Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi. Would you like to learn how to paint these adorable puffins and how to create grass
and the rocks around them using watercolors. I'll be happy to
show you how to do this in this Skillshare class. I'm Chris, I'm a professional watercolor
artist and teacher. Back in 2012, I discovered
my love for watercolors, and ever since it has
become my greatest passion. In fact, I turned
my passion into my profession and since 2019, I've been teaching online, sharing my knowledge and helping others understand the
beauty of this medium. In this Skillshare class, we'll be focusing on
painting puffins. I'll guide you
step-by-step in creating a realistic painting of
these adorable birds. Throughout the class,
you will learn and practice skills, techniques, and concepts that will help you to create this amazing painting. I'll provide you with all helpful resources that
will help you to get started. This includes a
comprehensive list of the supplies I used
for the painting. Ready to print, line
drawings in various sizes, along with step-by-step photos that demonstrate the
painting process. And of course a reference photo. You can also refer
to my finished painting for inspiration
and guidance. If you're ready to start
creating something beautiful, Then let's jump right
in and get started.
2. Class Project: For your class project, I'd like you to
challenge yourself and have a go at the
entire painting. However, I know that
for some of you, the entire painting
may be overwhelming. So if you feel that the
whole painting is too much, you can focus on just one
area to make a study of it. E.g. you can choose to
paint only the grass or rocks to perfect your
technique in those areas. Alternatively, you can choose
to paint just one bird or just the head of
the bird to capture the details and
textures of the Puffin. Whether you decide to paint the entire painting or
just a study of one area. I encourage you to
share your painting in progress photos
with the class. You can upload them to the projects and
resources section. By clicking on the
Create Project button, you can add a short description
of your process and any challenges you faced
during your creative process. This will help
other students and allow them and me to
provide feedback, Support. If you have any
questions along the way, feel free to ask anything
in the discussion section, I'll be very happy to
answer all your questions and assist you in this
painting process. I also highly recommend that
before you start painting, you first watch each lesson to get familiar with what you're going to do and be better
prepared for what to expect. It will help you to paint
with more confidence and comfort because you
will know your goal.
3. Resources: To help you get started
with the project, I have prepared several
resources for you. You can find them in the
projects and resources section. Please note that they
are available in the web version of
this Skillshare, not in the app. In the resources you'll
find a PDF file with a list of all the supplies
I used for this painting. You don't need exactly
the same supplies. Feel free to use your
favorite art materials, especially your favorite
paints and brushes. The only thing I
highly recommend is to use 100% cotton paper. You will also find
a reference photo, work in progress photos and my finished
painting for reference. You can also find line drawings. I've prepared for
different sizes of line drawings for
you so that you can just print the one you
prefer and transfer onto your watercolor paper
using your preferred method. I painted the Buffon's
in 12 by nine size, but you may want to paint
in a different size. There is also a JPEG file
with the line drawing. It is not size, so you can re-size
it however you like if you want to paint in a
completely different size. And if you would like me to
prepare a line drawing in any size you like that is
not listed in the resources, then you can just contact me and I'll be happy
to do this for you.
