastic composition ideas. Birds sitting on twigs with delicate flowers around them seemed to be a recurring theme. I decided to incorporate some flowers into my painting, drawing from a similar concept I used in a previous artwork, Spring Twittering. My first thought was to paint cherry blossoms to get a better idea of how they looked and how to draw them, I researched cherry blossom photos. With that in mind, I sketched out a composition that featured a blue J inspired by my reference photo, but not an exact copy. And a twig with flowers which I put together from my general understanding of their shapes. Once I had my composition, I refined the drawing. I printed it out, and I used a light path to transfer it onto my watercolor paper. I decided not to wet the paper this time. Usually I wet both the front and the back of the paper, staple it to my Gator Board, and let it dry overnight. But for this painting, I skipped the wedding step because I didn't want to paint a wet on wet background. I knew there wouldn't be too much paper buckling. I only stapled the paper to my Gator board and I taped it down on four sides. And with that, I was all set to begin painting. I had a clear idea that the bird had to be blue, but I was pondering over the colors for the flowers. Initially, I thought pink might work. Then I considered orange to complement the blue. However, I decided to try something different this time and go for an analogous color scheme. I settled on using Windsor blue green shade as the primary color for the bird touch of cobalt blue for the flowers. I wanted a warmer shade of blue. I chose cobalt blue and ultramarine blue. But I also added permanent rose to give the flowers a purple hue. This way, I kept a harmonious analogous color scheme. Then I thought about adding a subtle background to tie everything together. Instead of painting the entire background, I opted for a soft cloudy shape. To achieve this, I used cobalt blue and permanent rose to create a connection between the background and the main subject. The overall concept for this painting is an analogous color scheme with a cool greenish Windsor blue for the bird purple flowers, a neutral middle blue and pink for the background. I also included tiny green leaves as an accent color to add some extra depth and interest. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I kept it simple with basic shapes, straightforward color application, and used a lot of wet on dry technique. Which I know is generally more enjoyable and easier for most of you. I believe it will be a painting project. We're going to break this painting into a few stages to make it easier. We'll begin with the background, then move on to painting the first cluster of flowers, followed by the second cluster and the third cluster. After that, we'll add the dark twig, and finally we'll paint the bird if you're all set, let's get started. 5. Background: Now let's start working on the background. However, if you prefer not to paint the background, feel free to skip this step. First, let me explain the general concept. I don't want the background to dominate the painting. I want the bird and the flowers to be the stars. We're going to add a subtle hint of a background, like a soft cloudy shape that complements the main subjects. To achieve this effect, we will use the wet on wet technique. Which creates those lovely gentle shapes that fade seamlessly. Usually, I mask off the main subject to paint the background, but in this case, I don't think it's necessary. The areas we'll be painting are relatively small. We can easily work around the flowers, even if we accidentally go over the flowers or the bird. That's okay. We have a secret weapon, which is a scrubber brush to remove any unwanted overlaps. Before we start painting, I'll use a needed eraser to lightly roll over my pencil sketch. This will remove excess graphite and make the sketch lighter. Normally, I would make the sketch very faint, but for this tutorial, I'll keep the lines a bit more visible so you can follow along easily. Let's begin by preparing our colors for the background. We'll use cobalt blue and permanent rose. I really like cobalt blue. It's a calming natural sky blue. Cobalt blue is my go to color for the sky. Sometimes I mix it with Windsor blue or ultramarine blue to get different shades of the sky. But for this painting will stick with cobalt blue, grab a good amount of cobalt blue and permanent rose. You might have noticed that I usually use a flat brush for preparing my colors. I use a cheap flat brush for this purpose because it allows me to pick up more paint quickly. Also, when the paint dries on the palette, you sometimes need to rub it several times to get it onto your brush. And I don't want to damage my good brushes doing that, so I use this flat brush for mixing. Now use a size eight brush, dip it in water, and apply it to the first area on the left. Now let's pick up some cobalt blue and drop it in close to the flowers. The idea here is to apply the paint near the flowers and let it spread in the water. This will create those lovely soft edges we're aiming for. The crucial thing is to use enough water and apply it over a larger area than you intend to paint. Take a look, the paint will spread in the water and it needs