Painting Red Botanicals: Step by Step in Watercolor & Procreate

1. Intro: You love to paint flowers, but you feel something is missing. You use vivid colors but the artworks still lacks vibrancy and interests. I've been experimenting a lot and found my interpretation to add brilliance to botanical art. Today, I'd love to share it with you. My name is Anna. I'm an artist, illustrator, and author based in Berlin. Painting red flowers is one of my favorite subjects. My love for natural world brought me several awards and I've collaborated with fantastic brands like Netflix, Amazon like Gala, and imagined effects. Recently, with my botanical work, I was lucky to win the first-place award in the town ball packaging contest with a huge global voting. So as you can see, learning to paint flowers in a uniquely modern way not only brings artistic satisfaction that can be available a set in your creative career. In this class, I'll walk you through my whole process, starting with inspiration and sketching. You'll see how it's just the most effective color palette for the red flowers. Will learn how to shift a visual perception to create a truly live artwork. First, I'll be working with analog media. In the second part of the class, I'll show you how these principles apply to digital painting. It's also very efficient. I'll be using Procreate app, but the principles will work in any other software. The class is same at all levels. If you're a beginner, it will be very helpful to see the whole process. If you're experienced illustrator, you'll enjoy exploring beauty and painting with me. So prepare your magical tools and let's get started. 2. Inspiration: Welcome. I'm happy to see you join me. There are always flowers for those who want to see them. It's a famous quote by legendary artist Henri Matisse. Flowers are the universal symbols of beauty. Not surprisingly, they're represented in all the significant art movements. Today as inspiration, I want to show you very different examples of depicting botanicals. Let's take a look at the classic approach and more expressive more than one. Here are the first tiny treasures I wanted to show you. These are the postcard set between botanical beauty. The curl through a book of tulips is an impressive collection of the flower paintings of Baroque era. You might see in this iconic image before. The presentation of flowers was so poetic. We can find it in every brush stroke. The tulip art was so popular. Here are some various examples. I'll gather everything. Now the second set. It's a selection from the so-called the Nassau Florilegum. Paintings by the artist Johann Walter. He depicts the sub-top beauty of nature after the terrible 17th century war. He used gouache for this stunning effect. You can see many layers and variety of brush strokes. What do I have next? Here comes the next one, huge Book of Flowers by the famous Pierre Joseph Redoute. It's an elegant catalog of masterful botanical painting. I have a huge version of this book because I love to explore details, but there are smaller editions. The quality of artworks is fantastic. I wanted to show you some examples of red flowers, which is our topic as you remember. Of course, the roses. These are stunning. The artist uses light red, pink, deep red colors to create this interest. Of course, there are some exotic versions of lilies. The red is very intense, supporting the shape. Also, there's this Japanese camellia. With a beautiful gradient flowers, and gradient on every petal. I also wanted to show you some examples of warm red colors, like here and here. The red is almost orange. We can find this French marigold along with the tiger flower. This book is the biggest treasure in my home library, so I'm very happy to share it with you. Next, we're going to travel in time. I will hide my treasure in some special shelf. You may have heard of Georgia O'Keeffe, a legendary artist of the modernist era. Here she is. She's famous for painting enlarged flowers in a very specific panel. Like this one. The red color is so intense when used on the large canvas. Very impressive. Her works are always dramatic and innovative at the same time. She even uses some elements of abstraction in her work. Even when depicting nature or flowers, she's a great inspiration. Here's something very different. An incredible painter, Henri Matisse. His work with the red color is stunning. He painted flowers a lot and you can see he treated these objects beautifully. I especially love how he combined the painting and the drawing in one artwork. It's so unique. You can see it on both examples. The lines, the color, everything. The combination is lovely. Another artwork is by Raoul Dufy, a French painter who has reached decorative style. He used flowers in Fauvist designs, illustration, and in loose expressive manner. He belonged to Fauves movement, along with our friend Henri Matisse. He used the direction of the brush stroke to add interest to this flower paintings and of course, the subtle colors with the darker essence like we can see in this painting. Let me show you another example. She's a French painter. Let me change the angle, Marie Laurencin. She was also a print-maker and painted wonderful flowers in this impressive manner. Her painting style is so subtle and has an avant-garde touch to it. I really love this Paris wipe and the brush strokes. The shadows are so subtle, and still the image is three-dimensional. Amazing artist who loved pastel colors. Well, that's it. Meet me in the next video. 3. Materials: Welcome back. I hope you feel inspired. Now I'm wondering what styles of painting flowers you prefer. It's time we cover materials. I'll show you what I use. You can of course use other art supplies. I think the most helpful here is a color combination for art flowers. So take a closer look at that part. The pigment's name is always the same. So you can apply it to other mediums, not just watercolors or gouache. Let's take a closer look. These are my art supplies. I'll show you what I prefer to use. Maybe you'll find it interesting too. The first, the brushes. Mostly I work with round synthetic brushes in various sizes. Number 6, it's universal for various brushstrokes. Number 2, for detailed work. It's my preference when working with synthetic brushes. My favorite. A fringe brush, aka mop brush. It has a natural hair and holds a lot of water. I have variety of sizes. This one is Number 1. But a brush like this can be enough for all the artworks. Now the paints. Most treasures part. I have this very special set with a variety of red colors in pairs, some opaque and some transparent. A very beautiful set. I also love to use this to specific red colors in tubes. You'll find all the names listed in the class resources section. This is my usual set that I use for most of my watercolor paintings for gallery work, almost anything. In the next video we'll explore some red hues combinations and you can decide which colors you prefer. We will also need a paper of course. I use 100 percent cotton paper called pressed. This is a very large block, so I just cut it to the size I feel comfortable with. Sometimes I work in large format. That's why I just have this big sized paper. Paper towels are a great helper. Also I've prepared a pencil sketch in case you want to use it. I'll show you one of the ways of how to do it in another video. We'll need eraser, pencil and a pen or a liner and transparent paper. That's it. Let's move to the next video and explore the shades of red colors. See you there. 