Transcripts
1. INTRODUCTION: Hello, and welcome.
In this class, you'll learn how to turn a
simple pencil sketch into a lively floral
illustration using scratchy ink lines and
fresh flowing watercolor. We'll be focusing on energy
rather than perfection. Lines that breathe
and paint that moves naturally
across the paper. If you love the look of lively ink lines paired
with bright blooming color, this class will help you
create it with confidence. It's suitable for all levels, including beginners because I'm going to be guiding you
every step of the way. And I'll be sharing all
the techniques, tips, and tricks that I use in
my own professional work. The class is part of my expressive pen and ink
with watercolor series. And each lesson
contains a new subject, some different techniques, and a few unusual cheap
tools you can use. You don't need a lot to start
with, a few watercolors, two or three black
waterproof pens with different size nibs and
some watercolor paper. There's a copy of the drawing in the project
resources section, which you can choose to
draw free hand or to trace. I am a professional artist, author, and tutor,
and over the years, I've sold a lot of work
across the world and helped hundreds of people to
learn more about watercolor. You can see examples of
my work on my website. My style leans towards
impressionistic and contemporary rather
than photorealistic. I like to explore loose approaches that bring
out the colour, light, and essence
of my subjects. I've tried to
replicate this across all the many other videos
that I have on Skillshare. I'd love to see your
own finished painting, which you can upload through the project and resources tab, and I'll be sure to give you some personal
feedback on it. At the end of the class, you'll have your own beautiful artwork to be very proud of. So let's swizzle our brushes and get on with the painting.
2. Loose Pencil Sketch. Focus on overall shapes and the natural flow of the stem & petals. Avoid detail: We're going to use pen and watercolor to create this
lovely abstract flower. We'll begin softly. No pressure, no perfection, just a gentle
exploration of shape. These are the colors and
materials that I'm using, but do feel free to use
any that you already have. I've got a selection of
black waterproof pens, varying in nib size from not 0.1 up to 0.8 or one point note. You can see from
the scribbles in the attached example how
they vary in terms of light, tone, dark tone, and line width. Your faber castle pit pins, which are in sepia, go small, fine,
medium, and black. It's exactly the same principle
in that all you want is a couple of pens that vary
in tone and line weight. Regarding the
watercolor materials, I've provided lots
more information about brushes, paint, and paper, et cetera, in a
document that you can download from the
resources section. You'll also find a copy
of the drawing there, which you can choose to
draw freehand or to trace. Think of the pencil stage
as mapping the rhythm of the plant rather than
describing it perfectly. Don't worry about symmetry. Flowers are
beautifully imperfect. Notice how the stem
curves slightly, how the blossoms tilt in
different directions. We're trying to capture that
natural movement first. We're using the pencil
for guidelines, not final lines, so keep
your pressure light.
3. Scratchy Broken Line Style. Use short, textured strokes; add broken lines and marks for character. : Now we can bring in
some personality. I'm using a waterproof
black pen and going over my pencil
drawing, but not carefully. This is where we let
go a little bit. I'm starting off with quite
a small no 0.3 size nib. Now, this gives me
quite a light tone of black ink and a very
fine line as well. I like to build up
the thickness of the line and the darkness
of the line in stages, rather than trying to
go for it all at once. I don't want to overstate
the pen lines at this stage. They are easier to add
later than to take away. And I'm trying to avoid
slavishly following the pencil lines and instead
draw with more confidence. I'm using short scratchy strokes rather than smooth outlines. I am varying the
pressure a little bit to create different line
weights as I'm going around, and I'm also breaking
up some of the lines. You don't need to connect
absolutely everything. We're focusing on energy
rather than precision. It is important to
make sure that you are using a pen with
waterproof ink because this allows you to paint over
the lines later on without them smudging and it keeps
the drawing underneath crisp. Also, I did talk earlier
about having a loose drawing, but it is vital to make sure that the
drawing is accurate. There's a big difference between looseness
and carelessness. I mentioned this because once that waterproof ink has
dried, it's on for good. Switched to a 0.5 nib now, so the line will be a little bit thicker and a little bit darker. I'm not going to go over all the previous drawing that I've
done with the smaller nib, otherwise, I may as well have done that in the first place. I'm thinking about where
the areas are that need a little bit of stronger
tone and bringing out. So adding a bit more definition in between some
of the petals and I've added some detail on the little stamen and the
little dots there and dashes. But I'm still using this scratchy technique so that it doesn't look like a
children's coloring book. I'm not even sticking exactly to the thin
lines underneath. I'm varying again, where
I put my darker lines. Sometimes they're going over the lighter ones and
sometimes they're not. It all helps to build up
character and interest. I am thinking about tonal
values and light and shade. So, for instance, the
underneath of the leaf is going to be more in shade and therefore darker
than the top of it. Chi can see I'm emphasizing the underneath side of the
leaves with my darker pen. I've got a nice mixture
of light and dark tones, but I'm going to switch
my pen again and pick up my size one point note. This is a thicker nib, so it'll give me
even darker effect. I want to emphasize the
center of this main flower, so I'm adding a few
more little stamens and dots and dashes
on the center. And also just underneath the flower head where
it joins the stem, that will be in shade. I
4. Add bright, transparent colour to the petals and subtle splatter texture for energy. : And now for the magic. Because you used waterproof ink, you can paint quite freely without worrying about smudging. Now, you could pre wet each section lightly
with clean water, which would enable the
colours to mingle and blend. However, I'm using
pink, yellow, and blue. And if you mixed all those
three colors in your palette, you'd end up with a browny
sort of gray mud color. So I'm using the wet on dry technique that's
wet paint on dry paper, and I'll use the