4. Background - Underlayer: Hello everyone. Today we're going to start
painting the puffins. The reference photo
comes from Pixabay because these birds don't
live in my country, so I couldn't take
photos of them. These birds have been a very
common request from you. I wanted to find a good reference photo and sometimes it takes a long time. But here I am. As you can see, the colors in the reference
photo or different, they are not as saturated
as in my painting. You've heard this a lot, but I can't stress it enough. Colors are always less
important than tonal values. If you keep the tonal
values correct, you can change the
colors however you like, and it will all
look good anyway. Looking at the photo, I knew that I would have to
make the colors more intense. But the reference photo is always a very good
starting point. I liked the general
color composition. The only thing I did
was to intensify the saturation composition wise. I think it's a great photo. However, I cropped
database in order to get rid of some
of the background. Focus on the birds a
little bit more and also to match the proportions
to a standard size. And the size of my
painting is 12 by nine. We're going to start painting
from the background. And I think that it
will be easier to paint if we mask out the birds. We will have more freedom
in our brushstrokes. We won't have to worry about painting around the bird shape. I'm going to use
Winsor and Newtons masking fluid with
a yellow tinge. As always, I'm going
to wet my brush, rub it on a bar of soap, and then mask out the
edges of the birds. When the masking
is completely dry, we can start painting
the background. I'm going to use the
brush size 12th. First, let's prepare our colors. I'm using a spray bottle with clean water and spray my
paints to activate them. It will be easier
to pick them up. We're going to need ultramarine
blue and burnt sienna. I'm looking now at the right-hand
side of the background. We're going to paint
it in two sections. We're going to start from
the right-hand side, and then when it dries, we will paint the
left-hand side. At this stage, we want to
apply very basic colors, the main colors that we can see. If we squint our eyes or
if we blurred the picture, we can see better
the main colors without being distracted
by the details. In the bottom right
corner there is grass, which also has
some green colors. We also need to
make some greens, since we already have
ultramarine blue. Let's mix it with
transparent yellow. We're trying to use
the same colors as long as we can to
keep the color harmony. That's why I'm not introducing another ready-made
green here, e.g. because I know that I
can mix the color I need from one color
I have already used. So ultramarine blue and an
additional transparent yellow. This way, the blue is
still in the green, so the colors stay within
the same limited range. We can also add some burnt sienna to that
green to shift the hue. We will see how it goes
during the painting. I'm starting by
wetting the area. I'm going to paint on the
left from the Puffin, go over the water also
on that grass and Iraq. We want this blurry background
to be behind the grass. So at this stage, we're going to paint the
light background and later we're going to paint
a darker grass on top. After wetting the paper. Pick up the blue and
applied behind the bird. While you're painting, change
the color to burnt sienna. I can see in the photo that blurry background is actually
rocks in the distance. There is a very
subtle blue there. And as you can see, I'm making it much
more saturated. I want to suggest
the sky in the back. That's why I'm using
stronger blue. I think that this blue behind the birds create a nice
illusion of space. I'm using ultramarine
blue and burnt sienna. Also because ultramarine
blue is a granulating color. And with burnt sienna, it creates that nice
granulation effect, which looks nice on the rocks. Even though it's
just a suggestion of the rocks in the distance. The important thing
here is also to keep the painting at a slight angle and allow the paint
to flow down. The reason for that
is because this way we can create
vertical shapes, which also indicates that there is something
really high in the background and the birds
are standing very high also, we can indicate that height. Also by painting elongated
vertical shapes. I'm also adding a touch
of green to suggest some grasses under
rocks in the distance. Notice that I tried to keep everything really wet and wet. I see that some
areas are starting to dry out before
I add the paint. I'm wetting that area
with clean water. I'm also trying to paint around the rocks to keep
their sharp edges. At the bottom, I'm
using more green. And that painting, any details, this is just the
base, the foundation. There is more brown
close to the rocks. Notice that I'm trying
to keep the edge soft. I call this kind of
edge a forgotten edge. The idea is that when you
don't know at this point, what you're going to do
with it. Just live it. Forget about it for now, but keep it soft. Blend it out. Try to avoid
getting a sharp edge. Later on when you come
back to this place, you can make a sharp
edge if there is a need or you can
continue painting, creating smooth
color transitions because this soft edge
will allow for that. Now leave this
right-hand side to dry. And when it's dry. Let's paint the left-hand side. Again, we're focusing only on the main colors, big shapes. We're painting
just an under wash with a light tone of
the final colors. You may ask, how do I
know which colors to use? The answer is actually
very simple and it applies to almost every
painting at this stage. I almost always look at the lightest color I can
see in the reference photo. I'm using this color in
the initial wash, e.g. here, the lightest grass blades
or light green and brown. I'm applying a light
tone of these colors because I know that
in the next layers, I can make some areas darker while the grass blades
will remain light. In watercolor painting, it's best to think from
light to dark. You have to think beforehand
which areas are the lightest in terms of tonal value and
how you can keep them light. Sometimes you just
paint around them. Other times you need to
protect them somehow. E.g. by using masking fluid in oil painting or acrylic
painting, It's different. I'm not an expert, but I think that you
first apply dark tones. You block in the beak
shapes of darker colors. And then you can apply lighter
and lighter colors on top. In watercolor painting, it's
practically impossible. And this is one of
the reasons why it is considered as a
difficult technique. I'm wearing the
left-hand side of the painting and I'm
celebrating the fact that I don't have
to carefully paint around the birds because
they are masked out. That's always such a relief. I'm applying my main
colors, greens and browns. I'm trying to keep the edge soft and keep in mind
there is a rack. Sorry, I'm trying to
keep away from it. Notice that I'm using
a big brush and I'm painting big
patches of colors, allowing them to
mingle on the paper. It's important to
keep everything wet, allow the colors to mix and create smooth
color transitions. Close to the bird, I'm using a stronger mix of ultramarine blue
and burnt sienna. This area will be
much darker later. Now leave everything to dry. And in the next part, we're going to continue
painting the grass.