4. All Shades of Red Colors: Welcome back. Now, we're going to explore red colors. Here's my process. I've made this swatches on watercolor paper with some of my favorite hues. These are so-called warm reds on the right and on the left, we will find the cold ones. This is my selection. Here are the warm reds and here are the cold ones. There's also a wonderful color called cadmium orange, and it can bring beautiful effect to your flowers when combined with red. I picked the hues that I think will look great together and I'm going to test them in a minute. I pick cadmium red, Quinacridone pink, Cinilia red, and our secret sauce, cadmium orange. Cinilia red is a brand name, as it turned out it could be named as permanent red, at least the pigment number in class resources. You don't have to use this exact brand, of course, it's just the name that Cinilia decided to use for this pigment. Now, let's test our choices. I start with Quinacridone, very intense color. This is Quinacridone pink, and then I add cadmium red. You can see that the combination already looks beautiful. This is our principal to use a special selection of reds, which brings your art to the next level. I add Cinilia red to the mix, and then I will add cadmium orange. Now, we have three colors here. Cadmium orange, I use it from my usual watercolor books. Let's test it. I'm not sure if you see it on screen, but in real life, the gradient is wonderful and the colors are so rich. I strongly recommend to test all the mixes first before applying to your artwork. Gradient is very important. The warm colors usually tend to turn orangey, and cold reds tend to have a violet hue. In other colors that work nicely are Perylene Maroon. I'll use it for darker parts. Let's test it. Very intense hue. Also French vermilion. I use it for brightness. Let's take a look. As we've learned earlier, it tends to have orangey feel. I use it from the tube. When you test it on paper, you can predict how the paint behaves. I'm happy with the colors we've picked, a variety of warm and cold hues, it will add a lot of interest. Let's add cadmium orange and see how our secret ingredient combines with these two beautiful effect. Very smooth gradient. I really love how it looks. We will also need something for shadows. You can say that let's add dark red to the mix. But if you tried it, you know that you can't put a lot of layers of red on your art work, it won't work. The usual choice of botanical painters would be ultramarine. We're going to test it with our mix. I used the usual ultramarine that is standard in any watercolor set. A few strokes. Let's mix it with our reds, and we have a beautiful shadow. That's it. Now, we're ready to move forward and learn about watercolor techniques in the next part. Let's move on. 5. Five Watercolor Techniques: Welcome back. In this part, I'll show you five techniques that we will use in our flower painting. The first one is called wet and wet and I'll cover that imaginary petal with clear water first. I added a bit of paint so you will see better what I'm doing. This technique requires speed since the effect works only before both layers are dry. The paper should be wet and the paint too. Now I add some paint and it spreads beautifully. You can move the pigment in various directions and create the effect you want. While the paper is still wet, you can add another color, like our secret cadmium orange, and get a natural blur of use. This gradient is super smooth. You can work near the edges and spread the paint as you wish. Very nice effect. The second technique is called lifting out. Let me show you how it works. I cover the petal with paint using a fringe brush. It will be easier to show you. Need more paint and water and while the paint is still wet, I will take another brush, clean it with water, and lift up the pigment. Here, we'll see how it works. I've covered the petal with wet paint. Then I take another brush. You can use the same brush, it's just faster to use the new one is a paper towel, and lift it out. I lift out the pigment and we have this beautiful effect. I love to use this one in my gallery work a lot. You can add water and lift out even more very [inaudible] and beautiful effect. Here is the other part of the petal. The third technique is called hedging. Of course, you've heard about it. This is how it works with watercolor. We covered the petal with paint like so, and then we will use brush as a pencil. Our plan is to build the value by using hatching like you do with pencil or a pen or a liner with any other tool. I cover the petal. Then I will add some paint and we'll add where you like. This is a very common technique among botanical painters. You can create a lot of layers with it like so. I always pay attention to the direction of this hedging. I use this technique when working on the edges so the petal or when I need to add texture. Of course, you can add another layer of water on top, smudge everything, combine a variety of techniques. Everything depends on your personal preferences. This one works great if you want to add a three-dimensional field to your artwork. You can also add a second layer of hatching, even when the first one is not dry. This way the lines will be smooth and you will have a very organic transition between the pieces of the artwork. Let's test how it looks. Very nice. I think we can add even more brightness. You can see already the three-dimensional feel. Even on this tiny piece that has no competition, there's literally nothing but it already has this 3D impression. We've created with a few layers. Very nice. Let me show you the fourth technique. It's called softening edges. I will use two brushes. Of course, you can use just one. I have a thick stroke with one brush loaded with paint and then use a second brush filled with water and soften the edge like so. You can move the paint freely to create atmosphere and indicate depth. You can almost feel the lower part of the petal where the pigment from this edge. This technique also creates a three-dimensional feel. Sometimes I use only one layer with this technique. I love the effect of the contrast it creates with the bold lines and this smooth blending. A very favorite day-like effect like so. Now the last technique we will use for painting leaves, and it's called gradient. For painting leaves, I will use yellow turquoise, and phthalo green. These two colors can be easily blended together. Let's see how it works. Here another turquoise and phthalo green. Together, they create a beautiful color transition. Let's test the combination