Watercolor Animals: Realistic Dog Portrait | Erika Lancaster | Skillshare
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Watercolor Animals: Realistic Dog Portrait

teacher avatar Erika Lancaster, Watercolor + Sketching + Artist Mindset

Watch this class and thousands more

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction + Welcome

      6:59

    • 2.

      Course Project + Must Know Information

      3:51

    • 3.

      Supplies

      8:48

    • 4.

      Reference Photo Observations

      5:37

    • 5.

      Masking Fluid Placement

      9:23

    • 6.

      Choosing Colors + Swatching

      5:09

    • 7.

      Fur (First Layer)

      14:47

    • 8.

      Eyes + Nose + Fur (Second Layer)

      45:33

    • 9.

      Background

      8:51

    • 10.

      Eyes + Nose Details

      9:06

    • 11.

      Fur (Third Layer)

      9:43

    • 12.

      White Gouache Details

      5:07

    • 13.

      Thank you

      0:48

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About This Class

Love animals and watercolor, but find this type of subject intimidating to paint? Do you really want to paint animals, but have no idea where to start or how to create a strategy to work through? Or maybe you’ve already painted a few animals, but always end up underwhelmed with your results?

If you answered 'yes' to any of these, and you've been painting with watercolor consistently for some time, this course is for you. 

✱ What You'll Learn:

  • What to pay attention to in reference photos to arrive at better results when painting animals
  • How to use masking fluid to protect important highlight shapes in eyes and noses
  • My simple but effective technique for painting fur
  • How to paint believable dog eyes
  • How to layer watercolor while avoiding overworking a painting
  • How to use white gouache to paint whiskers
  • How to do splattering for visual texture and interest in backgrounds
  • Much more!

✱ Supplies you'll need:

  • Drawing pencils (Suggested: HB, 2B)
  • Tracing paper
  • Soft graphite eraser
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Watercolor paper (Suggested: Cold Press, 140 lbs.)
  • Watercolor paint set
  • Watercolor brushes (Large, medium, and small)
  • Small *cheaper* multimedia brushes (for masking fluid and white gouache)
  • Container of water
  • Mixing palette
  • Absorbent towel or regular kitchen paper towels
  • Masking tape or artist's tape
  • Backing board
  • Scrap pieces of watercolor paper
  • White gouache (Suggested: Permanent White or Titanium White)
  • Masking fluid

You can also find Erika here:

Website

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Meet Your Teacher

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Erika Lancaster

Watercolor + Sketching + Artist Mindset

Teacher

"This is probably the best class I have taken on Skillshare. Well paced, organized, practical applications, engaging, and informative. Thanks Erika, very well done."

"Erika is a very good teacher, the course is for beginners but I think it has some gems for more experienced artists. Looking forward for her other classes."

"I think Erica gave a thorough explanation that would allow anyone to begin working with watercolours. You can review any of the individual chapters again to reinforce what you heard or to do the practical work. I really enjoyed the class."

"Excellent presentation and very useful information. Would like to see more of this teacher."

"This is a great class on food illustration. It covers color mixing and pr... See full profile