room to do so. We can't just apply water to a small area, because when the paint reaches the edge of the wet area, it will create a hard edge. As it dries. By applying water over a larger area, the paint will have more space to spread freely, resulting in those soft edges we want. I hope that makes sense. I'm switching to a smaller brush as I seeks to carefully paint around the flowers. Additionally, I'm adding more water towards the upper part to give the paint even more space to flow just in case. Keep going and continue painting the background under the twig. Now I want to point out that I intentionally created some shapes with hard edges. In this step, I applied the blue close to the flowers and used more water to pull the color downward. Below, I shaped some areas resembling petals using lightly tinted water. These are very subtle indications of flowers adding more interest to the background. By combining soft cloudy edges with some subtle sharp edges, I think it adds a nice touch. There are also some small areas in between the flowers that we need to fill in. Notice that I'm not trying to paint around a tiny twig in this area. Instead I'm applying the blue over the whole area. The reason for this is because I know that the twig will be much darker and it will be easy to apply the dark paint over the blue. Here we have another area. What's great about this background is that we can divide it into smaller sections and work on each section separately. I've also decided to add some permanent rows for a little extra flare. When you look at the final painting, you'll see that this wet on wet technique allowed me to create those super soft cloud like shapes in the background. It's very subtle, but it adds so much more interest to the painting, of course. Feel free to use different colors if you would like. You don't have to follow my choices exactly. Use your creative freedom to make this painting your own. We don't have a reference photo for this, so we can truly paint as we please. Even if we did remember, we have creative license to paint it in our own unique way. At this stage, this is how the painting looks. I'm going to let it dry now. One or 2 hours should be enough. Normally, if I were painting the entire background wet on wet, I would leave it to dry overnight. But these are just small areas, they don't need as much time to dry. You can also use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process when you're ready and your painting is completely dry. Let's move on to the next part. 6. Cluster 1 - Initial layer: Before we dive into painting the flowers, let me explain the steps we'll be taking and some basic principles to keep in mind. We'll paint the flowers in three main steps. In the first step, we'll apply the basic colors to the petals. Here are some key ideas to remember. Use a lighter tone of the final colors. Leave some white areas to represent highlights. Create the impression of curled petals by leaving white edges on some of them. For the flowers, use primarily cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, and permanent rows. In the second step, we'll define our colors more distinctly and add shadows to the petals. In the third part, we'll focus on the finer details. We'll paint filaments emerging from the center of the flower and may darken some areas if necessary. Before we begin painting the flowers, I'd like to tighten up the edges a bit. As you can see I accidentally overlapped some petals with blue paint. I would like to remove those overlaps this. I'll use my scrubber brush now. Let me show you my scrubber brushes as I often get asked about them. My main scrubber brush is the swindsor Newton's galleria brush, in size four. I've had it for several years. It's a bit burn down now. But that's actually good because it's become a bit softer When it's new, it's quite stiff. After some use, the bristles become softer. This brush does everything I need. I use it for almost every painting. I also have a smaller Princeton snap shader brush. This one is really tiny and the bristles are much softer. I use it occasionally to lift off tiny areas of paint. For instance, to create lighter veins on leaves. In general, you will need to experiment with different brushes to find the one that works best for you. A scrubber brush for me is essentially a flat brush with slightly stiffer bristles compared to my regular watercolor brushes. Brushes designed for acrylic painting often work well as scrubber brushes. There are brushes specifically labeled as scrubber brushes, and they might even come in round shapes. However, I found that flat brushes, especially those labeled as flat, bright shader or bright shader, work exceptionally well for my needs. Now let's get back to our painting. I'm going to dip my brush in water, remove the excess water on a paper towel. And then with a slightly damp brush, I'll gently rub the area of paint that I want to remove. Afterwards, I'll dab the spot with a paper towel and the paint should be removed or at least I'll get rid of any hard edges. Softening the edges like this is the main purpose of my scrubber brush. Once we've cleaned up the edges of the flowers, we can start painting. I'll be using a size six brush. We're currently in the first step of the process. Our