Transcripts
1. Introduction : This is the second class in
my series, the Gouache Files. And this time I'm
combining gouache with wax pastels and
coloured pencils. I think the combination
works fabulously well. I'm going to show you the way I like to use them together, which brands I like to use, and how to produce a
beautiful piece of artwork to show off this great
combination of materials. I'm Kate Cooke, artist, illustrator and top teacher
here on Skillshare. I find inspiration for my
Arte everywhere in galleries, books, and especially
when I'm traveling. But in this class, we're going to let
nature inspirers and use flowers and foliage to create
a semi abstract picture. Join me for a FUN, inspiring, and quite frankly
genius work producing a really on trend
mixed media picture. You'll be very proud of. Gouache can sometimes feel
a bit daunting to use. Lots of people told me they
can't seem to get it right. And a frustrated
with this paint. I'm a massive fan of it. I've used it all
my working life. When I started out as a textile
designer many years ago, it was the paint I was
trained to use to design with my experience and love
of it as maybe you want to share how to use
this brilliant medium. And in this class I'm
make it really easy and accessible when we use it in conjunction with
pastels and pencils. Now you're going to love
creating with this combo. So don't feel like you
need to have a ton of experience using any
of these mediums. You can be a complete beginner, someone who's dabbled a bit, someone's used this
stuff 1 million times. I'll show you a new
and interesting way to tackle a picture with them. First, I'm going to tell you
about the Project I'll set, which is basically to Produce a picture similar to the
one I'm making the class. We'll start with
the practical load of exercises so you can
really get to grips with all the mediums we use and ease and gently to
creating our final piece. I'll give you lots of great
tips along the way to get you hooked and help you with
your creative decisions. Now, I'm going to talk
about the class project. See you in the next lesson.
2. The Class Project : The class project. For this, I'd like you to first of all decide on a color plan. I'll be showing you how to
do this in the color lesson. It's just a case of finding a
good source of inspiration, either from the internet, books or something you found that you liked
the colors of. Next, gather some reference. I show you how to do this
in the Inspiration lesson. Again, use books, the internet, or get out in the garden or local park and do some
simple sketching. Then using the ideas I show you in the class
exercise lesson. Have a go at some
play with paint, pencils and pastors
that yourself go and just have fun with the
different colors and mediums, making marks and patterns. Once you feel
confident with them, you can move on to making
a piece of artwork using your chosen color palette
and reference material. It's an organic and
instinctive process. It's great fun for
any creative ability. There are no boundaries, as it's a semi
abstract composition that I show you how to make
in the artwork lesson. Once you've done
the class project, I'd love you to share it in
the class gallery below. Show me your exercises as
well as the final piece. And I will always do my best
to respond with feedback. I love seeing your
work, so don't be shy. I know you're going to find
this fun. So have a go. Watch the class and you'll find all my hints
and tips to get your painting with gouache and doodling with
pastels and pencils. Here's a quick recap. Choose a color palette,
gather some reference, make some class exercises, and create your artwork, then upload it to
the class gallery. Next, I'm going to show you
all the materials I use. See you in the next lesson.