Level: Intermediate

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Transcripts

1. Introduction + Welcome: Have you always wanted to paint animals with watercolor, but perhaps find it a little bit intimidating. Or maybe you just don't know where to start or how to flow through the painting process. Or maybe you already started painting animals with watercolor, but always end up underwhelmed with your results. Hey everyone. My name is Erica and I'm a traditional media artists working with a variety of different drawing and painting mediums. I really enjoy challenging myself with a wide range of subjects, from landscapes to still live, to animals and more. My day-to-day life revolves around creating art and mentoring students online. And I'm also constantly creating helpful content aimed toward beginner and intermediate artists that I share via my website, by YouTube channel and of course, my membership site. I have over 15 years of experience working in artistic and creative fields. I went to art school to obtain my BA in Graphic Design. I then went on to become a graphic designer in an advertising agency. And after a few years of that, I moved on to becoming a head teacher in a school environment. I worked in that school for many years until I started my art business on the side, selling my art work locally and also teaching students of all different ages and levels in my own home studio. After awhile of growing my own business, I was able to leave my last regular full-time job to dedicate myself full lead to my business and continuing to grow it. That's when I decided to take what I was doing locally to the online space in order to reach more people. Nowadays, I'm the happiest I've ever been dedicating my days to continuing to grow as an artist. As I simultaneously help others reach their full potential. Painting animals, especially in a realistic way, is pretty challenging. It doesn't matter what animal it is that you're painting and what painting medium it is that you're using. And the reason this is, is because there are a variety of different techniques involved in painting them realistically. There is a lot of detail involved that we have to make sure to pay attention to if we're going for realistic results. And finally, we have to pay attention to specific shapes and proportions that we need to communicate via our artwork if we're looking for realism. Because anatomy is anatomy, it doesn't matter if it's animals or humans. There's anatomy that comes into play. If we start distorting our shapes and proportions along the way, then no amount of detail or texture or shading is going to lead to believable results. And it's not just communicating a believable sense of texture and detail, but it's also understanding the three-dimensional structure of what it is that we are painting and being able to pinpoint lights, mid tones and darks in our reference photo or whatever it is that we're observing. So that we can make that wide range of values happen in our painting. Because value is number one when it comes to developing a believable sense of 3D Nas and structure in art, whenever you hear the term value or tone, they mean exactly the same thing. It's essentially the lightness to darkness of all of the colors involved in a piece. And a value or tone is even above color correctness when it comes to developing a sense of realism in your work, all this means is that instead of focusing so much on picking exactly the same color that you see in your reference photo or creating the exact same color that you're seeing in the reference photo, you should be focusing on developing a wide range of values similar to what you're observing. You want to create those lightest lights where you see them in that reference photo, those mid tones where you see them in that reference photo, and those darkest darks where you see them in that reference photo. That's what's most important for realism. Constantly comparing the different value shapes present throughout the subject. And asking yourself, is this lighter or darker than this other area over here? And getting those relationships between the different values throughout the subject as close as possible to what you're observing. As long as you focus on developing that wide range of values, you're going to end up with believable results. Something that I'm constantly reminding my beginner students of is that texture follows form. So first focus on communicating that macro level structure of whatever it is that you're painting. So focus on the skeletal structure, if you will, of that animal. And then think of the techniques that will help you develop that texture that is wrapping around that structure. In this course, I'm going to be sharing how I do all of this with you. My favorite techniques. I love bringing in one painting, animals. How do I combine wet on wet techniques and wet on dry techniques. How I do my layering and stay away from overworking my piece, the masking fluid techniques that I love bringing in to help me keep little highlight sections protected in the eyes and the nose. How I use masking fluid to help me easily create that illusion of fur. And also how I bring in white gouache at the end to paint in my whiskers. And I've made sure to include a class in this course before jumping into the painting process, where we're gonna be making some key observations on the reference photo so that our process can go a lot more smoothly and we can ensure better results. But because there's so much involved, I would recommend this course to intermediate artists have been painting with watercolor consistently for at least some amount of time. I would make sure that I know about basic washes and brushstrokes that helped me create different textures and have some amount of brush and water control already developed. I do have a full watercolor one-on-one course here on Skillshare, in which I share a basic exercises and must know information that will help you progress your skills faster. I also have more beginner friendly courses that you might want to check out in the projects and resources tab, you're gonna be able to find your downloadable files. You're going to see that I have prepared my outline sketch for you, which you can trace over using a sheet of tracing paper to get your preliminary sketch on your sheet of watercolor paper and be able to move on to the painting process in my watercolor one-on-one course, I do have a full class where I share how to use tracing paper to do you're transferring, but you can really use whichever transferring method you prefer. Along with my outline sketch, you're gonna be able to find the high resolution reference photo for you to observe as you're working my supply list and more with all this said, let's go ahead and jump into the first-class. Were all be explaining about the course project. See you there? 2. Course Project + Must Know Information: Hey there and welcome to this short class where I'll be explaining about your course project. By the end of this course, you'll have completed a realistic painting of a dog in watercolor. More specifically, we're painting a super cute Hungarian Vaisala. I have broken up my painting process into eight phases. I've also added an extra class in the beginning where we'll be making some important observations about the reference photo, which will help us move forward a lot more smoothly and arrive at better results. It's always very important to observe your reference or whatever it is that you have in front of you in real life that you're going to be painting before putting paint brush to paper. So please make sure not to skip over that class. We'll then be moving on to choosing the specific colors that we're gonna be using in our painting process. You can feel free to change the color of the background if you wish. I'll be moving on to explaining my technique for painting believable for in layers, making our way towards the darkest values or tones, then I'll be sharing everything that I do to paint believable dog eyes that have life to them. I'll also be sharing how to paint believable noses. When it comes time to painting in our background, I'll be sharing my fail proof method that I always use to paint large washes with watercolor. This method always helps me arrive at great results when I am painting large areas and helps me avoid creating splotchy venous lines and back runs in my background and I'll show you how to use the splattering technique using water in order to add interests and a beautiful texture to your background wash, As with all of the courses that I publish, it's my objective to share a lot of information and tools with you that you can take to future watercolor paintings. Once