goal is to apply the main colors to the petals. I'll begin with cobalt blue. And using the wet on dry technique, I'll apply the paint to the first. But since we don't have a reference photo for the flowers, we'll need to figure out where to apply the paint. What I'm keeping in mind is that the light source is somewhere above, slightly to the left perhaps. This means that the upper and left sides of the petals should be lighter and the shadows should be on the right and more towards the bottom. That's a general guideline case. We have two buds. The one above casts a shadow on the one below. That's why I'm painting a shadow there. I also believe that the bud should be darker, close to the green parts. I'm using a stronger color, closer to the sepals. After applying the paint, wet and dry, I quickly rinse and blot my brush with a clean, slightly damp brush. I'll soften the edges for the next set of buds. I picked up a slightly more pink tone, making the color just a tad more purple. I'm also leaving a highlight. The upper edge of each petal. Then there's a shadow below, followed by a lighter area. This helps to convey which parts of the petals are more raised and which are more concave. The darker parts are those in the shadow receiving less light and appearing concave. We need to play with lights and shadows to create the impression of three dimensional form. In this case, our illustration is straightforward. We are not following a specific photo. We have creative freedom to do what we think looks good. I also believe that varying the colors of the flowers will make them more interesting. In some areas, I'm using more blue, while in others I'm leaning more towards pink. This variety will add visual interest and create a nicely balanced color composition along with our pink blue background. Now I'm mixing green gold with ultramarine blue to achieve a nice neutral green. I want to apply this green to the leaves to see how it looks. There aren't many green areas in this painting. If you prefer, you can leave the greens until the end when you've finished all the flowers. I am just curious to see how my favorite color green will fit in here. I'm applying this initial layer to the leaves as well. Now let's continue painting the petals. Notice that we're working on really small areas and using the wet on dry technique, which means the paint dries fairly quickly. You won't have to wait long for the paint to dry, to paint the petals that are next to each other. Normally, you might skip one petal, paint another, and then return to the skipped one when everything is dry. But here it's not necessary because the drying time is quite short. Describing the process can be a bit challenging here when we don't have a reference photo to follow precisely. What I'm doing now is just experimenting with colors and painting the flowers in a simple yet convincing way. You can follow along with me if you like. Or you can choose to paint the flowers differently, perhaps with more intricate details. Or maybe in a loser style, if you want to follow my approach, I recommend watching what I do first and then posing the video. Looking at the painting in the corner or a print out, if you have one. Try to recreate what you see in my painting. Remember that this is just the first step. At this stage, we're applying basic colors, leaving highlights, and suggesting some shadows. Once you finish this part, let's move on to the next step and add more definition to our flowers. 7. Cluster 1 - Shadows and Details: Okay, great, so our initial layer is now dry and we're ready to refine our colors and add some shadows. In this stage, we'll continue using the same colors as in the previous part. Our goal here is to darken certain areas and intensify colors where needed. Take it step by step, focusing on each petal individually. Think about which areas should be darker. For instance, consider more pronounced or areas closer to the leaves. Perhaps you would like to make certain areas more vibrant with color. If so, go ahead and add a deeper shade of blue or pink. As you can observe, I'm adding more colors to enhance the definition of specific areas. It's important to note that I'm not necessarily using a darker shade of paint. I'm maintaining the same paint consistency as in the previous layer. However, because water colors are transparent, we are building up layers of color. The second layer may appear darker than the first one. Take your time and don't rush to make things too dark. Apply the colors gradually and assess how it looks as you go. If needed, you can always add more color after it dries. For instance, I'm not entirely certain where to place shadows, or if I should add more details to the petals. I'm testing the waters by applying a lighter version of the color first, then returning to the same areas to apply darker colors if I think it will enhance the overall appearance. Importantly, I'm looking to define the centers of the flowers and the shadows between each petal. Some petals may be slightly further back. I want to paint them a bit darker than the others to create the impression that they are tucked behind. I'm also applying the green mix to the leaves, which consists of green gold, and ultramarine blue, to create shadows on the leaves, I'm using more