and we'll have this seamless blending right away. Now I'm going to paint a leaf that we are going to depict in our beautiful rose painting. I add the blue and green as I go without a lot of thinking. Well, if it's ever possible, then a bit more another layer I need a brighter color and then I'm going to add red axons. That will add interest to our work, but you will see it in a minute. Let's continue with this element. I will add bright axons while the paper is still wet, like so. I really love this effect like a pattern. I hope you'll try these few techniques before working on the final artwork. This will help you to feel more confident and enjoy the process more. These are just five techniques. In the next video, I'll show you how to use the sketch for our beautiful rose painting. Let's move on. 6. Preparing Your Rose Sketch: Welcome back. Here is my row sketch. If you want to use it to study, you can find it in the class resources section. I'll show you how to transfer it to the watercolor paper. There are many ways to do it. You can Google it, it's just my favorite way. I've printed out this sketch, then put a sheet of transparent paper on top, secure it with a paper tape or something else. I prefer simple paper tape. Then using liner or a bullpen transfer the outlines. I will show you the example of one petal. I prefer to use liner with permanent inks because it won't smudge and it dries so quickly. Almost done, the inks are dry. What I'm going to do is flip the transparent paper. Then using the pencil or pencil stick or something, cover the lines like so. Then flip it again. Let me take my watercolor paper here. I flipped the transparent paper, secured it with a paper tape with the same one and then I'm going to transfer the lines again, like so. Of course, you can print the sketch on watercolor paper and there are many other ways how you can achieve this same effect. Now the magic, you can see the petal is on watercolor paper. Now you can correct it a bit, improve the lines and your personal touch. It's always helpful to lighten the sketch a bit. I'm using a kneaded eraser for that purpose. This way the sketch won't be too visible in the final artwork. I don't erase the pencil lines afterwards. We're almost ready for painting. In the next video, I'll show you very helpful step to create a beautiful artwork. We will explore the value study. Now, prepare your sketch, and then join me in the next video. 7. Rose Value Study: Here we are. This is my favorite sketchbook and I want to show you a study that they make before working on the final artwork. Let's take a closer look. This black and white sketch is called a value study. Since we already have the outline, I don't compose anything at this stage. I use light, middle and dark tones doing that the whole artwork. Simply saying, value study is how light or dark something is. Before making a value study, I decide which area is the darkest and which is the lightest. Then I relate everything to this choices. You can see I don't have many details here, especially on the left page. I'm trying to identify larger shapes and group them together. This is how my page looks like. Recently as an art supply maniac, I've got myself a gray watercolor set with warm and cold grays. But before that, I just used usual gray color and diluted it with water to get this three tones. The Payne's gray works great for this purpose. Now with white brush strokes, I work on the petals to support the overall shape of the rose. I put special attention to the shadow areas in case I'll make some mistakes, which usually happens. If I make them at this stage, I'll be able to notice it and they won't be present at the final artwork. You know the feeling sometimes when you imagine something in your head and it's so beautiful but in reality, it just doesn't work. Making a value study, it's a great way to practice and check your ideas without investing too much time and paint, and precious paper into working on something that might be not so cool at the end. Later, we will do the same but using red colors. Now it's very valuable practice. At this stage, I can think about how I want to support the three-dimensional feel of the flower and decide if I want to add more shadows to the front petals. I also will be working on the leaves here. We need to add some essence. Otherwise, the shape is a bit unrecognizable. Near the edges. The edge is one of the most important areas in any drawing or painting. These watercolors are almost like a wash out the darkest dark on the leaves. Here, I'm always trying to see the bigger picture at this point. Add tiny strokes in various parts to balance the whole composition. The bud over here will have a dedicated video to that. Now the leaves. For the leaves, it's important not to paint the whole outline, but just support the shape. I'm painting near the top. The darker gray closer to the top and here. The direction of the brush stroke will help to guide the viewer's eye. Beautiful effect. I want to increase the shadow over here and here and here. Maybe add another layer. You can try some other effects. In general, I'm happy with this black and white study. It has enough information for us to move forward. One painting I'll be looking at it from time to time just to check if I'm doing everything according to the big plan. More shadows here. When you add some brushstroke here, you want to balance it by adding another brushstroke somewhere here, for example so there's always a layer you want to add. Now this petal is very interesting and it's in front of us, so we'll pay special attention to the texture, maybe even add another layer of value. That's it. I think we can move forward and finally begin with painting. Join me in the next video. 8. Painting Top Petals: Welcome back. We can finally start painting. Here is my sketch on watercolor paper. I showed you how to transfer the sketch in the video, Preparing your sketch, in case you want to work on it with me. Now I want to lighten it up using community eraser, so the pencil marks won't be visible. I will not use eraser afterwards. I secured the paper using paper tape. Lighten up the sketch, like so. Here are the swatches. The colors we chose in the video, all shades of red, green and pink, cadmium red light, [inaudible] red, and cadmium orange. We also mixed them and tested. You remember we did a wonderful work. For the darker part we'll use perylene maroon. If you don't have them, no worries. This is perylene maroon I'll be using. You can use any colors, of course. My plan is to load the brush with quinacridone pink. Then I will add [inaudible] red, and then a bit of cadmium red. We will have a beautiful rich deep red mix. This is a very rich color combination for any red flower, and of course, cadmium orange. You can add it to any part of our magical mix to have this beautiful hue. It will be different every time. I will work with two brushes, because it's just faster. But of course you can use just one. I start with painting the top petal, and always keep in mind its shape. I will