you're done with your painting, please take a photo of it and posted over at the projects and resources tab here on Skillshare. This is a special gallery where you'll be able to easily post your work as well as like and comment on other students projects. It's super easy to do and I'd love to see your work as well as provide any feedback that you might need or answer any questions that you might have for me to post your work. All you have to do is click on the Projects and Resources tab right below any of the class videos. Click on the green button on the right, upload a cover image, which can be a photo of the piece itself. But it can also be a photo of your supplies or a photo that you took throughout the process. Make sure to give your project a title and add a little project description. I would love to hear about how it went for you. Any struggles that you might have had, any discoveries or key takeaways. And of course, you can also leave any questions as well that you'd like for me to answer. You can then add another image inside of the project description by clicking on the icon right below the add more content subtitle, choose the image file that you'd like to share. And then all you have to do is hit the green Publish button at the top and you're all done. Finally, if you'd like to share your work over on Instagram, please do. I love giving students shout outs and also sharing your work in my stories. Just make sure to tag me so that I can see it and cheer you on. And also make sure to tag the Skillshare account. This goes a very long way and really inspires other students to share their work as well, which is very important for the Skillshare community. Remember that we're all here to learn and improve together and it's a safe place for you to share. And all of the other wonderful Skillshare teachers and myself really look forward to seeing your work and are here to help you out. That's gonna do it for this class. In the next one, I'll be explaining about the different supplies that I'd recommend having on hand in order to complete your project. See you there. 3. Supplies: Hello and welcome to this class where I'll be explaining about the supplies that I'll be having on hand as I'm working on this piece, I would recommend having these items on hand as well as you're moving forward or something similar, do make sure to download all of the files that I'm making available for you in the projects and resources tab here on Skillshare, simply click on the Projects and Resources tab that you're gonna be able to find below any of the videos in this course. And right below the green Create Project button on the right, you'll be able to see all of these downloadable files that I'm making available for. You. Simply click on the file that you'd like to download and it'll be downloaded onto your computer or device. For this one, I'm going to be working on watercolor paper from arches. This is cold press paper. It is 140 pounds in thickness or in weight, and it is 100% cotton. I really wanted to use this higher-quality paper for this one because I am going to be bringing in layering and not all papers tolerate layering. Well, there are some papers out there that even though there are 100% cotton, when you're working on that second or third layer, those layers underneath reactivate even though they're already completely dry and it becomes a mess. It can be very frustrating. Make sure that you're using paper that lend itself for layering techniques. This watercolor paper pad offers sheets that are nine by 12 " and I did end up cutting off part of this watercolor sheet because the rectangular format was a little bit too lengthy. So the size of watercolor sheet that you're gonna be seeing me work in is exactly 9 " in width and 9.6 " in height. It is totally up to you. If you want to work in exactly my same size and cut off a section of your watercolor sheet. Or if you want to use whatever sheet size that you have as is in terms of my paint, I am going to be using a combination of paint from Daniel Smith, Winsor, and Newtons professional line. And I am bringing in one pen for my St. Petersburg White Nights paint set, and that is the burnt sienna. And this is only because I ran out of my burnt sienna from my other palette. And this all goes to show that you can certainly mixed different brands together as long as they are similar quality. All of these are professional grade watercolor paints, so they mix together very well. The seven colors that I'm going to be bringing in our new gamboge, raw sienna, Alizarin, crimson, fallow, blue, burnt sienna, burnt umber, and Payne's gray. You by no means have to use these exact colors that I'm gonna be using in order to arrive at great results. As always, I'm going to be swatching these out on a scrap piece of watercolor paper before jumping into the painting process so that you can see what they look like on paper. And you can choose whichever colors you have available that are most similar to the ones that I'll be using. I used a total of seven different brushes. But only five of those were actually used for painting with watercolor or for the watercolor painting process. The other two were used to either place my masking fluid, to mask out my highlights in the dog's eyes and to create little fur textures throughout its body. And the other one was used to paint in the whiskers and to enhance the highlights in the eyes using white gouache at the very end of the painting process. The five watercolor brushes that I'm gonna be using throughout the actual painting process. Our a size six mop brush, and the other four are round brushes and sizes 161,410.3. The small brush that I use to place my masking fluid is a cheap multimedia size zero round brush. And the other brush that I use to actually paint in the dog's whiskers is a size two rigger brush. You can actually see this brush. It's the second one from left to right, right there on screen right after the brown brush, It's a light gray brush and you can see how the bristles in this rigger brush or longer, it's a small, fine brush with longer bristles. And those longer bristles really helped me create those long, fine lines that I'm going to be needing for those whiskers. If you don't have a rigger brush, don't worry, you can use any small detailing brush as long as it comes to a nice, fine tip, I would recommend it being a round brush. What I would recommend doing is actually doing some test runs on a scrap piece of watercolor paper. Just do some drills with that brush and the white gouache that you're planning on using for your painting to make sure that you can A long, thin tapered lines. This is very, very important because you don't want to have to correct white gouache, because gouache is an opaque painting medium. And if you create a very thick whisker or something like that and you go in and try to scrub it off and lifted off, most likely than not, you're going to make a mess because what happens is that since gouache is opaque when you try to rub it off, it's going to leave this splotchy, opaque, kind of chalky texture over that section of your painting. So just be careful and do whatever drills you need to do on a scrap piece of paper before adding in your whiskers. I don't need an extra mixing palette because this palette that I'm gonna be using has mixing areas integrated in that palette. I have a few scrap pieces of watercolor paper, which I always make sure to have on hand in order to test out colors and translucency. I also have a role of regular three-fourths of an inch masking tape, which is what I use to tape down my watercolor sheet down onto my black cutting mat. I have a few of my blue Scott absorbent towels which are super important. Any kind of towel or just regular kitchen paper towels are essential when you're painting with watercolor. So that you can see on top of water control and do any lifting that you might need to do along the way. I have my container with clean water. I have my masking fluid. This is masking fluid from Winsor and Newton. I highly recommend this one. I've never had any issues with it. I have my white gouache in permanent white. This is also from Winsor and Newton. And you can see that little ceramic flower shaped palette that I used to mix my gouache wash is very thick, coming out straight out of the tube. So it is very likely that you're going to need some sort of little palette. Two, squeeze it out into, and also to bring in some water in order to arrive at whatever consistency it is that you need for that wash. And finally, you can also see that sheet of tracing paper on screen right here. This is tracing paper from Strathmore. And what I did for this one is I traced over that reference