Thumbnail Magic: Boost Your Skills & Creativity With Mini Sketches in this 10-Day Challenge

1. Welcome to Thumbnail Magic: Do you also fear the blank page? I do, except when I make some sales in my Art, Johnny, thumbnails play a crucial role. So what out something else you might ask? Thumbnails are very small sketches, which are generally used to make a draft sketch for a bigger painting. And thumbnails on my go-to place when I feel creatively stuck, they're the perfect place to try new things. Or when I'm afraid, thumbnails are very small. So it's like no one will notice them, especially when I make mistakes. They're also my go-to place when I'm looking for answers because they are a great way to explore solutions. When I'm tired. Making a small thumbnail is always easier than making a bigger sketch. I'm never too tired to make a small thumbnail. So I always have a thumbnail page going. And also thumbnail pages look great. People even want to buy them. Hello, I'm Barbara. I'm an architect and artists, still working as an architect everyday restoring monuments, as living. In my free time, I make out drawings and paintings. And I also published two books with paintings, but my travels in Japan. I also volunteer in an arts workshop for people with dementia. I draw and paint with them and give them human connection and the way to express themselves. But most of all, I want to commit myself to share my love of making our tweet this many people as possible. In this class, I want to teach you my tips and tricks with to Magic of thumbnail sketches. I hope it will boost your creativity and sketching skills as much as it did for me. We're going to do with this day by day, over ten days. I will give you a new prompt each day and show you how I approached them in my work. I never feel so free and never have as much as when I make a thumbnail composition. And after finishing the page, the results are always amazing, even when some of the thumbnails didn't turn out as I wanted, it done so much and do over page always looks great. So in this class, I want to share that pleasure with you to help you boost your drawing and observation skills, Experiments and play without pressure and fear of ruining the page and explore your artistic style. But ultimately, I want you to start to create from a place of play, enjoy rather than stress and fear for mistakes. I will show you how. Let's make some Thumbnail Magic together. 2. Class Project: Let's make a thumbnail page together on an A4 size paper like this one. I make ten sketches of 5 cm by 5 cm or 2 " by 2 " and also some rectangular ones. And as a class project, I invite you to choose a subject and your surroundings for you to sketch in the thumbnails we will make together. Think about the story you want to show eventually in your sketches. It can be your favorite places of your home. Like I did holiday or like I did lately. I made a page of thumbnails for clients, sister who got married and with their favorite activities, holiday places, drinks, and the place where they got married. Any subject at inspires you is a good subject. I'm going to draw here the places of my home I moved into last year. You can also make thumbnails are just objects like tea cups of your children, your old Doris, your pet food. It can be absolutely anything. I will be very curious to see what to sketch. The purpose is to have fun and play. If you have fun while drawing, you will make better programs. So think about what story you want to tell. Your thumbnail page will tell a story about you a bit like a comic strip. Please share your work on the platform so everyone will level up by seeing as sharing their experiences. My husband was falling. I hope this class takes away the fear of making a bedroom, takes away the fear of not having talent and will help you on your way to your unique sketching style. My purpose is not to make your sketch like me, but to make you sketch like you. Let's get started and don't forget to subscribe to my skill share. To my skill share. Let's get started. Don't forget to subscribe to my Skillshare channel by clicking follow here above. So I can contact you if I have an announcement and tag me in your posts on Instagram with your class projects so I can show you odds with the whole world. In the next video, I will tell you what art supplies I will use. But of course, you can use any parts of that I still have at home. You don't need to buy anything special. Thank you. 3. Art Materials: Welcome to the materials video. I will now explain the materials I will use for this class. So I will use a4 size sketchbook. You can also use of constant smallest sketchbook and adapt the thumbnail sizes to your sketch book. But this sketchbook is about a4 size and thumbnails are about five by 5 cm. To draw the grid, I use this triangle. I show it in the next video. I find it easy to make parallel lines with his triangle and you can measure in both directions. You're going, of course also make the grid just tweet tape and not to make it so straight. But this is the way how I will do it. Then next, you'll need a pencil. This is a very soft graphite pencil, like two or three be. And when you press on it, it makes really nice dark lines. I like this soft graphite. Use this kind of eraser because it doesn't damage the paper. It's a kneaded eraser. You can also use another type of eraser, but if you will use Watercolour, you might want to use this so you don't damage the paper when you erase. Then I will make a thumbnail with a ballpoint pen. This is ballpoint pen, very fine ballpoint pen. And it's waterproof. So when you want to Watercolour, you'll need waterproof ink. So you might want to test your ballpoint pen on a separate paper to see if the ink is waterproof. Then I will use fine brushes. These are sable brushes, these two, and this is a synthetic imitation sable brush. And this is a synthetic brush by a Skoda. I will put a list of my materials in the Resources tab, and then I will use watercolor