add clear water to make gradient. With two brushes it's just much faster. I spread the paint supporting the shape of this top petal, and I will make a gradient. You can always add clear water, a bit of cadmium orange if you want to, add interesting elements. Paper towel always helps if you have excess of paint. This is the first layer, there will be a few. I will use a lifting out technique we've learned earlier. You remember we watched the video of my watercolor techniques, while you watched. Lifting out the pigment like so makes a beautiful effect, like so. This is the technique I love most about watercolor. This is very unique to watercolor, for example, you can't do a lot of it with colored inks. Making the edge a bit darker. Right away we have this three-dimensional effect. The second layer creates this illusion of 3D object on the flat paper surface. This is the principle we will use for all the other petals. I'm going to repeat the same process for all the other petals. I tried to leave a lot of white space, especially near the edges, so we will have a lovely Avery flower. I also tried to work intuitively and keep the direction of the brush strokes in the same manner. At this stage I don't use many shadows, just counting the top of the flower. We will add shadows afterwards in the next videos. Lift it out. I pick the paint from different parts of the mix, while I draw. Especially if I want to add something unusual I use more of the cadmium orange. You can notice that they are different parts of the mix, have variety of hues. I continue working in the same manner. [MUSIC] I pay special attention to the edges. For example, like here, closer to the edge, I'll make the mix darker. This way the middle petal pops, the darker hue adds value and depth. The general look will be more dramatic too when you increase the darkness. It's better to work in a few layers, this way you can control the light parts and the dark parts better. This petal will be much darker than the middle one. We will work on the front petals in the next video. Let's take a look, and lift out some paint over here, like so. It won't look too busy. Let's move to the next video and continue. 9. Painting Front Petals: We've painted wonderful petals here using all the techniques we've learned. Now we're going to work on the front petals over here with the same color mix. I will use the same principles. But these petals are larger, so the shading will be a bit different. I imagine the general shape of the petal, how I see it. Well, how I see it in my mind. Then using a bit of hedging technique and very smooth color transitions, I define this large shape of the front petal. These are closer to the viewer, so they are bigger, and it makes sense to add more hedging and more details. Of course, if you want to have this effect, sometimes you may work on the middle, on the focus point, and leave the rest in vague impression. I leave the white space of the paper, so it will look aerie and leafed out paint like so we have this three-dimensional field. You can add water if you feel that it's too dark. Red color is very nice in this sense. For example, with blue is harder. Some pigments are really hard to lift out. You can always test it upfront. The hedging it's easier to deal with a smaller brush. We're adding texture, the direction of the petal, like so and so. A bit of cadmium orange even the tiny stroke makes a difference. Let's support the edge. This one has a very interesting shape. I begin with a very subtle wash and leave the white of the edge as a paper white. Then I will use hatching technique. This one is important so I think before I make brushstroke, which can be a bit stressful, hedging to sculpt the shape. I will leave the highlights at this stage so it will be easier to work afterwards. We've done a value study already, and I know how it would look like. This is so helpful, I don't have to think about it in this stage anymore. Now I want to focus on this complex value transition. Light parts lift out the paint, correct the edges, and then work on it like on sculpture. Lift out even more of this pigment and continue with another part. When working on such a complex shape, every brush stroke is intentional. But of course, no worries if you made a mistake. Flowers are wonderful subjects for this matter. You can always correct them, or you could turn it into some wonderful effect. Otherwise you wouldn't plan. I will continue painting. [MUSIC] We've finished all the bright red parts, and next we're going to work on the other part of the flower. You can take a break, get yourself a hot beverage. Take a look at your wonderful result, you should be very proud. Then join me in the next video and we'll be working on the middle petals in this area. 10. Painting Middle Petals: Let's get to painting right away. You remember we've tested color mixes earlier. Now I'm going to show you another subtle mix that looks so wonderful. I have my porcelain color palette. I will use the same red, we'll pick some other red from our previous mixes. You can see it but it's the same colors. I will add it just to have some color transition and of course, cadmium orange. Now I will add phthalo green. Here's my color palette. Phthalo green, very beautiful color. Green is complimentary color to the red, so when mixed they create a rich gray hue, let me show you. You can control the intensity of the color by adding more pigment. This gray is very beautiful. Of course you can take the already mixed gray like Payne's gray, but it will be very different. We're adding cadmium orange to test the subtle mix. I will use very subtle wash of this color for the middle petals, this way we'll have a beautiful transition between the various parts of the flower. This will be amazing mix for this part. This is our plan. Let me test it on paper first. It looks very nice. I took away the pellet, but you saw what colors I'm using. You can always add a bit of orange or some intensive red if you feel like it. Using the grayish mix and some drop from our red palette I paint the first layer. You can see that it's much lighter than the other elements. Again, this is where our value study is so helpful. I don't have to think about it at this stage. I already know that the middle petals are much lighter than the rest of the image. The biggest mistake I usually make is to paint everything darker and then it's really hard to lighten it up. That's why I tried to be as intentional as possible when working on the complex image. I can already put a hint of a pattern on this petal. The direction of the brush stroke and the shape behind the focal point, then I will add second layer. Some artist when working on botanical imagery use so many layers. I prefer to use just several because I'm too impatient for very slow work. But I found that just a few layers can be enough. The second layer with a more of a orange. Of course you can always light it up with water if you feel that it's too dark. I add this pattern drop of red. I leave a lot of space free of brushstrokes, so it will not be so busy. I need to lighten it to have a smooth transition or it will look too graphic like so. I will continue working on other petals in the same way for the first layer of subtle mix and then the second one. [MUSIC] It's very important to paint with an angle that's comfortable for your hand. I'll use a paper sheet underneath my hand to avoid smudging of the paint or on the pencil. For example if you work with charcoal on top or something like this, is essential to protect your hand while to protect your drawing actually. I will continue working on the petals further. [MUSIC] I'm happy to see how it turned out. Our next step is to work on the right side of the rose, and we will do it right in the next video. 