photo to get my outline sketch onto my sheet of watercolor paper. I have an entire class on how to use tracing paper to do you're transferring and get that outline, sketch ready on your watercolor sheet. My watercolor when a one course. So do make sure to check that one out if you're interested in learning about how to use tracing paper for your transferring. And as I said in the beginning of this class in the projects and resources tab, you're gonna be able to find your downloadable with this one, I'll be including my outline sketch, which you can use to trace over in order to prepare that preliminary sketch on your watercolor paper, you can decide if you want to trace over my outline, sketch, or the actual photo, whatever you're most comfortable with. Of course, you're also going to be able to find that high resolution reference photo attached. I am making two different photos available for you. One that I took right after placing my masking fluid in case you'd like to have it as reference as you're placing doors. And I also took a photo of my finished painting, which you are free to use as reference as you're working. And finally, you're gonna be able to find your supply checklist. And that is gonna do it for this class on your supplies. In the next one, we're going to be observing that reference photo together and noticing important things that are going to help us move forward with greater success. See you in the next one. 4. Reference Photo Observations: Hello and welcome. In this class we're going to be observing our reference photo together and taking some important notes, essential things that are going to be important to have in mind as we're moving through this process in order for everything to go more smoothly and arrive at much better results. Oftentimes, I have to work on the same painting twice or three times before arriving at something that I actually love. So do have that in mind, especially when it comes to drawing or painting a type of subject that you've never drawn or painted before or when you're using techniques or a method that you've never used before, Give yourself the opportunity to work on that piece more than once. I cannot tell you how many times I work on the same piece, twice or three times before actually filming my process. And this is completely normal. But jumping into the first piece of advice that I want to provide, always take time to observe the reference photo before putting paint brush to paper, take a few minutes to observe this reference photo. Take time to observe not only this particular dogs characteristics in terms of its fur color. It's for length, the color of its eyes, the color of its nose, the shape of its ears, it's overall proportions. But also notice where are the darkest areas? Notice where are the mid tone areas? Notice where are the lightest areas. Try to come to a conclusion as to where the light source is in relation to the subject. When I observe this photo, I can tell that the light is hitting this dog from the upper right. Because if you notice the darkest values in this dog's body or what we're able to see of this dog's body are along the left side. By noticing these key things, you're going to be setting yourself up for success because you'll know where to create those different values or tones as you're painting. And remember that when we're painting with watercolor, we're not bringing in white paint because we're using the mediums translucency or transparency in combination with the white paper underneath the paint to develop those lighter value areas. So we need to plan and protect not only the brightest highlights, but know that in those lightest value sections, you're going to have to leave more of that paper shining through because if you don't incorporate that brightness of the paper as part of the peace, then not only are you going to get rid of that glowy effect that is so particular and beautiful to watercolor. But you're painting is going to end up looking very flat and it's going to lack dimension. Another key piece of advice that I want to provide is try to paint a quick try to keep it moving. Especially in those beginning stages of the painting process where we're creating that first layer and we're really trying to go for wet on wet blurred out soft defects. Because if you don't, things are going to start drying on you pretty quickly and you're gonna be left with more splotchy in us and more texture than you actually want. And I'm going to show you my process for making this easier for yourself, but just know that you have to move quickly, you have to move swiftly and go in with confidence, placing your color where you actually need it. The way that you do it is by observing the reference photo and acknowledging those different values sections. Try not to spend too long on one single place. Because not only is everything going to start drying on you, but if you go in and focus too much on one single place, you're likely going to arrive at overworked results. You're going to get rid of that freshness and that glow. This isn't to say that you can't go in and try to smooth textures out that you don't like or try to create softer gradients or remove paint or something like that. But just try to keep it minimal and move on to the next place. Learn to embrace irregularities and things that happen when you're painting with this medium, you're not gonna be able to control everything. Also acknowledge all of these shapes that you're painting in as abstract. Shadow shapes or light shapes for mid tone shapes. You don't have to paint these shapes in super perfectly and get them exactly the same as what you see in the reference photo. Especially when it comes to those shapes throughout the dogs, for when it comes to things like the nose and the eyes, we do need more precision for that. And I will be sharing my techniques that will enable you to have more control in these areas. But when it comes to the for going confidently place your paint, do any softening that you need to do along those edges or whatever you need to do and move on to the next thing. Things don't have to be perfect. And the last tip that I want to provide is whenever you're working on things like eyes or the nose, zoom into that reference photo and pay attention to the highlight shapes and the different shapes that you see in these important features of the dog's face. This is why I provide you great reference photos so that you can actually open them up nice and large and whatever device it is that you're using and zoom into these areas as needed. Alright, and that is gonna do it for this short class. In our next class we are going to be placing our masking fluid. See you there? 5. Masking Fluid Placement: Welcome to class. In this one, I'll be explaining how I do my masking fluid placement in order to keep a certain shapes or areas of my paper protected. While I do my painting, I'm going to be doing two main things with my masking fluid. Number one is I'm gonna be keeping little highlight shapes protected in the eyes and the nose. And number two, the masking fluid is also going to help me describe certain textures by placing my masking fluid in specific ways. Those little shapes that I create with my masking fluid are going to help me create the texture in the nose. And it's also going to help me describe that first texture throughout the dog's body. So in other words, there are two things that we're trying to do with the masking fluid. We're keeping little important highlights protected and we're also using it to help us describe texture. Let's go ahead and get started with this first phase where we're going to be placing our masking fluid. I am using my size zero round brush, and this is a cheaper multimedia brush. I wouldn't recommend using your watercolor brushes or any brush that you particularly like or are fond of to place your masking fluid because masking fluid can definitely damage your paintbrush bristles over time. Even if you take measures to protect those bristles, masking fluid is liquid latex and it dries fast and it dries hard on those bristles. And this is why I don't like using my actual watercolor brushes to place my masking fluid. And it's also why in many of my painting tutorials where I bring in masking fluid, I'm actually using an alternative tool to place my masking fluid, such as toothpicks. Now, if you have a masking fluid pen and you want to use that, then by all means, go ahead and use that masking fluid pen. What I did to protect the bristles of this paintbrush is I coded those paintbrush bristles in dishwashing soap before actually starting to dip my paintbrush in my little masking fluid container. And then once I'm done using it, I immediately