5. Grass - Layer 1: The first, initial layer in the background is
now completely dry. Notice that in the grass
areas we now have more or less the color of the
lightest grass blades. So now we have to
figure out what we can do in order to
protect this color. If we were painting with oils, we would first apply
the darkest tones here. And then we would use
a very thin brush and a light tone to paint
individual grass blades. It would be much,
much, much easier. In watercolors. We have to find a different way. We're going to use a dip pen. If you don't have a deep pen, it can be a different tool
that will allow you to apply long thin lines
of masking fluid. Maybe a ruling pen may be an embossing tool or
perhaps a needle. However, I found that
a deep pen works best. It's also not very expensive. I think it's good to have it because sometimes
it comes in handy. I'm putting masking fluid
into a smaller container, into an old cap from
masking fluid bottle. First, dip the pen
in the masking and test the flow on
a piece of paper. When the flow is smooth, start applying it on the paper. Create many, many, many lines indicating individual
grass blades. Obviously, we can't paint them exactly as they are in
the reference photo. But we want to create that impression of
lush grass texture. What we are doing
now at this stage is that we are protecting
the lightest grasses. We can see in the photo when
we remove the masking later, these grass blades
will have the color of the first layer that
is now on the paper. Here. I hope you can see better how I'm applying the masking. I'm trying to paint
lots of lines, paying attention to their
shape and direction. They can overlap each other, curve to the right
or to the left. But in general, I'm trying to keep that flow from
top to bottom. On the left-hand side, there are grasses that
grow more horizontally. Don't forget about
them and change the direction according to what you can see in
the reference photo. Here's how it looks now. We can do the same thing in
the bottom-right corner, but here the grass grows
at a different angle. So try to recreate
that in your painting. I also have to mention that this is the first layer of masking. And we're going to
apply to more layers. So don't cover the entire
area with masking. Now, leave some spaces
between the grass blades for more grass blades
in the next layers. When it's so dry, which shouldn't take long, maybe a few minutes, we can apply another
layer of paint. Before we start
painting the grass, I suggest that we quickly paint this small triangular rock
tucked behind the grass. I think it'll look
so rather lovely. So I decided to keep it. Many times. It's a good idea to eliminate some elements
from a painting. But this one I think
looks very nice. I'm going to use a brush size eight and a mix of burnt
sienna with ultramarine blue. I'm starting from the most
prominent dark shape side of the rock that
is in the shadow. And I'm applying a light
tone of my neutral brown. I'm creating a forgotten edge. So I'm softening that
edge towards the grass. Now with the same color
but a much lighter tone. I'm painting the top
side of the rock. I'm just touching the
brush in a few spots, leaving some white
gaps. And that's it. I'm softening some of the edges and I'm leaving
some of them sharp. Now when everything is dry, we can apply another
layer on the grass. I'm looking at the colors and
I can see that in general, the darker tone is
more in the corner. On the right, there
is more green and the color changes into
brown towards the lower part. That's all the
information I need. There is also a dark part of
the rock behind the grass. I'm mixing burnt sienna with ultramarine blue and
also Payne's gray. This time, I'm using Payne's
gray because it allows me to darken the color much more
and I need a very dark tone. My green is again mix
of ultramarine blue, transparent yellow, and
a touch of burnt sienna. I'm going to use a
brush size 12 again, because we need to think
in big shapes now, we don't want to get
caught into details. I'm painting wet
on dry this time. But as you can see, the paint is quite well diluted. I'm sure that I can quickly soften any unwanted sharp edges, like here on the
right-hand side, close to the rock. The idea now is to
darken the spaces between the grass blades to
create the depth of colors. I keep in mind that
when I'm going down, I need to change the
color mode to brown with a darker Payne's gray. I'm also suggesting a dark
rock behind the grass. Notice that because we have
mass cow the grass blades, they will be in
front of the rocks. Here I can see some
rocks as well. So I'm trying to create
that rug shape and I'm also painting around the
rocks laying on the ground. Everything now is very general. We're focusing on the beak
shapes and tonal values. The further we go, the more details we will apply. Repeat that in the
bottom-right corner. Start with a bright green
with more transparent yellow. And going down, play
with the colors. Remember, you don't have
to use the same colors. Most importantly, tried to
