Transcripts
1. Introduction: How can you develop
higher levels of realism using
watercolor pencils? What are the must
know key pieces of information on how to layer
watercolor pencil pigment? And how to activate watercolor pencil pigment
with water and a paintbrush that will help you flow
through the process more successfully and arrive
at better results. How can you avoid overworking a watercolor
pencil piece in order to arrive at
a final painting that has a glow to it
and has dimension to it? And how can you bring in traditional watercolor
paint in order to simplify the painting
process for yourself and arrive at better
well balanced results. My name is Erica and I'm a
traditional media artist working with a variety of
drawing and painting mediums. And I love challenging myself with different
kinds of subjects, ranging from still life to landscapes to animals and more. My day to day life
revolves around selling artwork locally, mentoring
students online. And I am constantly
creating a value packed, helpful resources aimed towards beginner and
intermediate artists, looking to level up
their skills and find their voice that I
share via my website, my Youtube channel,
and of course, via my membership site. I have over 15 years of experience working in
creative and artistic fields. I obtained my BA
in Graphic design, Moved on to working as a graphic designer in an advertising agency
for some time, and then I moved on to
becoming head art teacher in a school environment in which I worked at
for seven years. During those last
two years of me working at my last
regular full time job, I started building up my own
art business on the side. I started selling
decorative artwork locally. I started participating
in local art events. I was also starting
to mentor students of all different ages in
my own home studio. Once my little business
grew to a certain point, I was able to leave my
last full time job and dedicate myself fully to
continue to grow and develop it. This is when I started
taking what I was doing locally to the online space in order to reach more people. Nowadays, I'm the
happiest I've ever been. I make a full living
doing what I love, which is continuing to grow
and develop as an artist. While I encourage
others to continue on their journeys and help them develop their
skills and their voice. Watercolor pencils are such
a fun and versatile medium, they're essentially a
drawing and painting medium all wrapped up into one. Which of course in turn, also means that it can be especially confusing
for beginners getting started with watercolor
pencil to understand techniques and how to best
use them for best results. In this course, I am sharing
my full painting process for a still life composition that I painted using
watercolor pencils. And along the way,
I am sharing all of my favorite techniques
that help me arrive at higher levels of realism while bringing in lots of
myself into the piece. I am sharing all of my
favorite techniques and my simple method for arriving at higher levels of realism with
a limited amount of colors. I share everything
that I always make sure to do when I am activating watercolor pencil pigments
and doing my layering that always help me arrive at
glowing vibrant results. Before jumping into
the painting process, I also share how I choose my colors in order to
be able to develop the variety of values and also hues that are going to lead to higher levels of realism and how I give thought
to color harmony. These tips you're going to
be able to take with you to whatever watercolor pencil piece you may choose to work
on in the future. In the projects and resources
tab here on Skill Share, you're going to be able to find my downloadable outline sketch, which you can transfer onto your sheet of
watercolor paper using tracing paper or whatever your transferring
method of choice is. Which by the way, I do
have a full class on how to use tracing paper
to do your transferring in my watercolor one oh one
course that I have shared here on skill share which I would highly recommend
checking out. You're also going
to be able to find the reference photo that I use and also of course
your supply list.
2. Course Project: Hey, there, and
welcome to this class. Where I'm going to be
explaining about the project that we're going
to be working on together in this course. By the end of this course, you'll have completed
a realistic still life painting using
watercolor pencils. And yes, this is a painting, not a drawing because
we're going to be activating that pigment with
water and a paintbrush. So you can see this
piece as a painting. Now, as I mentioned
in the intro video, I will be bringing in
traditional watercolor paint to paint the background wall. However, if you'd like to leave your background completely
white with no color in it, that is totally up to you, or if you'd like to bring in any other painting medium like ink or gouache or anything like that to
paint your background, that is also perfectly fine. Have organized the
painting process in this course into eight
different phases. Each phase is going to
have a class of its own, and you're going to
be going through these eight phases to
complete your piece. Throughout these
phases, I will be explaining in depth how to plan and protect
your highlights, how to layer and
activate your color, and I will be
providing tons of tips that will help you
with water control, how to stay away from
overworking your piece, how to combine painterly and sketchier effects for more interesting and well balanced results and
much, much more. You're just getting started
with watercolor pencils, I would recommend using the same reference photo
that I'm going to be using and using the
closest colors that you have available to the ones
that I'm going to be using. But if you're already somewhat experienced with this medium, totally feel free to use your
own photo and go through the same eight
phase process with me using your very
own reference image. With all of my other classes
and tutorials that I share, it is my objective
to provide you with a solid foundation
of knowledge and techniques and tools and methods that you
can take with you and apply to whatever kind of artwork that you
may choose to work on. So if you're more experienced, I want to encourage
you to bring in more of yourself into
the piece and really use your knowledge
of the medium and your critical thinking
skills to apply these eight phases
in your own way to paint whatever subject
it is that you have chosen. To post a photo of your
work here on Skillshare, all you have to do is click on the Projects and Resources tab. Once you're in, you'll see this purple button on the right
that says submit project. When you click on this button, you'll be taken to a
new page where you'll easily be able to both upload
a photo of your piece, as well as share any thoughts, experiences, struggles or questions that you
might have for me. Here, you can create a title for your project and click on that larger content
section underneath. And if you want to add in
that photo at the beginning, you can go ahead and click on that image icon on the bottom. Find the photo that
you're wanting to share on your
computer or device, select that file, click Open, and it will be immediately added into this content section. Then under your image, share anything that you'd
like, whether it's struggles, questions, wins, aha moments that you might have had throughout this course. Anything that you'd
like to share, I always love hearing from you. At the bottom of this
content section, you'll see different icons. One is for formatting your text. The other is to add emojis, the add Image icon, which we just talked about, and you can also embed link. Free to add in even more
pictures if you'd like. They can be process
pictures, supply pictures. And over here to the right, we have this preview area
where we essentially see a thumbnail or cover
image for your project. You can go ahead
and change it to a title image that you have created in a more
horizontal format. Or you can just go
ahead and leave it as is and have it just be a cropped section of one of the images that you have
uploaded into your content area. It's up to you.
Once you're ready, go ahead and scroll back up. Click on the green Publish
button and you'll be all done. If you'd like to share your
work over on Instagram, please do just make
sure to tag me at Erica Underscore
Lancaster Underscore Art. I love seeing your
work over there and giving students
shoutouts in my stories. And, of course, go ahead and tag the Skillshare account too. It goes a very long way and inspires other students to
share their work as well. Skillshare is a
safe learning space for all of us to continue
growing together. So make sure that you're
using this gallery, and let's all connect
and help each other out. I can't wait to see your work and to help out with
whatever you might need. Let's move on to our next class.
3. Supplies: To begin, I'm going to be using an eight by ten inch ready
cut watercolor sheet from Strathmore. This is cold press. It's 140 pounds in
thickness or in weight, and it is 100% cotton. Cold press paper from Strathmore has a very small amount
of texture to it. And because it has such a
small amount of texture, I really enjoy using
it when I went to be working on a watercolor
pencil piece. And this is because the
tip of the pencil doesn't skip too much over that
texture of the paper. If you're using watercolor
paper that is more textured, the tip of your
watercolor pencils can skip over that texture
too much and leave too much visual
texture behind because your application of pigment
is not as even or uniform. I'm going to be using a total of nine different
watercolor pencils from my gold favor aqua sap
from Faber, Castile. And these colors
are cadmium yellow, which you're going to
hear me refer to as yellow as I'm moving forward
with my painting process. Dark chrome yellow, which
I'm going to be referring to as my yellow orange,
dark chrome orange, which I'm going to be referring
to as my red, orange, scarlet red, which I'm
going to be referring to as my darker red, blue violet, which I'm sometimes going
to be calling just purple, warm gray for which
I'm just gonna be calling gray, May green, which I'm just going
to be calling green, burnt ocher, which sometimes I'm gonna be calling
lighter brown. And Van **** brown, which sometimes I'll
be calling dark brown, as with most of my full
tutorials and classes, you're going to
see me swatch out these colors on a scrap
piece of paper that I have on hand so that you can see what these colors
look like on paper. And you can choose whatever
colors you have that are most similar to what
I'm gonna be using. You don't have to use these exact colors that
I'm gonna be using. As long as you use
something that's similar, your piece is going
to turn out great. I will be explaining
all about how I selected my colors and the tests that I did before moving
forward in order to have a smoother painting process
and better overall results. Alright, And like I
mentioned before, I'm also going to be painting the background wall with
traditional watercolor paint. So for this, I'm gonna be using a combination of phthalo
blue and neutral tint. But as you're gonna
see later on, when I paint that
section of the piece, you can really use whichever
dark blue color you prefer. You can use indigo. You can use a combination
of ultramarine, blue and neutral tend
to make it darker. Whatever blue or
combination of colors that allow for a darker
blue will be perfect. I'm gonna be using
three different brushes throughout this process. One of them for the activation of
watercolor pencil pigment, which is my size
two, round brush. And the other two
I'm gonna be using when I actually paint with
traditional watercolor paint. And those two brushes
are a size four, round and a three-fourths
of an inch flat brush. I used a tracing paper as
my transferring method to get my outline sketch on my
sheet of watercolor paper. I traced over the
reference photo, which you're gonna be
able to find along with your other downloadable
files in the projects and resources tab
here on Skillshare, you can use whichever
transferring method you prefer. I do have a full
class in which I take you step-by-step
through how to use tracing paper to get your outlays sketch on your
sheet of watercolor paper in my watercolor 101
course that you're gonna be able to find here on Skillshare if you're interested. I used regular three-fourths
of an inch masking tape to tape down my watercolor paper onto my black cutting mat, which is what I'm currently using as a backing
board when I am painting with watercolor or
watercolor pencils anytime, but I'm using masking tape or artist grade tape
or whatever it is. I always make sure
to run the pieces of tape over my clothes
before using it on my watercolor paper in order to soften that adhesive and
make it a lot less likely that'll damage my paper
at the end when I remove that tape for the
transferring process using tracing paper and
also to just finish up and refine my sketch
on my watercolor paper. I of course, used a few different supplies that you can see on
screen right now. I have a couple of different drawing pencil grades on hand. One of them being an HB and
the other one is a Tooby. I use my software to
be pencil grade on my tracing paper when I'm
doing my transferring process. And when it comes to drawing
on my watercolor sheet, I use my HB pencil so that I can keep things nice
and clean and light. I also have a couple of
different erasers on hand. I have a soft graphite eraser and I have a kneaded eraser. Those were also used for
the transferring and for the refinement of
my outline sketch before getting started
with the color work. Alright, moving on from there, I have a couple of blue Scott
absorbent towels on hand. This is a type of towel
that I really enjoy using whenever I am painting
with watercolor, pencil, or traditional paint in order to stay on top of
water control and do any lifting that I might need to do throughout this
painting process. I have my container with
clean water on hand, and I also have a couple of scrap pieces of paper in order to test out colors before
using them in my piece. And that is it for this
class on supplies. I'm excited to move on to
the next where I'll be talking about what
value or tone is, why it is so important to understand about
this essential, fundamental and must know tips that are going to help
you develop the skill to distinguish between different
value areas in order to make them happen successfully in your drawings and paintings. See you there.