pencils. These are watercolour pencils. And then I will also use normal pencils. But you can use whatever pencils you have and it will be fine. And you can also use other materials. Of course, you don't have to use the same as I do. And I will use some colors of this, but I will only use 12 colors. And you can find them also in the Resources tab. Of course, you can also use just a smaller palette. And this is just my palette I use for the moment. I will select only some colors to go into the thumbnails. And then you'll need a water buckets if you want to, Watercolour, of course. But anyway, you can also use other materials like color markers or just do we think Color pencils, everything you want to do will be fine. We're here to play 4. Drawing the Grid: Welcome. In this video where I show you how I drove the grid, I use a pencil and a triangle. I use my graphite pencil. It's about 2B soft graphite. And I make squares five centimeter by five centimeter for Europeans in inches, that would be about 1.96 ". So let's take 2 " by 2 " squares. And as I have an a4 size sketchbook, I will have a page of 12 squares here. But from these 12 squares, I will make two rectangles to make a variation in the grid. And in total, I will have ten paintings. And so I also try rectangular thumbnails, which will make the page more interesting. I think. You can also make a variation in square sizes like I did here. On another page. On this page I have a bigger term nail in my page where I connected Foursquare's. So that would be approximately 10 cm by 10 cm, so 4 " by 4 ". And to connect the squares, I erase the connections in Pencil I made. To erase the connections, I use this kneaded eraser because it doesn't damage the paper. I also erase a bit of the grid because I don't want the pencil lines to be to present. And once you put Watercolour on the pencil, you can't erase it anymore because the Arabic gum off the Watercolour will fix the pencils to the paper. If you don't want to make a grid with pencil lines, you can use masking tape, but be careful that you don't use masking tape which damages the paper. If it sticks too much to the paper, you might take some paper away when you remove the masking tape. Of course, feel free to make some bigger thumbnails if this is really too small for you. For example, if you don't have such small brushes, or if you have a vision impairment, or if you want to use PESTEL with bigger strokes, Feel free to use any other dimension of thumbnails which fits you better. My purpose is however, to keep it as smallest possible, to keep it sketchy and short and sweet, like five, like 15 min sketch habits. The purpose is to make this a habit. And if you have a busy work life or family life to make it short and sweet thumbnails might be important to keep the habit on a long-term. And they've to thumbnails become too big. We will have tendency to make too detailed sketches. And now choose the story you want to tell and your subject. Maybe you want to document the summer with flowers, or maybe you want to document travel, a holiday you made, and animals are food. Any subject is a good subject as long as you like it, Let's start 5. Day 1: Focus on Fine Line Work - Sketch a Welcoming Place: Hello, welcome to day one. Let's start. We will draw the first square. You have to choose now the story you want to tell on your first page. As you start the first thumbnail, I will illustrate my new home in which I moved into last year. And I will start with my front door in this square in Tumi. We will pay special attention to the fine line work. As the thumbnails are very small, it's very important to have very fine lines. I think the topic to remember here, our focus point is the line work. I start with the vertical thumbnail, top left corner, but you can start with any tumpnail you like according to your subject. Did you choose your subject you want to illustrate on your Tumpnail page? It can be flowers, your holiday, anything is good. Look carefully in what direction the lines are going. The thumbnails are very small. Pay special attention to your line work during the whole class. Draw with a fine line, either a well sharpened pencil or a waterproof fine liner or waterproof ballpoint pen. Otherwise your thumbnail will quickly look very full of lines. You can add any time some colored pencil if you like. You are here to play and to have fun and try new things. I don't know if you noticed, but before I started, there were already some colored lines in this thumbnail. It's just that I was starting pencil line work and I started too low, so my page layout wouldn't have looked good, so I erased it. You're here to experiments. The line work is very personal to each artist. And it's not a question about talent, it's just a muscle to train, like you train yourself how to write. You train yourself how to make beautiful drawing lines that you like. Like you found your signature handwriting. With a lot of drawing time, you will find your signature hand drawing by drawing regularly and a thumbnail a day keeps the Dr. away. It's like meditation, it empties your head. Let's go through some line work that can make your drawing come alive. Now I started to paint. You just can choose all the colors you like to use in your dumpnail page. I chose a limited palette that I will use all over the page, so that all the dumpnails are connected together with the colors. Now I started to put color, I'll put watercolor and color pencil. In each thump nail, I put the water color all the different colors and I just continue painting while everything is still very wet. Because I like when the colors flow into each other, I put the watercolor pencil into the wet paint. The color of the pencil flows into the watercolor. Try to choose your colors that you want to use all over the page. And repeat these colors from one thumbnail to another to make them fit together. The temp nails will actually be linked and connected together in a page layout by three things. First is your subject and the story you want to tell. Second is your line work. And third will be your colors and also the repetition of materials that you use. If you make a mistake, if you put too much color or water on your page, you can clean your brush in the water and then the brush in the tissue. And with a clean brush, you can absorb excess water and paint. 