build the tonal values. I want to get a very
dark turquoise here, a mix of ultramarine blue, Payne's gray and
transparent yellow. My colors are changing on
the palette very quickly. I'm just using what I have, what I think would look
nice in the painting. As long as I'm using the
same colors all the time, I know everything will look good and I will keep
the color harmony. Leave everything to dry
completely, possibly overnight.
6. Grass - Layer 2: When everything is dry, we can now create more grass. I'm using a dip pen again, and I'm adding
more grass blades. Notice that at this stage, the colors are darker than when we were applying the
first layer of grass. So now we're protecting
a darker tone. Hence the grass blades
will be darker in result, It's like creating
another level of grass. If make sense. I change the direction here
to indicate that there is a rack shelf and the grass is growing
at a different angle. I'm also adding
more grass blades in the bottom right corner. When masking fluid is dry, we can apply one
more layer of paint. I'm activating my Payne's by spraying them
with clean water. I'm going to use
a brush size 12. But also at Designers
brush size zero. Designers brush is very similar
brush to a rigger brush, but it has shorter bristles. It's a great brush for painting. Very thin lines. I'm going to need
a very dark brown. So I'm preparing a mix of burnt
sienna with Payne's gray. I also have my green on
my palette and mix of transparent yellow
with ultramarine blue and Payne's gray. We will also need
pure burnt sienna. Now again, I'm applying
another layer to darken the spaces between the grass
blades to deepen the color, to create another
level of depth. It is actually similar to the negative painting technique. But instead of carefully
painting around the object. So around our grass blades, we protected them
with masking fluid. Here you can change
the direction. Probably there is
another rack shelf here, and that's why the grass here
grows more horizontally. Reflect that in
your brushstrokes. Focus on the tonal values. Pay less attention to
the colors you're using. Now we can use a
Designers brush to add more of those
thin grass blades. I'm using green furthest. They look like hair. Tried to paint them in different directions
so they look natural. If we paint them in
a regular manner, it won't look natural. Use different tonal values, paint some of them a
little bit lighter to suggest they are
more in the back. And those which are darker will appear to be
more in the front. Do the same in the
bottom right corner and leave everything to dry.
7. Grass - Layer 3: In this part, we're
going to just add some more colors to
the remaining areas. I can see in the
reference photo that the grass here has a
little bit different hue. The green is more fresh. I am going to use Winsor
green, yellow shade. As you can see, it's a
totally different green. Aids, more artificial. But because I already have
some colors on the paper, I know that I can apply
this green Edit will look good because the colors from the previous layer
will show through. If you don't have Winsor
green, yellow shade, you can use a different green that you have on your palette. Maybe you have a hookers green that would be a good choice. I'm painting the grass
here where the beak size 12 brush in the beginning
to create wider strokes. And then with a Designers brush, I'm adding more thin lines. There is the rock under a ten, I painted a very sharp edge. I'm going to soften it a little bit with my scrubber brush. In the bottom part, I'm adding a touch
of permanent rose. I can see that color in
the reference photo, so I want to use this
information later. I will also add a touch of
pink on the puffins belly. I'm applying basic colors here first and then while
the paint is still wet, I'm adding some grass blades. I want them to be blurred. This is just an indication
of the direction. Later when the
paint is dry here, I'm going to add more
prominent lines. There is also this area in the middle where we
can see some rocks. Don't worry about the rocks now, look at the spaces between
them and apply basic colors. Get inspiration from the photo. But remember you can do whatever you like
with your painting. Paint around the rocks, keeping their sharp edges. Start with a light tone
first to map out the colors. Later, we will darken the tones. When everything is dry, we can finally remove the
masking fluid from the grass, doesn't remove it
from the birds yet. As you can see, the
grass is light in tone. Now we can see each
layer of paint. Some of them are very light. It was the first layer
that we have protected. Others are a bit darker, and it was the second
layer of masking. I'm going to leave it
as it is because of course the grass needs
some slight adjustments, will make it look better
in the next step. But in general, I think
it looks rather nice. It would be very difficult to paint it without masking fluid. So now let's move
on to the next part where we'll be finishing
the grass and the rocks.