11. Painting Low Petals: Welcome back. We're working on this right-side petal. I will use the same color mix. Notice the shapes of these petals. It makes sense to work with wide brush strokes and subtle gradients. I paint the first layer, dip my brush in cadmium orange. This color shines brighter than in other parts of the flowers. I mix the gradient right on paper. Cadmium orange with the red, create this beautiful color transition. I add water if I want to lighten it up and move the pigment right on the paper surface. I will continue in the same manner. [MUSIC] Now, I want to add interest with some stripes. I dip my brush in cadmium orange and paint a pattern like so. It's like a hatching technique where there is a gap between these lines. Keep in mind the direction of the strokes. If you're basing the rows would mean take a look at the final artwork. You will find that in class resources. You can check the direction of the lines there. The finished artwork will be a great help. This effect will add interest and dimension to your artwork. If your stripes are here, they're pointing like so. You can smudge the stroke and bad if it's too crisp. If you feel like it, of course. It's very intuitive and I will continue. [MUSIC] We're almost done. All that's left is to add depth and drama to our painting. We will do that by adding more layers and shadows, especially in this area right here. You can join me in the next part. 12. Adding Shadows on Dark: That's great you're still here. Before we continue, let's check the compasses with our various study. At this stage I think our rose has not enough contrast, especially here. I painted dramatic shadows in the middle and at this part and then relate everything else to these choices, that's my big plan. It's always helpful to check the valid study from time to time. I will use red from our mix, test it again just in case something changed. You can add a bit of green if you want to make it darker. I start with the top left corner of this petal, painting the edge with a darker mix. The contrast is pretty intense so I work near the edges. I think this lines are too sharp, lets minimize it bit with a fringe brush and clear water like so. Now it looks better maybe even more. According to your feel, if you like sharp edges, that's totally fine. That's right. I continue to use darker mix. I will add a bit of green, you can see the difference right away. The mix is much darker when you add green to the red. You can use it for shadows on any painting, that's a great color combination for each shadow. I think I will need more orange, our favorite cadmium orange, our secret source. I will add more orange to the mix. Try to mix the paint to create tiny ingredients even in this small areas. Don't forget to avoid this white borders and of course, blur it was water when you feel that something is too graphic looking. I'll work on other petals, I use various techniques we've learned to support the general shape, and sometimes I will lift up the paint or wash it. [MUSIC] The front petals are very important so I want to make really dark shadow. You can add green to the mix for this very dramatic effect like we did before, but not too much otherwise it will make too much of a contrast. Or you can use some other color like perylene maroon, like we also saw in previous examples. On this petal I want to paint some folds almost like waves with red hue. I don't use any orange here, this way this part will look differently. When we did the value study, we practiced how to make it. Let's match it with water and soften the edges. [MUSIC] I paint intuitively trend, balance the overall value of the flower, mostly it means darkening some edges and adding a contrast. In the next video, we will continue working on the light petals. Every time I add some brush stroke, I need to balance it with another one in the overall composition, so it's an endless process. I add a few strokes here, some hatching, and we're ready to move to the next part and continue painting. 13. Adding Shadows on Light: We're almost done. It's a hard work, but it's worth it. Now, I'm going to add shadows to the light petals. All these small details make a huge difference in the final piece. I will use a very dull brushstrokes to avoid the edges. You can see the border of the edge is the lightest part here; for example, in this area. I combine two brushes, so I can work faster and add a few strokes near the edges, but never right on the edges. The direction of the brushstroke helps to support the shape and add this three-dimensional fill. Just one stroke can be enough to add a dimension. That's why it's always better to make just a few strokes if you're not so sure and try not to overwork the piece. That's a good advice and it's really hard to follow. I add darker strokes for the shadow and blur it with water. I will do the same with the rest of the white petals. [MUSIC] It feels like we need a darker color here. With Perylene Maroon or a bit of green in the mix, you can make these parts really, really darker. I prefer to use green because I can control the amount better with Perylene Maroon, it's effective, but not so much according to my taste, of course. I will add a few strokes here, a few dots here, underneath the middle part, maybe if your dots are strokes right Right and here, tiny essence, we're almost done. We did a wonderful job. I want to add a rose bud to this artwork. It's not necessary, of course, but it's a nice touch. If you want to paint along, join me in the next video, and we will continue painting. 