4. Must Know Information for Success: Okay, so first thing is first, I want to talk about
the meaning of value. What does value mean
when it comes to art? And the reason why I want to talk about this is
because you're going to hear me say this word over and over again throughout
the painting process. And it's very important that if you are wanting
to develop mid to higher levels of realism
in whatever kind of artwork it is that
you want to be working on now and
in the future, you need to know
what value means. You need to be able to
develop a wide range of values and your drawings or
paintings, you see value. One is number one in realism. It's even more important
than color correctness. And what I mean by
this is if you're able to really
observe and pinpoint, highlight areas
and mid tone areas and darkest dark areas in a reference photo or whatever it is that
you are drawing or painting from direct observation that you have in front
of you in real life. So that you're able
to effectively recreate those
different value areas, those lights, those mid tones, those darkest darks
in your artwork. That is more
important than using exactly the same hue or
color that you're observing. Because it's through
that development of that wide range of values, lights, mid tones and darks, that we're able to develop
a believable sensation of depth and light and shadow
on the page or Canvas. So value is more important than color correctness than getting
the hue exactly right. Color and value are
different things. Value is part of color theory, but value otherwise
known as tone, refers to the lightness
to darkness scale, if you will, of
any single color. Whereas color or hue refers
to just the color itself. So a color or hue is
red, orange, purple, red, purple, turquoise,
ultramarine blue, viridian green. So essentially color or
hue is the color itself, the name of the color. The terms color and hue mean
exactly the same thing. But value or tone
refers to the scale of lights to darks of each
color in that artwork, in that photo, a
range of values or a value scale for each
of the colors involved, you're going to see very
light versions of the color. You're going to see mid
tone versions of the color. You're going to see darkness
versions of the color. In other words, you're going
to see different values, a multitude of different
colors in order to develop a believable sense of depth and dimension and drawings
or paintings, it's essential to develop
a full range of values. From lightest lights to a wide range of mid
tones to darkest darks. But I often see with
beginner students is that they either stay within a very
light value range for the different
colors involved, because maybe
they're a little bit scared of going too dark. And other times, other
beginners go in too dark, too fast, and forget
about the lighter values. And if we don't have
that ample range of values than the artwork
is going to look flat. It's going to lack dimension. It's going to lack that. We need to create that contrast, that balance between
lights and darks in order for a drawing or a
painting to look realistic. However, simultaneously to this, it's important to capture
those subtleties. In realism. There are no outlines, e.g. and we need to be able to see where values transition
gradually into each other when we have lost
edges and when we have stark steps where
a very dark value turns immediately into a
light value or vice versa. And through developing
our fine motor skills, we're gonna be able to make those subtleties happen in
our drawings or paintings. But first, we need to be
able to observe them in order to make them happen
in appropriate locations. And so it's very
important that in the beginning when
we were starting to learn about light behavior, that we use reference
photos that we use, things that we have
in front of us in real life that we
learn to observe because the light
situation needs to be consistent throughout
the entire piece, throughout all of the
elements involved. If the light
situation throughout our drawing or painting
is not consistent, meaning the highlights
and some elements are on the right and in other elements they
are on the left, or some cast shadows
under some elements are on the right versus
others have them on the left. And mid tones don't make sense, which is often what happens
when we are drawing or painting purely from imagination because we're making things up, that inconsistency
is going to take away from the level of
realism of the piece. After developing
foundational knowledge and skills on the fundamentals. And you've practiced with reference photos and things
you have in front of you. Then you're gonna be able to much more successfully draw or paint something from imagination
if that is your goal, because it's not
every artist school to draw or paint
from imagination. But you're gonna be
able to do it if you want more successfully. The reason we see different
values throughout objects or subjects
is because of light. If light didn't exist, we wouldn't be able
to see color and we wouldn't be able to
see different values. Light hits these three-dimensional
voluminous structures that we have in front of us from a certain location and
different planes of that object or subject are illuminated to
different degrees, depending on whether
those planes are facing towards the light, away from the light or
somewhere in-between. Whenever you're
gonna get started with a new drawing or painting, always take a moment to observe that reference photo
or whatever it is that you have in front
of you in real life. And ask yourself, where is the light source in relation
to this object or subject? Where are the
lightest value areas? Where are the mid tones, where are the darkest darks? Whereas the cast
shadow area where our structures or elements
overlapping over each other and blocking that
light from hitting that section of the object behind them are underneath them. Observe this photo that
we're gonna be using as reference for our
painting in this course. Where would you say the light source is hitting
these objects from? In this case, I can tell
that the light source is somewhere above and to the
right of these objects. And you can tell this,
especially when you observe the yellow picture, observe how the
lightest areas are on the right and the darkest
areas are on the left. You can see the
brightest highlight, especially in that
spherical section. At the bottom of the picture, you can see how the
brightest highlight is in the upper right, the planes that are
making up this structure that are facing away from
the light are darker. And then notice where
the cast shadows are, where there are shadows created by the fabric on the table. Where are the shadows created
by the picture itself? These shadows are on the lower left opposite
to the light source. Now of course, when you
have multiple light sources illuminating the object from a variety of
different locations, then that makes capturing values a little bit more difficult. So if you're just
getting started, I would always recommend choosing reference
photos are setting up still-life arrangements using only one single light source. So to sum this up, as artists, whenever we're going for mid
to higher levels of realism, whether we're into drawing
or painting landscapes, drawing or painting animals, drawing or painting
portraits are still life or really whatever
subject you're into. Whatever drawing
or painting medium it is that you're into. It's essential to
start expanding our knowledge of light behavior, which is a fundamental. And I know that
light behavior can be quite a large topic, but I assure you that even
taking your knowledge forward a little bit at a time will help you take your artwork
to the next level. And finally, I want to provide
a three must know tips for success that have helped
me and my students a lot. And these will help
you not only as you're moving forward with this
project in this course, but also in future pieces that you might
decide to work on. The first tip is make sure
that you're always using quality reference photos that show a good balance
between lights and darks. Over or underexposed
photos that are way too light or way
too dark all throughout are going to make the process
way more difficult and will likely not lead to the best results in that
drawing or painting. Makes sure that you're
able to see lights, a wide range of mid tones, darkest darks in that
reference photo or whatever it is that you have in front of you in real life, if you're not able to
see lightest lights, if you're not able
to see mid tones, if you're not able to
see darkest darks, how are you gonna be
able to make them happen in your
drawing or painting, aside from discerning
between light, midtone and dark areas, also observe when values
transition gradually into each other and where there are sharp steps between them. In realism, there's always a combination of the two and try to make these subtleties happen in your
drawings or paintings. And finally, when you're
just getting started with discerning between
different value areas, It's incredibly helpful
to practice using black and white photos or desaturated photos
or grayscale photos, which all mean the same thing. Because all of these
different values scales for this multitude of colors is going to be
compressed into one same scale, a scale of white to black, or black to white with different gray values in-between from lighter grays
to darker grays. And once you have developed
your skill for pinpointing different value areas
and making them happen successfully in your
drawings or paintings, it's gonna be so much easier for you to move on to
full color photos. That is gonna do it for
this class on value. And I cannot wait to move on to the next class where
I'll be explaining how I choose a different colors
that I'm gonna be bringing into the painting
process in order to set myself up for success so that I'm able to
effectively develop different values and
Hughes needed throughout the piece so that I can achieve that level of realism
that I'm looking for. See you there.
5. Choosing Colors : Whenever I am choosing the colors that I'm
gonna be using for a new watercolor pencil piece or traditional
watercolor painting. I always make sure to
think of three things. The first thing is, I always make sure that I am limiting the amount of colors
that I am bringing in. I am not willy nilly bringing in random colors
throughout the process. Number two thing
that I always give thought to is I have to set myself up for
success in order to be able to create
lightest value areas, mid tone areas and
darkest dark areas. And to do this, I need to think of what two to three colors
I am going to be blending or overlapping to create my mid tone areas and
my darkest dark areas, you need to know
how you're gonna be developing lightest values, a wide range of mid tones
and darkest dark areas. Especially when you're going for a higher level of realism. Because value is number one, in order to create dimension
and depth in a piece, a believable illusion
of light and shadow. So you need to set yourself
up for success and choose colors that are going
to allow you to do that. And the third thing that I
always give thought to is, how can I repeat colors
throughout my piece? This is important
because it's going to help the piece look
more harmonious. At the end, you repeat colors, and you can do this in a
variety of different ways. You can choose to use the same color throughout
different areas of your piece. You can create some type of underpainting for the
entire piece using just one color so that that one color can in some sections all
throughout your piece, glow through and be visible through those layers of color that you
place on top of it. And another idea is you can
use the exact same color to deepen and darken darkest dark areas all
throughout your piece, which is something that
I'm gonna be doing today. Alright, so for this piece, I'm going to be using
this gold fever aqua watercolor pencils
set from Faber, Castile. And what I did was, while observing that
reference photo, I started testing out colors from my
watercolor pencils set using the Malone and overlapping them,
layering them together. I replace some of them because
I didn't think the color was right and didn't like how they were
blending together. And these are the colors
that I ended up with. I'm going to swatch
out these colors on this extra sheet of paper
that I have right here, so that you can see
what they look like on paper and you can choose whatever colors
you have available there are most similar to these. I'm going to tell you
exactly which ones I'm gonna be using for the picture. Which was I'm gonna be
using for the fabric, which ones I'm gonna be using
for the flower, the table. And I'm also going to be
explaining what I'm gonna be doing for the
background wall art. So first and foremost, let me explain what we're gonna
be doing for the picture. These are the three colors
that I've selected. You can see how I have a yellow, I have an orange and
I have a red orange. These three are not only
different hues or colors, but they're also a
different value. You can see how this is
the lightest value color. This is the kind of
medium value color, and this is the
darker value color. So I know that by preparing
these three colors, not only am I going to get the hues that I want
throughout the picture, but I'm also going to
be able to develop a wide range of
values and later on, because we're working from lighter values towards
darker values. If at the end of the process I want to push darkest dark areas, I can bring in another one of
my colors that I'm gonna be using for darkest value areas in other sections of my piece, this is where that
idea of reusing that same color throughout
my piece comes in. So this is the lightest color
that I'm gonna be using. And remember that
watercolor pencils are a drawing and a painting medium
all wrapped up into one, place, pigment on paper via
a drawing medium, right? This is a pencil. So we are applying that pigment, that color on the paper
with a sharp pointy tip. And then later on after the pigment has been
applied on paper, we can bring in water and a paintbrush and create
those painterly effects. So the pressure that you're exerting on your
pencil is gonna be a great variable
that you can also use to develop lighter or darker value
areas throughout your piece. So really practice exerting more pressure or less pressure. Remember that just
like when we're working with traditional
watercolor paint, we are incorporating
the whiteness, the brightness of
the paper under the pigment as
part of the piece, especially in lightest value
areas and highlight areas. The whiteness and
the brightness of the paper stand in place
for our highlights, which is why we
don't need to bring in a white watercolor pencil. In other words, the
lighter the value, the thinner the application
of color or pigment, and the more paper we want to
shine through that pigment, and the darker the value, the more pressure we exert
and the more pigment we overlap in order to cover
up more of that paper. If we go in and
apply pigment all throughout the piece
in a very heavy way. This will likely lead to
heaviness and flatten us. And at the end, our piece will
lack that sense of dimension and glow that
we're trying to create. So in those lightest
value areas, you really want to keep more of that paper shining through. And in order to do that, you need to exert
less pressure to almost no pressure at all with your watercolor pencils
so that you can have more of that white
paper shining through, uncovered, creating that
lighter value for you. Then we have the orange. And then finally the red orange. I can go back to my medium color if I want to work on
transitions a little bit more. There you go. I was able to create a
gradient from lightest color, medium color, and darkest color. These colors look very nice when overlapped and they're gonna
do great for the picture. And here I apply the same
idea that I'm gonna be using throughout this
entire painting process. And what I mean
is I first got in the lightest color and I
applied it to a larger area. And then I went in
with my medium color and I apply that medium color, which in this case is the
orange to mid tone areas, and kept the lighter color free of this second color in
lighter value areas. And then I applied
the red orange, which is my darkest
color in a smaller area, only in the area
over here that I wanted to push darkest
values in more. And I exerted less and
less pressure as I made my way out from
this darkest value area, as well as from
this midtone area towards the lighter values, I exerted less pressure as I was filling in
that area in order for the pressure itself to help me with the transition
that I wanted to create. So these are the main colors that I'm going to be
using in the picture. And then when it
comes to the fabric, I'm going to be repeating
the red, orange. I'm going to be bringing
in a new color, which is a darker red. And I'm going to
bring in a purple. I love purple for
deep shadowy areas. And this is the color that I'm probably going
to be repeating a lot in my darker value areas
all throughout the piece, even in my picture, if at the end of the process
I feel that I want to create more contrast and really deepen and darken those
darkest value areas. I may even go in and
do a tiny bit of overlapping only in
the darkest dark areas in the picture here. But when it comes to the fabric, these are the three main colors
that I'm gonna be using. This red orange, which I had already used for the picture, is going to be my
lightest color. Then I have my medium color, which is a new darker red. And this is going to be
my darker value color, which is my purple. So this is the same color that you had already seen before. Then I have my darker red exert less pressure
as I make my way out of this darker mid-tone area
and leaving a section of just the orange shining through without
the second color. And then finally I'm bringing
in the darker purple. And I am covering up
even less and exerting less pressure as I make my way out and into the mid tones. And remember that in any area or shape throughout my fabric
that I want to create a very, very light value or where
I want to transition into lightest highlight areas and have no pigment in there at all. I'm going to make sure to
use this color with a very, very small amount of pressure in order to cover up less paper. Alright, so those
are the colors that I'm gonna be using
in the fabric. And then for this section
right here for the table, I'm going to be bringing
in two different browns, a lighter brown and
a darker brown. I'm going to keep the
table really simple. This is what this lighter
brown looks like. And I can even create a
lighter brown by using the same brown but with the
less amount of pressure. And then wherever I want to darken certain
areas on the table, I'm going to be
overlapping this darker brown on top of
the lighter brown, exerting less pressure as I make my way towards
lighter value areas. And finally, we have the
flower, which is white. And when we're using
watercolor pencils, It's the same thing as when we're using traditional
watercolor paint. We're incorporating
the whiteness of the paper as part of the piece. We have to make sure that we're protecting plenty of that paper, that we're not covering it up because it's that white paper that is going to help us make that subject or that
object look white. Well, we're painting
white objects like a white ceramic coffee cup or even animals with white fur. It's the whiteness of the paper that is going to help
us make that object or that subject look white if
we completely cover it up, it's not going to
look white anymore. However, we do need to develop different values
in those petals, in this case, or
in that firm or in that ceramic white area. Because if we don't
develop any values at all, it's going to look quite flat. So it's a balance between developing values in that
white object or subject, but being very careful not to cover up too much of
that white paper. Otherwise it's not going
to look white anymore. So for the flower, what I'm gonna be doing is I'm going to be using this gray. This is going to be
the lightest value that I go into
those petals with. And then I'm going to
use my purple again. The same purple that I have been repeating is the color
that I'm going to use in areas where
the petals are overlapping and creating
local shadows on each other. I'm going to be just overlapping this purple over that gray in certain shadow areas to develop those deeper,
darker values. And in the center of the flower, I'm going to be bringing back the yellow that I was using for the pitcher as my lightest color and the lightest value areas. I'm then going to be bringing
in the screen because I see a little bit of green in that central area
and the flower. And I'm going to be overlapping
it in mid tone areas and also in little sections here and there to develop a
little bit of texture. Then finally, if I feel
like pushing darkest, dark areas a little bit more
in that central section, I'm going to be bringing back my purple and adding it
on top of the green. This purple will work great to develop those deepest,
darkest shadow areas. Throughout the piece. I could even go into certain
sections of the table and overlap this purple
over that dark brown. So I'm going to be repeating
this color in many areas. And this is going to
lead to a way more harmonious and integrated
looking piece. At the end, I have a total
of nine colors right here. And this is really all I
need for my entire piece. I even set my watercolor
pencil set aside. I don't need any other color. I'm going to stick to
these all throughout. The very last thing that I want to explain
before jumping into the painting process is what I'm gonna be doing for
the wall in the back. So in that reference photo, that background wall is
completely flat black for this, I want to be bringing
in my artistic license. Guess I could have painted
it completely black, but I have decided to bring
in my artistic license out a little bit more color
and also interests to the piece and also harmony, of course, because I
am going to be using a bit of a triad
color scheme here. And what I mean by this is
I'm already going to have plenty of red and
yellow in my piece. So what I've decided to do is bring in a little bit of blue for my background to
create a type of triad. A triadic color scheme is when you make use
of three colors in your color wheel that create an equilateral triangle
anywhere in the color wheel. And that is going to lead to
a beautiful color harmony. The triadic color
scheme is one of these various color schemes that have been used by artists throughout history to
add interests via use of color and also
harmony in their piece. If you'd like to
learn more about color theory and
how artists have been creating this
beautiful sense of harmony using color schemes. Do make sure to check out my split primary color wheel
class here on Skillshare. It covers all of the must know information on color
theory that you should know about as a beginner
getting started with painting holler temperature,
very helpful exercises. And I provide lots
of examples of paintings created by
artists in the past in which all of this is
actually demonstrated in a final visual composition
so that you can see how all of this knowledge is
applied in the practical sense, I will be darkening the blue that I use quite a bit though. I'm going to be using an
indigo like color that I create by mixing together
neutral tint and fellow blue, so that background wall
will be pretty dark. I really liked the
fact that it is very dark in that
reference photo because it creates a lot of contrast with those lighter focal
point elements. So I want to make
sure that I use a very dark blue
background there, but we will be
painting that with just traditional
watercolor paint or whatever painting medium
do decide to bring in because it's just more practical
that way through using traditional watercolor paint in this large shape
and my background, I'm gonna be able to not
only paint it much more quickly than what
watercolor pencils would allow me to do. But I'm also going to
be able to create a nice blurred out soften effect and a subtle variety of values even throughout
the background, without creating
too much texture, It's very hard to fill in large areas with watercolor
pencils because again, we're applying
pigment on the paper via a drawing tool
that is pointy. It's not like when
you go in with a paintbrush and more water where you can very easily cover up a large area with a nice, relatively even wash
pretty quickly. We're all done with this
class on choosing colors. Hopefully you've already
been able to choose yours. In the next class,
we're actually going to get started with the
painting process. This is going to be
phase number one, where we're gonna be
applying our first layer of color all throughout
the different areas and elements in this piece. See you in the next one.