3. Materials: Materials. For this class,
we're going to need a few different materials. The first one is
some gouache paint. I like to use Windsor
and Newton as it's very good quality and I know
it will behave beautifully. There are lots of other brands, some just as good and some a bit cheaper and not quite so good, but still fine to use. Just be aware, you get what
you pay for with paint. Some of the cheaper brands mean that the pigments
aren't quite so vibrant and the consistency of the paint isn't
quite so great. If you don't have any gouache,
but want to buy some, I suggest you just
buy a few colors to work with or a small set, as it can get expensive if
you buy the full range. The type of gouache I
use is water-based. You can get acrylic gouache, but this is slightly different. And whilst I use that to, in this class, we're
going to stick to the water-based stuff. We will also be
using some pastels. I like using my Neocolor
water-soluble wax pastels by Caran D'ache. As I have a big
set of them and I love the diversity of colours. However, you could
use another brand, oil or soft pastel. Just be aware, they
all react differently. And the soft pastels
can get a little messy. We will also use
coloured pencils. And I like to use my
Faber Castell Polychroma. Most pencils, which Have a
lovely pigment consistency. They're all based and
waterproof and smudge proof. There are lots of other brands, so just use what you have. But again, be aware
the cheaper quality, the less pigment,
so they may not work so well on top
of other mediums. Next, we will need some
good quality paper. I like to use the
artists paper packs of a4 to hundred gram
paper by Fabriano. But any smooth
watercolor paper that's around the same weight
will work fine too. Just don't go using
lightweight papers. It won't take the
paint so well and end up buckling brushes. The ones I use a
fairly mixed bag of brands, shapes, and sizes. I think you can happily buy cheaper brands are brush as
long as you look after them, clean them properly and don't expect them to last forever. The one I love to use is the Pro Arte Series 50
pure squirrel wash brush in a size small. It's a joy to use and
I highly recommend splashing out for
the flat brushes. I also like to use a Pro Arte
Prolene plus zero is 08, brush size quarter an
inch and a Windsor and Newton septa go to brush
in a size ten millimeter. Also, a Prolene plus
synthetic filbert brush, series 009, size four. I have many different
brands of round brushes. These use whatever
you have in a size four and a to the ones I
use or all by Pro Arte. I've written this down
in the class notes. You will also need
a pencil Sharpener. I love my Swordfish, Ikon, Manual pencil Sharpener, but just a regular one
would do a palette. I use a Plastic flower
shaped palette. They're cheap and I like the
deep individual paint wells. You could also use cut down
plastic cups or yoga pots, or just something that
has a degree of depth, but not a flat plate as the paint will spread
out and dry too quickly. Some tissue and a
water jar also. So that's all the materials. Now we will look at making a colour plan, saving
the next lesson
4. A Colour Plan : Making a colour plan. There were lots of ways
to get color inspiration. The obvious one is the internet. Sites such as Pinterest are great for finding
interesting color mixes. Just such colour combinations and all sorts of interesting
Palettes come up. You could also look at fashion sites such
as Pattern bank, as they have loads
of color stories. I'm always snapping photos of things often in shops
or Art Gallery's. If I spy some great colors, it's just a case or of a
membrane to add them to a file so you know where
to find them when you need some inspiration. Another ways from Color books, I've got this great
little book is Japanese. I can't understand a word of it, but you don't need to, as it's just all
about colour and has some brilliant
Palettes suggestions. I really recommend it for
any colour plans you need. It's called a dictionary
of colour combinations. And is by second Shaw. I can't really say that. I
bought it in the UK bookshop, but I think it's
easy to find online. I'm going to use this book to inspire my color choices today. I've chosen a colour scheme
of four colors that I like. And I'm going to
start mixing them up. We're going to start
with this lime green. And I've got a tube of
gouache called Linden Green, which is a pretty good match. I'll mix some up on my palette
and paint a swatch of it. I'm going to add a bit
of olive green as I think it needs to be
slightly greener. That looks about right now. I'm going to mix up
greeny gray khaki color. I'm using more of the
olive green again, but I need to dirty
it up so I'm using one of my favorite
colors, Red Ochre. The reddish brown
is a great way to muddy up a green
that's too bright. I'm also going to
use a bit Indigo, another favourite as
I want the green to get a bit bluey gray. That looks okay. I'm not going for an
exact match to the book. I'm happy with just
a similar color. Now I'm going to use
that Red Ochre to make the cleric colour is not a bad match actually
is just needs a bit of Permanent White to
make it a little opaque. I've decided that I want some
more tones of these colors. I'm going to mix a paler version by just adding more white. It's good to have a variety of tones that will work
on top of each other. You want a darker couple of mid tones and some
lighter colors, I think. Now for that minty green color, I'm starting with some
Pale Turquoise and then adding white and also a bit of that dark
green I've mixed. I'm also going to mix a darker
tone of the same color by just recreating it with more
of the color and less white. It's turned out a
bit more Turquoise. But I quite like that. I just want one more tone. So I'm going to do
a really pale pink. I think that makes for good
combination hopefully. Now we're going to look
at Finding inspiration for some reference ideas. See you in the next lesson.