6. Day 2: Focus on Light & Shadow: Welcome to day two. I hope you had fine with your first thumbnail. So let's make the second one. So in this second square, I will sketch these two teapots. And I suggest that we focus today on Light and Shadow. It's not because we are making a small sketch that we don't have to pay attention to what we are sketching. So make sure to pay attention. Be mindful in the present moment. And that's the magic about sketching and painting. It's a bit like meditation. Let's do this. So I make a quick sketch and I immediately pay attention to where is the light and where are the shadows. I will press harder on the pencil where the shadow is. So the pencil line will be thicker and more black. Where is Shadow? And where I see a lot of light. I will press lightly on the pencil. So the line will be very skinny and lights. And that way, I immediately forced myself to look Where are the shadows? When you draw a round shape, like a round object, you will want to draw an ellipse because you see the shape from the site and you're not looking from above it. So you will have an ellipse shape on top of the teapot and the same parallel ellipse shape on the bottom of the teapot. Like when you draw a cap, you will have bottom, which is an ellipse shaped bottom. And the top of the cup will also be an ellipse and will be parallel to the bottom of the cup. Now, I erase a bit pencil lines before I start painting. Because once you put the paint on top of the sketch, you will not be able to erase anymore. And I start with painting the shadow. And as a shadow gray, I use a mixture of ultramarine blue and transparent orange. I prefer this kind of gray because it gives a gray which is like a bit alive. Because you have the blue and orange pigments which separate a bit when they try out. And when you take an industrial grade from a tube of from a pen, it will be a more flat uniform gray. When I paint the shadows, I pay attention to make a variation in values in the shadows. Try to observe what you see. Some parts of the shadows are darker than others. And when you will make a variation in values from dark to light in the shadows, you will make a better suggestion of the roundness of the shape of your teapot. So in the bottom is much less slides then on the side of the teapot. So the bottom of the Shadow and of the lead, or darker than the top of the Shadow. And when you paint, cast shadow on the table. So here on the window sill, the Shadow of the teapot on the surface must be attached to the objects. So I paint everything in one goal. The surface of the window sill and the shadow in it, the same gray. And for the Windows, I use green earth and some light turquoise splashes. And the screen suggests the vegetation which is seen outside to Window. But it's not important, so it's far away. So I use the green earth because it's very cool green. And when you use a warmer green, it will come to the front. And I don't want the window to come to the front because my main object is the tea pots. I will add some of these drawings on these teapot because they're so special. I sorry, I went to page first and then I go in it with watercolor brands civil. And I will just suggest some, some drawings. Not at all realistic. So this temp nail is quite finished. Now, I hope to see you in the next video, we will paint some new number three 7. Day 3: Draw A Place Where To Sit & Rest: Hello, Welcome to day three. I hope you're having FUN with the thumbnails. I suggest for these thumbnail to pay extra attention to line work. And to do so, I will use this ballpoint pen. It's a very fine waterproof ballpoint pen. If you want to use Watercolour, don't forget to use a waterproof ballpoint pen. So I will sketch this window. I just did these teapots. Now I will sketch the window of my kitchen because I like it so much. So let's start the kitchen. Draw when. And as I told you, I will use this very fine ballpoint pen. So this is not possible to be erased. It will be a bit more stressful to draw because I can't erase. But actually I noticed that it makes me more mindful. My kitchen table. Just look in what direction lines are going. Draw what you see, not what you think you see. Look in what direction the lines are going. And that way, I don't want to think about perspective. This is thumbnail page. The purpose is to make Greek sketches. I don't want to make very detailed sketches. I just want to have the impression of my kitchen window. So of course there are my tea pots again and lovely little old Windows. Here is open window with mosquito netting. It want to suggest the mosquito on it. And the, the line goes in the wrong direction. It doesn't matter. Just continue. The Art. Police won't come to check if your drawing is correct. And most of the time, I'm the only one moves sees that my drawing is not correct and the other ones will think it is a lovely drawing. So just continue. And at the end, most of the time the drawing ends up just fine. So let's put some color on it now. I will start with the shadows of the heating. If you have this sort like Brush, you can just make some tips like this. So when you start painting, pay attention to light and shadow. I don't paint the top of the table because there's lots of light on it. And when I choose my colors, I think about the color palette I chose in, when starting this thumbnail page. I use the similar colors. Then in the previous stem thumbnails, I put some green and turquoise on the windows and also some orange to suggest the houses of the neighbors roofs, they are orange colors and detail the inside of the windows because it