6. First Application of Color: Alright, my friend
and welcome to phase one of this
painting process. All our prep work
is out of the way. We have taken time to observe
that reference photo, to notice where the light source is in relation to these objects, we have noticed major
highlight areas, darkest areas, and we've also pre-selected the specific
colors that we're going to be bringing in in order to
develop that wide range of values and hues that we need for higher
levels of realism. Remember that the key thing here throughout this entire
process to continue remembering is that the
lightest value areas are going to have a very small
amount of pigment on them. So there is going
to be little to no application of color
and a lighter layering, if you will, of color
in lighter value areas, the darkest value areas
are going to have the heaviest application
of color on them, more layering on them in order to cover up more of
that white paper. And then the mid tone areas are gonna be
somewhere in-between. They're going to have a medium application of color in them. There's going to be some amount of paper shining through in lighter mid tones
and a less amount of paper shining through
in darker midtones. It's all about continuing to
observe the reference photo, observe the value present in that area that
you are painting in. Applying color into. And make sure that your
application of color goes hand-in-hand with the value that you're trying to develop. Remember that the pressure
that you're exerting on your paper with your pencil also should go hand in hand
with the value that you're trying to develop at no
point in this process. And my pressing down so hard
that I start burnishing. Burnishing is a drawing
technique where you press down so hard with
your drawing tool that you start creating
little indentations or flatten out any tooth
present in that paper. I really don't use the
burnishing technique at all, but do make sure that
if you're trying to develop a light value, that you're applying
little to no pressure. And you can allow
yourself to exert more and more pressure as you're getting into
darker values. If you're applying
more pressure, you're covering up more paper which leads to a darker value. If you're applying
less pressure, you're covering up less paper and you're creating
a lighter value. And finally, make sure
that you are choosing the right color for the value that you're
trying to create. If you're creating
a lighter value, choose a lighter
color that you have chosen for the area on hand. If you're working on a mid tone, makes sure that you're preparing yourself with your medium color. And if you're working
in a darker value area, you can grab the darker
color that you have chosen. So with all that said, let's go ahead and get started with the largest object here, which is the picture, the colors that I have
chosen for this object. Our yellow, red,
orange, and red. This is my cadmium yellow, my dark chrome yellow and
my dark chrome orange. We're starting from lights and making our way
towards the darks. So what I'm gonna do first
with this lighter color, not exerting much
pressure at all. Remember that it's always going
to be easier to go in and darken than it is to
go in and lighten. It will be nice and gentle. And your initial application
of color, especially, I'm trying to keep this
first layer nice and soft and as even and
uniform as possible. Can I am applying this yellow all throughout the picture
with a very small amount of pressure and especially in lightest value areas,
the highlights here. And maybe here I'll be doing a little bit of lifting
with my eraser. But the lightest
highlight areas I want almost no application
of color at all. If you haven't applied too much color and you
haven't started burnishing. Which burnishing is just a
term for when you go in and press down hard with a pencil or a colored pencil or just a drawing tool
through burnishing, you start damaging the
tooth of the paper. But what's cool is if
you haven't started to burnish and you haven't applied too much
pigment on your paper. And you haven't activated
that color with water, you can go in and
do some lifting up of excess pigment
in highlight areas. If you weren't
actually intending to place that amount
of color, are there. I'll show you how to
do that in just a bit. You're gonna notice
that I changed the direction or the angle
of my pencil strokes. This is totally okay to do as long as you're keeping the
pressure that you're exerting, even along the way, you shouldn't be left with
Stark looking lines or marks. Also consider that
we're gonna be bringing in water
and a paintbrush, and we're gonna be doing
plenty of layering. So a small amount
of patchiness or texture really
doesn't matter much, as long as it's just
a small amount, it's probably not going
to be visible in the end. I'm going to continue filling in the entire picture except for the brightest
highlights shapes. And here is where
I want to actually leave some paper shining through with no
pigment on it at all. Right here in this area. So I'm going to just skip over that area and color around it. You can even exert
less pressure as you make your way into
that bright highlight. I am going to take
my soft eraser here, going to make sure that I
clean it up before I use it. Just like rubbing it on
my cutting mat here, just so that I don't
muddy up Mike color. And once it's nice and clean, I can go ahead and gently remove some excess pigment
that I've laid down. This would be the
equivalent of lifting. If you're creating a
watercolor painting with traditional paint, you can see how easily I
was able to remove most of that pigment because I haven't really exerted much pressure. I haven't done too
much layering and I haven't activated that
pigment with water. If I had, I wouldn't
be able to do this. So if there's any area of highlight where you want to keep those areas of your paper protected with little
to no pigment on them. I would recommend doing
any erasing out or lifting that you might need to do before bringing in
the next color. I'm gonna go ahead and do a
little bit of lifting here. And maybe here. Okay, So I'm all done with that initial layer of
my lightest color. I'm gonna go ahead and
change to my second color. I would consider this
one my yellow orange. It's called dark chrome yellow in this
favorite Castile set. But whatever your
medium color is, that's where you're
going in with right now. With this medium color, what you do is you observe
your reference photo and you notice where the mid
tones and darkest darks are. And that's where we're gonna
go in and place this color. Start with your overlapping. The pressure that I'm exerting right now is exactly the same, but I was exerting
before with my yellow. But this time I am going to exert less pressure as
I'm making my way out of the mid tone areas or darkest dark areas so
that the yellow orange can transition softly
into the lighter yellow. Right here, I'm exerting a very small amount of
pressure in order to create that transition between my yellow orange into
my yellow areas. However, you will
notice that there is a sharp edge right here
created by this shadow shape. And I don't have to worry so much about creating a
soft transition where, where I have those sharp edges mostly I am
thinking of creating soft transitions where
I can actually see in that reference photo that that transition is softer
and more blurred out. So that's where
I'm making sure to also modify the amount
of pressure that I'm exerting so
that I can create a softer transition To continue working on
the second layering with my medium color
throughout this picture, constantly looking at the
reference photo and noticing where darker mid-tone areas are and darkest dark areas are, because that is where I'm
applying this medium color. I'm really not looking to apply this medium color in
lightest value of areas. I really want to keep
those lightest value areas with just my yellow. And then I'm gonna do some work in the inner planes
of this handle section, overlapping some of my medium
color over that yellow in some sections
that I'm looking to create darker midtones in. Okay, moving on to this top
part of the picture and continuing to observe a value changes in that reference photo. You can see how I am
doing this quite quickly, even though I am using a
reference photo and I'm making sure to take that
visual information. In terms of where the
different value shapes are, where the lights are located, where the mid tones are located, and where the darkest
darks are located. I am not obsessing
about getting in every single thing exactly
as I see it there. I know that different
value shapes can be slightly different
from what I'm seeing in that reference photo has long
as they are approximately the same in terms of
shape, size, and location. I can do this relatively,
roughly, are quickly. And I'm still going to arrive at a level of realism that I like. I don't have to be super, super obsessive about getting every single little thing the same way appears in
the reference photo. And I can even bring in my artistic license
to change things, which is what I'm doing
when it comes to color. I'm using purple to create
deeper shadow areas, even though I don't
necessarily see purple in the reference photo, I noticed that the side
plane of the handle and also the upper lip of the picture are both pretty light in value
in that reference photo. So I'm leaving that
first yellow just shining through completely
in those very narrow shapes. There's a very dark
shadow shape here where we're able to
see into the picture. These inner planes of the picture are facing
away from the light. Really bring to mind the three-dimensional
structure of what it is that you're shading
in and of course, the location of the light source in relation to these structures. I'm going over
certain areas here, especially where I see darker
midtones with my yellow, orange by medium color. If you find it
difficult to exert more or less pressure
when you're drawing, do drills in a sketchbook. Just practice this kind
of thing right here. Coloring in an entire shape, exerting less and less
pressure as you go, or more and more
pressure as you go. Do that kind of drill
in a sketchbook until you are able to control your drawing
tool more effectively. And also make sure that you
are loosening up your hand, your wrist or arm. If your hand and wrist ever start hurting
as you're drawing, that should not be happening. Continue reminding
yourself throughout the process to keep your
hand and your arm relaxed. I think I'm good for now. Those first two colors are
the only ones that I'm gonna be using for this first
phase of the process. I'd like activating my color once those first two colors or the first color if
I'm only using two in one area, have been placed. So let's work on
our first color or first two colors in the
different areas down here. And once I have applied
those first two colors, all throughout these
sections that I'm going to be painting
with watercolor pencil, we're going to be moving
on to the next phase in which we are going to
be activating our color. So let's move on to the fabric. The first color into fabric
is going to be my red orange, which is dark chrome orange. My second color is
going to be this red, which is scarlet red. And the third color that
I'm gonna be bringing in later is my purple, which is blue violet. So we're first getting started with the lighter
color of the bunch, which is the red, orange. So I'm just taking
a quick second to observe that reference photo. And in a general way, noticing where lightest
value areas are, where mid tone areas are, and where darkest dark areas
are throughout the fabric. So I'm just gonna go in and
I'm going to start very gently applying my first color
all throughout the fabric. Very minimal pressure here. And I am constantly observing the reference photo so that I don't accidentally apply
way too much pigment in lightest value areas. But if I do, I can go in with my eraser and do some
lifting in just a bit. I'm doing my best to keep
the pressure uniform as I am creating this
initial layer of red. I want this first application of pigment to be as
even as possible. Making my way carefully
around the white petals here. I can apply my lightest
color a lot more freely than I apply my medium
color and my darkest color. The darker I get with my colors, the more mindful I have
to be that I'm only applying those darkest colors
where I actually need them. Not to mention, because we
haven't started really doing too much heavy layering or activating of
color with water, we can always bring in
an eraser and remove excess color from those
lightest areas if we need to. But the moment we start doing too much layering or we start bringing in our darkest colors. And we start activating
our pigment with water. Trying to lighten areas is
going to be harder to do. Okay, I'm filling up this entire bottom section of the red fabric with
this first color. And then I'm going to move on to working on all of the fabric folds on the left of the
picture and the flower. I see a lot of light values in these complex fabric folds
on the left of the picture. I'm just going to try
to make them happen to the best of my abilities by noticing where those
lightest red values are in the photo. And trying to avoid a small
areas here and there that resemble the shapes of lighter values that
I see in the photo. You can see how I'm not exerting very much
pressure at all. So keeping it very light
in this first layer. Remember to use
changes in pressure to help you start creating different values
even at this point. Now that I have my
initial application of color with my red orange, I'm gonna go ahead and use my
eraser in any areas that I feel I've may be applied too much pigment on
to do some lifting. So here e.g. I think maybe I can do with
removing a bit of this. Really want to
make sure that I'm incorporating that paper as
part of the piece because this is going to help
me create that sense of glow and dimension that is so particular to translucent medium like watercolor and ink,
watercolor pencils. So just picking up some
excess pigment here. And here there is a fabric fold. I know that fabric folds can be challenging because
there's so much going on, but try to observe the curves of the fabric
that are coming up towards the light and the
