Transcripts
1. INTRODUCTION: Delicate butterfly wings are a perfect subject for
transparent watercolors. There are so many approaches to painting them, and
in this course, I will show you four
ways to use the wet and wet and wet on dry techniques
to create beautiful, colorful butterflies that
look like stained glass. You will learn how
to balance water and pigment to create this
beautiful effect. My name is Aa Lessenjak and I'm a self taught
watercolor artist, and I love painting colorful, whimsical subjects
in watercolor. In this course, you will learn about the best supplies to use and why you should choose only transparent watercolors
for this effect. We'll start by
learning how to draw perfectly symmetrical
butterflies if you choose to draw them
from your imagination. Otherwise, you can
trace them from the resource line art or
a photo of your choosing. You will get a lot of practice
painting wet into wet, learning how to time
the paint application based on the wetness
of the paper, and you'll see how the
paint flows accordingly. Each butterfly gets
slightly more complex, but they are still easy
enough for a beginner. If you are a more intermediate
watercolor painter, you will still enjoy these
butterflies as a fun warm up or a way to experiment
with new color combinations. At the end of this course, you will have four beautiful
little butterflies that you can frame or gift, and you will have gotten closer to mastering the wet
and wet technique. I do hope you join
me. See you in class.
2. TRACING THE BUTTERFLIES: Let's get started. So the
first step is the sketch. I drew just one
butterfly wing in my sketchbook for each of
these three butterflies, and by using tracing paper, I can make sure that the
wings are symmetrical. If you prefer, you can also use a reference photo just to
trace the butterflies. I recommend websites such as unsplash.com and pixabay.com for royalty free photos to use. So I'm just tracing each
wing and half the body so I can easily match it up with the other side in the next step. Make sure to leave
enough space on your tracing paper to
add the other wing. So I just use the tracing
paper to trace the drawn wing. Then I flip it over, and
I trace the wing again, and I match up one side of the body with the other just to make sure it is symmetrical, and then I just trace it again on the other
side of the paper. So now I have wings showing
on either side of my paper. I'll just pick one side, and I'll use my soft pencil to outline the tracing
in the next step.
3. TRANSFERRING TO WATERCOLOR PAPER: So now I have wings on either
side of my tracing paper. I'll pick one side and I'll use my soft pencil to
outline the tracing. This is a three H pencil, which isn't super soft, and it did make the outlines harder to see on my
watercolor paper. So I do recommend a
two B or three B. The softer the pencil, the darker the line on
your watercolor paper. But there's also more likelihood of dirtying your paper
with graphite dust. So I recommend just
experimenting with the technique before you commit and see which
works best for you. I recommend you use only 100% cotton paper
for this project. Student grade or
cellulose based papers will not give you as
good of a result. I'm using cold press, which has texture, but hot
press paper would work too. Hot press can be a bit more challenging because
the paper tends to dry faster and makes
it a little harder to time the wetness and
achieve the same result. Now get your watercolor
paper and gently place your butterfly tracing on top of it with the soft
pencil side down. Now use your original pencil
or a pen to gently go over the line and transfer your tracing to your
watercolor paper. A couple tips is number one, make sure the tracing
doesn't move. I'm using my hand here
just to hold it in place, but you can use some tape to tape it down to make sure
that it doesn't shift. And tip number two is
don't press too hard, as you'll create a dent
in your watercolor paper. Also, if you are
using a softer lead, you don't want to create more unnecessary dust on
your watercolor paper, making it look a little dingy. So as I go, I do check
to make sure that it's transferring so that I know I'm using the right
amount of pressure. And like I said, it is a little bit
light because I'm using not quite a
soft enough pencil, but it's no problem because
you can just use your pencil afterwards to fill in some of the missing areas on your watercolor paper
once you're done tracing. You just want to have it dark
enough so that the line is still visible when you're adding your water in your paint. But you don't want it too
dark that it's going to, you know, not have a very
good transparent effect. You don't want the pencil
line to be too heavy. So I'm just gonna finish transferring these butterflies
to the watercolor paper. And you're welcome to watch
till the end of this lesson. Otherwise, if you think
you have the hang of it, feel free to move on to the next lesson where
we start painting.