sets suggestion from what's happening outside. I don't want to attract all the attention to the Windows. Tried to make all the windows a bit different. So it suggests that something is happening outside. Again, you don't have to paint in a realistic way. You can just use all the colors you like. Use enough paint and water to have nice washes and let the colors flow into each other. So you can also experiment with some textures and some columns splashes. I make some color splashes to connect all the temp nails together. Awesome times I make color splashes too dirty my page. Add some thing. Like I have been here. I can make something here. I think Pink is a happy color. The teapot is not paint at all. It's black, but I like pink. So I can add some pink here and rigid or is white. But I like pink. Remember, who can do whatever you want in your drawing? And the Art police won't come to check if your drawing is correct. Just play around and see what you would like to test. What you like to use. Essence your favorite colors. Let's move on to the next thumbnail. 8. Day 4: Draw A Place Where You Spend a Lot of Time: Today, I will finish this kitchen, kitchen drawing. I will bring the coffee machine and sing and lovely green was a ink. And I will paint and draw at the same time. So again, sees for experimenting. And I like to do this sometimes because it's different from what I do usually. And so I will be more in focus. And also it makes FUN effects when you draw in the wet paint, you have lovely coloured lines. So I hope you'll join me in this Experiments. And I will be courteous to see your sketches. Let's start. I will put this thing here. One-third. It's always a good layout. It's to work with ferrets. Upwork dirt is green. So this is watercolour pencils. I suggest Watercolour friends to. It's almost like squares. I Draw a watercolor pencil in the wet paint, and I suggest the mosaic tiles by hatching a bit. I don't do it on the whole surface, otherwise it will look a bit flat. But I had with the watercolor pencil in wet paints. So the green, the color of the watercolor pencil, dissolves a bit in the watercolor paints. So when you're tired of painting, you can draw with it. That's what I do. And it keeps me super Focus to draw or light that's Paint First and then Draw With bit. And it's really like ballet between the drawing pencil and the paint. When you draw with the graphite pencil in the wet paint, you hold Watercolor pigments, which you with the pencil. And so you'll get any way some colored lines also with the graphite pencil. It's quite funny and it gives some nice effects. And it makes the Watercolour sketch look very loose. So don't forget also when the paint is still wet. You can also solve a bit of paint with clean brush up your brush in clean water and then in the tissue and you press the hair of the Brush with the tissue. And then you'll go into the paint and try it. Hairs of the Brush will absorb excess water and veins. I also use all the Color pencils I was using in the previous thumbnails. So a bit of pink and turquoise for the tab, which is not at all pink and turquoise in reality, but it doesn't matter. If you notice a mistake when paint is dry. You can try to erase it with a synthetic brush, like synthetic hair brush that is stronger. You can rub the paper a bit and don't do this picture sable brush because then you will damage your brush. Also be careful not to damage the paper when you rub the paper trying to erase on Watercolour. Maybe it's best to what I do, just ignore the mistake and continue sketching and painting over it. And usually it will come out fine when the painting is finished. You will not notice it anymore. And also most of the time, mistake doesn't seem a mistake for other people. It's just you who think it's a mistake. But in the overall sketches and in the overall thumbnail page, you really won't notice your mistake anymore, so don't get stressed out of it and just continue painting. Now I will start this coffee machine. And the coffee machine is like a big black monster on the kitchen furniture, but it's makes good coffee, so I want to sketch it. And it's quite scary because I want to use some black, um, there's a lot of black in the house, in the doors and in the declaration, and in the furniture. So use these black I have from Daniel Smith. It's lunar black and it gives some really lovely granulation. You already see lovely strong black pigment in the Watercolour. So I like that a lot. It gives a lovely textures. So when you have such a big a dark colored objects in your sketch, try to make it not like uniform, the same intensity, but give it some shadows, like some, like I did with seeing some dark shadows. And then the rest of the object would look a bit lighter in veins. So you'll have some life in your sketch. So I hope you have FUN trying this method Light. First put some Watercolour on your page and then do some sketching and painting again. And then again some sketching. I'm just switch from one to another. And it will give you a whole new energy in your sketch. More like experimenting and play. When you start liking your sketch. When it's like almost finished, you really have to pay attention, I think, not to overdo the sketch. When I start liking my sketch. Like now, I really consider stopping. Because once you overdo the Sketch, it's difficult to get it back. Like sometimes I just do too much. 19 thumbnail tree. And then at a certain moment sketches that because I put too much lines and too strong lines and too strong paint on it. So I think I should stop now. Just some splashes because I splashed a whole page and my green and being splashes. And some to class, we'll connect these thumbnail to the other term thumbnails. I hope you're having FUN and see you in thumbnail day five 9. Day 5: Paint First & Draw Next : Welcome to the five. She's really feeling out quite nicely. Please post your sketches. The platform so I can see them all pages evolving. And now in this