8. Finishing Grass and Rocks: Make sure there is no masking fluid or residue on the paper and we can
continue painting. Let's start from finishing
the grass first and preparing some browns mix of burnt sienna
with Payne's gray. And I'm very gently
glazing over the grasses. My objective here is to
add a bit more color on the lightest grasses
and maybe push some of them more to the back
by applying a darker tone. Of course, I'm changing
the color along the way. In some places I want more greenish grass blades and in other places
more brownish. The idea is to pull
everything together. Now, it's like a unifying glaze. Glaze is just a very
thin wash of color. I'm painting wet on dry, barely touching the
surface of the paper. I'm really sorry
for the glare here. Sometimes just a slight change of the angle affects the camera. I'll fix that in a minute. Now you can see better
that I'm just glazing over some areas to
add more color. I'm mixing more green, a mix of ultramarine blue
and transparent yellow, and I'm using it under
green grass on the left. Notice that my brush strokes reflect the direction
of the grass. I'm adding more
ultramarine blue here. I can see some blue
spots in this area. And I think that a bit
of blue here will create a nice contrast with the
orange elements of the birds. I'm already thinking about
some blue spots in this place, just as an ornament rather than an exact representation of what is in the reference photo. I'm darkening the area
between the rocks. In the beginning my
plan was to use masking fluid here the same
way as with the grass. And that's why the first
layer was so light. But now I thought we can do this in a little
bit different way, a way that resembles oil
or acrylic painting. So we're going to cheat
here a little bit. I'm applying darker colors now and later we're going to add some tiny details with white gouache will
not exactly white, but with an addition of gouache. I'm not very precise here. I just want to darken
this whole area and I don't really care if I get
a very smooth wash or not. If I get some blooms or not. The reason for that is because this area isn't really smooth. It's the ground
with some grasses. There is a lot of texture, so everything can happen here. And I don't mind that
I only care about the tonal values and I'm using colors that I think
would look nice here. When everything is totally dry, I'm squeezing a bit of white
gouache on my palette. I'm going to use a
spotter brush size to, you don't need a spotter
brush if you don't have it, you can use any of your
regular round brushes, but with a spotter brush, you will have more
control over the paint. I'm mixing burnt sienna and Payne's gray with white gouache. This way I get an opaque
pesto looking brown. I'm using this color to add some random spots and
short lines on the ground, suggesting maybe some dry grass, maybe some sand, maybe some
dirt, some small rocks. Wherever it is. The idea is to create
more texture here. I am also mixing my green
with the white gouache. With this opaque paint, I can create some nice light
green grass on the ground. When I'm painting
in a dark area, I'm using paint mixed
with white gouache so that it's visible
in lighter areas. I'm just using a darker
watercolor paint. Notice that all of this
is just one big chaos. These are really
just random spots and indications of grass blades. Further longer grass blades. I'm using a Designers
brush size zero. I want to apply some
blue spots here. I mix of ultramarine
blue and white gouache will give me the desired color. There is also this
tiny little flower. We can also paint it with
the help of gouache. I'm mixing Winsor yellow
deep with white gouache. And I'm starting by
painting the petals in the correct direction around
the center of the flower. Then I'm adding some darker
browns in the center. And very simply a stem
with a dark green. Now when it comes to the rocks, I'm mixing ultramarine
blue with burnt sienna. Standard, very helpful mix. I'm applying these two
colors on the rocks. I'm painting wet on dry and I'm allowing the colors
to mix on the paper. The idea now is to
create a bit of texture. So I am applying many
dots close to each other. With a darker mix. I'm indicating some more
prominent crevices in the rocks. And then using ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and even
some permanent rose. I'm adding more colors
and texture on the rocks. I want to keep them light
so I try not to exaggerate. These rocks are almost white, so I don't want to cover
them too much with paint. I'm creating more texture and
crevices and other rocks. When they are dry. I'm using a Designers
brush again to paint some grasses growing in the
front or behind the rocks. Finally, I'm adding more
distinct grass blades in the bottom-left corner area. In the reference photo,
this corner is blurred, but I thought it would be a good idea to add
some grasses here. When everything is totally dry, we can remove the masking
fluid from the birds. In the next part, we're going to start
painting the puffins.