14. Painting Rosebud: Welcome back. I'm happy to see you join me here. We've prepared a beautifully balanced composition. We have a main focus on the large shape, and then we'll paint a rose bud and leaves. Using the color mix we have, I start painting the rose bud in the same manner. I will do exactly the same, but of course considering the shape of the bud. Begin with the top left corner, with a hint of orange. It is comfortable to begin this way because I don't like to use a sheet of paper underneath my hands a lot. This way, I can be sure that I won't smudge any paint. Then I'll wash this pigment with a mop brush, aka, French brush. The second petal. I have the pencil outline, so at this stage, I don't invent anything. Very loose strokes is not that important. I'm going to wash it with a French brush like so. We will have a smooth transition. Then I will add a second layer right away. Very beautiful gradient. This brush holds a lot of water. A second layer to increase their value and support the general feel of this element, and I will continue in the same way. [MUSIC] For this element, I add a bit of green in the mix. Why? Well, because I'm already thinking about leaves, we're going to paint leaves in the next video and this lower petals will make a beautiful transition to the green stem. I paint the shape of this curve. I add just a slightly bit of green in this petals. But this will balance the whole artwork, and I make sure that there are no contrasts that are disturbing to the eyes. I continue working on this part. [MUSIC] Final touches to the flowers. I want to add brightness with vermilion, it's a very beautiful color. You'll find the various names of it in class resources. Sometimes it's called French vermilion, just a brand name. I put some strokes on the flowers and it will add brightness and vividness. Vermilion is very cheerful color with a bit of orange feel to it. Later I will even add that to the lower petals, I think. Just a few strokes, not that much, otherwise, it may cover our nuanced work. It's a bit intense color. As you've noticed, I've painted the stem near the rose bud, and everything looks pretty subtle right now. I don't want to ruin this valve with too much bold colors. I will add more nuances. [MUSIC] I decided to add French vermilion on this lower petals, like so. All this small nuances make our art special beautiful transparent effect. In the next video, we will work on leaves. You can drink some hot tea and join me in the next video. 15. Painting Leaves: Welcome back. Our magical flower needs some leaves, it will look even better, so I prepare the blue and green gradient. We've already tested it so now I can fully focus on painting and don't think about picking colors. I use this greenish blue gold halo turquoise along with Phthalo green, and then I will add a bit of red for the contrast. Beautiful gradient. And then starting from the top right, I begin to paint the leaf, alternating the colors as I go. I already know how the leaf looks like. Not any leaf, but our leaf. I have our red mix over here so I can add a bit of red if I need to for the darkness. Then with a large wide brush stroke, I continue sculpting the leaf and making this gradient right on paper. I think I will need to lift out some paint to show this shape of the leaf even better. Let's wait for a second and see if I need to do it. First, I want to show the whole leaf. Let's lift out some paint like so. The white of the paper makes a highlight like so. I will continue working on other leaves in the same manner. [MUSIC] I've worked very carefully near the edges. Why? Well, it's a good idea anyway, but especially because green will immediately affect red. Red and green are complementary colors. So I use it for shadows and dark elements like here. If it looks too dark, I will lift out the pigment. It's too dark and I think we need to lift it out like so. Green over red or red over green, will create a darker effect. Time for the left leaf. Paper on my hand helps to prevent smudging as usually, and I will continue to paint in the same way. [MUSIC] I paint the second layer with more turquoise to support the shape of this front leaf. The lower part is a bit darker. The second layer of paint will look great. At this point, I generally look at the painting and add some darker dots here and there, or lighten other parts. I want to harmonize the whole image. In the next video, we will add some final color ascends to the leaves. Of course, with a red color. We're almost done. Super tiny step is left, so hold on and then join me in the next video. After I add this final touches over here, I will use a hairdryer to save some time and to use it. See you there. 16. Painting Leaves Details: We continue. Using the red color in my case, [inaudible] red, I'm going to add patterns and textures to the leaves. I put a few drops of red paint like so and then wash it a bit with clear water like so. The paint will partly mix with the first layer, making this lovely effect. Some parts of the strokes will shine, while other parts will be desaturated. This effect is a bit unpredictable, which can add this painterly feel. I try various brushed to see what suits best. The strokes are quite random, but I always think about the shape of the leaf and the direction of the pattern like so. I use paper towel to get rid of too much water or too much paint. It's always helpful to have a paper towel in your hand for many purposes in the art world. So a few strokes, almost like painting hair. A few dots here. On the lighter parts, red can be too bright, so I need to make it subtler. A few dots over here. This should be brighter. This leave us closer to the viewer. they continue. [MUSIC] We're almost done. But now it feels like I need to add some brightness here to balance everything. I look at the flower and add this bright essence here and there. Very small details. Well, you know this feeling where they just can't stop, so to speak improving the piece. I can use the vermilion, a very bright color or any bright red will help to make everything brighter. I think it's finished. I'm really happy with the result and I'm sure you've created a beautiful artwork. Don't forget to share it. It is so difficult to stop and to finally decide that the artwork is ready. If you're looking for more, I can't wait to meet you in the next video, we will explore digital paintings together. You can use iPad or Photoshop or any other software. This will be a fun adventure. Our painting looks wonderful. I'm so curious to see what you create using this techniques, or how you will paint with me this wonderful rose. I will meet you in the next video. One more stroke and one more. See you there. 17. Digital Painting Carnation: Welcome to the second part of the class, digital painting. For some of you, it will be much easier. Working digitally is more forgiving. You can take longer breaks, quickly correct mistakes. But we want to recreate the beauty of the flower faithfully. It means we need to use our visual perception in the same artistic way, regardless of the medium. We're going to paint a beautiful red flower. In the class resources section, you can find brushes. I'm using color palette in this sketch. This may help you to focus better on the artwork itself and just move forward. I'll be working in Procreate with the magic one, but the principles work for all the software. In the next video, I'll show you some settings. If you use another program, just keep this part and begin painting. 