go ahead and wash off that masking fluid. There are three different things that I am masking out for this piece before moving on to the painting process, the very first thing that you saw me work on was masking out the highlight shapes in the eyeballs. I also placed a little teeny tiny bit of masking fluid in some teeny tiny highlight shapes that I see along the bottom tier line especially, and also to mask out any white sections and the eyeballs that I'm able to see, it's so important that if we're painting a human portrait or an animal portrait, we plan for those highlights in the eyes because those highlights not only make the animal or the human look more realistic because our eyeballs or moist and reflective, but they also really helped make the subject come to life. So observe those highlights shapes in that reference photo. I have mapped them into the outline sketch that I have provided for you and fill those shapes in with a thin layer or coat of masking fluid after masking out those highlights and little teeny tiny white sections and the eyeballs out with masking fluid. I also applied some teeny-tiny, abstract, irregular masking fluid shapes, especially along the top of the nose where that light is hitting. That knows more. I also did some teeny tiny shapes right under the nostrils to create a little bit of a moist effect in the nose as well. Those teeny-tiny masking fluid shapes in the nose are going to help also give off that moist effect, but it's also going to help provide that texture in the dog's nose. There is no need to go overboard with those little teeny tiny shapes on the nose. Make sure as well that they are not perfect circles or dots that you're trying to create. Make sure that they are small and that you are clustering those little teeny tiny shapes together in different ways. Try to stay away from a pattern. Me look as you're creating those little masking fluid shapes on the nose. I barely touched the tip of my paintbrush to the nose to create those little teeny tiny abstract shapes. And the final thing that I am masking out our little sections of fur along the outer edges of the dog's body and also along some of the sections of the individual parts of its body like along the edges, ears, along the edges of the snout where body parts are overlapping over each other. Once I discovered that masking fluid is such a great way to easily communicate that illusion of hair or fur. I have continued honing this technique whenever I am painting animals and also humans. So what's important to understand is that when you are drawing or painting for or any kind of irregular texter, the edges of your shapes are very important. They shouldn't be left smooth. If you're wanting to communicate that fur or hair texture, you have to think of how you're gonna be creating Little flyaway hairs, if you will, or irregularity along the edges, not only along the edges where the person's or the animal's body meets the background, but also the edges where different body parts are overlapping. So where the ear is overlapping over the head or where the arm is overlapping over the belly or whatever it is, those different body parts are overlapping. Think of how the edges of those body parts have for, if you want to add in a few of these lines or marks inside of the dog's body to help you communicate that texture in those areas, that's fine as well, but I would keep it to a minimum. I just added a few of these masking fluid shapes or marks in the neck. And that is it because inside of the body shape we're going to be painting that texture using watercolor. We don't need masking fluid. And all I am doing is using little short flicking motions with my small paintbrush along these edges where I want to create some effects. And you don't have to go all along all of the edges. Not at all. In fact, less is more, but using those short flicking motions is going to help me create those tapered lines or marks throughout those edges where I want to enhance that fur texture. And as I'm doing these flicking motions and creating these marks with my masking fluid or these shapes, if you want to see them as shapes. I'm continuing to observe that reference photo and noticing the length of the for in that particular section of the dog's body because that length of that for definitely changes from area to area and also the direction of the fur growth in that area. I'm almost done here. I just made sure to place some marks along the edges of all of these individual body parts. If this dog had very long further than I would be creating longer marks are shapes. But this dog has short for it is a short haired dog. So I want to make sure that these little tapered marks that I'm creating are going to help me describe that for length, but also bring to mind what direction that for his growing out toward. I kept a lot of those edges free. That is important because if you go over all of your edges or you try to trace over your pencil lines with masking fluid that is going to lead to an outlining look at the end, at the end of your painting process, when you remove your masking fluid, you're gonna be left with a white outline around the entire thing. And that's not going to look very realistic. So again, there's no need to go overboard with those masking fluid marks or shapes. So you're creating along those edges a little bit goes a long way. Make sure that as you're placing your masking fluid, you're doing it in very thin coats because if a lot of masking fluid comes down and you create very thick blobs of masking fluid that it's going to take very long to dry this color unless masking fluid that I am using looks milky and opaque when it is in the bottle and when it is first placed on paper. And then when it dries, it becomes more yellowish and more transparent like a transparent yellowish film, if you will. You'll know that it's dry when it looks transparent and a little bit yellowish, it's still feels a little bit tacky after it's dried, but it's no longer sticky to the touch. And that's when you know that you can start to paint over it. And that is it for this one. While our masking fluid dries, we're going to be choosing and swatching out our colors that we're gonna be using throughout this painting process. See you in the next class. 6. Choosing Colors + Swatching: Welcome back. I'm a huge proponent of planning your colors before jumping into any painting process. This will help you arrive at more integrated, harmonious results, as well as higher levels of realism because you give yourself the opportunity to decide how you're going to be developing a lighter versions of your colors and darker versions of your colors, which are necessary for realism. And at the same time, through planning your colors, you're going to be able to stay away from creating undesired colours and moodiness throughout your painting process, I do want to mention that I have a full course here on Skillshare, on color theory and the split primary color wheel. In that course, I explain about different color schemes, how to tell if colors are warm or cool. And a ton of information on this essential art fundamental which is important for anyone who's learning to paint. So if you haven't checked that one out already, I would highly, highly recommend working on that course alongside this one. Or maybe after in this class, I'm gonna be sharing my color selection with you. I'll be swatching all of these colors that I'm gonna be bringing in this way you can see what they look like on paper. And if you don't have these specific colors, you can just replace them with whatever you have that is most similar. This first color that I am swatching out for you is new gamboge. It is a warm yellow. It's going to be used only in the dog's eyes. This next color that I'm swatching out is alizarin crimson. It's a cooler red. This one is going to be used mostly in the dog's nose and also in those pinkish, fleshy bits in the dog's eyes, you can see how this Alizarin crimson looks pinkish when I water it down. The next three colors that I'm going to be swatching out for you are the three browns that I'm gonna be using for the dogs, for this first one is raw sienna. It's a very light, usually brown. The next one is my burnt sienna, which is a reddish brown. It's kind of a medium brown. And then the next brown is going to be burnt umber, which is a darker kind of chocolaty brown. So in other words, I have a lighter brown, I have a medium brown and I have a darker brown. And I know that by preparing these three browns, I'm gonna be able to create a wide range of brown values throughout the dog's body. We know that value is number one in order to create a sense of three-dimensional structure. So I am