tariff, now coming temp, now, I will sketch this lethal window with the plant. Here. It's the little window where my cat goes in and out of the house. So we will focus on painting. And we will first paint and then sketch. I never do that because it's quite stressful because you can click small difficultly. But let's try it out and experiment and play. A lot of artists start painting immediately without preliminary sketch. I always find that fascinating and very interesting. I almost never do that. But let's try with this thumbnail. I will Draw With the Brush. So take a brush with a fine tip. This is Swartz shaped Brush by a Skoda is a synthetic brush, quite cheap actually. And it has a wonderful fine tip. And because it has the shape of a sports, you can also make larger brushstrokes. If you hold it quite parallel to the paper. And if you want to draw, you have to hold it quite vertical to the paper. So of course, I like to do this because it makes me focused more and be more mindful because it's difficult to correct your drawings and you'll have less control over it. Then over a pencil, of course, where you can easily erase. But anyway, if you make a mistake, just clean your brush and absorb the excess paint with a brush, dry it in a tissue. When you do that immediately. Mistake is the excess paint will be quite easily removed. So I'm drawing here With the Brush and with different colors. And I don't wait until the paint dries because I want that colors flow into each other. So the shapes are connected to each other when the colors flow into each other. And you any way will easily recognize the shapes and the Drawing. Thumbnails are the perfect way to try new techniques and play around. If drawing With the Brush is your usual technique, please try something else so you can challenge yourself. So I start here with the main shapes of the sketch and my focus point. And it's my favorite colors. And then afterwards, I will add some pencil lines. If you want to add some ink, you will really of course need to wait until the paint dries. And here I Draw With the pencil in the wet paint. And that way, the pencil will drag the paint pigments Alone and you will have some colored lines in your sketch. And anyway, just like with Pencil Drawing or with a ballpoint ink drawing, just look in what direction the lines are going to line going tilted, or is it going straight up or horizontal? In what direction are the lines going? And just draw what you see. When I want some nicely crazy lines. I take a watercolor pencil. This is a watercolour pencil. And when you draw with it in wet paint, the pencil color dissolves in the wet paint and mingle with the Watercolor. It's really juicy. And of course, I will end with some splashes. If you want some bigger splashes, you will need to take a brush with natural hair. Brush with natural hair makes nicer and bigger splashes. Now, I go back a bit in the tree. They tree is definitely not my favorite sketch. And I find it quite week next to the one they to, and they five. So I add some stronger molars to make the thumbnail connect better to the other new word thumbnail. So this is the grid of the mosquito door net to go to the garden. And I suggest the mosquito net grid with the benzyl. Benzyl, I drag the fresh Watercolour. Let's go to day six. Please post your sketches on the platform in the class projects 10. Day 6: Draw With the Brush A Place You Feel Creative: Hello, Welcome to the basics already. I hope you're page is evolving like your wish. For these day. I suggest that we will Draw With the Brush. And I think that's also great exercise to have maximum Focus. And so you better choose one of your findings brushes with a fine tip. And we will do everything drawing With the Brush. And for today, I vote from Drawing table. I almost forgot. Don't forget to post your sketches on the platform. Class projects. I will be very happy to see them. Thank you. To have control over the tip of your brush. Better keep it, hold it quite vertical. And just look in what direction the lines are going. So again, the thumbnails are the perfect place to try new techniques. So I like to try this drawing With the Brush. It takes me out of my comfort zone. So it makes me more focused and more mindful. Because of course, I'm always afraid to row in the Sketch, especially while you're watching. So I started with the main shape of my drawing table, which is a big drawing tables. We takes a lot of room. And then of course I add some splashes to make the dump Neil connect to the other thumbnails. So some tips. Take a flexible brush with a fine tip. Hold the brush quite vertical when you want to make fine lines and Rest with your little finger on the paper to have control over the pressure of the brush tip. In case you make a mistake while you draw with watercolor, you can clean it up immediately with a clean brush. I mean, fresh clean water. And you clean your brush in the clean water and you can dissolve the freshwater color. You can dip your brush afterwards in the tissue to make it dry and then absorb excess paint and water. Then you can start painting again when you're beach has dried. So I don't draw all the stuff on my table. Of course. I just suggest some paper and some Art Supplies on the table, but I try not to overload it. Then afterwards, of course, if you want, you can add some pencil lines to give some different structure to the drawing. Because sometimes when you're Draw With the Brush, the Brush drawing might seem a bit weak. So if you want, you can some pencil lines in the fresh paint and still will drag the paint pigments. We did. And so the graphite lines will be a bit color it according to the colors you used week the paint. I think it's quite finished. Let's go two days, seven, Try some New Art Supplies. 