18. Procreate Settings: Before we start painting, I wanted to show you some settings I use when working in Procreate. I go to Settings, find Procreate and switch off Simplified Handles here. This way I can control the steps of the history better. Then I find Apple Pencil over here and I turn off this invisible touch button. I just don't like it for any option. It's just my choice. Then I go to Procreate, create a new file of any size. It doesn't matter at this stage. I go to Preferences, then adjust the controls. Turn on Disabled Touch Actions here, then I go to Assisted Drawing and make sure everything is turned off. This settings allow me to enjoy the painting process more. Well, it's because it feels more like a traditional one. Let's get started. Join me in the next video. 19. Carnation Sketch and Technique: Welcome back, and let's work on our digital beauty. I open Procreate, create a new canvas, the size is 3,000 by 3,000 pixels. I've created these three brushes. You can find them in class resources when working from computer. These are really nice. Here you can find a color palette I'm using. I work in the night mode on my iPad. It's better for the eyes. Some colors may look different on the screen. Now, I'm going to add the sketch I've prepared. We will work on top of that. For this sketch, I'm using just a standard pencil. Here's the basic layer that has the usual pencil. I'm thinking about the shadows, their direction, or the patterns that I want to add. It helps me to create the mood of the painting and thinking about this carnation and how it will look like. I'm hedging very quick lines here or here. You can use double-tap for undo, like so, it's very easy. In Procreate, I want to put the sketch a bit closer to the top, so I use the selection tool and drag it like so, then I want to change the opacity. I change the opacity over here and here we go. I create a new layer. Using selection tool freehand, I'm going to outline the shape of the petal. Then I'm going to pick a color from palette. One step at a time. I outline the shape of the petal. We already have the sketch, so it's much easier. Then I'm going to pick a color and just drag-and-drop it like so. You'll find both warm and cold color palettes just in case and of course you can use your own. Then I will use one of my brushes. This is carnation petal brush. Here you can change the opacity or density of the size and intensity, and these in pale pink. I'm working on the stripes of the petal, like so. Then another color closer to the edge. The shape is still selected. You can see that whatever I do, I work inside this initial selection. Of course you can use Alpha Lock option when you just lock the layer and work on it. I'll show you how to do this in a minute and just my way to do it. Next step, smudge tool and the brush called edges. I smash some edges of the brush strokes to create smooth transitions, but not entirely so we can still support the pattern, like so. As usually you can change the intensity of the brush. We make the surface smooth, but still keep the pattern. Now deselect. You can move around this petal if you want with selection. Now when it's de-selected, we can smudge the edges like so. I'm making the smooth shape. We're softening the edges, almost blurring it with background. Beautiful. You can move it around if you want by using selection tool. My plan is to work in the same manner on the rest of the petals. We have the outlines, so would be much easier. I will add new layers. For every petal, I will add a new layer over here. Let me show you what I told you about Alpha lock. It's here. Let me smoothen up a bit more. Let's get back to Alpha lock. You can choose it here and this way you will work only on the selected layer. It's just another way to focus on one selection. You can test my brushes and color palettes to see if you like it, or maybe you prefer using your own options, that's totally fine, just explore what suits your style best, what textures you like, the intensity, transparency, everything. It's all very personal. This texture will work on top. You will see. Join me in the next video. 20. Painting Petals: Welcome back, and we continue working on the other petals. I have created a new layer. Then I make the outline using the free hand selection tool like so on top of the sketch and then drop a color like so. Then I pick a lighter color and paint the stripes like so. After that, I will pick the lightest color which will be almost white, and add the bright spots, and then smudge everything. Now the lightest color, almost white, so you can see the contrast. Then I will smudge everything for the smooth effect. I have tried it before, and now I'm smudging the edges of the stripes, but not super strong. We want the petal to be seen, to be recognizable. Then I smoothen the edges. Of course, I need to deselect the layer, those close to the edges, and beautiful shape of the petal. The sketch helps me to see the bigger picture. That's right. I will create a new layer and continue working in the same manner. [MUSIC] Now we can add shadow. Let's Alpha lock the petal. Then using a darker red, paint the shadow. This will create a three-dimensional field. I use Alpha lock when working inside the shape of the petal and turn it off when I want to smudge it with a white over Canvas like so. You can always undo the strokes you don't like. The smudging works great, this way when you use the white as a negative space. I will go on. [MUSIC] We've painted a lot of beautiful petals and there's still a lot to do. I have too many layers, so I'll pinch them like that. It will match them. Then I can continue working on the lower petal. As a told you I'm working in the night mode on my iPad so everything looks warm. You may have different colors. I will upload the two color palettes for you just in case. This one is so lovely. Now, the darker parts, you can begin with darker color or begin with the lightest being or even with white, it doesn't matter. You will have the beautiful pattern any way. You can experiment and try combining some patterns, petals with just one color of the petal and see how it looks and work intuitively. Merging, smudging hides all the mistakes. It's such a nice tool. Let's see if I'm working right. It's okay. I can see the sketch underneath my painting. It helps me to create a better shadow. Otherwise I would be lost in this large shape. Now I define the shadows, match them a bit. It's always a good idea to change their percentage, to check the outline from time to time to see where to put shadow or if you have some other doubts and I continue. [MUSIC] We're almost finished with this first layer, I'm working on the upper petal. I have a lot of layers again. We'll need to merge them for sure. In the next videos we'll correct some shapes, unite the whole artwork, paint the stem, and then add textures with a special brush. We have a lot of things to do. This is our plan, let's merge the layers. Sometimes it's tricky. I get used to work in Photoshop so all these gestures are nice but unusual. Let's move to the next part. 21. Adding Texture: Welcome back. We've painted a lovely flower. I merged the layers so you can see it here. Even without the sketch, our flower looks great. You can always switch off the outline to see if it works. Now, I'm going to define some shapes better using the light color