5. Inspiration : Inspiration. I use a few different
ways of finding reference and inspiration
for this sort of artwork. I'm not looking to paint
botanically correct, realistic flowers and leaves. What I do want to find our
shapes of them to use. The artwork I create will be semi abstract and composition that will evolve as I created and being
organic and freestyle. My first method is simply to go out and draw what I
found in my garden. It's early summer here
in the UK at the moment. So a perfect time to go out and look around for
flowers and foliage. I take my sketchpad
and a pencil, that's all you need and I
draw whatever takes my fancy. Here you can see I've got
a page of ideas to use. The second way I look for
reference is in books. I've got a host of different
books on flowers and plants. I'm always looking in second-hand and charity
shops where you can often pick up books
on gardening and plants. You can also find some
in your local library. There were a few I bought
that I can highly recommend. Flower Color Guide and
flower color theory, both published by fade-in, are a great source of reference
and easily available. They're full of
color inspiration to especially the
flower color theory. As it gives you the swatches of color at the edge of the page. I also loved this book,
wildflowers of Britain. There's quite an old book. I've had it for years, but
I liked the way the plants have picked and laid out
on a plain background. So it's really easy
to see their shape. Just a general
garden, but would do. So see what you've already got. The third way to find some
reference is the internet. I like to use Pinterest
because I can search for photos and then pin
them to a board. I have a board called
flower reference. You can either draw
some shapes from your reference photos or have your screen nearby
when you're painting. I've made a sheet of
flower and leaf shapes to make it really easy. You can find these
in the class notes. If you don't want to bother looking for your own reference, then just use these sheets
to inspire your picture. So now you've got the tools, colours, and reference ideas. We can get started
with some Exercises. See you in the next lesson.
6. Paint Exercises : So let's do some
paint exercises. I've got all the colors
I'm mixed and a sheet of a4 smooth watercolor paper. And my big wash brush. I'm going to paint squares of all the different colors
I've mixed and then I'm dry. The only one I haven't
included is the pale pink, but I'll use that on top
of the other colors. I've also got my selection of brushes and I'll aim
to use all of them. I'm going to start with a small round brush size two and just play around with all
the different colors. I've started with that
Claret onto the lime yellow. It's pretty cool. I've
got Pinterest app on my PC screen so I can look at lots of leaf
and flower shapes. But really I'm just ADD living and being quite
instinctive with my marks. So don't worry too much about having reference
in front of you. Play with shapes and marks and see what
your brushes can do. I'm going to switch between the colors brushes and experiment with slightly drier
brush versus a wetter one. To see how many textures
I can get with the paint. Just remember to
not get to watery with it as it will
reactivate the base paint. And you'll start to get
some murky colours. So now I'll turn
up the music and you can sit back and
watch me doodle. Now I'm going to use some
of those coloured pencils and just play around with
different marks and shapes. Still using the
reference from Pinterest to inspire my choices of Mark. So there you have
it. Some things work better on top
of other things. But it's just the case of experimenting and
seeing what looks good. So now I'm going to mix
a second colour palette. And I quite like this color
combination of Turquoise and sort of marine blue
and a lime and a gray. And I'm going to start
by mixing Turquoise, blue, and Permanent White. My palette and just
swatch a bit of that. The next one I'm gonna do is that lime and I'm using
the Linden Green again, one of my favorite colors, and a bit of Permanent White, and another swatch of that. And then for that blue, so I'm going to use Ultramarine. Again, a tiny bit
of Permanent White, looking a bit too bright. So I think I'm going to
add some indigo to that. Should dirty it up enough to make a nice sort
of marine blue. And then finally, that gray. My plan with that is
just to add a bit of all the colors to
Permanent White. See what sort of colour it goes. And I think I'm going to have
to probably use something like a sepia in there to
make it more of a TOP gray. Quite like that
color combination. Looking quite nice. Question is, do I need to
lighten up that Turquoise a bit eight feels like it's it's probably too on the same tone. Is that marine blue? I just want it to
be a bit lighter, so I've got a can
paint on top of it. Now, I'm going to take my Neocolor pastels and find
some corresponding colors. I'm sort of Turquoise, he blue and a nice mid blue, and gray and green and a white. And I'm going to do the same
with my coloured pencils. So that's quite a
nice-looking colour palette. Now I have this painting
that I did awhile ago and I really like that sort of reddish brown that
I used in its, so I'm going to find a
corresponding pastel color. And now I am just going to doodle and play with
the paint first of all, in quite a watery way. And I've decided to do this
kind of circular composition. Quite sure why, just quite
like the idea of curves. And I'm, I'll start with all
the colors of the paint. First of all, don't
mind that some of it is sort of blending
into one another a bit. Once that's dry, I'm going to use some of the pastel
colors on top of it. Just like I did before. Doodling away. I'll speed this better and play some music so you can just watch me doodle. So that's exercise
number two finished. And I think we're about
ready to move on to making our final
piece of artwork. See you in the next lesson.