setting myself up for success to be able to do that. Next, I swapped out my Payne's gray. This is a dark gray that is blue biased. It has some blue in it. I'm going to be using this gray in the dark, almost black looking sections in the dog's eyes, the pupil, and sections around the eyeball to paint in the nostrils. And also at the very end of the painting process, when I am doing some final pushing of darkest dark areas throughout the dogs fur, I'm going to be adding a little bit of this Payne's gray into my brown to darken it even more and be able to push those darkest areas. And the blue that I am using is phthalo blue. This blue is only going to be used in the background. I want the background to be like a very dark blue in the reference photo, that background is black. And I actually wanted to play with complimentary colors in this piece to make it colorful and also to create more color harmony. Because this dogs for is kind of orangey or like a neutral orange, if you will. And orange and blue are complimentary colors in the color wheel, I wanted to make my background dark blue instead of black. I thought it would be a nice play with color. It will bring more kind of playfulness to the piece. And it's just a way for me to make use of my artistic license and bring in more of myself into the painting. Feel free to change the color of the background to whatever color you prefer. I would just bring in my knowledge of color theory, the color wheel to make sure that you create color harmony and arrive at the level of contrast that you like with whatever hue it is that you decide to go with. And that is it for my color swatching. Take your time with this process and with planning the colors that you're gonna be using, use whichever colors you have that are similar to mine. And make sure that you set yourself up for success with three different browns that are going to be used throughout the firm. You want to make sure that you go in knowing how you're gonna be developing your brown values. What are you going to be using for your lighter brown? What are you going to be using for your medium brown, and what are you going to be using for your darkest brown areas? I cannot emphasize how important this is for believable results. I'm so excited to move on to our next class, where we'll finally be starting with our first layer of paint throughout the dogs fur. See you there? 7. Fur (First Layer): Hello and welcome to this class where we're gonna be working on part one of this painting process. The first thing we're going to be painting is the first layer all throughout the dogs fur. And we're also going to be creating a little bit of an underpainting using yellow in the eyeballs, which is something that I often like doing when I'm painting animals that light yellow underpainting and the eyeball really helps bring a glow to the eyes. So what I'm doing right here is I'm preparing my color mixtures that are going to be used throughout this part of the process. So first, I created my little puddle of new gamboge, that warm yellow that you see right there at the top. And then here at the bottom, I'm preparing three different brown color mixtures. The first is just plain, raw sienna with water added in. The second color mixer that I created is a mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna. And then the third color mixture, that would be the darkest brown of these three brown mixers that I'm preparing for myself is just plain burnt sienna with water added in. When I am painting with watercolor, I always work from lights to darks. And in this beginning layer of paint that we're gonna be creating, we're gonna be focusing on developing those lighter values, the lightest lights to light or mid tones. And this is why I'm not bringing in my darker brown, my burnt umber just yet. I will bring that in later for a subsequent layer that we're gonna be developing throughout the firm. But right now I'm preparing those brown color mixtures are going to help me create those lighter values. Once I have those first color mixtures ready, I change my water, especially because when I am painting in that bright yellow in the eyeballs, I want to make sure that I have no brown in the water that I'm using and that my paint brush is nice and clean. Of course, this way, I can make sure that that yellow is going to be nice and bright. So what I'm doing right here is using my size three round brush. I am starting to paint in that yellow underpainting in the eyeball. I am painting the entire iris and pupil section and I'm staying away from the whites in the eyes and also the pink fleshy bit in the inner corner of the dog's eyes. Of course, if you masked out those whites in the eyes, then it's no issue if you paint over them because the masking fluid is going to keep those sections protected for you. It is important that I don't go in with a super thick and saturated yellow. I want this yellow layer to be quite watered down, but definitely visible. So after painting in those yellow shapes, I remove that paint from my paintbrush bristles, and I go back in to just lift up some excess color to make sure that this layer of yellow is nice and bright, but still relatively translucent. Once that's ready, I go ahead and change to my size six mop brush because it is time to get started with that first layer all throughout the dogs fur. And it is definitely important to use a larger brush for this part of the process because a larger brush is going to enable you to load up those bristles with a good amount of paint and water and it's going to help you work faster. The first thing that I am doing is I am using my lightest color that I'm gonna be using in the dogs fur, which is the plain, raw sienna. And I'm gonna be painting in a light, pale, translucent layer of this raw sienna all throughout the dog's body. The only thing that I'm avoiding painting in Is the eyeball section, but I'm even painting over the nose. It is incredibly important and I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you take your time painting in this first layer before moving on to anything else. However long it takes you to create a relatively uniform, pale layer of color all throughout the dog's body except for the eyes and arrive at a nice even sheen all throughout however long it takes you to get there, just keep going until you arrive at that nice, even uniform color and sheen all throughout the dog. Continue going over all areas gently with your paintbrush, bringing out a little bit of water at a time as needed to soften that color and extend it out until the entire dog, except for the eyes, is completely covered with this initial pale layer of raw sienna. Most of this is just me going in with water in my paint brush and softening that color and extending that color Out towards those sections that I haven't painted in. So essentially I just paint it in that color in the beginning. And after that, it was just me going in with water in my brush, what I like doing so that sections don't start drawing on me too quickly is wherever it is that I decided to start painting. I start making my way out from that area and then I come back to the place that I started to wet that section again. And then I make my way out a little bit more than I come back to where I started and run my paintbrush bristles over that section again that I'm making my way out a little bit more and I come back to where I started and so on and so forth until I get to the opposite side. Then I go over the entire thing again with just water in my paint brush. One thing I will say is make sure that you don't bring out too much water from your container to the point that you start dripping water everywhere. This can also lead to creating puddles and you definitely don't want puddles anywhere. Just bring out a little bit of water at a time. And every time you dip your paintbrush in your container of water, remove that excess drip edge by gently scraping the bristles of your paint brush along the top of your container, then you can go in. I love sharing these real-time tutorials with you because you can actually get a sense for how long it takes me to do pre wedding or this kind of technique where I'm creating that initial pale layer before moving forward. This is actually the time that it takes me. But I do want to mention how long it takes you to get that nice, even sheen and that pale color all throughout this large shape is going to depend not only on the type of paper that you're using, but also on the environment that you're working in. If you work in a warm environment, a cold environment, a dry environment, a humid environments. 