curves which are facing away from the light or are receding away
from the light. Usually it's the curves
are closest to the light. They're going to be catching
most of that light. And because of that, there's gonna be a lighter value there. Another thing that
you can do if you find fabric folds overwhelming is zoom into a specific area
in that reference photo. Instead of seeing
the entire photo, zoom into specific sections and work on a section at a time. But I do want to remind
you there is no need to be overly obsessive about getting everything exactly the same. I seem to have gotten a tiny bit of color there in
my white petals. So I'm gonna go in
and just erase that out as best as they can
before moving forward. Let's move on to our next
color in the fabric, which is going to
be the scarlet red. With this one, I'm
going to zoom into specific sections of the
fabric in the reference photo. And I'm just going to be
applying this medium color in darker mid-tone areas
and darkest dark areas, leaving the previous lighter
color shining through completely uncovered in
lighter values sections. I'm going to start at
the bottom and I'll make my way up this shadow
shape that I'm creating right here is actually
the cast shadow on the table created
by the fabric. If you notice in the bottom-left
corner of the image, there's a little section of that wood table left
uncovered by that fabric. And it looks red because
that red fabric is having an impact on the
color of the shadow shape. So this is why I wanted to go
in with some red initially. Remember to exert less pressure as you make your way towards lighter values to create soft transitions
wherever needed. When it comes to fabric, you're going to see
a combination of soft transitions and hard
edges between your values. So try to pinpoint
that right here. E.g. I. See a sharper edge. Notice those edges created in-between the
different value shapes, where one value turns
into another value. Sometimes those changes are
going to be soft and gradual. And other times the change is
gonna come as a sharp step. In realism, there is always
a combination of those two. So just try to notice those changes in the
reference photo and try to make that
happen to the best of your abilities in your artwork. As I am working on all of this, I'm really trying to stay
away from the lookup. Very stark looking blocky shapes or solid heavy
shapes of any kind. I'm also trying to stay away
from the look of lines, anything that
creates the illusion of a line when you
see your piece from a distance is going to take away from the sense of
realism in your piece. Instead of seeing
things as lines, see them as elongated shapes that have irregularity
throughout them. This is important
because there are no outlines or lines in realism. Whenever there is a line present in a more
realistic piece, there is always a
line weight variation throughout that line. Certain sections of that
line are thicker and darker, and other sections are
thinner and lighter. You're never going to
find lines that have one consistent weight from one end all the way
to the other end. It's the opposite of cartoons
and coloring book pages where everything
that you see has an outline around
it that is thick, bold and black, and consistent in thickness around everything. In realism we have
edges, not outlines, edges where one value
turns into another value. Sometimes those edges are lost and sometimes they
are sharpened defined. I'm making my way towards
the left here and working on those shadow shapes created
on the fabric by the flower. I see a shadow shape here
with a sharp bottom edge. Then I'm going to try to
make happen in my drawing. The bottom edge is
sharp and defined, while the top edge is a little bit softer and more gradual, the mid tones turn
gradually into lighter values at the
top of the curve there. Then over here, as
this shape makes its way towards the right
edge of the picture plane, its edges along the bottom and top become more
gradual and softer. Okay, Then here we
have a little bit of a shadow shape right
beneath the pitcher. And I'm just
continuing to observe that reference photo
and getting in those shadow shapes
wherever I see fit. Making sure that I'm keeping
things subtle and that I'm making my way incrementally
towards darker values. Not applying very
much pressure at all. Whenever I am trying to
create a lighter mid tone, perhaps a tiny bit more
pressure when I am working on a darker mid tone or a very dark area that I see
in that reference photo. And allowing plenty of that first layer that I created
with my lightest color. I'm just leaving that shining through in lightest value areas. If you want to darken a section even more with
this medium color, you can create a second
layer using the same color. Continue comparing
your drawing with that reference photo
and ask yourself, is this area darker or lighter than this
other area over here? And if you notice
that you have to go in and darken and area than perhaps you can go in and create a second layer,
the second color. So you can allow yourself to do more overlapping of pigment
in those darkest areas. And you can even
press down a teeny, tiny but more in
those darkest areas, there is a certain level of looseness that I
am going in with, even though I am using
a reference photo for clues and information
on values to develop, hopefully by this point, as I am creating already a range of values in this red fabric, you can see how my
value shapes can be slightly different to the
ones in the reference photo. Meaning they can be slightly
smaller or slightly larger or slightly a little bit more to the left
or to the right. And I'm still developing that range of
values that I need. And I'm starting to create that sense of
three-dimensionality. Right here. I need a
little bit of a mid tone. So I go in and do
a little bit of gentle overlapping with
the second red color. And I noticed that very
stark looking shape, almost like a streak down here created by this
shape at the bottom. I'm going to soften
the bottom edge. It was just really
jumping out at me and I'm trying to
keep everything subtle. So again, if you see your
piece and you notice any stark looking
heavy shapes or lines, I want to encourage you to work on them before
moving forward. I also notice right
above this shape that I created something that looks a little bit too much
like a line to me. So I'm going to make some sections of this quote
unquote line a little bit thicker and create more
irregularity throughout it so that it looks more like a
shape and less like a line. With that, I'm all done with that first layering of color
throughout the red fabric. I am not going to be
bringing in the third red, just like what I did
with the picture. I just use the first two colors
in this initial layering. So it is now time to bring in my soft graphite eraser
and I'm gonna be doing any lifting and
softening of color that I might need to do
before moving forward. And really in terms
of my lifting, all I do is remove
a little bit of that red color from that bottom left
corner of this piece, or there is a little bit of that brown wood table showing. Later on, I'm gonna be bringing in a little
bit of brown into this area to make this look
like table and not fabric. So I feel that I just
went a little bit overboard with my
red in this section. And if I kept all
of that red there, then there wouldn't
really be much of a difference between the
fabric and the table. It's time to move
on to the table. So I'm going to bring
out my two browns that I am using for the table. My lighter brown is burnt ocher and my darker
brown is Van **** brown. So inverse getting started with the lighter color of the two. And I am going into this
entire table section. Now, the different values that I see throughout this table area are not so much created
by the light itself, but by the texture of wood would naturally has lighter
sections and darker sections. However, when it comes to this particular wood in
this table in the photo, I would say overall,
it's pretty light. So when I do bring
in my darker brown, I don't want to go
overboard with it. I don't see any super
bright highlight shapes throughout this woods section. So I'm not going to be leaving any areas of my paper
on the cupboard. I'm just applying a
relatively thin light layer with my lighter brown. There's a little teeny,
tiny brown shape here. And then I'm gonna be applying
a light brown layer in this bottom corner where ICE table in that
reference photo, right over the red that
I had already applied. Now that I have that first
light brown layer in, I'm going to change to my darker brown and I'm going to
create some subtle, irregular darker brown shapes. This is going to help me better describe that visual
texture in that would notice how I'm going in with my dark
brown very lightly. I'm not applying very
much pressure at all. As I am applying
this darker brown, I want to be very careful
that I don't accidentally create very stark
looking lines and marks. If I create very
stark looking lines, marks or shapes,
this is going to be very distracting
for the viewer. This is a secondary area or
elements in this composition. And if I go in and create way too much contrast
or give this area too much visual weight by creating too much
detail in here, I can make the table compete way too much with
the actual objects, which are the focal point. Adding in a little bit of this darker brown into
this bottom left corner. Not going to worry about
the teeny tiny shape behind the picture. And it's time to move
on to the next thing. Finally, I'm going to get
to work on the flower. For the flower, I'm gonna be
using a gray for the petals, green for that central section, and then purple for
dark shadows sections. So I'm starting with my gray for my petals and I
am really zooming into the flower so that I can just focus on the
flower right now. I'm going to start with
these upper petals. And I'm just going to
be applying a very, very subtle light gray with barely any pressure at all in those shadows sections
that I see in the petals. Particularly where I see pedals creating shadows on
each other due to overlapping. Not really worrying about the visual lines where the
texture and the petals yet. I can worry about that later. For now, I'm really just
focusing on the curves in the petals and the
three-dimensionality of the petals and the shadows
that they're creating. That's what's most
important right now. Understanding the
structure of the petals, how they are blocking
light from hitting each other because of
overlapping and everything. And I wanna make
sure that I don't completely go in
and cover up all of the petal width gray because
as I mentioned before, it's going to make it look gray. And I want these petals
to look white at the end. So it's important to leave
plenty of that white paper shining through because this is a white object that
we're painting. But even with white objects, it's important to develop a
range of values within them, because if we leave
them completely white, they're going to look very
flat and not very realistic. If you feel you're
not able to get enough information
on value changes in the white petals in the
photo bring to mind the three-dimensional
structure of the flower and it's puddles. What sections are farthest
away from the light? What sections are closest
to the light where our curves happening
throughout those puddles, where our shadows
happening throughout them. Alright, so that's my initial
light application of gray. If you want to go in and do
a second light application of gray to darken mid tones before going
in with your purple, I would recommend going in and doing another
application of gray, but this time focusing on the darker shadow shapes
in-between petals, just pushing those a tiny bit more before going
in with purple. Purple is a pretty dark color. And again, we're
painting a white object. So by creating a second
layer with your gray, you're allowing
yourself more control. You're creating a
step in-between your light gray values and your darker values
that are coming up next with your purple. Alright, so that's enough. I have plenty of white paper shining through in
the white petals. I am now going to go in with
a little bit of my purple. And I'm only going
to be applying this in the darkest
shadow areas that I see. Again, especially in
between the petals. Remember that the darker
you get with your colors, the less color you want a place. You want to leave plenty of those lighter colors that
you've placed shining through and only do this layering with your second color where
you really need to darken. Don't go super dark too fast, don't apply too much pressure. You can create darker values later on with subsequent layers. Alright, so that's
about enough for now. Now I'm going to
start working in that central section of
the flower where I'm gonna be going back to
my yellow that I was using initially
for the picture. This is my cadmium
yellow and then I'm going to be moving on
to applying some green. And this is called
may green over that yellow in mid tone
sections with the yellow. And I'm gonna use
circular motions for the central part of the flower so that I can start describing that texture
a little bit more. It's important to remember
that you're drawing tools can be used in so
many different ways. And you can certainly modify the type of stroke
that you're using in order to communicate color and value and
texture simultaneously. This is my green now that I'm going in and using a specialty along the outer edges
where I want to create a little bit
more of a darker value. Little teeny tiny circles are going to help me
create that texture more. And later on with
subsequent layers, we're gonna be creating
more of that texture. You can see how I made the
central most section of this area lighter and I
darken the outer edges. This helps me create a curved, raised look in that center. Alright, so I now
have my initial layer of color all throughout
these elements, of course, excluding
the background which we're gonna be tackling
at the end of this process, I've already started developing
a wide range of values, from very light
lights to mid tones, to even darker midtones
and some sections. So now we're going to be
moving on to phase number two, where we're going
to be activating this layering of
color with water.