4. ORANGE BUTTERFLY: Okay, let's paint
our first butterfly. And this first beginning part of the video looks like the
camera totally overexposed, so I apologize for that, but it does get
better, I promise. So I'm going to wet
the entire butterfly carefully staying
within the outlines. Just so I can keep track
of where the wetness is, I'm tinting the water slightly with the
color that I'm going to use to fill it in once everything is
covered with the water. Once it's uniformly wet, then I can increase
the concentration of my quinacridone siena and I can start filling in the
wings of the butterfly. Since I'm using my
arches cold press paper, I don't have to worry about
the paint, excuse me, the paper drying too quickly because it's a very
good quality paper. But I do still have to make sure that I don't take too much time because if they dry
unevenly, for example, if I don't get to the right side of the butterfly on time, then those wings would
get more dry and then it won't look as
even on each side. So to apply the paint, I'm just using the tip of my brush and I'm kind of
dotting it along so it will deposit the paint right on the edge of the butterfly wing. And since it's wet
all the way through, the water will disperse or the paint will disperse
into the wet area. Now that I've gotten paint
all around the edges, I can take a little bit of
time to just push some of that pigment outwards
a little bit towards the center
of the butterfly, just to help create more
of a soft transition between the sienna color and the clear wetness
of the paper. I'm also introducing a
little bit more water to help create that
soft transition effect. Once you're happy with
the intensity and the transition and the softness of your first layer of color, it's time to paint the body. So I'm using parolin violet, and my paper is not too wet, but it is definitely
wet enough to make this parolin violet spread out into that wet area and into that quinacridone
sienna color. I'm also adding a
little bit more of a higher concentration of
the quinagrodonciena to just dab it where it meets
that paraline violet just to kind of help create more of a transition there and to overall make the center
of the butterfly a darker color and have it flow nicely
into the more transparent, lightly colored
centers of the wings. Now, I want to make the center
even a little bit darker. And now that the water has
slightly started to evaporate, it means I can add a higher
concentration of color, and it won't travel
as quickly or as far. It'll, in other words, stay a little bit more
where I place it. So I just want to add a little
bit more depth of color with that paraline violet for the center without being too heavy handed you still want it overall to stay transparent, even on the body
of the butterfly. Now, I'm just carefully
using the tip of my brush to paint
in these antennas. If you are not comfortable using a paint brush for this,
you can, by all means, use a pencil or a
colored pencil, something where you have maybe
a little bit more control if you find this a
little too challenging. So that once you realize that your paper is
starting to get dry, the water colors will dry lighter than they look
when they're wet. So as long as the
paper is still damp, then you can increase the intensity of the
edges of the color, which is what I'm
doing here with that sienna color and just
dotting it on the edges, letting it flow into
the damp paper. Just to make it a little bit stronger contrast there on the outside edges of the wings. Remember, you can only do this while the paper is still damp, otherwise, you will not get that soft transition of color. After a few little touch ups, our first butterfly is done. Now in the next lesson, I'll show you how to do
a very similar process, but using two different colors. So I will see you
in the next lesson.
5. BLUE BUTTERFLY: Welcome back. So for
this next butterfly, we're going to do a
very similar process, starting with wetting
the entire butterfly. Again, I'm using a
weak concentration of my watercolor paint just
really diluted with water, just so I can see where the water is on the
butterfly and make sure that I get the butterfly
wet in each section. And I'm going to make sure that it's evenly wet before I start applying the more concentrated
color to the wings. Just like the last butterfly, we're going to be adding the more concentrated color
to the tips of the wings, but we're also going to add a deeper blue to
the tips as well, just to intensify the color
and add a little variety. For this first step, I'm
wetting each area of the wing. I'm going to speed it up
a little bit because it is just like how we did
it in the first lesson. The paper's evenly wet, and I'm going to use my palo blue turquoise just
more concentrated, just like last
time, and I'm just dabbing it around the
edge of the wings. I'm using Indentthron blue. And you can see the paper
is still fairly wet. And the indent
throne is going to travel outwards into the wings, making a really nice transition. A Now, I'm using the den throne to
paint onto the wing tips. Remember, our paper is still nice and wet. It's not soaking. It's just wet enough
where it will blend out, but I still have control over the placement of
that darker color. So I'm just gently outlining the edge and letting it flow into that the
turquoise color. The paper started to
dry a little bit, so I can add a darker
concentration on the body. Again, I have a little
bit more control over where the pigment goes, since the paper is
not quite as wet, and I can deepen the color of the butterfly's
body that way as well. I'm adding a little bit more of that Tourquoise where it
meets the den throne, just to make a bit
more of a transition. And I can deepen the color
on the wing tips as well. Once again, adding the little antenna
with the tip of my brush, and then a few more
final touches, and this two toned winged
butterfly is done. And in the next lesson, I'll show you how to
do a similar process. However, it'll be a two step process because
we'll be waiting for the butterfly to dry and then glazing a second layer
of color on top. So I will see you in that next lesson for
our green butterfly.
6. GREEN BUTTERFLY - PART 1: Welcome to butterfly number
three, our green butterfly. I'm using green gold
for the base color, and I really love this color. It flows really quickly, but blends so beautifully with
so many different colors. But again, I'm just using a light concentration of this color over the
entire butterfly. And you'll notice that I have pencil marks inside
the wings this time. These will be guidelines for where I place the second glaze of color once this has dried and we do
another color on top. But in the meantime,
this process is exactly the same as the first
two butterflies we've done, just filling in the
inside of the butterfly, making sure it's evenly wet. I have it slightly tinted so I can see where the water is, and then we'll be able to apply our deeper concentration
of that green gold color. So now I can add that
deeper concentration, and I am mixing green gold with a little new
gamboge yellow. This is just to make it more
of a brighter green tone, just to help contrast with
the darker wing tips. But you're welcome, of course, to use any shades
that you like as long as they are
transparent watercolors. In the same process, I am just painting along the edge
into the wet area, just like we've done before. That's why this course is called practicing the wood
and wet technique because you are getting
a lot of practice, managing your water levels
with each of these lessons. Now, for the darker green, I mixed green gold with
end and throne blue, reusing the blue that we
used in the last lesson. And look how pretty that is when you add that
right on top of that wet green gold
and new gamboge paint. It definitely likes to
travel, so keep that in mind. Don't overload your
brush with pigment. But it creates a
really pretty effect. And this is all we're
doing for step one. So the next thing you
need to practice is patience as you wait for
this to completely dry, and then we'll move on to
the next step where we glaze the darker color
on those wing tips. I'll see you in the next lesson.