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 quickly or how slowly your paint starts to dry on you and how long it's gonna take you to do something like this, which is essentially a form of pre wedding before moving on to the actual development of values and Hughes, Okay, So I finally arrived at that nice even sheen and that relatively uniform and even pale first layer of color. And everything is very wet and very workable. So I am now ready to get started with my first development of values all throughout the dog's body. So with that initial pale layer of raw sienna in, I am taking more raw sienna, but it is now less water down. And I'm applying this raw sienna in sections of mid tones that I'm able to see in that reference photo. So along the way, I am constantly observing that reference photo and bringing to mind everything that I was observing in the beginning when I was just analyzing that photo and noticing where darkest areas were, midtone areas where and where lightest areas were. And I'm going to make my way incrementally towards my darker brown that I have prepared for myself. So first I went in with plain raw sienna. Again, only it was a little bit more saturated or less watered down. And then after having place that raw sienna, I took my medium brown that I had prepared for myself, which was my mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna. I applied that second Brown in sections of mid tones and darkest darks. Once again, I am leaving the lightest sections that I'm able to see in that reference photo, free of any more of these browns. Essentially, I want those lightest sections throughout the dog to just have that first layer of palest color. I started with in the beginning. I don't want to apply any more color on areas of lightest values. If I start applying color in areas of lightest values, I'm going to cover up more of that paper. And I'm gonna get rid of lightest values. That is not going to be helpful at all because I need that wide range of values for this to look realistic. After I had applied more of my raw sienna and raw sienna plus burnt sienna in sections of mid tones and darkest darks. I remove that color for my paintbrush bristles. And what you're seeing me do right now is I am softening transitions a little bit with just a clean and slightly damp brush. And I'm also going in and doing some lifting using my clean and slightly damp paintbrush bristles as a little absorbent sponge to lift up excess paint from sections that are actually lighter value areas where paint has expanded and covered up a little bit too much. It's all about continuing to sculpt the dog's body. It's three-dimensional form or structure. And because they took time with that prereading process, with that first palest layer I have time to continue developing those mid tones, those darkest darks. I have time to do lifting of excess paint that has expanded into lighter value sections. Once I did that work with those first two colors, and I had arrived at a nice range of values. It was finally time to get started with my darkest brown, which is my plane burnt sienna. And what I am doing is I am applying this darkest brown only in darkest dark sections that I'm able to see in that reference photo. Leaving the lighter mid tones and the lightest lights free of this darkest brown, everything is still wet and in a very workable state because I took my time with that first palest layer of color. If I had just painted that very quickly, by this point in the process, certain sections would already be dry and I would not be able to continue working if sections we're already starting to dry on me, that would only lead to a splotchy look and a lot of texture that I'm not looking for. The work that we did developing that initial palest layer was incredibly helpful because not only is that water content that we prepare that paper with helping us arrive at nice soft, diffused out wet on wet type effects. But it enables us to start developing that structure, that three-dimensional look to the dog's body. And it helps us not rush through the process and have a little bit more working time to really start creating that structure. Alright, so I'm almost done here. I did some work with that darkest brown, the plane burnt sienna. And after adding some of that in, I once again remove that color from my paintbrush. You can see me right here, go in with a clean and slightly damp brush to do some lifting in sections where the darkest brown has expanded out a little bit too much. Everything is still wet and workable so I can very easily go in and remove some excess pigment from sections that are actually lighter in value, where I want more of that paper shining through. Now, once you've placed paint on paper, it is nearly impossible to go back to the whiteness and the brightness that the paper once had. But you definitely can go in and do some lifting using your clean and only slightly damp paintbrush, bristles as a little absorbent sponge. Or you can even go in with your absorbent towel and do some lifting through blotting with your absorbent towel. You always have those tools on hand to do some lifting and add dimension back into areas that maybe you have dark and a little bit too much. You can see how much I am supporting myself with my absorbent towel that I have right there to my left. I am constantly dabbing the tip of my paintbrush on that absorbent towel to remove excess paint or water before going in. Alright, so I'm almost done here. I did that lifting and now I'm just going to take a quick sec to create more of this middle brown, which is a combination of raw sienna and burnt sienna. And I'm going to add a tiny bit more color into some mid tones sections that I'm able to see in that reference photo, which I haven't really created there a little bit too light still. I noticed if the paper was still wet enough in order for me to do that. If my paper had already started to dry, then I wouldn't be placing any more paint on my paper. When things start to dry, I stop what I'm doing and if I need to go into darken certain areas, I do so with subsequent layers of paint, you can see how I was left with soft effects and transitions between colors. And this is because I've been working wet on wet, meaning I've been painting in my colors while the paper is still wet. These soft effects and transitions where exactly what I was looking for in this initial layer. At this point, it is important to allow everything to dry completely before moving on to the next class in which we are going to be painting layer two all throughout the firm. Feel free to speed up that drying process using a hairdryer. See you in the next video where we're gonna be working on that second layer throughout the fur. And we're also going to be working on the next layers in the nose and the eyes 8. Eyes + Nose + Fur (Second Layer): So everything is dry and hopefully you can see how colors dried, lighter than how they looked when they were wet, which is completely normal when it comes to painting with watercolor. And now that everything is dry, I'm gonna go ahead and add more detail into the eyes. I'm going to be also doing some work in the nose. And after that, I'm gonna be working on the second layering of color all throughout the dogs for so the first thing that I did was I prepared a little puddle of Payne's gray on my mixing palette. It's not super, super thick. I am using a coffee like consistency. So almost 50% paint, 50% water, even when it comes to very dark, almost black looking shapes like this. I always like getting started with semi translucent layer of paint and then darkening certain sections over that later with another layer, I find things end up looking a lot more natural if I do it in this way. And make sure that even darker sections that look like black shapes have at least somewhat of a range of values within them. I am using my size three round brush to very carefully paint in the pupil. Also some longer shapes around the dog's eyeballs that I'm able to see in that reference photo, I make sure that as I am painting in those long dark shapes around the dog's eyeballs. That I am seeing those shapes as abstract, irregular, long shapes and not like lines or outline. Because if I create outlines around the dog's eyes, that's going to lead to a cartoony look. It's not going to look very realistic. That's not what's actually happening in that reference photo. These dark shapes that we see are actually shadow shapes, or they can also be those darker values around the iris. So what happens is that usually around the iris, which is the colored portion of the eyeball. In this case, it's like a brownish color. Usually there is a ring around the iris that is darker than the inner portion of the iris. So we also see some darkness