7. First Color Activation: Alright, so I have my
container with clean water. I have my absorbent towel so that I can see on
top of water control. And I also have my
size ten round brush. That's all I'm going to be using for the activation process. So I'm going to swivel my paintbrush in my
container of water. I'm going to remove the
excess water because we really only want to go
in with a small amount. And I'm going to start
with the picture. And when it comes to
activating your color, you want to make sure
that you're starting in lightest value areas
and that you're making your way towards your darker areas and paying
attention to how you're pushing and pulling that
pigment around on your paper. You're going to notice that as I am activating this color, I constantly remove that
pigment from my paintbrush bristles by swiveling
my paintbrush in my container of water. Because as I continue activating that pigment and pushing and
pulling that color around, more and more pigment
is starting to get collected in my
paintbrush bristles. This means that you can
accidentally cover up your highlight areas where
you're trying to leave that white paper shining
through unpainted. And you can also start
getting too much of that second darker color
that you've used so far to lighter value areas. So you really have to stay
conscious of how you're pushing and pulling that
pigment around on your paper. So continue going over
that color gently and continue rinsing
out your paintbrush bristles along the
way as needed. You really shouldn't have
to press down too hard with your paintbrush bristles
or anything like that. Keep your strokes
nice and gentle. This is the exciting
part of painting with watercolor pencils is activating
that color with water. Oftentimes the color is
going to look a lot more bright and vibrant after
it's been activated. Other times is going to be
slightly darker or lighter. It depends on the
color you've chosen, but there's always
this surprise element to watercolor pencils. Another thing is, don't
worry too much about little textures that you're leaving as you
activate this color. What's most important
is that you pay attention to large
value sections. That light value
areas stay light, that you're not eating up those lighter
values sections and you're continuing
to pay attention to those values that
you're trying to develop. But little textures that
happen along the way, splotchy ***** and
minor things like that. It doesn't really matter
because we're still going to be doing more layering
and more activation. And of course, because
you've applied that pigment on paper
with a drawing tool, with a sharp pointy tool, you are bound to be left with a little bit of sketchiness, if you will, that
kind of texture. You don't have to try to
smooth everything out. So don't worry too much about little textures
and splotch in us. It's very minor. You're likely not gonna be
able to see it at the end, after all the layering
that we're gonna be doing, it's very likely that
if you try to go in and get rid of every single little
texture that you create, you're going to
start overworking and damaging your paper. Paper is a relatively
fragile substrate and when it is wet, it is even more fragile. So we don't want to start
overly scrubbing areas. And also oftentimes
we have to allow that paper to dry so that it can fully regain its strength. If we want to go in and make certain little mistakes
less noticeable. Every single time I go into
my container of water, I make sure to remove that excess strip image
off the bristles of my paintbrush by
gently scraping the Priscilla's of my paintbrush along the top of my container. And sometimes I
also dab the tip of my paintbrush on my
absorbent towel. I want to avoid going in with a ton of water
in my paint brush bristles because that can
also create splotchy ness. I'm all done with
activating the color in the front part
of the picture. And I am now going into
the interior plains. And in this area, the lighter values
are on the left. So this means that
I first start on the left and I make my
way towards the right, which has the darker values. This is, again, in order to keep those light
values sections protected and not eat them
up with my darker color. So after finishing up with
those interior planes, I'm going in and activating
that color in the handle. I start at the top and
I make my way down. After doing that, it was time to move on to activating
the flower. I want to work on the
flower first because this is a white object
and the other colors, and I'm going to
be activating the red and the brown
are pretty dark, at least when compared to
this very light object. So when it comes to activating the color
in those white petals, I make sure to go in with a clean and only
slightly damp brush. And I take my time
working on a petal at a time or two
petals at a time. Really paying attention to how I am pushing and
pulling that color around and making sure that I'm leaving plenty of that white
paper shining through. As I am doing this, I am bringing to mind the
three-dimensional structure of these petals and how they are overlapping and creating
little shadows on each other. If you want to switch to a
smaller brush in order to have more control in these
relatively small shapes. You can go ahead and do that. It's even more difficult
to stay on top of water control in smaller shapes. I'm doing my best to go from lightest color areas
towards darker color areas. So first I'm going into those areas that have
the light gray in them. And I make my way
towards the purple, making sure that I'm
keeping sections of white paper unpainted or with
no color in the metal. Whenever I find
myself going in with way too much water in my
paint brush bristles, I immediately stop
what I'm doing and I remove that
color and water for my paintbrush bristles and I use the bristles of my paintbrush as a little absorbent sponge to
pick up that excess water. I can also go in with my absorbent towel
to do some dabbing. Finally, it is time to activate that color in the central
section of the flower, I remove that gray
and purple for my paintbrush bristles
and I go in with a clean and slightly
damp brush and I use little circular motions to activate the pigment
in this area. And this is in order to start communicating the texture here. It is now time to activate
that color in the fabric. As I'm activating my
color and the fabric, I am constantly observing that
reference photo to remind myself of major brightest
highlight areas. And you can see how
I am trying to work around some of those
major highlight areas. I am not activating the
color in those sections with my paintbrush and I am avoiding
going over them at all. If I need to activate
the color in those areas or make them slightly darker
than they currently are. I can do that later, but right now I am
focusing on getting the general bulk of the
red fabric activated. And I'm just trying
to stay away from the lighter values sections. By focusing on the general, I can work way more quickly. So I work on the general first. And then if smaller areas
require more attention, I can work on those
after more slowly. The main things that you
have to make sure to do when you are activating
your watercolor pencil, pigment are make sure
that you're staying on top of water control and continue paying
attention to how you are moving that pigment
around on your paper. Having value in mind. If you do those two things and you continue focusing
along the way, you'll be able to improve
your skills pretty quickly. Alright, I'm moving on to doing my color activation in this bottom left
corner of the piece, where there is that visible
portion of the table. You can see how as I did my
activation in that area, the red and the brown start
melting and merging together. And then I am continuing
with my red fabric, making sure that I
completely rinsed out all of that brown for
my paintbrush bristles. This is important
because if I still have some brown pigment in
my paintbrush bristles, this can desaturate or mute out my bright reds that
I want in my fabric. As I am activating these
different value shapes, I am continuing to see these shapes as abstract,
irregular shapes. And I am using my paintbrush
in different ways, sometimes pressing the bristles of my paintbrush
down a little bit more and sometimes just going in with the tip
of my paintbrush, sometimes shifting the angle that I'm using my paintbrush at, changing the way that you're using your paint brush
like that is going to help you create
irregular abstract shapes, which are going to lead
to greater realism. So at this point I am
over halfway done with this activation of my
first layering of pigment. And you can see texture
throughout all of these areas. Texture in the form of lines
or sketchiness created by that drawing
tool that we have used to place the
pigment on paper width, but also a little bit of
splotchy genus that has been created as I've been activating the pigment with
water and a paintbrush. But hopefully you've also
notice how I have kept moving. I have not been focusing in any particular area or trying
to perfect things too much. I am working on the
general and I am ignoring these little subtle textures
because I know that at the end they're not
going to be visible. I know that if I were to go in, I would start over working
my paper and maybe even flattening out sections and completely destroying all
of the work that I've been doing to develop the different
values in these areas. Alright, so working in this
large brown section in this visible portion of
the table on the right. And everything that
I've been doing so far to activate my color and the other areas of this
piece still applies here. However, in upcoming
phases of this process, I don't want to be doing too
much layering in this area. I want to leave this
area with minimal detail because it's a secondary
section in this piece. And I don't want this section
to compete too much with the other elements that are
the focal point of the piece. So I do go in and very
gently try to get rid of lines and stark looking
shapes and marks here. Working on this
teeny tiny triangle right here with just the
tip of my paintbrush. And then I am continuing
to activate this brown on the other
side of the table, continuing to
activate this color and very gently getting rid of any stark looking
shapes or lines or marks that might be a little bit too distracting for the viewer, especially because as I said, I'm not going to be applying to many layers on top of this. Okay, so I'm going to leave the table at bat
because I don't want to start damaging my paper
or overworking anything. You can see how this definitely looks a
lot more painterly. But I also have quite
a bit of texture, little splotchy areas
and things like that. I'm not worrying about
that because I'm gonna be doing two more layers
of color still. So a lot of that texture is
going to disappear as we go. I'm going to allow everything
to dry completely. And then we're gonna be going
in with layer number two.
8. Second Application of Color: Make sure that everything
is completely dry before moving onto this
next part of the process. Because if your paper is wet, it is more fragile. And if you start going in
with a sharp pointy tool to start applying more color
right away when it is damp. You can run the risk of damaging and
scratching your paper. You can even use a hairdryer to speed up the drying
process if you'd like. In this next phase
of the process, we're gonna be
working on pushing darker midtones and
darkest dark areas. So we're primarily
going to be using our second color or
the medium color. The third color, which is the
darkest color that we have chosen when it comes to
the flower and the table, things are gonna be done
a little bit differently because we only use
two colors in those. I'll explain how to approach
those when we get to them. So in other words, our objective with this part
of the process is we're expanding that range of values
towards the darkest darks. We're adding darker values. We want to make sure
that we're keeping the lighter areas protected and uncovered by
this new layering of color that we're gonna be
doing where only layering on color and applying more color in sections that
need to be darkened. Let's go ahead and get
started with the picture. Here are the three colors that
I'm using in the picture. The yellow, the yellow orange, and the red orange. By this point, my
lightest value areas have already been developed with that lightest
color because I'm working on the mid tones
and the darkest darks, I can remove that lightest
color and I'm only going to be working with my medium
color and my darkest color. I'm observing that
reference photo and I'm noticing where those
darker areas are. And I go ahead and get started starting with
my medium color, which is my dark chrome
yellow or my yellow orange. I started doing
more layering over darker mid-tone areas
and darkest dark areas, avoiding the lightest areas
that I see in that photo. Feel free to Zoom into areas of your reference photo as you
move along with this process and make sure that you continue shifting and changing the
pressure that you are exerting on your pencil as you make your way towards
a darker value area, you push down a
tiny bit more head. If you're moving away
from darker value areas, you exert less pressure. In this part of the process. Now that we're getting into
darker, mid-tone areas, I'm allowing myself to
press down a tiny bit more, but I'm really not burnishing. I'm really trying
to stay away from scratching or damaging
my paper in any way. Because once the paper has
been scratched or burnish, the pigment is just not
applied on it the same way, I continue observing that reference photo
and noticing where gradual transitions between
values are happening. And where I see sharp defined steps
between different values. Here in the bottom of
the picture, e.g. I. See a softer gradual transition, a gradient, if you will. So I make sure that
I gradually exert less and less pressure as I make my way into
lighter value sections. So that that change
in pressure can help me create that
gradual transition. Right here I have a pretty noticeable
shadow shape edge almost in the middle of this more cylindrical
structure in this picture. And I'm going to try to create a more defined looking
shadow shape edge because that's what I'm seeing
in the reference photo. As I continue making my way incrementally towards
darker values, I continue paying
attention to those edges, whether they are
lost, blurred out, softer edges with
gradual transitions between my different values, or whether I C sharp
and defined edges. Right here, I definitely see a darker value along the
top edge of the picture. I do a little bit more layering, making my way down. And then I work in
the inner planes of this upper cylindrical
structure in this picture, layering the second color over around half of
this entire shape. Because in that photo I see darker midtones and
darkest dark values in this entire area. I then get to work on the handle layering on this second color
in darker areas that I see. And I know that handles can be challenging because
there is almost always going to be this twist
where the planes change. But it really helps
to bring to mind the three-dimensional
structure of whatever it is that
you are shading in, observe the plane
changes in that handle, and bring to mind where the
location of the light source is and how the light is
hitting those planes. Understand what planes
are facing towards the light and what planes are
facing away from the light. Notice how I'm leaving lots of this side plane of the handle
as well as the top lip. This upper section, free
of the second layering. And this is because I see a very light value in these
areas in the reference photo. So I'm doing my best to not apply more pigment
into these areas. I want to keep them
nice and light. And if later on, I noticed that I've made these light value shapes too large or they look
way too stark. I can certainly go into certain sections and
darken them just a little bit with either my
first lightest color or my second color. Alright, I'm almost done with my second medium
color in this phase, just working on transitions into lighter value areas
and highlights a little bit more
before switching on over to my red orange. That's enough of my
medium color for now, I'm going to switch on
over to my red, orange. And I'm only going
to be applying this darkest color in darkest areas that I see
in that reference photo. I'm not going to be doing
any overlapping with this third darkest color
over anywhere else. So in other words, when you go in with that
first lightest color, you go over everything except for the brightest
highlight sections. Then with your second color, you go over midtone areas
and dark this dark areas. And then with your
third darkest color, you only go over
darkest dark areas. So the darker you