11. Day 7: Try New Art Supplies: Welcome to day seven. Now, for today, I will sketch, scan mean. I will Try New Art Supplies. I will try to add some colored pencils. So now the page is getting really full. I hope you're having firm the your Sketches in the class projects. I will make a pencil sketch. I haven't sketched in Color pencils since ages, since I was small. So I made this selection of colors which fits more or less with the other colors. And I will try to make it fit with the other sketches. I start with my favorite lamp. New Art Supplies. I don't mean you have to buy New Art Supplies. I already had these Color pencils, but I say New Art Supplies because I never Sketching Color pencils anymore since I was a teenager. I felt like trying this Color pencils again since size. So the great Sketchbook classes of Marie Noelle warm on Skillshare. They have made me want to use Color pencils again. You can check out her class. I put two reference in the class resources step. In this thumbnail, I will try some colored pencil rendering. I use this fabric Estelle Polish almost Color pencils. And I like them a lot. And the other Color pencils I used, watercolor pencils. I often use watercolor pencils in my Watercolours to add some extra crazy lines in the Watercolour. But these are just normal, non-soluble Color pencils. I tried to do some hatching. And for the hatching, I make lines in all directions. So at the end you have kind of surface that these color it in lines in different directions. But of course you can do some more regular hatching if you want. Just try out and see what you'll find beautiful. So again, I chose some colors here that fits the Watercolours I chose for the rest of the thumbnails. So they would be some connection with these different thumbnail. This thumbnail is bit different because it's Color pencils, but it has similar colors than the other term thumbnails so they will fit together, I think afterwards you can of course, also add some watercolor splashes on it. So if you're used to work in colored pencil, why don't you try out some other Art Supplies. You are not used to, like gouache. I think they're awesome, great gouache classes also on skill share, also by Marina will warm or by other features. The purpose is to test and play and try new techniques and get out of your comfort zone. So some tips for Color pencils. You can make a variation in values and intensity in your lines. Just like I do with graphite pencil and with watercolor, I press harder on the benzyl where the shadow is. So I have some depth in my sketch. So when there's shadow on the bottom of the couch, which is away from the window. That will be darker and more intense than the rest of the couch. Here in the Windows, I use similar colors than I used in the rest of my windows. We'll add some green to it so the windows in color pencil will fit. The Watercolour Windows. Try some lines going in different directions also when you color surface. Unless you really like this color pencil lines going all in the same direction. That also can be wonderful. Rendering, of course, about paper. Your paper is very rough. Maybe it's best to stick with paints, watercolor, and gouache, because Color pencils are hard to use on rough paper. You won't have an easy way of coloring the surface. If the paper is very rough, It's best to use a smooth paper if you want to make a Color pencils sketch. So I'm curious to see what you make in this challenging thumbnail of trying New Art Supplies You are not used to. And maybe you can post your thumbnail in the class projects. And I will be very happy to see what you make. And if you try other kinds of Art Supplies, I will be happy to see it. Also. It can give some new ideas. Also two other classmates. So please post your projects in the class. Projects, like every day you make a thumbnail so we can see the evolution of your thumbnail page. Here. I add some color pencil also to day tree. The tree. I don't know if you noticed, but they tree is really difficult for me. Now I add some color plant cell to repeat some colors of these Color pencils, thumbnail. But I'm not sure it was a good it because it makes my thumbnail looking even more heavy. I think it's better that I don't touch it anymore. But anyway, I wanted to show it to you because some thumbnails are more difficult than other ones. So have fund and see you in the eight 12. Day 8: Try a Combination of Art Supplies You Never Used: Welcome to they age. So we did this, for instance, sketch, and I think it smells quite nicely because I used the same colors as the other thumbnails. But I will continue now a bit in colored pencil and maybe I add some watercolor to it. They wouldn't be just one color pencil sketch, like to make some other ones. Now, we Color pencils and maybe add some watercolor. So I will sketch this view still from next thumbnail. Then we go back downstairs. Day eight. So again, for Color pencils, just light from a normal graphite pencil. You look carefully in what direction the lines ongoing and how long one line is compared to another line. So you have the proportions, correct? And then also, I tried to pay attention not to make the line of the same intensity all along. So it would be more alive. Like when there's some Shadow. I will press harder on the pencil to have a stronger line then when their slides. I hope you're having FUN with this term thumbnail. We are approaching the end. It's already the eight and I think page looks really nice now with all these thumbnails. And I hope you like what you made until now and how your pitch starts to look. And I look forward to see it in the class projects. So I decided to make again this color pencil. So I wouldn't have just one Color pencils thumbnail on my page, but I will have no color pencil thumbnails on my page. And I quite like how it turned out. Actually, I want to continue playing with it. I think I will make some drawings as well. These thumbnails are the ideal way to test out some sketches to make a larger drawing. Afterwards. I tried also in this sketch to pay attention to the layouts and divide my thumbnail in thirds. Now I'm drawing this handwriting from the staircase. It's really 60s design. And when I first saw the house, I really fell in love with it. So I made these view because I have the chair, I have the chimney, and I have this handwriting and the window behind it. So I think it gives some nice layout to a sketch. And it assembles all the things I love in this place. And for the windows, I repeat the colors of the windows in the thumbnail next to it. So again, look to make thumbnails fit together by repeating the colors, by repeating some Art Supplies. And so you have a repetition of colors. And I also, we'll add some watercolor to this one to link it to the neighboring thumbnails. 