ultramarine blue to my mix to achieve a darker green tone. I'm keeping it very simple by using the wet on dry technique and not softening the edges as I would typically do. This time, I'm aiming for a slightly different effect. Something like an illustration with a more watercolor like appearance that includes both. Soft and sharp edges. I'm painting a shadow on one side of a leaf and on the other side just three simple lines to suggest the veins. Later when the left side is dry, I'll also add veins to the shadowed area. As you can see, this is a very straightforward painting, nothing too complicated at all. I hope you'll agree with me at this stage. The flowers might not look particularly impressive, but I'm quite confident that the final result will turn out beautifully. What makes me think this way is my appreciation for repeating patterns. I know that whatever you repeat it tends to look lovely in a repeating pattern. While we don't really have a repeating pattern here we do have many flowers and they all follow a similar process. When you have many similar flowers, they will come together nicely in the end. What we really need at this point is just patience. And to keep progressing step by step until we finish everything. Now we are moving on to the third stage, which involves adding the finer details. I'm switching to a size four brush for this part, I'm picking up some quite dark and concentrated, ultramarine blue. With this color, I'm painting the dots around the centers of the flowers, which will represent our anthers to add some variation in color. I'm also mixing in a bit of pink next, using just the tip of my painting, the filaments that connect the center of the flower with the Ers. It's a simple and yet effective way to paint these flowers. Repeat the same process for the other two flowers. Take a moment to look at your flowers and consider if there are any areas you would like to darken. For example, I want to add a bit more shadowing, but not too much. Don't forget about the leaves. Let's finish them by adding some simple veins using our green mixture. I think that these little leaves look very simple, but they are really cute. 8. Cluster 2 - Initial Layer: Our first cluster of flowers is complete and now we can move on to the second one. In this part, I want to show you the process from a different perspective so that you can see everything clearly. I'll be using a size four brush this time for these flowers. I'm using ultramarine blue as our primary blue. That was my original plan, since I wanted to use a warmer blue for the flowers Using ultramarine blue and permanent rose. Alternately, I'm applying the main colors to the petals. Once again, I'm leaving some white gaps which will serve as highlights or on some petals, these white areas represent curled petals. At least that's the concept in my mind. I believe that varying the color and transitioning from blue to pink is crucial because it prevents the color from looking flat. While we could use purple, just pure purple for this, I think that this approach adds more visual interest. On the last flower, I'm using a slightly darker tone because this flower is situated in the back and is under the bird, it's more in the shadow. In this step, you can also see how important it is to maintain consistent paint consistency. Take a closer look, I'm painting the petals, the left, and then I go back to my palette to pick up more paint. However, in doing so, I also picked up more water. Now the paint that I'm using is much wetter than the paint on the paper which is already starting to dry. This inconsistency in paint wetness can lead to the creation of blooms. When I touch the paper with the wet paint, the water released from the brush pushes away the drying pigment, resulting in the formation of shapes called blooms, cauliflowers or backgrounds. This effect is characteristic of water colors. Some people love it, some hate it. Some see it as a mistake, while others intentionally create them. It's something that adds a unique touch to your painting, but it can also spoil it if it appears in an unwanted area. To avoid this, you should always make sure that you're using paint with the same consistency. If you apply weather paint to a drying area, there's a significant chance that a bloom will occur To rectify this, you can either paint over it with a darker color possible. Or use a scrubber brush to gently remove the paint from the edges of the bloom, making them less noticeable. And then possibly apply another layer of paint to cover them up. Personally, I never fix them. I think they are unique and even if they appear in places I didn't intend, I accept them and I don't worry about them. There are more important things to be concerned about in this world than a bloom in my painting. 