blending technique, which I'll describe in a minute to help them
to mingle a little bit, but not overlap too much. I've started with
my lightest color, which is the handsome
yellow light. Put a little bit of
that in the center of the main flower and on the
end of a couple of petals. I'm working quite quickly, so my colors will
blend quite well. The paper work dry before I come on to put
the other colors. And to be honest, it does work better if you do work quickly. You don't want to be too
precious about this. Again, we're trying to create that loose, spontaneous
appearance. I've dropped in some cobalt
blue as well here and there. Like the yellow, it's about the consistency of tea or
milk, so quite watery. And I'm also leaving little
gaps of white for light. So you don't need to absolutely fill in every single petal. It does look better if you
leave some parts unpainted. And you don't need
to try and stay inside the lines
perfectly, either. A little bleeding outside the lines adds
freshness and interest. You've probably noticed that whilst I've had the
color on my brush, I've also been adding
a little spatter. Now, some people love splatter, others don't like it at all, so it's entirely your choice
whether you add that. And now I'm adding in
my permanent rose. As you can see, I'm hopping between one flower
and the other. And that also helps to keep
the colors a little bit separate so that
I don't get them all completely running
into one another. I'm also adding
some stronger color at the base of each petal, because it will
be more in shade, won't it, as it comes
away from the light. The blending technique,
as I mentioned earlier, is simply using a
clean damp brush to pull the color away. And you might need
to rinse your brush, clean it out in some water, dab it on some
paper towel just so it's damp and not
sopping wet and repeat that several times to get that gradation from
dark to light. It's quite good fun and
also liberating adding the watercolor because
the line drawing has done a lot of
the work for us. You do have to be a little bit careful with the
watercolor, though, because if you use opaque
or darker stronger colours, that can actually
overpower the pen lines. I am actually using a
quite limited palette, just using a few colours
here to add the washers, and that helps to keep the
painting nice and fresh. I know I've said
this once already, but don't keep to the lines. Let the wash go over
some of them in some places and not meet
them at all in others. This style is meant to
be quick and artistic. Even letting the
color bleed outside the ink edges adds
some energy and charm. Now, you can just stick with a single application of color, but I am mixing up a
little bit of stronger, thicker color and adding
that here and there, again, just to create some different
tonal values in the flower, thinking about where some
of the petals, again, might be in shade or
whether in the light. But I am still being mindful not to add this
darker color everywhere, to keep some variety
in the tonal values, and also to make
sure I leave some of those white,
unpainted spaces. I've mixed up a
mossy green colour with my light yellow and my cobalt blue and
added a little touch of permanent rose just to make it a more natural
looking green. I've just added a little bit of sap green into the mix from my palette just to vary that green color and keep
a bit more interest going. As I said, at the
beginning of the video, you don't have to follow
exactly my colour choices. In fact, you could
do the flowers with just one single
colour if you wanted. I'm adding a little bit of green splatter at the
base of the flour. Again, you don't
have to do that. You could just leave it
without anything else. And I'm using the side
of my brush to roll over that splatter just to
spread it out a little bit, so it's not quite so spotty. I was going to leave this
bottom petal completely white, but every time I looked at it, it looked like a hole, so I have actually
added some color. Not sure if it's the
right thing to do, but sometimes you do have to
make these quick decisions. I think I'm about
done, though now. Suggestion is more
powerful than overworking. The process has worked
because of contrast. We've had loose
pencil structure, scratchy, expressive ink, and
soft flowing water colour. Each stage built on
the previous one, but none of them
aimed for perfection. The goal isn't realism,
it's freshness. And we're going to
move on now to look at a very different way
of applying the ink. Now, don't forget to upload your own painting through the
project and resources tab. After all your hard work, I'd really love to see it, and I'll be sure to give
you some personal feedback. This class is part of my expressive pen and ink
with watercolor series. Each lesson focuses on
a different subject, introduces some new techniques, and even a few unusual
tools you can use. You can follow me on Skillshare to get to hear
about new classes. And if you could leave
me a short review, that would be really great. If you've enjoyed this class, it might encourage you to look at some of my other videos. I've got lots of lovely
subjects loaded with more tips and techniques to help you with your own
exciting art journey. In the meantime, thank
you for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time Happy painting.
5. FINAL THOUGHTS: All done on completing our
lovely pen and wash painting, we worked in three
natural stages, first, a pencil outline to establish
shape and movement, and then some expressive
waterproof ink applied with confident,
slightly imperfect strokes. And finally,
vibrant, transparent watercolour wash that
brought the flowers to life. We use the scratchy and broken ink technique for
texture and character. Several watercolor
techniques like wet on wet and wet on dry. I'm really looking forward to seeing the flowers
that you create. The class is part of
my expressive pen and ink with watercolor series. And each lesson
contains a new subject, some different techniques, and a few unusual cheap
tools you can use. Now, don't forget to upload your own painting through the
project and resources tab. After all your hard work,
I'd really love to see it, and I'll be sure to give
you some personal feedback. And if you've
enjoyed this video, do have a look at my other
classes on Skillshare, which are packed
with more tips and techniques to help you
on your own art journey. If you click the follow button, you'll be able to follow me, and then you'll be the first
to know when you upload a new video or any
exciting updates. And if you could
just take a moment to leave me a short review, that also would be really great. In the meantime, thank
you for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time, Happy painting.
Carrie McKenzie, creating painted visions