9. Puffins - First Washes: The entire background is now finished so we can
focus on the birds. I think we can start from
the lightest elements. So from the belly and the
light parts of the head, the belly has around four. If you've seen my lesson on Christmas illustrations
and how to paint berries, you know how we can
achieve a round form, whether it's a berry, a bird's belly and Apple, or even a round form
of a flower stem. The idea is to keep in
mind three main areas. The lightest area,
the shadow area, and the reflected light area. The reflected light
area is especially important because it not
only creates a round form, but it also adds that interesting
touched to an object. This area can have a totally different color
than the object itself. And there is always
something magical when it just glows
next to the shadow. You will see how to create
this effect in a minute. I'm going to use
a brush size ten. Now. Let's start by
preparing some colors. We need gray, that's for sure. So we can use the colors
that we've already used. Burnt sienna, and you guessed
it, ultramarine blue. If we mix these two
colors on the paper, instead of mixing
them on the palette, we can get an even
more interesting look. I also keep pure burnt
sienna on my palette. First start from applying a
water glaze on the belly. We have to paint wet on
wet because we want to create smooth and
colored transitions. You can go over the pencil
lines in the upper part and in the wing area because
it will all be black. So we can easily
paint over it later. When you wet the belly, start by applying
the ultramarine blue muted down by a touch
of burnt sienna. Applied the paint creating
the shape of a crescent moon. And from now on, try to keep this shape. Imagine that the sun is coming from the upper right corner. So keep that upper
right part lighter. In the bottom left side,
apply burnt sienna. This will be our
reflected light area. We're using burnt sienna because
that's the color we used in the background and on
the grass behind the bird. So this is the reflected color. Tried to keep everything
nice and smooth, blend out any hard
edges that may occur. Repeat the process
on the other bird. When you are near legs, create a forgotten edge. Just smooth out the edge. We'll come back to that later. Repeat the process
also on the cheeks. Apply water first, applied around the yellow
spots and the eyes, and drop in some
ultramarine blue. Create that nice transition
from dark tone to light tone. You can drop in
more burnt sienna to make the colors
more interesting. When you finish, leave
everything to dry. It must be bone dry before
we apply another layer. The first layer is now dry. I think it is too
light at this point. But in order to decide whether I have to
darken it or not, I need a darker reference point. So before I decide I want to paint the dark
parts of the bird. For the black, I'm going to use a mix of burnt sienna
with Payne's gray. It's always good to
mix your own black instead of using a
ready-made black. Because it's just much more
lively and interesting. Black doesn't have to be
just a flat black color. We can shift the
hue more towards blue or brown or any
other color if we like. I'm also mixing a touch
of permanent rose. In this case, I want
this black to be slightly purple because I can
see some purple highlights. I'm starting by applying a light tone just to
map out the colors. I tried to keep within the
pencil lines this time. I want to apply
this initial layer to know where the
dark parts should be. In the next layer, I'm going to darken the
color and adjust the hue. Even though we could apply a
very dark tone straightaway, it's always better to
apply at least two layers or more if there is a need
to achieve a dark tone. This way you can gradually
adjust the tone and color. And you will also keep the
transparency of colors. Sometimes if you use
too much pigment, the paint may be
shiny when it's dry. It's especially true for
the paints made with honey. And that's one of
the reasons why I'm not a big fan of
honey based paints. So always try to build the dark colors with
at least two layers. As you can see along the way, I'm changing the colors. I'm using my permanent rose or burnt sienna or more
ultramarine blue. The reference photo is
always just to reference. It can inspire us, but we don't have to
follow it exactly. I'm mixing ultramarine blue with permanent rose to get
that lovely purple. And I'm mixing it with burnt sienna to get a
slightly muted purple. I'm using this
color on the head. I'm applying a bit of
water first because it will allow me to blend the
colors a bit smoother. Leave a forgotten edge
close to the beak. We can already drop
in some darker tones here and there to
suggest darker places. Because the surface is dump, the dark color
creates a soft edge. Repeat the process
on the second bird. The first dark
layer is now dry so we can go over it again
to darken the tone. This time I'm switching to a softer regular round
brush, a size four. I decided to switch