9. Cluster 2 - Shadows and Details: The initial layer is now completely dry, so it's time for the next step, darkening the colors and adding the details. I'm working on painting the shadows in a way that I believe will work well here. I'm aiming to leave lighter areas on each petal, except when I want to hide the whole petal in a shadow, in which case I darken the entire petal. For instance, I've left this white area, which represents a curled petal. I think that if it's curled, the inner side of this petal should be in the shadow. This petal appears darker than the others. I'm also focusing on painting the shadows in the areas where the petals meet. I believe it adds more dimension by indicating that the petals overlap each other. At this stage, the flowers don't quite look like flowers yet. Each petal might seem like a random shape. However, it's important to have a clear mental image of your goal. You know, these are petals that come together in the center to form a flower. Some petals might appear random from different flowers, and that's perfectly fine. Just remember that you're painting the flowers and keep in mind where you're heading with your painting. This will help you find meaning in the apparent chaos of petals. I'm trying to envision the main flowers and think about where their centers are, where I'll paint the filaments, and the rest is just an addition to those main flowers. Don't forget about those little buds at the bottom. I've used a bit more ultramarine blue to paint them. Once you've completed this step, let's move on to the next stage. Everything is now completely dry so we can start adding the finer details as before. Begin by painting lots of dots around the center. These represent the ans of the flowers. Then add those delicate thin filaments to complete the flowers. Repeat this process for the other flowers as well. Once this step is complete, take a moment to compare this cluster of flowers with the previous one. Do they look similar? Perhaps you need to darken some shadows or adjust the tonal values so that all the flowers you've painted so far appear similar in terms of light, dark in color. After all, they all grow on the same tweak and should look similar. Add a darker tone of blue to the buds to define their shadows Further, we can also paint those tiny leaves at this stage. These are just small additional elements and don't require too much work. Start by applying a lighter version of the green mixture of green gold and ultramarine blue. Once the first layer is dry, use a slightly darker tone to add simple shadows. Try not to overwork it. We're not aiming for hyper realism here. I want you to have fun and not stress too much about perfection. Also paint those tiny green sepals of the buds When you finish this stage, let's move on to the third cluster on the right hand side. 10. Cluster 3 - Initial Layer, Shadows, Details: In this part, we'll continue painting the flowers just as we did before. I want to break this section into smaller steps because you should already have a good understanding of the process. The main challenge you might encounter is deciding where to apply the colors, where to leave highlights, and where to add shadows. Trust me, I didn't have a clear roadmap either. I wasn't using a reference photo as a guide. Sometimes we have to rely on our imagination. I understand it may not be easy, especially if you usually base your painting on photos. However, why not to give it a try? You can use my painting as a reference now, which should make it easier for you. Still feel free to paint your flowers differently if you prefer. This is how the entire painting looks after applying the initial layer to the third cluster of flowers. Now we can intensify the colors at shadows and increase the tonal contrast. It's crucial to have a broad range of tonal values from highlights to deep blues and purples. This will give your flowers more dimension. The absence of dark tones can result in a washed out effect, making something feel lacking in your painting. Dark values are essential. I'm not suggesting using black, but incorporating clearly darker tones in some areas, especially in the centers of the flowers and on the petals that are in the background and in shadow. After adding some darker tones to the petals, we can apply the base green color to the green elements. Once the initial green layer has dried, we can add shadows using a darker shade of green. Keep everything simple, try not to overthink it and avoid overdoing it. Sometimes less is more. At this stage, our painting includes the background and the flowers. Now let's add the dark tweak to connect all the flowers together. 11. Twig: I plan to start with a brush size six for the twig. It's a good starting point for the twig. We want a darker color. I suggest using ultramarine blue, green, gold, and permanent rose, which we've already used in our painting. To darken this mix, add some paints. Gray, gray will make it darker quickly and maintain color harmony without using black. The mix is versatility, allows us to shift it towards blue, green, or pink for added variety. Begin by applying an initial layer with a middle value mix. The tweak can pick up colors from its surroundings, blending some pink, green, or blue in a few places. To mimic that effect, don't forget to paint those tiny decorative twigs and leaves. There is a small area under the bird and some twigs on the right side. Consider using a lighter tone to suggest that the twig disappears into the background once the first layer is dry at texture, use the same colors as before and imagine creating irregular, shaky diagonal lines darker at the bottom and lighter at the top. This technique will create an impression of the lines, don't need to be parallel enhance