get with your color, the smaller the shape that you are coloring in because you're only adding that
darker color into sections that need to
be darkened further, that needs to be pushed more. This is how we are increasing
that range of values by pushing darkest dark areas and adding those darkest
dark values. But we want to be really careful not to dark them those sections, mid tones, especially
the lighter mid tones and the lightest lights. Because if we do go in and overlap this darker color into
mid tones and light areas, we're gonna get rid of
those lighter values. We're going to be
subtracting from that wide range of values
that we're trying to create. And we're going to be flattening
the piece out instead of increasing the realism of the piece at this
point in the process. Now that we're starting to
apply this darkest color, this is when that
believable sense of structure of light and
shadow starts to happen. Because at this point we already have a pretty decent
range of values. And we're only going to be
increasing that range of values or tones even
more as we move forward. But in order to do
this effectively, we have to continue
paying close attention to that reference
photo and continue comparing our painting
with that reference. Continue asking
ourselves, is this area lighter or darker than
this area over here? And making those value shapes
happen in our artwork. I am working in the
inner planes of the picture here there are
facing away from the light, really pushing
sections closest to the right edge of this
upper shape pricey, those darkest values in
the reference photo. I'm making my way
down from there, making sure that I am applying a little bit more pressure or
a little bit less pressure, depending on how dark the
value in that area is. If after applying some
of your darkest color in darker value areas that you
see in that reference photo, you feel you need to
switch on back to your medium color in order
to work on transitions. Or slightly darken certain
areas that look too light, you can absolutely feel free to switch back and forth
between these two colors. Just makes sure that the color that you have in your
hand that you're selecting goes hand in hand with the value that
you're trying to create. Some times when we go in with our darkest color and we start developing the darkest
value sections. Those areas that
we thought looked pretty dark or at least
like a mid tone before, don't look that dark anymore. This is because
whether we perceive an area to be light or dark or somewhere in-between
is really going to depend on the values
around that area. So we might find the need to use that medium color to slightly
darken certain areas, and also to make
certain transitions between values look a
little bit more gradual, a little bit softer. If things look a little
bit too stark, of course, if you do see a pretty stark looking
change between different values in
that reference photo, then there is no need
to soften that out. I am now going to move on to the right of fabric
for the red fabric, the three colors that I
had initially picked. Are the same red orange
that I was using over here, and then a deeper darker
red and my purple. So I'm not going to use this one anymore because I've already
created my lighter values. I'm going to focus on
the red and the purple. So this red is my scarlet red
and this is my blue violet. So same thing that I did
with the picture and lead to focus on darker mid-tone
areas and darkest dark areas. And I'm going to start with
my lighter color of the two, which is the red. I'm going to start at the
safest place to start in. And this is with the
dark shadow shapes behind the picture opposite
to the light source. I'm starting right there with my medium color and really observing that reference photo, noticing those abstract
shadow shapes in there, trying to get something
similar to what I see. Similar in shape,
similar in size, and similar in location, but not really worrying too much about getting them
exactly the same. I know that as long as they're similar to what I'm
observing in that photo. And I have in mind the structure created
by these fabric folds, as well as the location of the light source in
this environment, I'm going to end up with
something that looks believable. Now, I know that when it
comes to fabric folds, things can be a little bit
overwhelming and confusing. It's certainly easy
to lose your place. So again, I want to encourage
you to work section by section and zoom into that
reference photo as needed. Really understand the curves
created by the fabric folds. Understand the sections
of those fabrics that are nearest the light source
and which are farther away, which fabric folds are covering up other
sections of fabric and impeding that light from hitting those sections
of fabric beneath them. All of that is going to help you tremendously when you're
making choices as to which areas too dark and more and just stay patient
throughout this process. We're going for higher
levels of realism here. And the higher the realism
you're looking for, the more patients
you have to have because the longer
it's going to take, and the more observation
it requires. If at any point in
time throughout this process you start
to feel a little bit tired or unable to focus
or anything like that, I would recommend taking a break instead of
trying to push through. Because the moment that you stop looking at that reference photo, and you stop mindfully changing between your
colors as you go, you stop paying attention to value and all of these things. You start making
bigger mistakes that are gonna be more
difficult to correct. I don't lay your anymore red on the visible portion of table down here on the
bottom left corner, I just leave it as is. I'm making my way up and continuing to darken
sections of fabric that I feel I need to
push a little bit more and doing my best to leave the lighter value
sections on covered by the second layering of color that I am
doing right now. I know that if I cover up
those lighter values sections, I am going to get rid of those lighter values
and I'm going to start flattening everything out and making everything
look way too heavy. You can see the sketchiness or the pencil texture left behind by my watercolor pencil as I
am filling in these areas. That's the pencil texture that
I was referring to before. It's actually quite nice that this medium allows us
to create this combo, this balance between sketch your textures and more
painterly effects that we're able to
create later on. After applying this pigment on paper with water
on a paintbrush. I'm all done with
that medium color all throughout my fabric. You can see how I left plenty of those lighter value areas with just that first layering of color that I did in
phase number one. So it was time to
switch on over to my darkest color that
I'm using in the fabric, which is my purple. And once again, I get started with the safest
area to start in, which is right
behind the picture, there are very dark
shadow shapes in this area where that fabric isn't receiving
much light at all. So just like what I
did with the pitcher, I am now only placing this darkest color in sections
that need to be pushed even more within those
darker mid-tone shapes that I've already created
with my medium color. So I'm being even more mindful as I am placing this
darkest color and making sure that I'm only
overlapping it over that red in sections that
need to be pushed more. So again, you're
going to notice that these shapes that
I'm creating with this darkest color are even smaller than the ones that I was creating with
my medium red. And the shapes, of
course that I created with my medium red were a lot smaller than
the shapes that I was creating with
my lightest red. When it comes to
watercolor pencil pieces, I've really enjoy
bringing in what I like referring to as an
alternative shadow color. This is a color that I don't actually see in that
reference photo. Oftentimes for me,
it is a purple, like in this case, or a blue and indigo color, which is a very dark blue, is something that I also
really enjoy bringing in. By bringing in an
alternative shadow color. You can not only integrate
the piece more by using the same color in different sections or
areas of your painting. But you can also make your
piece more impactful. You can add personality
and interests, and it just really brings
the piece to life. And which alternative shadow
color I decide to bring in, really depends on what type of subject it is
that I am painting, whether it's a nature
scene and organic object, man-made materials and
mechanical object, an animal, what style it
is that I am going for and also the overall color scheme
that I am trying to create. Always remember that color is an element of art that plays a huge role behind making a visual composition look
harmonious and cohesive. So by choosing a limited amount of colors and thinking
of how you're going to be repeating a color throughout the piece may be in
shadow sections, or just as a base color throughout different
areas of your piece that is going to help your
artwork look a lot more harmonious and
well-integrated. And at the same time as artists, as we are planning and preparing our color scheme for
the piece on hand. This is just a great
opportunity to bring in our artistic license in order to bring more of
ourselves into the composition, in order to make it our own. And really communicate
that mood, message, idea, or story that we're
wanting to communicate. Just like how I did
with my picture. Once I have added in
some of my purple, in my darkest shadows sections, I go back to my medium color. And this is an order to work on transitions a
little bit more. Because now that I've
added my darkest color, some value changes are just a little bit
to start looking. In other cases, if I
find I need to slightly darken lighter values
sections a little bit more. I do that with this medium color exerting barely any
pressure at all. I'm just making sure
that I'm not covering up those lightest
value sections. So I go in with a
very light touch with this medium color, working mainly on transitions. And really exerting
less and less pressure as I make my way into those
lighter values sections, where I just want to leave that initial layering of color
shining through uncovered. You can see how there
are many sections that I didn't cover up with either of these two colors that
I just use right now. This entire area
right here, e.g. a lot of this area over here, couple of sections over
here and even down here, you still see that painterly
effect because I didn't go over those areas again
with the second layering. It's just that initial layering
that I did in phase one, shining through uncovered by
this new placement of color. And that's exactly
what I want to do. I don't want to continue
placing color in areas where I don't need it or I don t
need to deepen and darken. I'm gonna go ahead and work on the flower and then the table. So with the flower, I will be bringing
the gray back in. This is different with the flower petals because
this is a white object. The approach with
white objects or subjects is definitely
a little bit different from other
things that you might be developing your values. And so when it comes
to the flower, I was using the gray and
the purple for the petals, and the yellow and the green for the insight section there. So the first thing
that I do is using my gray that I was already
using in my petals. What I am doing is I am describing the lines
in those petals, the texture that I see in
those petals just a little bit in a very subtle and
loose way with this gray, you can see me using outwards
tapered strokes starting in the innermost
part of that petal closest to the center
and making my way out. I'm just adding in a few extra strokes to describe a little bit
of that pedal texture. I'm not trying to cover
up the entirety of that petal because I don't
want this flower to look gray. This is just a subtly hint
at that puddle texture. The lines that I can see in those petals in
the reference photo. After having added in
a few of those lines. Go ahead and darken
certain shadows, sections in-between overlapping
petals with my gray before switching on over to my darkest color that
I'm using in my petals, which is the purple. After having pushed
some shadows sections a little bit more with my gray, I switch on over to my purple and I just do
a little bit of pushing of darkest areas in-between overlapping petals with
this darkest color. I'm jumping around all of this petal section and really seeing
everything as a whole. This is very important when you're painting white objects. You really want
to make sure that you're coming back to see everything as a whole, how everything is looking from a bit of a
farther away distance because it is very easy to go overboard and keep adding
and adding and adding color. And all of a sudden the object doesn't
look white anymore. So take breaks and see everything from a
farther away distance. And really ask yourself if more color or marks
or lines are really necessary to communicate
either the texture or the light and shadow effects that you're wanting
to communicate. I don't want to
overdo it and start making those pedals
not look white. So I'm going to switch on
over to the two colors that I was using in the central
section of the flower. And for this area, I switch on over to using
teeny tiny circular motions or strokes in order to communicate both texture and
value simultaneously. And after placing that yellow, I am now switching
on over to my green, pressing down a little
bit harder wall, I create those circles inside of this area and I'm trying to
focus more on the outer part. This will help the central most section look raised or curved. You can see how I left little sections of
paper shining through. And that is going to help me just visually create
that texture. Now, if you feel that
you've placed way too much purple or gray
in your white petals. Remember that you
always have your eraser just makes sure
that it is nice and clean if you're
gonna go in with it. And if you need to
do any lifting, you can certainly go
in and lift up some of that color prior to
doing your activation. Because once you have
activated that color, you're not going to
be able to remove it. I am going to be
adding a little bit of purple over this green. I'm going to use little
teeny tiny circular strokes because I do want to
make sure that I am switching to a stroke or
type of application that is going to help me create that texture in the central
part of the flower. And I am mostly adding
in this purple in the outer sections of this circle in the
middle of the flower. This is going to help
me further raise that central most section up a little bit more by darkening
the outer edges. Right here. I'm just going to take a quick
second to further darken little sections outside of
the center of the flower, outside of that yellow
green section in the innermost parts
of the white petals, right next to the central
section of the flower. And finally, it is
time to work on the second layer in the table. For the table, we've really only selected two different colors. Unlike other areas where we're using three
different colors, we only have a lighter brown, which in my case
is my burnt ocher, and a darker brown, which in my case is
my Van **** brown. So the first thing that I do
is using my darker brown, my Van **** brown, go in and darken certain
sections a little bit more. Now, if you remember, in the first phase, I was mentioning that it's very important that we don't create very stark looking
lines or shapes in the table that can be too
distracting for the viewer. We don't want to call
the viewer's attention too much to the table sections. So I make sure to
go in very lightly. I'm making sure not to exert
very much pressure at all. I am just looking to darken certain smaller sections of those darker brown shapes that I had already started to develop. A tiny bit more, releasing that pressure
as I make my way into lighter brown areas to create
nice soft transitions. Right here I am darkening some deepest shadows
sections right under the red fabric in this
visible portion of the table in the lower
left corner of the piece. Once I have applied a little
bit more of my darker brown, I switch back to
my lighter brown, my burnt ocher, to
work on softening transitions between
my darker browns and my lighter browns. Just like with all of the
other areas that I have been developing more values in
this phase of the process. I want to make sure that
I'm leaving plenty of sections where that
initial layering of color that we've activated
with water is left alone and shining through
completely uncovered with this new layering of color. And that is about it. That's all I'm going to do for the second application of color. It is now time to
move on to doing our second activation of color using water
and a paintbrush.