7. The Artwork encoded: Right time for the artwork. I've got my reference sketches and my colors all
mixed in a palette. I've chosen a new colour plan, again using my little
Japanese book. This time, I've gone
for one with orange, bright blue, a sort of Tilly
Turquoise, and a yellow. I've watched all
the colors and I'll quickly run through
what colors I used. This lovely bright blue I
made using Ultramarine. The teal went a bit
more Turquoise, and I used cobalt turquoise light with
a word of Turquoise, blue and Permanent White. The pink was a Pale Rose Blush with a touch of opera rose. The yellows, a bit of Linden Green and Primary
Yellow and white. For the green, I used Olive
Green plus a touch of white and the orange was Orange Lake Light with
a touch of white. So there we have them all mixed. I actually decided to add
in a neutral as well, but I'll show you
how I do that later. Next, I choose some of
my Neocolor pastels to correspond as closely as
possible with the paint colors. It's nice to just switch
these colors too. And I'm going to add in a black, so I've got a really dark
contrasting color available. Next, it's the pencils. And again, I'm choosing
the nearest colors I have to the paint colors. So I'm going to
begin on a piece of A4 watercolor paper by taking one of the Pencils in the lightest shade to draw
out a plan for my picture. I've got the pale pink by using a colored pencil rather than
a normal graphite pencil. I don't need to erase it and it becomes part of the picture. I'm not putting any detail in just getting a rough feel for where things will go and
drawing in some flower shapes. It's quite important
to get those in, as I will be painting
around some of them and letting the
white paper show through. I'm also putting some of the larger areas in
that I'll paint. I like to use quite organic, curvy shapes that give a nice
rhythm to the composition. I'm not going to be Painting right up to the
edge of my paper. I want to leave a border
around the outside. I decided to add in a more neutral tone as a
contrast all bright colors. And I've mixed this by
just adding a bit of all the colors together
with some Permanent White. And it ends up a sort of murky potty gray is
quite a good way of mixing something that
will sit well with all the colors because
it's made of all of them. I'm starting painting and
using my big wash brush. I'll use the painting
quite a watery way and begin with
the pale pink. I like to start with
a lighter colors and build up to the darker ones. I'm painting in a couple
of those big flower shapes and putting the pink
and few other areas. And now I'm going to
use the neutral tone. I'm trying to get
it fairly evenly distributed around
the composition. Next, the Turquoise. Remember I'm going
to be layering up the colors and this is
just the base layer. I also don't mind the
paint bleeding together a bit as it's giving her
an interesting effect. Next, I'll change to
that larger flat brush. And I liked the way
I can use it to go around some of the flower
shapes with the bright blue. It makes a really
nice graphic shape. And that contrasts
quite well with the watery shapes
I've made previously. I've let the watery layer
dry before I've done this. I'm not trying to make any very realistic representations
of flowers and leaves. I'm just using the reference
sketches to inspire me. I'm using the orange
deal with the flat brush to reinforce the
pink flower shapes. And again, making sure I've got an even distribution of each
color around my composition. So it's nicely balanced. I quite like getting
some texture in with a slightly dry brush as well as it's an interesting contrast. I want to make sure I leave
some of the white paper as I think the negative areas are an important
part of the picture. And I want some of those
flowers to be white. Next I use the green and I put in some little
centers to the flowers. I also liked the bold lines I
can make with a flat brush. Hits beginning to look
a bit mid-century, like something from
the Bloomsbury Group, which wasn't intentional,
but I like it. Next, I'm going to move on to
using some of the pencils. I'll start with the lightest
and use the pale pink. I'm just looking to add
some detail in the flowers using simple lines to
suggest that the petals, I've got my pencil Sharpener at the ready so I can
keep my pencil sharp. I try out a few
different marks and then move on to using a similar
color in the pastels. This gives a bit
more texture and works better over the top
of some of the dark colors. You just need to
experiment a bit and see what works well
on top of what. Some of the Pencils
probably won't work quite so well on the dark paint. But I'm, the pastels are
much better for that. This is a very organic and
instinctive way of working. You don't really need
to overthink things. Just flip between
pencils and Pastels using all the colors
and see what works. Well. I'll just let you watch him play some
music while I carry on. I'm using the black to get some dark contrast in around
the flowers and leaves. I don't want to use too much, just enough to make it
all pop a bit more. So I'm just adding little
bits here in there. Then finally, I'll
use some white Postel in a few places on top of
some of the dark colors. So I think that's it. I'm
quite pleased with it. There's a good balance of color. I've used lots of
different marks, so there's a good level
of contrast everywhere. Next, I'll do a little
recap of what we've done. See you in the final lesson.