the shadow areas at the bottom of the tweak with a darker tone. This adds character and makes the flowers stand out. These dark tones give the painting depth and dimension. The flowers now look more defined against the dark elements and the painting is coming to life. Take a moment to admire your work. I think it looks great with flowers around the bird, subtle green accents, and a well defined branch against the soft background. I'm pretty happy with my painting so far. I hope you too. Let's take a short break and when you're ready, we can move on to painting the bird. 12. Bird - Initial Layer: Now let's dive into the enjoyable part of painting the bird. We'll paint the blue J in four steps. In the first part, we'll apply a lighter layer over the entire bird using a lighter version of the final colors. In the second step, we'll add the darkest tones, providing us with a reference for tonal values. The third part involves adding middle values to deepen the colors. In the final part, we'll add the finishing details to complete the bird and the entire painting. Let's begin. For the bird, we'll need two blues. One is cobalt blue, which we've already used. The second one is Windsor Blue Green shade a strong, cool blue leaning towards green. Now, grab your brush size six. At this stage, we're creating a roadmap. We want to apply lighter versions of the final colors. Go easy on the dark tones. Dip your brush in water and pick up a watery consistency of cobalt blue. Start by applying the paint from the beak. Leave a small white, high light on the beak, then move on to the head. Notice that I'm using a very light tone and a watery paint consistency. This allows for smooth layering of colors. We're painting wet and dry, so make sure that the paint is watered down. This prevents it from drying too quickly, resulting in hard edges and unsmooth blending. Gradually transition to winds or blue green shade. You might notice that the bird in my painting doesn't exactly match the one in the reference photo. That's because this time I didn't trace the bird. I use the photo as a reference to understand where the lights and darks are and how the colors are distributed on the bird's feathers. For the upper part of the bird, including the beak, head and neck, I'm using more cobalt blue. As I move down to the wings, I shift my colors to Windsor blue green shade. I mentioned using a watery consistency of paint to achieve smooth layers. While this is true, remember that we're painting nature and nature has lots of textures. The bird is covered with hundreds of feathers, so its surface is perfectly smooth. Don't worry if you get some blooms, Imperfections, odd spots, or unexpected streaks of color. It doesn't have to be flawless. Don't stress if your washes aren't perfectly smooth. Now, for the belly, we need a different color. It's somewhat neutral, like a gray beige. When you come across a color that's hard to identify a color and then adjust it as needed, I'm mixing cobalt blue with burnt sienna to create a neutral gray, which we can start applying to the belly. Depending on the area you're painting, you can shift it more towards blue, pink, brown, or any other color. Now add just a tiny touch of permanent rose. The subtle touch connects the bird to the rest of the painting and maintains color harmony. I'll take a short break because I forgot to draw the details on the feathers. Adding lines to define the boundaries of each color on the feathers can be helpful. All right, now that I'm back, I'm picking up Windsor blue green shade and starting to paint the wings. Let's stay focused on the goal of this stage. We're applying the initial colors. Use the blue color on the entire wings and tail feathers covering everything except the white spots. Don't worry if the white spots in your bird aren't in the exact same places as in the reference. What matters is the overall impression. Whether the white spot is at the feathers tip or not isn't a concern. There are thousands of birds like this and each of them is different. We're aiming to capture the general arrangement of the three main colors on the feathers. White, blue, and almost black. Now take your time and apply the blue paint slowly to all the blue and dark areas, excluding only the white ones. The darkest parts will be much darker than the blue. You can apply the blue in those areas as well as the dark paint will cover those spots later. Once you've completed this step, take a short break and then we can move on to the next enjoyable part of this painting. 