9. Second Color Activation: So I have my water with me, I have my absorbent towel, and I have my size
ten round brush. I'm gonna get started with my second and last
activation of color. The same things that we
were doing before with our first activation
of color still apply. You want to go in with just a small amount of water and you want
to make sure that you're noticing what
is happening on your paper as you're pushing and pulling
that color around. Really focusing
on respecting and protecting those
different value shapes that you've already created. This second activation of
color should really take a shorter amount of time to do than the first activation
of color that we did. Because we're
really just running our paintbrush over the
sections that we've just applied more color into in the previous phase
that we just did. We're not running
our paintbrush over everything with the
first activation of color that we did, there was more to activate, but this time there is
less pigment to activate. Those sections
that we just added more color into in the
previous phase are smaller. So don't mindlessly start running your paintbrush
over everything. Just activate that color
in the areas that you just added more color into
in the previous phase. And if you feel you
need to work on transition areas a
little bit more, where darker values are
turning into lighter values, just makes sure that
you're going in with a clean and slightly damp brush that you don't have any pigment in your
paintbrush bristles. You can run those clean and slightly damp bristles
of your paintbrush along that edge that you're
looking to soften to help you soften transitions a little bit more if you feel you need to. But if you have any amount of pigment in your
paintbrush bristles and you go in into
lighter value sections. You can run the risk
of darkening them. I'm doing my best to work from lighter areas towards
darker areas. And I'm also really
paying attention to how much pigment is starting to get collected in my
paintbrush bristles. If I notice that I'm
starting to cover up sections that I wasn't
intending to darken. Or I'm starting to push and pull away too much pigment around. I immediately remove that
pigment for my paintbrush bristles by swiveling
my paintbrush in my container of water. Remove that excess water so that I don't go in with too much by gently scraping the bristles of my paint brush along the
top of my container. And I'm also constantly dabbing the tip of
my paintbrush on my absorbent towel that I
have right there to my left. You can see how I'm being
left with small amounts of splotchy mess as I am
doing my color activation. But I am not going to go in and try to get rid of that texture, especially because I know
that we're still going to be applying more
color on top of this. And also because I run the
risk of overworking my paper. If I do right here, I am running the clean and
slightly damp bristles of my paintbrush along the edges of my brightest highlight shape, this white shape that I
have kept protected along the way where there's clean paper shining
through unpainted. I'm just looking to soften the edges of this brightest
highlights shape. And I did that with a cleanest
slightly damp paintbrush and just gently running the paintbrush bristles
over those edges. Perhaps doing a little
bit of gentle scrubbing and doing a little
bit of blotting with my absorbent towel. After doing that, it
was time to get to work on the color activation
in the handle. I want to make sure that
even in my handle trips, I have a variety of
values developed. So I want lighter areas, mid tone areas,
and darker areas. In these handle shapes. Removed all of that color
from my paintbrush bristles and I'm gonna get to
work on the fabric now. Lifting up some drops of water that I got on my
piece accidentally. And I'm going to
start over here, make my way down. And think of the
three-dimensional structure created by the fabric folds. Instead of just going like this. I'm approaching
this in sections. I'm continuing to observe
that reference photo to remind myself of what
is going on with these fabric folds
and patiently and carefully continuing to
work section by section, zooming into different parts of the reference photo as I go. I am not running my paintbrush over those lightest
sections that I didn't apply any more color into the previous
phase of this process. I know that if I do, I run the risk of darkening those sections and I'm
going to be removing those lightest
values that I really need if I want this
to look realistic. Also remember that
if you cover up those lightest values sections and you get rid of highlights, your pieces not going to
have that lightness and that glowing effect that so
particular to watercolor, that happens when
you incorporate the brightness of the paper
as part of the piece. I'm doing my best to stay
on top of water control. I'm embracing little
imperfections and little splotches that are left as I am activating this color. Really not looking to get rid of that texture created
by the pencil. And I'm continuing to
focus primarily on value because I know that
value is number one. When it comes to developing a believable sensation of depth, we're gonna be
doing more layering of color over this to deepen and darken certain
sections even more in the next phase
of this process. So most of that splotchy
Ness is going to disappear. Once you get the hang
of activating color, you can do it quite quickly. You get into a rhythm of activating and then cleaning
out your paintbrush and going back in and doing a little bit more activating and cleaning out your paintbrush and going back and it just takes a little bit of
practice and getting used to. I'm almost done with my color
activation in the fabric. And I am taking
note of a couple of these long red shapes that look a little bit too
much like lines to me. And it's important
to notice this kind of thing or anything
that might require a little bit of
fixing or softening before moving onto the
next phase of the process. Because this way, you'll
be prepared to fix that or make that mistake less
noticeable in the next phase, which is coming up
where we're going to be applying more color on top. Okay, So I'm all done
with the fabric. I'm gonna go ahead
and work on the table and I'm going to
leave the flower for just the last
element to activate just because I need to be
very careful with the flower. So I removed all that read from my paintbrush bristles
and I'm going in and just very quickly and loosely going over the sections where
I just placed more color. I want to activate. And that is it for this
upper part of the table. I am going to do a
little bit of activation in that part on the
lower left corner. And I'm going to be all done. Let's do the flower. So I'm going to
remove all of this brown for my
paintbrush bristles, make sure they're
nice and clean. And I'm going to get
started with my petals. I'm just looking to very, very gently activate the bid of color that I've
already placed. And I'm not trying
to pull it all throughout the petals because otherwise they're not going
to look white anymore. So notice how quickly
I'm doing this, right? And if you already started
creating that bit of texture with linear
strokes in those petals, very gently drag the tip
of your paintbrush over that line that you created
with your watercolor pencil. And just go over it
once with an upwards, outwards flicking motion
with your paintbrush. And that's going to
help soften that line, is going to blur it out
with this white flower. I am even more careful
making sure that I'm not covering up that whiteness of the paper that I
still have plenty of. That white paper is shining through in all of these petals. Starting in the lighter
values sections and making my way towards darker values
sections is really helpful. And that is it for the petals. I don't want to
do anything else. Now for the center, I'm going to start
in the middle with gentle circular strokes
even with my paintbrush. And very gently just touching the tip
of my paintbrush over these areas where I placed a little
bit more color and that should help melt that
color a little bit more. I still left a little
bit of texture there. I'm not really
looking to get rid of that texture for now. That's all I'm gonna do. That is it for this
second activation of color in this process, we're not going to be
bringing in any more water or any other paint brushes
until it is time to paint in the back wall with
traditional watercolor paint. For now, I'm going
to allow this to dry completely once again. And after this is dry, we're gonna be moving on to the next phase of this process, where we're gonna be doing
our final application of watercolor pencil.
10. Third Application of Color: Alright, so everything is completely dry and it is time to work on our third layering
of watercolor pencil. In this phase of the process, we're focusing on only
deepest, darkest dark areas. So we're gonna be using the darkest color that we
have chosen for each area. And we're probably
going to be bringing in a little bit of the
medium color again, if we have to work
on any transitions. So let's get started
with the picture again, the two colors that I was using in the last phase
of the process, where my dark chrome yellow, my yellow orange, and my
red orange right here. Now, if you remember, when I was first
choosing my colors before getting started
with the painting process, I was thinking of bringing in the purple only in the deepest, darkest areas in the picture. This is going to be very
helpful because I can only get so dark with
this darkest color that I have chosen
is also going to help integrate these
three elements together beautifully
because I'm using purple here and I'm
using purple here. However, I still want
to have these two on hand just in case I need to work on transitions
a little bit more. So I'm going to
bring in the purple. I'm really only going to
be using this color now if I feel that I need
to soften transitions, if they're looking
to start really, I'm just focusing on
darkest dark areas, darkest midtones, and
darkest shadow areas. So good to go right in
with my red orange. I'm observing that reference
photo and I am only going to be applying this third layer
of color in the deepest, darkest shadows
sections that I see. I am only looking to push the very darkest areas at
this point in the process. And leaving all of the lighter mid tones
and the lightest lights completely uncovered by this
third application of color, I am continuing to notice in that reference
photo where I have sharp transitions
between value shapes and where I have softer,
more gradual transitions. Like e.g. in this
bottom section of this spherical structure
in the picture, I have a softer gradual
transition where darker values turn gradually
into lighter mid tones. So I am making sure to apply less and less
pressure as I make my way out from darker value areas and into
lighter value sections. Even in this point
of the process where we're working on
deepest, darkest values, I'm still not applying too much pressure to the
point of burnishing my paper. I may allow myself to
press down a little bit harder than with my second
application of color, especially in those very
deepest sections where I'm really looking to cover up
the majority of that paper, but I still want to be careful. I don't want to accidentally
start damaging my paper. Right here I have a
sharp defined edge and that reference photo. But down here, the edges
a little bit softer. So I'm applying
way less pressure and I'm probably going to
be bringing in this yellow, orange color in just a bit
to soften transitions a little bit more between darker midtones and
lighter mid tones. I'm going to start darkening some sections that needs to be darkened throughout this cylindrical
structure in the picture, I definitely have
darker values sections to continue pushing more, there is a very visible
dark value shape that is taking up almost half of
the cylindrical structure. And it has a pretty
sharp defined edge that I want to make sure to
make happen in my piece. So I continued with
my layering of this third color in the picture, continuing to compare
my painting with the reference photo and noticing sections that
need to be darkened. I do a little bit
of darkening along the right edge of the
cylindrical part of the pitcher. I do a little bit
of darkening in little sections in the handle. And then I move on to
darkening sections in the inner planes
of the picture. I'm gonna be doing a little
bit more overlapping of this red orange before
switching on over to my purple, I want to make sure that I have already developed a nice range of hue and value before
bringing in my darkest color, which is going to be the purple. If I've only stayed within the light value to
light midtone range, and I bring in my purple. That purple is going
to create a lot of contrast over those
relatively lighter value. So spend as long as you need to and make sure
that you've already developed a certain level of 3D mess before switching
on over to your purple. So finally, I'm gonna go
ahead and use my purple. I'm not going to press down
too hard at all because this color is way darker than the color that
is already there. I want to take it forward
incrementally a step at a time. So I'm going to start back here. And remember that darker
you get with your color, the smaller the shape. And the more you want to
be mindful of exerting even less pressure as you're making your way towards
the lighter mid tones. You can see here I'm not
going in initially with a lot of pressure
with my purple. And you can see how
I'm not going in and covering up all of my red. I'm only darkening
certain sections of these dark shapes
that I had already started creating with my red. If after I've done this initial lighter
layer with my purple, I want to go in and darken
sections even further. I can consider going
in with another layer and perhaps pressing
down a tiny bit more. It's really all about taking things gradually
incrementally, a step at a time towards
deepest darker values. There's a deep
shadow shape here. And a deep shadow
shape over here, right below the picture. And I'm going to
continue jumping around the entire picture, overlapping this purple in darkest value sections that I see in that reference photo. Starting gently, not pressing
down very hard at all, and then allowing
myself to press down a little bit
harder if I want to do more layering over that only in the deepest darkest
shadows sections. Now that I've done plenty of overlapping of
purple over my red, you can see that
this combination of colors is looking quite nice. When you're gonna be mixing, blending or overlapping two
different colors together. It is so important to test out that color mixture
on a scrap piece of watercolor paper before using those two colors in
your painting process. This way you can avoid Medina or creating colors that you
weren't intending to create. And if you're going
to be activating those two colors
together, like e.g. if you are going
to be placing the purple over the red
and you're gonna be bringing in water
and a paintbrush and activating those two and
blending them together. Test that out as well. Because with watercolor pencils, as I've mentioned before, when you activate that color, it can look quite different
to how it looked before. In this case, we're no longer
going to be bringing in water and a paintbrush to
activate these colors together, we're going to leave them as is. But you do want
to avoid creating undesired colours
as much as you can. And doing some planning and prep work and going in
with a strategy is of course going to be
incredibly helpful in order to avoid
that kind of thing. Even ten to 15 min of planning your specific colors that you're going to be bringing in and making sure that
your swatching them out and activating them on a scrap
piece of watercolor paper. If you are going to be bringing
in water and a paintbrush into your process
goes a long way. Okay, so I'm done with
the purple for now. And if now that you've
applied your darkest color, you want to switch them
back to your darkest red or your medium
color in order to work on transitions between these new darkest value shapes and the mid tones that you
had already developed. You can go ahead and do that. Here I'm using my
darkest red and going over edges and creating
softer transitions. Applying less and
less pressure as I make my way into
lighter value sections. You can see me working
on transitions right here on this light
side of the cylinder. And also right here in this light section of
the spherical structure. I'm going to round out the spherical part of
the picture a little bit more by placing a little bit
of this red along the edges. Quickly adding some more of this color into other sections. And then I switch on
over to my medium color. If you want to work on
transitions between your light mid tones and
your lightest light areas, you can go back to
your medium color. So for me it's this
yellow, orange. You're gonna notice how I work around the brightest
highlights section. And as I make my way
into that lightest area, I release that
pressure entirely, leaving a portion of that
initial layer that I created, especially that section around the brightest highlight shape. Free of this extra pigment, I don't need to add any
more color into that area. This is the point in the
process where if I want to add in a little bit of
color in these edges, the lip here up top
and this edge here. If I have left it to white, I can certainly go
in with my yellow, orange or even in sections with my red orange to
create a little bit of a range of values in
these very narrow shapes. Alright, hustle. I'm all done with
the picture and it's time to move on to the fabric. So when it comes to the fabric, I was using my red orange, which is my dark chrome orange. I was using my darker red, which is scarlet red, and I was using my blue purple
for darkest shadow areas, the lighter red I'm
not going to be using anymore because I'm
focusing on darkest values. So I'm gonna go right in with my scarlet red and
I'm gonna push darkest shadow areas a little bit more with
my blue purple. It's not my intention
to darken anything except for the areas that
really need darkening. I'm going to start with this
shadowy area over here. And just like what I've
been doing when I've been working on the fabric
and all the past phases. I'm making sure to work
section by section, zooming into these areas in the reference photo
as I am moving along. And I am doing my best to not
place any more color or do anymore overlapping of pigment in lightest values sections. I'm going to continue
making my way down, darkening shadow shapes
beneath the flower. And wherever I see
shadow shapes due to the fabric
folding over itself. I'm gonna go over this entire shape except
for the bottom edge. And this is because I see lighter values in
that bottom edge in the reference photo. So I'm going to stay
away from that area. I never stopped looking at that reference photo
as I am moving along. It is so important to
train ourselves to observe if we're looking for
higher levels of realism. As I am working on this
layer in the fabric, I'm remembering what I hadn't noticed before in
the previous phase about how some of these shapes look a little
bit too much like lines. And so what I am trying to
do is I'm trying to soften that line effect by adding a little bit more
color along some of the edges of those lines, making certain sections
look a little bit thicker. Other sections look
a little bit thinner and make it more of an abstract, elongated shape
rather than a line. If you really observe that
reference photo closely, these are abstract shapes, they are not lines. So if you see anything
like a line in your work, just think of how
you can make it a little bit more irregular. After darkening other little
sections here and there, I decide to bring in my
soft graphite eraser. I made sure that it was
nice and clean before going in in order to
do a little bit of erasing out of color
or lifting to soften sections of those
shapes that look a little bit too much
like lines to me. This definitely helps create more irregularity throughout
these long shapes. This way some sections
look lighter, other sections look darker
and they look much less. Lines that have a
consistent weight from one end to the other end. As long as you haven't
activated that color, you're going to be able
to lift some of it up. I'm finally ready to
go in with my purple. And once again, I'm going
to get started behind the picture where I see
very dark shadow shapes. And I'm gonna do my
layering of purple over certain sections of
that dark red shape that I had already created. I'm going to make my
way down from there, darkening other sections further and really making sure
that I'm not overusing the starkest color
and flattening out areas that are really mid tones and not darkest dark areas. Continue zooming into
that reference photo as needed and don't
overwhelm yourself. Just work section by
section a bit at a time. Observe and ask yourself, is this section darker or lighter than this
section over here? So if you've checked out any of my other watercolor pencil
classes or tutorials, then you're probably already
well aware that I love using watercolor pencils to
their fullest capacity. So this is why I like activating
that color with water. And I also like incorporating the texture that they leave
behind as part of the piece. If I were just going
for painterly effects, I would definitely go for just plain old traditional
watercolor paint. And what I'm using
watercolor pencils, I like using them to
their full capabilities and activating the
color and incorporating a certain amount of painterly
effects while still making use of the texture that they
leave behind for interest. Like incorporating
the sketchy look that they can produce, being a drawing medium as well. And really balancing that
out with painterly effect. So you can also create
with this medium. And this is why we're
not going to be activating this third
application of color. We want a mixture of sketchy effects and
painterly effects. I'm going to go
quiet as I continue darkening sections
using my purple. Okay, So I've finished up with my purple throughout the fabric. And if I want to go back
to my red to work on transitions after having pushed those darker values sections, I can definitely do that. If you find that you have very stark looking purple shapes or you want to make
transition softer, more gradual between
your different values. You can use your
darker red to do some work along the edges
of your purple shapes. Alright, so I'm not gonna do any more layering on the table. I don't think
there's any need to. There's already a nice range
of values in that area. And because it's kind of a
secondary supportive element, there is really
no need to add in more detail or texture
into that area. I do want to darken
this shadow shape right here on the lower
left corner where that visible portion of
the table is right below the fabric so that I can really situate these objects
on the table. For this, I use my darker brown, which is my Van **** brown. So I go in and do
a little bit more overlapping with
this darker brown, especially in the sections
closest to the fabric. And then I'm going to switch
on over to my purple. And with my purple, I'm doing even more overlapping, but now only along the
bottom edge of the fabric. So I'm darkening only what would be the occlusion shadow area. Alright, cool. So now I'm gonna do a little
bit more work in the flower. So I'm going to
bring back a gray, green and the purple. With my gray. Really, I'm only going to
focus on creating those lines. And all I'm doing is
just doing a tiny bit of scribbling down here
and just quickly pulling a few lines, making sure that the lines don't look too
stiff or straight. You want to follow the curve
of that shape of the petal. Otherwise they may end up
looking a little bit too unnatural. So that's enough. Don't wanna do anything else. If there's any bit of shadow shapes that you want
to develop in the petals, especially in the closest
section to the center there. And under petals,
you can do that. Just be careful that
you're not overdoing it. Now finally, in the middle, this is where I want to go in. You might want to make sure that your watercolor
pencil is sharpened. So you can go in with little circular strokes to develop a little
bit more texture. And then I'm gonna go in, sign a lease with my purple. And I'm just going to do a little teeny tiny circles there to develop
some darker values. And enhance that texture
a little bit more. Going to push some
shadows sections with my purple here right
below the flower petals. And I'm all done. If you feel that you went a
little bit overboard with the purple or you want
to soften the purple, go in with your eraser and
just do a tiny bit of lifting. I don't want any
lines or marks to be too distracting or Stark
looking in the flower. And with that,
we're all done with this phase of the process. It's now time to paint
the background wall. So we're going to be bringing
in as some type of paint. In my case, I'm
going to be bringing in traditional watercolor paint.