to this brush because this brush has
software bristles. So when I'm painting over the
previously applied paint, it will not wrap the
previous layer too much. I just want to gently
apply another layer. Again, I'm changing
the colors according to what I applied in
the previous layer. I'm painting wet on dry
because the tone here is so dark that even if I
get some hard edges, they won't be too visible. So I don't worry about that. Here on the head,
I'm first applying a water glaze because they
want to paint wet on wet. Not only because the tones
here are much lighter, so every mistake will
be more visible. But also because I need
to create a gentle, tonal and color blends. Repeat the same process
on the other bird. Although I can clearly
see the wing here. I think it's there. And we can paint it too. I'm using the negative
painting technique to suggest some white feathers. So I'm painting around them. Now when everything is dry, we can assess
whether the belly of the bird is dark enough
or it's too light. As a thought, it's too light
and it needs some darkening. I'm switching back
to a size ten brush. I'm preparing more of my
color, ultramarine blue, muted down by a touch of burnt sienna and
pure burnt sienna. I'm applying a water
glaze on the belly. And this time I'm trying not to disturb the dark paint too much because the dark tone
may bleed into white areas. I'm dropping in my colors
on the wet surface. Notice that I'm just touching the tip of my brush
on the surface. I'm using dabbing motions of my brush instead
of brushstrokes. The reason for that
is because the paint this way is spreading
more gently and I have more control over the paint where it's
spreading and how much. My objective now is
to darken the colors. Keeping in mind that I
have to leave that bright brown on the left as
a reflected light. I added even a touch
of permanent rose on the right-hand side as a link between the purples
and blues on the head. And some pinkish areas I
painted in the ground. Darken also the
cheek of the bird and repeat the process
on the other bird. When you finish, leave
everything to dry. And in the next part, we're going to paint
the beaks and the ice.
10. Beaks and Eyes: We can move on now
to add the details. I'm going to use a
spider brush size zero. Now, I think it
should do the work. Let's start by
adding some shadows on the cheeks that we
haven't painted yet. There is a subtle shadow
on the left-hand side. I'm using ultramarine
blue with burnt sienna, a very light tone. It's darker close
to the beak and it gets lighter towards
the upper part. Here, close to the eye. We also have a
shadow and I think it's an important one because it helps to show that unique form of this particular birds had. I'm also adding more gray in
the lower part of the cheek. Notice that I'm trying to keep a lighter line close
to the dark area. This is also reflected light, which helps us to
create the round form. Now I'm shifting to a
different color family. I'm going to use
Winsor yellow deep to paint the first layer
on this yellow spot. Now I'm mixing Winsor yellow
deep with Winsor red. This makes, gives
us a nice orange, which will work great for
the beak and for the legs. I'm carefully painting the beak, leaving those characteristic
white lines and painted. If you make a mistake and
paint over those white lines, don't worry at all. We can add them later
with white gouache. This is just an initial wash, so it's not the final color yet, but I'm using a light
version of the final color. The same oranges
also in the eye. So we can use this color
to paint the iris. Now with the ultramarine blue, I'm painting the blue
part of the beak. Notice that there is a Tomoko transition
from dark to light. Play the dark tone first, then the rings and block your brush and try
to blend it out. In the bottom part, there is also a touch
of permanent rose. To darken the blue,
use Payne's gray. Whenever I see a color
or tunnel transition, I tried to use wet
on wet technique. But in such small
areas like here, I think we can easily
paint it wet on dry. We can also add
some darker lines on the beak close to
those white lines. I'm using here a mix of
orange with ultramarine blue. When the eye is dry, we can finish it by adding
the darkest elements. I switched here to
a triple zero brush and I'm applying a light
tone of Payne's gray, creating that triangular
shape of the eye. In the upper part of the iris, there is a highlight. So try to paint around it. But if you paint over it or if you leave
the white spot in the wrong place and the AI
will look weird, don't worry. Cover it with dark paint. And later we will add a white spot with
the white gouache. Go over the dark tones with another layer of Payne's
gray to darken the tone. Add some details on
the yellow spot. There are some orange lines
in a subtler shadow below it. I'm also adjusting the shadows. They are not dark
enough in some areas. Now repeat the process
on the other bird. And when you finish,
take a break. In the next part, we're going
to finish the painting.