13. Day 9 : Draw A Place Where You Feel Relaxed: Welcome to day nine, sell day before the last day. And it's some water color to the pencil as you so and some splashes to unite thumbnails together. The same color splashes. And that way, when there's a repetition of colors and techniques, you can unite all the thumbnails together. So today I have no sight. Oxide view. People as still style here. In the previous days as well. I didn't draw everything because it's so small and anyway, it's interesting to draw everything. You can just draw what you find more beautiful to simplify sketch. I did here, for example, of migrating normal. I left out all oldest stuff that I've beautiful. Sketch it. Like it to be weakness stuff. So feel free to leave out things that you'll do whatever you want. And don't forget to First you Sketches in the class project. So when you have a complex scene, it's a challenge sometimes to know what Q1 to show in your sketch and to see what you want to draw and not draw what you want to leave out. The sketch wouldn't be too full. It can cause some overwhelm me. In this case, what's important is the umbrella. Of course, I love this romantic umbrella and the table to sit outside. And then also show that it's a garden. So I will use some green to suggest vegetation. For that. Of course, I will use the same green as I did in the sketch above, with the entrance door, with the same green watercolour and the same green watercolor pencil in the Watercolor. So what I also liked about these terrorists are the wonky floor tiles on the crowd. And so I will suggest them as well. I started painting first and now I add some pencil lines. And these pencil lines, or to finish the umbrella while the paint is still wet. Because I like when the benzyl foils, the wet watercolor pigment on the page. I have small colored pencil lines, although it's plain graphite pencil. Again, as a gray, I use my mixture of ultramarine blue and transparent orange. I will suggest the table. And I try not to go into much detail because it's just a thumbnail sketch. When my attention is fading away, I do something to challenge myself. So I will paint with watercolor without drawing first, because then I feel I have to concentrate better. So you can question yourself, what do you need to reestablish your focus and to be present in the current moment when you're painting and drawing. To be mindful, actually, I have chosen my terrorists to sketch. If you don't have it there is. Maybe you can sketch another place in your home where you would like to relax and Where You feel like on holiday. Or if you chose to make thumbnails about your holidays, maybe you can sketch the place where you were on holiday and where you felt the most Relaxed drawing your travel. So some tips. If you make a mistake, don't worry, and don't beat yourself up, just continue painting. For example, here, I don't like at all the way I have drawn the feet of the table because they're complicated, feed on stable. I've tried to draw with the way it is, but it's really quite wonky. But I just continue. And I think the mistake eventually fades away when we continue Sketching. And most of the time we learned from our mistakes. And also most of the time, others don't see them as mistakes. So I hope you have FUN with this Sketch and let's go to day ten, our last day. Please post your Sketches in the class projects so everyone can see them. And so you'll have yourself a record of your progress. 14. Day 10: Draw a Place Where You feel Safe Alone: Welcome to day ten. So this is our last day. I in my bedroom and get the window with a view to the forest, to the neighbors and the lamb and the ceiling, which is bit complicated because of the roof. Lines are going in all directions. So again, like the other drawing you make, just look in what directions lungs are going and trust what you see. Draw what you see and not let you think you'll see and you'll be good. So I will know this Watercolour just drawing the week, the fresh because that's like outside of my comfort zone. Two, Focus. When I drove with the pencil. Weeks the last sketch, again. Try to repeat colors you used somewhere else. Even if they're not really, they're just use the colors I like. I am curious to see all your sketches in the class project. See you soon and don't forget to reach out if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them in the discussions are in your class project. Thank you. So again, I repeat this because I find it very useful to repeat for myself. Just look in WIP directions. Lines are going, especially if you have some really complex shapes like I have here with the ceiling of this room. Also pay attention to light and shadow from the start. And leave white paper with Light is strongest. And the other parts which are in shadow will receive wash like this gray wash mixture of ultramarine blue and transparent orange. So just look in what directions the lines are going and try to look in an abstract way to watch our drawing. You're not drawing a ceiling, a window or whatever. You're just drawing a bunch of lines. And that's a way to get in the right side of your brain. Now, I have drawn the lamp just in the middle of when I was drawing the ceiling. And that's because the lamp is hanging in front of some lines of the ceiling. So that's also a trick to look immediately what's