and the petal brush or any brush with harder edge. I brighten the areas of the petals especially near the edges to make them pop. This will work best near the shadows. So you'll have this contrast of light and dark pink-red here. I'm sculpting the shapes, correcting some mistakes. If I don't like the way the button works, I correct it with a lighter color. Then with a darker color, I will increase the depth. You can rotate the Canvas so it will be much more comfortable for you, for your hand to work on the direction of the line of the brush stroke. I know that some artists like to use special glove when they are working on the screen, I got one myself but I haven't tried it yet. I increase the shadows now with a dark red, I correct the shapes, add some borders' edges, and then I will swatch it so it won't be too crispy. The middle of the flower looks a bit unsure so I will work on it too. Here we have a crazy mix of petals. It's okay, I don't have to paint every tiny detail. Well, I love to paint details, but maybe your style is different, it all depends on you. But this part is just too messy and a bit weird so I want to define it better. I will continue with the rest of the flower. [MUSIC] Now the small but very important part, the stem. Let's turn on the sketch actually to see it. We'll create a new layer and fill it freely with yellow. I use a brush. Note that I paint very sketchy, so I don't try to be super precise. Then I add green. This is shadow. Note that I paint just the part of this tiny leaf, not the entire stem with green, like so. More green here. Then I will smudge everything just like we did before. Like so. A very beautiful effect. It's just a small element of our painting so it won't be lost on the Canvas. We don't need the outline anymore. I'm working without the outline. I love how the painterly fill of the stem looks like. Now, the secret cells. We will take a texture brush and add texture all over the place with a light pink. This is our plant but before I need to correct the stem a little bit more. Let's define the shadow better, let's make it more intense and smudge it again. If you use other colors, maybe you only need just a few strokes and no details at all. Who knows? That's it. We're ready for the secret sauce part, which is texture. I pick a bright light pink texture brush, it looks like this, you can test it and do, and then I add it almost everywhere. You can see how it makes the flower look even better. It makes a lovely subtle texture. I added a few lines there, it gives a lovely vintage feel and of course, on the stem too, and especially important to add it with this pink color, so not with the same color as we used to understand. A bit here. It also has some blurry effect. Now I can see that I need to correct some shapes again after the texture is added. We're almost done. Texture on stem, beautiful effect. You can smudge it a bit if you feel that it's too intense. There is one more demo left where we will add background. It will look very effective. This will be in the next video. Meanwhile, I need to correct a few shapes, especially this middle part that catches my attention all the time. Now it looks better. Join me in the next video. We're almost done. 22. Adding Background and Details: Super, we're back for the final part. I can't wait to show you my method of working with background. Let's add it right away. We create a new layer, insert a photo. You have this file in class resources. It's a vintage paper. I will rotate it a bit. I also want to twist the color of it to make it more interesting, so I will go to adjustments. For this purpose, big hue, saturation, and brightness, and play with parameters a bit like so. It already looks great. But it's not the finished piece. We will do more magic. Then I create a new layer. Again, I add this vintage paper on top, and I will change the layer properties or parameter to color burn. Wow, that effect looks great. I changed the opacity, so it won't be too intense. Again, you can have different colors because of the screen mode. You can play around with settings to find a perfect look. But I really love this effect. Wonderful. It looks like old masters painting. You can play with parameters. Define the perfect combination. Beautiful, very intense. I guess it will have a lot of layers now that we don't need, so I can get rid of them and delete things we don't need. The sketch should be removed, not should be, but we don't need it anymore. Now it's clean, and what I'm going to do is to smudge the stem a little bit. This will help to unite the artwork. This will help to unite the artwork with a background like so. It should be very subtle, smudging. The stem should be still recognizable by the edges. We'll blur. I will do the same with the parts of the petals. This will help our artwork to look more painterly. This is my favorite part. When everything else is ready, you can't make any mistakes anymore, or you can just press Undo, not press, but like with gestures. Now you're just holding the image on these tiny details, correcting the shapes, and making it even better. I will continue. [MUSIC] I can't believe it, but we've finished the artwork and the last step is to share it. There are various formats. I usually choose JPEG, so share JPEG, and then I choose save the image so it will be in my gallery. This option. Yes. I hope you already know what you want to create. Or maybe you're painting with me, which is great. In this case, you can try different backgrounds, for example you can play around with textures, play with the settings, try various effects and parameters. Even the small change can look very different. I'll see you in the next video. We'll talk about your project for this class. 23. Your Project: Now we've created a lot of botanical beauty together. Your assignment is to create your flower artwork using any tips from the class and share the process along the way. I'd love to see your works posted in the project gallery. You can follow my instructions or surprise us with a special flower that you adore. Maybe there is some serious story involved or you have your own garden, which is great, tell us about it. You can share your art on Instagram too. If you'd like to be featured, don't forget to tag me right on the images so I could find it. 24. Final Thoughts: Thanks so much for joining me. I really hope you've got inspired to create botanical beauty, and that you will share it in the project gallery. There are no rules, no pressure, just your artistic vision. If you enjoyed this class, don't forget to press the "Follow" button above. You will hear some news, and participate in new ways with great prizes. You can also check my other classes here on Skillshare. If you love to experiment, and work with mixed media, there are tons of inspiring topics. I hope you'll check it out. You can also follow me on Instagram. Well, I think, that's the most important information for today. From this very moment, I begin to wait for your artworks very impatiently. Thanks again, and see you next time.