11. Legs: Finally, it's time for the legs. As you can see, I have
some hard edges here. So before I move on
to paint the legs, I want to soften those edges. I'm just rubbing
them gently with my damp scrubber brush and I'm removing the
paint with a tissue. I think I'm going to use
a spotter brush size to be using the same
orange as for the beak. So a mix of Winsor yellow
deep and Winsor red, depending on how much
yellow or red I'm using, I can shift the color more
towards yellow or red, allow for that kind of color change down to
paint a flat orange. If there is such interplay
between two colors, it will look much
more interesting. We're applying now the
first, initial glaze. It's the main local
color upon which we're going to build a deeper
tones and some shadows. When you apply the paint, leave it to dry completely. The first layer is now bone dry. Let's prepare colors
for the second layer. We're going to need
our orange again, some mix of Winsor
yellow, deep, Winsor red. But this time we also
need something darker. We need to create a
shadow of this orange. In order to create
a shadow color, we can use an opposite
color on the color wheel. The opposite color
to orange is blue. So I'm preparing a
second puddle with a mix of Winsor yellow
and Winsor red. So my orange and I'm adding
ultramarine blue to my mix. Ultramarine blue as
an opposite color, will mute down the orange
and darken it a bit. That will work perfectly
as a shadow color. Let's use our shadow orange. Now. I'm starting from the
upper part of the legs. There are some white feathers. So using the negative
painting technique, I am creating a few feathers there by painting around them. On the food too, we can
see three web the toes. The three toes are lighter and the web between
them is darker. Thanks to that change in tone, we can create the
form of the food. I'm painting wet and dry. I'm playing my shadow color, and then I'm filling the
rest with my orange. I'm also dropping in more shadow color while
the paint is still wet. We just want to darken these triangular
shapes between toes. Pinto. So a shadow on the leg, on the left-hand side
and suggest some folds. Toes without shadows look flat. So in order to create
a bit more round form, we also have to apply
subtle shadows on them. So as you can see, I'm just applying
darker and darker color until I achieved the desired
darkness of the orange. Sometimes it's quite
difficult to describe what I'm doing exactly
because as you can see, I'm skipping from one place to another and I'm doing
this intuitively. When I darken one area, I noticed that another
place should be darker too. So it's a process of
constant adjustments. Now we also need a
black for the pulse. So mixed burnt sienna
with Payne's gray. Use this color to
paint the pulse. Now repeat the process on
the legs of another bird. Start with darker shadows to know where the
darks should go, and then adjust the tones according to the
reference photo. When you finish the legs, take a look at the ground below. Shouldn't it be a bit darker? In my case, I decided to add some more dark
texture under defeat. This dark color is also a shadow which helps
to ground the birds. There is one more thing
I have to do with a white gouache and a
tiny triple zero brush. I'm going to add a white
highlight in the eyes. I also want to paint
white lines on the beak because I've lost some of
them while I was painting. And I think I can
call it finished. I hope you enjoyed the videos. It was a real pleasure to paint
these little funny birds. I hope you'll give them a go. And thank you very
much for watching.
Krzysztof Kowalski, Watercolor artist