in front and what's behind something and Draw first what's in France. As far the view from the window, I will just make light green wash of these green earth. I love very much. It's a grayish green. And it suggests that outside are a lot of trees. Because I'm not interested in drawing what's outside. Of course. My purpose is to render my bedroom. So this thumbnail looks quite different from the other thumbnails. So now I will take some colors which are in other thumbnails to put in this thumbnail. Even if it's just a white ceiling, my room is not so Color Theme reality. But they use these colors anyway to make this thumbnail fit to the other thumbnails. And you can just take the freedom of the artist and use whatever colors you like. Use your favorite colors, even if they're not there. In reality. If you want something like in reality, you just take a picture. So just use your favorite colors because they will determine your style. So this is our last day. I hope you had Fun with all your thumbnails and maybe you will find time to make one term, Neil day. Even if it's not very long, sketch sketching every day really makes a huge difference to your skills. Please post pictures of your thumbnails in the class projects. So everyone in share the progress and share that takeaways which tape ways it you find interesting. He's just something you would like to know more about. I can make even extra videos. And what did you love of the class? And I will just be so happy to see your thumbnails. 15. How to Correct Watercolor: In this video, I want to show you how I tried to erase a bit of watercolor, which I find too strong. For example, in that thumbnail. Number three, I don't like the windows. There are much too strong. I think they don't fit to the rest of the thumbnails and also they come too much to the front. If you use a warm color, like a warm green with a lot of yellow in it. It will come to the front. And if you use a cooler green light, green earth are used in other thumbnails. The window goes to the background and that way you can create some depth. So what I'm doing here is that I use synthetic brush from Rose memories and it's called the eradicate. The eradicates or Brush, is just a simple synthetic brush with hair, which is quite stiff. And that way I rub the paper and I clean the brush and rub the paper again. And then the excess water with tissue. You will have to be careful when you do this. You have to be careful not to damage the paper. So you better make some tests before rubbing and the interrupt too hard and too long on the same spots. Otherwise you might the image, the fibers of your paper. Some papers don't take this treatment very well. Then I add some green earth would windows and some turquoise because that's what I used in the other thumbnail windows. So now they tree seems much nicer to me with windows which are a bit lighter. And I go a bit the edges of the last day, they ten. And I just want to soften these edges a bit and make it gray a bit lighter to make the thumbnail also a bit softer. And then finally, thumbnail number eight, I will wrap the hand railing a bit because I think I put too much of this burnt sienna Watercolour on it. So I rub the sides of the hand railing and I tried to make it also a bit less presence because I think the main subject also is the chair. And the hand railing became a bit too thick. And actually I regret a bit have put some watercolor on it. I think it would have been nicer in Pencil. But as you see, it's not possible to remove all the Watercolour. It's possible to take some Watercolour away and to soften edges and everything, but you can't take everything away. It's the main purpose of Watercolour. And also, it depends of the paper, what kind of paper that you used. On some papers, it's more easy to take the Watercolour away than on other papers. It depends on the glue that was used in the paper. And if it's button or cellulose paper. Now, I will add some pencil lines to make the drawing a bit stronger. And finally, these gray in the chimney is disturbing me a lot. So I'm making it softer and lighter because I really don't like it. So clean your brush. Synthetic brush. Otherwise, with natural hair brush, it's not possible and you will damage your brush and it's not strong enough. You clean your brush and you rub the paper back and forth. And then you have some of the water away with this shoe. And repeat to action. And always verify if you don't damage the paper 16. Final Thoughts: Congratulations, I'm so happy that they could share this experience with you as a promise that the more you sketch, the better your sketches will look. It's not about talent. It's about skills that you can learn. I hope you enjoyed this class. I hope that these exercises give you a different point of view on Sketching and everything that you can do and play and let go of perfection. Let go of perfectionism and talk. A habit of thumbnail sketches can boost your skills and fuel your creativity. Maybe one of these thumbnails is even also bigger painting project you could Work Comp. I promised that the more you do is the vector your drawings and paintings will get. So be sure to post your stitches in the class projects so everyone can be inspired by your. And so I can see what to make and maybe give you some extra tips. And don't be afraid to ask questions in the discussions that thank you again for taking my class. I'm happy to be here with you and I could experience with you if you would like to see more examples. You can also follow my work on Instagram and if you want to get from time to time some free tutorials in your mailbox. You can subscribe to my website. Thank you again for taking my class and please leave a review to tell me what you think. And leaving a review, it's really the best thing you can do for a teacher to help a teacher to get better and to help your fellow students to find a class that day like and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Thank you.