7. GREEN BUTTERFLY - PART 2: Our butterfly is completely dry, so now we can do the next
step on this green butterfly. So what I'm doing is I'm only wetting the tips of the wings, and I'm careful to stay
within that pencil line. So I want a nice hard
edge for this step. I'm just going to wet each of these little tips before
going in with our painting. So I'm just doing one side at a time, starting with the left. Now, I went into my paint, and I'm just adding it
where I wet the paper. And you'll notice
I'm keeping my brush still just on the very
edge where the wet paper meets the dry paper
and letting the paint flow into the center
of the wet area. I'm not dragging my brush into every section of the wet paper. In other words, I'm still
leaving a little bit of transparency for that green
gold color to shine through. And I use a little bit of water just to drop
it in the center, which also helps push that
pigment out towards the edges. Now for the right side, I'm doing the same thing,
pre wedding those sections. And I also decided I
wanted the body darker. And just for a slightly
different approach, I'm painting this
wet on dry paper. So I'm not pre wetting
the area first. I'm just painting right
over that dried center. And you'll see that the body is going to be the darkest area. But there's also still some of that bleed out from
the previous layer. So it just still looks really
pretty with that transition of color from the darker green out into the lighter
color of the wings. Once again, painting
the antennas, and then I'm going to
use the same brush to do some detailing. Again, wet on the dry
paper for some of the veins in the wings to make a little bit more
detail on this version. So I'm using my liner brush. This is optional. My black velvet liner. You can still use your other
paint brush if you prefer, but I like this one
because it really helps with just getting really
delicate little lines. Great for things like
this or branches. I'm just carefully drawing
out a couple of the shapes. It's basically just
little is going across. Now, you're, of course, welcome to do some
faint pencil sketches first if you think you need
that, and that helps you. But I'm just making
these simple lines. I'm going to do my best to match them on the other side, as well. Just trying to do
a mirror image. It's not going to be perfect, but these don't
have to be perfect. And that's it for
our third butterfly. Now, in the next one,
I'm going to show you an actually easier way
to paint a butterfly. So this next technique will be really helpful if
you have perhaps a larger butterfly shape that you're painting
where it's harder to control the water or your
paper maybe dries faster. This next one will
be really helpful. So I hope you join me
for the next lesson.
8. BONUS - EASY PURPLE BUTTERFLY: Welcome to our last
and bonus lesson of this butterfly course. Now, in this one, I'm going
to show you a really easy way to maybe make this
a little bit easier to approach if you have a larger butterfly shape or a paper that maybe
dries a little faster, and it's harder to
manage the drying time. But I'm going to wet the
wings just as before. However, I'm only going
to do one side of the wings at a time
and half the body. And I'm going to make sure that there is a space in between each side so that they
don't meet, essentially. Again, this footage got
a little bit washed out, so it will get better once
I start adding color. It's just my camera
setting wasn't picking up on the pencil
lines themselves. So again, my apologies on that. But I have the left side
of the wing pre wet, and I'm using just paraline
violet for this butterfly. Now, applying the color in a thicker concentration just
like we've done before. Okay, the left wing is done. Now we're going to do the same
thing with the right wing. And again, we're
applying color on both the top and the
bottom right wings. And in the body,
we're just going to make sure that
we cover it enough, but we don't let it touch with that other wing because
if the paint flows in, it's going to affect the placement of the paint
that we already made. So we're just going to make
sure we keep them separate. Now that the butterfly
is completely dry, we're going to handle the
body of the butterfly. So all we need to do is
just like the last one, we're going to do wet on dry
paper, painting the body, and it's going to be a
thick enough concentration that it's going to hide that seam where the two wings are almost but not
quite meeting. So as you can see, being able to paint just one side of
the wings at a time can really help when
you're trying to manage the timing of the
wetness of the paper. Anytime you're able
to keep your section separate and work on them one at a time is
going to be helpful. It gives you a little
bit more time that you can take without having to
worry about the paper drying. Also, to keep it easier instead
of painting the antenna, if you think that's a
little too difficult, I'm using a colored pencil here. And now you should have four beautiful little
butterflies that you can display or gift to
friends and loved ones. I hope you enjoyed this course. If you did, please
consider following me on Skillshare and checking out some of my other
watercolor courses. Until next time, happy painting.
Aura Lesnjak, Watercolor & Mixed Media Artist