13. Bird - Dark Tones: Now that the initial layer has dried, let's focus on the dark tones. You might be wondering why I'm starting with the blue on the head, instead of going straight to really dark tones as the title suggests. While I'm doing this to demonstrate the importance of dark tones, and to first show you what it looks like without them. In watercolor painting, we typically work from light to dark, with each subsequent layer getting progressively darker until we achieve the desired tonal value. However, how do you determine how dark you should go and whether the area you're painting is dark enough? One method is to take a photo of your current painting, convert it to gray scale, and compare it with the black and white reference photo. This way you can assess whether the tonal values in your painting closely match those in the reference. It's a valuable technique to use from time to time. Another approach is to compare the area you are working on with other areas you've already painted. For example, you can see that the flower petals are relatively light and the bird's head should be much darker. That's why now I'm applying a darker tone. If it's still not dark enough and appears similar in tone to the petals, you can add more paint to darken the color. This method involves comparing one area to another, sometimes even across different subjects in your painting. Get a better reference point. It makes sense to focus on the bird itself. Since we're painting the bird, there's nothing closer than the subject itself. The solution is to apply the dark tones to the bird first. By doing this, we establish clear boundaries for our tonal values within the subject. Think about it this way. We already have our light tones in place. Nothing in our painting will be lighter than those light tones. Now if we paint the darkest parts of the bird, will establish the other end of the tonal scale. We will know that nothing can be darker than these dark tones. This leaves us with middle values which will fall between our lights and darks. Now take a look at the painting. The blue feathers on the top of the head might appear pretty dark. But are they as dark as they should be? It's hard to tell without a good reference point. The best reference point is always the darkest tone. You can add slightly darker, more concentrated paint to create some shadows, but you might still be uncertain about how dark these feathers should be. Next, use short strokes and a light blue tone to paint the feathers around the eye. As you paint, you might be adding more and more paint to create texture. But where is the limit? At what point will the blue be dark enough? Unfortunately, it can be challenging to determine at this stage, especially if you're not very experienced. I've been adding lots of short brush strokes under the eye to suggest a feathery texture, but it feels like something is missing as if I'm lost in a sea of color without a guiding light. It might even look messy with those random lines, not really resembling feathers. But there are two important points to remember. First, we're not finished yet. Second, we lack a good dark reference point. No, let's make a change. I'm switching to a small size two spotter brush, but you can use. Small er, regular round brush if you prefer. In fact, I'll return to using my round brush shortly. Let's prepare a dark mixture Now, take Windsor blue green shade and add paints gray to it. This blue should be strong and dark, but it's not black. It's a very, very dark blue. But our brains will interpret it as black. In the final painting, with a smaller brush, start painting all the dark elements on the bird, beginning with the head and the feathers close to the beak. Now let's work on the eye. It's important to paint the eye at an early stage because eyes add life to the painting. And you will feel better when the subject you're painting seems to be observing you apply burnt sienna to the eye, leaving a white highlight. It's not a pure burned ciena. It's mixed with some blue, so it's not a clean brown. Allow the eye to dry and in the meantime, continue adding more dark areas. No, let's return to the eye. Add our dark color to the center of the eye and paint a ring around it. Enhance the iris with more burnt sienna. And add tiny feathers around the beak. Use the same dark blue to paint the bottom part of the beak. I switched to a round brush size for mainly because it holds more water and creates a sharp point, which is what we need. Now we want to apply many tiny lines to create the impression of feathers. Continue using the dark blue to paint the darkest elements on the wings. Try to recreate that beautiful pattern on the wings. Feel free to switch between brushes as needed. Carefully paint each feather. Notice that the dark spots are usually around, the white spots between the dark spots, there is a clean blue color. Define each feather by painting its edge with a thin line. For painting long, thin lines like this, you can also use a designer's brush such as a gold for example. A designer's brush is similar to a rigger brush with long, thin bristles. But as long as riggers, it's not necessary. But it's good to know that this type of brush exists in case you want to try it some day. I feel comfortable painting these lines with my round brush, with a sharp point. I'm switching back to my black velvet size for once. You've finished adding the dark areas, let them dry completely, and then we can move on to the next step. 14. Bird - Middle Values: I hope you will agree with me that adding the dark parts of the bird really brings it to life. Though it's not quite finished yet. There's a stark contrast between the darks and lights. Now we need to add the middle values. Take Windsor blue green shade mixed with a touch of cobalt blue and apply it to the upper part of the wing. Aim to create a gradient with darker blue on the left and lighter blue on the right. Now use Windsor blue to paint the feathers on the wings. Go over the blue areas to deepen blues