8. Final Thoughts: Final Thoughts. So I hope you've enjoyed
the class and feel inspired to have a
go at the project. You should have
all the tools and ideas to get you started. We've covered quite a bit
in lots of easy steps. So you know what
materials you need, how I tackle making
a colour plan, and where to get colour
palette ideas from. How to mix your paint
and experiment with different brushes using
color on top of colour. I'm trying out pastels and
pencils on top of paint. We've also found out where to find inspiration
for your reference. And then how I go back
gathering it from books, websites and drawing from real life outside in my
garden or local park. Taking my subject
matter from nature and enjoying the beauty
of leaves and flowers. And finally, how
I make a piece of semi abstract artwork
using gouache, pastels and pencils, using an instinctive and
organic process. That's great FUN
and very rewarding. If you follow my ideas
and have a go yourself, I know you'll get
hooked and want to keep creating
beautiful works of Arte. Go on, take the plunge
and do my class project. Post it in the Gallery 0 and have a look in
the class notes, my page of reference,
flowers and foliage. Plus you'll find out how to
follow me here on Skillshare, instagram, and my website and see all the other
classes I teach. This is the second
class in my series, the Gouache Files. I
hope you enjoyed it. I've loved teaching you
because you're so great. I've made a bonus lesson on what else you can do with
your lovely artwork. It's not just for
hanging on a wall. Check it out. And if you have any ideas for turning your pictures
into other things, don't keep it to yourself. Share it in the class gallery. I love to see what
you come up with. See you in the final lesson.
9. Bonus Lesson : I already night my
picture that I've made, but I'm just wondering, rather than just to get in a folder or maybe
put it on the wall. I could make something with it. Bandwidth. Okay, so I've come up
with a few things. Number one of bookmark, I've just cut a section
of my picture into an oblong 15 cm by 5 cm. I'm using a craft knife
on a cutting board, but you could just use scissors. Then using a hole punch, I've put a couple of
holes at one end. And I found a bit
of yellow ribbon, which I think coordinates
well with the colors. I just thread it
through the holes, leaving a loop at
the front and then push in through the
loop to secure it. I think it works
great as bookmark, perfect little gift for
anybody that appreciates Art. Another idea is to cut
a similar size bit of Painting and edge it with
some coloured washi tape. This looks pretty cool to
number two is a postcard. I cut around an old postcard
I already had. I liked that. I can use the edge
of the painting. So I've got some whitespace. I'm going to use this as
a little thank-you card. I found a marker pen in
a coordinating color. You could use a
pencil or a pastel. And I've just written thank you. At the top. You can then just
write little note on the back and pop
it in an envelope. Perfect for a heartfelt
thank you note. And finally number three, how about making some gift tags? I just use what I had leftover and cut them into
gift tax shapes. And I put holes at one end with a hole punch and threaded
a bit of string through. Now they're already tapped
to attach to a gift. So there you go. A few alternative ideas of how to use this
sort of artwork. I'm sure you can
come up with more. So if you do, please post your
photos and explanations in the class gallery so I can
marvel at your genius. That's all for now. See you next time.
Kate Cooke, Textile Designer and Illustrator