11. Painting Background Wall: When it comes to the paint that you're gonna be
using for your back wall. Really, you can use whichever
paint color you want. If you have indigo, you can use indigo. Since my indigo ran out, I'm going to be mixing together phthalo blue and neutral tint. I'm going to start creating
my dark blue color mixture. Going to use my size ten round brush to
create my color mixture. And then I'm going to switch
to a different paintbrush because this is a
pretty large shape that we're going
to be painting in. And I don't want to use a
paintbrush that is too small. You want to make sure that
you're always choosing a paintbrush size that is appropriate for the area that
you're gonna be painting. Otherwise, you can make
the painting process way more difficult and frustrating
than it needs to be. I am just taking a little
bit of water at a time, bringing it into
my phthalo blue, pink color here on my palette, bringing out a
little bit of paint at a time into this section of my palette that I had
previously cleaned out. And I'm going for a nice, juicy color mixture
that's approximately a coffee to milk
like consistency. So approximately 50%, 50%
water is what you want. I want to make sure that I have enough as well because again, this is a pretty large area. We're going to be creating a nice wash all
throughout that area. Alright, so I think that that is enough of my blue color mixture. I'm gonna be adding
in a little bit of my neutral tint to darken it. I'm going to add in just a
little bit of my gray or black at a time until I get
it as dark as I want. You can use whichever blue you like or you have access to. It can be ultramarine blue. It can be in the throne blue, failover, blue, Prussian blue. If you want to darken it more, you can darken it
with Payne's gray, neutral tint, neutral black, anything like that
will work perfectly. I am looking for a deep blue. So that's why I
added quite a bit of neutral tint into my blue. Alright, I think
that that is enough. I'm going to test out this color on a scrap piece of
watercolor paper before using it to make sure
it's where I want it to be. I do want it to look blue, but I also want it to be
pretty dark for contrast. So I'm adding a little
bit more neutral tint into it to darken it
a little bit more. Okay, there we go. Alright, so my colors
where I want it to be, and I think I have
a good amount. I'm going to just add a
little bit more water because it's kind of thick. I am going to rinse out all of this color
for my paintbrush bristles because I'm no longer going to use this paint brush. I'm going to use this
paint brush right here. This is a three-fourths
of an inch flat brush, and I'm gonna be
doing pre wedding in this entire wall portion. I'm bringing out a little
bit of water at a time from my container and
gently pre wedding this entire section
of the piece. Really take your time doing
this prereading process. I cannot emphasize enough
how important this is. You want to arrive at a nice even sheen all
throughout the wall. I will be leaving
the negative shape in the handle for later. But I do want to be
able to paint all of this wall section at once. This will help me create
that relatively even wash that I am looking
for for the wall. I am going over everything at least six to
seven times by doing this prereading
process and preparing our paper with a thin
uniform layer of water. We are going to do two things. Firstly, we're going
to be able to expand our working time as we're
painting in this wall portion. You see when we
paint on dry paper, the paper is super thirsty and starts absorbing that
paint immediately. Everything starts
drying very fast. So by feeding water
to the paper, it's no longer going
to be as thirsty. And that paint that
we place on it is not going to be as
quickly absorbed. Things are going to
dry much more slowly. So this expands, this increases our working time so
that we can continue adding more paint
if we need to or work on softening out little
textures that we don't like, et cetera, before everything
starts to dry on us, especially when working
with watercolor, we should not be
adding more paint or moving the paint around
when it's starting to dry, because this will only lead to splotchy ***** backgrounds
and undesired effects. So that's one reason why we're doing the
pre wedding today. But another reason is because the water that we apply
on the paper is gonna be doing half of the work
for us in terms of creating those soft
diffuse out effects, you see watercolor is going to expand when it is
placed on wet paper. And that is exactly
what we want. We want nice soft defects
and our background. Do realize of course, that the environment
that you're working in is going to have
a huge impact on how quickly or how slowly
your paint starts to dry if you're working
in a warm environment, a cool environment, a humid environment, a dry environment. If you have a fan on
a heating system, on an air conditioning unit, on all of those things are
going to have an impact on how your painting process
goes and your final outcome. But whatever the case may be, you want to take your time
with this prereading process and make sure that you're
arriving at a nice even sheen, a uniform sheen all throughout this wall area before
starting to paint. If you do this too quickly, certain sections
are going to start drawing on YouTube fast. Nothing is sped up in these
videos in this course. So this is actually
the time that it took me to do my pre wedding
for this piece. Take your time
with this process. Just run your paintbrush
bristles over that paper gently, say have a nice even sheen all throughout this
upper section. And I am ready to get started with adding in my dark blue
color and my background. I'm going to switch on over to this size 14 round
brush, pretty wet it. Remove that excess
water and I'm going to take a good amount
of this dark blue, juicy color mixture that I've
created once I've loaded up my paintbrush with
a good amount of that dark blue rich
color that I've created. I'm going to go ahead
and start dropping it into this wetness that I
have prepared my paper wet. And I'm going to
very carefully make my way around the picture. Watercolor will only expand
into paper that is wet. So if I haven't wedded anything inside of
the pitcher shape, the color won't expand into it. So just continue making your way carefully around the picture. You can see how this water
content that I have prepared, my paper width is
really helping me create nice soft
diffused out effects. Everything is still
quite wet and workable, so I can take my time continuing
to add in more color as needed until I arrive at the wash that I'm looking
for in my background, I am looking for a
slight variety in values and translucency
in my background. So I'm not going for a
completely flat wash. I do want certain sections to
look a little bit lighter, other sections to look
a little bit darker. And that water content is
going to help me create those soft transitions
in between these darker areas and
those lighter areas. If I had started painting
on paper that was dry, I would be racing against the clock because everything would be drawing very quickly. This said, I have not
working super, super slowly. I'm still trying to work swiftly and I'm trying
to keep it moving. I'm also really avoiding going in and doing over blending. I am embracing the
irregular organic effects that watercolor is creating. If I go in and start over blending and going
over everything, I can run the risk of
starting to damage my paper or really
flattening things out. I am just going in and
doing gentle smoothing out. If I find that I have some very visible textures
that might be too distracting, but anything else
I try to leave as is something that
you saw me do right there is I did go in to use the bristles of
my paintbrush as a little absorbent
sponge to remove some excess water and paint that was pulling too much in an area. And right here
because the paper is still quite wet and workable, I allow myself to go in and adding more paint
into sections that I'm looking to darken the paper we're already
starting to dry. I would not be doing this. I know that if I have
a dark background because the picture
is a light color, I'm gonna be able to
make the picture really pop because there will be
more contrast created. So that's it for my
background wall. I'm going to clean out this
larger brush, set it aside. And now I'm going to be
painting in the negative space in the handle of the picture
that I haven't painted in. So for this, I switch on over
to my size ten round brush. Even in this small area, I want to make sure
that I'm developing somewhat of a variety of values. So I want some little
sections to look darker and other little
sections to look lighter. So I want to make
sure that initially I go in and I'm creating a relatively light blue
layer so that I can build those darker blue values
on that light blue layer. So avoid going in with a very thick dark color
mixture right off the bat, go in light initially and
watered down and pale, and then drop in a
little bit more color in little sections
here and there. You want to darken so
that you can develop that little range of values
even in this section, what I'm dropping in
this second layer of blue on top of that
first paler blue. I make sure to do it while that initial layer is still wet because otherwise
I'm not going to get those soft diffused
out transitions. And that is all I'm
going to be doing with traditional
watercolor paint. I'm going to set my paint aside. We're going to allow
this to dry and we're gonna be moving on
to the last phase of this process in
which we're going to be adding in our final details.
12. Final Details: Alright, so I finished up with that traditional
watercolor paint and it has dried completely. And in this very last
stage of this process, I'm only looking to go in
and really push darkest, dark areas to add
final contrast. If you need to work on any textures more or
even transitions, you can go ahead
and do that too. We want to push a few
darkest values sections in the picture. So I go back to my red orange, which is my dark chrome orange, and also my blue purple. I'm going to just jump in and
start using my blue purple. And I am just looking
to push those deepest, darkest shadow shapes that I
see in that reference photo. This is the final layering
that we're doing. So we want to focus only on pushing those
darkest dark areas. So continue comparing
your painting with that reference photo. Really observe those differences and those things that you
need to keep working on. Exerting less pressure as I make my way out of the
darkest value of areas. Whatever it is that
you're working on. Whether you're working
on deepening and darkening darkest value
sections for more contrast. Or whether you're looking
to soften some transitions, or you're looking to add a
little bit more texture, make sure that you're
changing between your colors as needed
depending on what it is that you're doing and
that you're shifting and changing the
pressure that you're exerting on your pencil. Because if you don't pay attention to the tool
that you have in your hand and how much
pressure you are exerting. You can end up
darkening section's way too much or creating shapes or lines that are way
too distracting and start looking. Right here. I'm darkening this
shadow section right beneath the picture. And if I want to
work on transitions, I can switch on over to the red orange and
work on transitions. In this glass stage
of the process, it's so important
to continue taking little breaks and continue coming back to see
the entire piece, the entire composition
as a whole. Hold yourself back
from overdoing things, see everything from
a distance and ask yourself if more
is really necessary. Remember that when we're
working with watercolor, pencils and watercolor paint, less is often more. And if we overdo it, we're going to end
up with a piece of looks flat, heavy, overworked. And it's going to lack
that glow that watercolor, pencils and watercolor allow. And I'm just going to do a little bit more pushing of darkest value areas
in the fabric. And I'm going to
call this one done. Just focusing on
the darkest areas. If at this point in the process you feel that you
want to work on the textures inside
of the flower a little bit more, Be my guest. By the way, even in this very
last part of the process, I'm still not pushing
down too hard. Yes, I'm pushing down
harder than what I was doing in the very
beginning of the process. But I still would not
consider this burnishing. All right. I think I'm all done with
this still-life piece. So I'm going to just gently
and carefully remove my masking tape to reveal
those clean white edges. And we're all done with this watercolor pencil
still-life piece.
13. Thank you: If you made it to this
point, congratulations, I really hope that you enjoyed this course and that you
learned a lot of tips, tools, and tricks that
you can take with you to future watercolor pencil pieces that you might
decide to work on. Don't forget to post a
photo of your work in the Projects and Resources
tab here on Skillshare. I cannot wait to see
your work and to provide any feedback
that you might need. And you can also feel free to ask any questions
that you might have. Make sure to follow me here
on Skillshare because I have lots of new courses coming down the
pipeline for you. And finally, don't
forget to check out all of the free
resources that I am making available and sharing
every week over at my YouTube channel and
over on my Instagram. I would love to
connect with you. Thank you so, so much for
joining me in this course. Enjoy your art practice
and talk to you soon.
Erika Lancaster, Watercolor + Sketching + Artist Mindset