with the second layer. Notice how much easier it is now to assess how dark we should go because we know that we cannot go darker than our dark tones that we painted in the previous layer. Winds or blue is a staining color, which means it's not so easy to remove from the paper. This works to our advantage because when we paint over those long, dark lines, there's less risk of disturbing or smudging the lines from the previous layer. They should stay in place when dealing with feathers that have white spots. Notice where I'm applying the blue. Now I'm imagining that each feather casts a shadow. On the next one, I'm applying the blue along the left side of each feather. Right now I'm focusing only on the blue areas and leaving the white spots for the moment. Next, you brushing water, remove the excess water with the damp the paint, from the spots to the white spots. On the white spots, we want subtle shadows. We activate the dark paint and pull it slightly to create those delicate shadows. The feathers are starting to take on a more three dimensional form now. Since the wings cast a shadow on the tail, the upper part of the tail is in the shadow. Begin by applying Windsor blue and then add paints gray to your blue. And introduce this dark blue under the wings to suggest the shadow. Continue painting the feathers. By applying blue along the left side of each feather, paint the blue spots with a darker shade of Windsor Blue. Stage is now complete. We can move on to the final stage where we will add the details and finish the painting. 15. Bird - Details: The bird is nearly complete, but there are a few details left to add to finish the painting. To begin, let's paint the feathers on the belly. I'm switching to a brush size four for this part. For the belly will need a neutral color mix. Cobalt blue with burnt sienna and permanent rose. This will give us a lovely beige color that we can adjust to lean more towards blue, pink, or brown as needed. Start lightly with cobalt blue in the upper part of the belly. Use the tip of your brush and create a feathery texture with many short brush strokes, as you progress, adjust the color by shifting more towards pink or brown depending on what's required for the area you're painting close to the leg, we'll use a negative painting technique. There are lighter feathers above the leg that cast a shadow below. To recreate this effect easily, we can paint the darker feathers underneath, forming the shape of the light feathers above. Essentially, we're painting the negative space between the light feathers. I started with a light tone to establish the shapes and see where the darker colors should go. At the same time, I added a dark blue shadow under the wing, which is crucial for giving the bird a truly three dimensional look. As I darkened the feathers, I did it a bit too quickly and made a mistake. I don't like how it turned out because I wasn't careful enough. I ended up with random lines without considering the lighter feathers in front, creating a messy area. But that's okay. It doesn't draw too much attention when I look at the entire painting. I'm accepting it now. I'm moving on to paint the leg, but I won't spend too much time on it. Oh, no. I must admit that legs are the most challenging parts of the bird for me to paint. I really don't enjoy painting them. I don't like them often. If possible, I try to hide the legs with flowers or leaves just to avoid having to paint them here on the legs. I'm starting with some blues and then adding darker blues. With more paints gray, I want to leave some white spots to create the characteristic rough texture. I don't consider the leg to be super important, It's a small element. I believe that the bird itself, its eye, and the flowers draw much motion. I often assess whether certain elements are crucial or if they are not. I pay less attention to painting all the details. I also want to add some blue short brush strokes in the upper part to suggest a feather texture nothing too pronounced. I don't want to add too many details, I just want to suggest the direction of the feathers and add just a bit of texture. Finally, with a darker blue, I'm darkening the lines of the longer feathers. And I may add some shadows as well. Before signing the painting, I'm giving it one last look to see if there are any areas that need improvement. Often, there are some areas that need to be darkened, like the shadow under the wing or the dark tones on the leg. I also decided to apply another layer of cobalt blue in a small section of the background. I felt that the tonal value of the feathers on the belly and the sky were too similar. I needed more definition and contrast, so I applied a darker tone of cobalt blue to create that contrast. And now the painting is finished. When I sign it, it feels like closing a chapter. I rarely make changes to a painting after assigning it. Even if I spot some potential mistakes, I tend to avoid making adjustments or fixes because it's very easy to make things worse. I view each painting as a learning experience. This brings us to the end of our tutorial. I hope you enjoyed the videos and that you will give this painting a try. It was a fun exploration of different shades of blue. Give it a go. Thanks for watching and happy painting by.