which has actually that outer ring around the iris, but it's not actually an outline. And sometimes it is important to ignore what our brain is telling us to do. Which is oftentimes going to be to go in and create an outline around everything we see and we need to trust and what we're seeing in that reference photo, really practice observing what's happening in the reference. These are more shapes them lines, and there are definitely not outlines present anywhere. And practice really making those shapes happen in your painting. Alright, that's all I'm gonna be doing in the eyes for now. I really need to allow that to dry completely. And I'm gonna be doing more layering and detailing in the eyes later on. So it is time to do a little bit of work in the dog's nose. And for this, I switched on over to my size ten round brush. So what you're seeing me do right now is I'm creating the color mixture that I'm gonna be using in the nose. Now, if you observe the reference photo, you'll notice that the color and the dog's nose is not too different from it's for in this particular dog, this is the case with other dogs, the nose might be a lot more pink or maybe it's black when the first brown or white or whatever the case may be. But there is not that big of a difference in the color inside of the nose and outside of the nose. Of course, the nostrils are a lot darker because those are holes and there is no light reaching those holes. But when it comes to the nose itself and the skin in this area, there is not that big of a difference. This is also why there was no issue with me painting over the nose with that initial layer of paint. So the mixture that I prepare for myself to paint in the nose is a mixture of alizarin crimson, raw sienna and a little bit of burnt umber just to darken it a tiny bit. The mixture that I use has a good amount of water in it. I would say it's kind of like a coffee consistency. You can see how that initial layer that I painted in is pretty translucent and pale. So once I have that initial layer painted in, what I do is I add more burnt umber into the mixture to darken it a little bit more. Then I drop in a little bit of this darker color mixture in sections of darker values that I see in the nose in that reference photo. Once I have developed that little range of values throughout the nose, some lighter values, some darker values. I remove that color from my paintbrush bristles and I go in to do some lifting in areas that I have perhaps dark and a little bit too much or where that darker value color mixture has expanded a little bit too much. So you can see me use the clean and slightly damp bristles of my paintbrush as a little absorbent sponge to do a little bit of lifting of excess pigment. And I'm just plotting the bristles of my paintbrush On my absorbent towel and going back in as needed. Now you can very clearly see those little masking fluid shapes on the nose that I had created before. Alright, so after doing that work in the nose, it is time to get started with the second layering of color all throughout the dogs. For this time, we're gonna be working wet on dry, meaning we're gonna be just painting in shapes on dry paper. And the objective with this next layering in the dogs fur is to push mid tone areas and darkest dark areas. In other words, we're going to darken sections that need to be pushed more. And we're going to leave lighter value sections free of this new layering of paint. I would recommend having a good look at that reference photo once again, and pinpointing sections of darker midtones and darkest darks that you're looking to push more if you go into this part of a process with that information fresh in your mind, there is less of a chance that you're gonna go in and cover up sections that don't need to be darkened anymore. Okay. So the color mixtures that I prepared for myself for this new layering of color all throughout the dogs fur, lightest mixture to darkest mixture. The first one is a mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna. The second one is also a mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna, but it's heavier on the burnt sienna. And the darkest mixture that I've prepared for myself is a mixture of burnt sienna and burnt umber. When I am creating these color mixtures, I'm just looking for these color mixtures to look different from each other, especially in terms of value. I want one of these mixtures to be the lightest, another to be the medium, and the other one to be the darkest. If you have any doubts that maybe there's not enough of a difference between your different brown so you create, I would recommend swatching out your color mixtures on a scrap piece of watercolor paper and modifying the ratios of your colors in your color mixtures until there is enough of a difference between them. And you have a lighter brown, a medium brown, and a darker brown that you're gonna be using for this part of the process. For this part of the process, I'm going to be using two different brushes. I have my larger size, six mop brush on hand. I also have my medium-sized size 14 round brush on hand. What I'm gonna be doing is I'm gonna be painting in those abstract shapes for these different sections of darker values that I see throughout the fur. I'm gonna be painting those in with my larger mop brush. And what I'm gonna do is I'm going to quickly switch on over to my smaller brush. And with my smaller brush, while that paint is still wet, I'm going to be softening edges and doing some flicking motions that are going to help me move that paint that is still wet in order to start developing the illusion of fur. We're gonna do this section by section, switching between my paint brushes as I go. And depending on how light or how dark that section in that reference photo is, I'm going to pick the brown color mixture that is going to help me develop that value. So I get started with this very dark part in the dog's snout. This lower part is very dark in that reference photo. So I can go in with my medium brown that I just created, which is my mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna. Heavier on the burnt sienna. I paint that shape in with my mop brush and then I go ahead and change to my medium-sized brush, my size four round. And what I'm doing with this size 14 round is I am softening edges. And remember this size four round brush is clean, it's just slightly damp and I'm just using it to soften edges or to create a little bit more of a fur texture to move that paint around that I've placed with my larger mop brush. Once I did that work with my size 14 round, I switch on back to my larger mop brush to paint in more dark shapes with those abstract, irregular shadow shapes painted in. I switched back to my medium-sized brush and using this clean and only slightly damp, medium-sized brush, I'm doing a little bit of work moving that paint around that I've already placed on my paper with my larger brush. You can see me go in and soften sections of that dark shape. And I am doing flicking motions in the direction of the fur growth that I see him that reference photo, moving that wet paint around on paper. And you can see how these slightly curved flicking motions that I'm doing with my medium-sized brush are helping me start to describe that fur texture because I am moving and pulling that paint that is still wet. And I am changing that shape slightly to describe more of those abstract irregular shadow shapes under clusters of for. So very similarly to what I was talking about when we were placing our masking fluid, where the edges of your shapes need to show that irregularity that goes hand-in-hand with the texture that you're trying to describe. We're also using our medium-sized brush to create that irregularity that we need to describe this for texture Along the edges of these shadow shapes that we're painting in with our larger brush. As you're doing those brushstrokes with your medium-sized brush, it's so important to continue observing that reference photo and bring to mind the length of the dogs fur and also the direction of the fur growth. Also, try to use strokes that are slightly curved. Because if you go in and use strokes that are very straight, that is likely going to lead to stiffness and it's not going to look very natural. So it's sent to move on to another section. I switch on back to my mop brush. I paint in that dark shape similar to what I'm seeing in that photo there, using either my lightest brown mixture, my medium brown mixture, or my darkest brown mixture, depending on how dark that shape is in that reference photo. And after I placed that paint on paper, I switch on over to my clean, medium-sized brush. And I'm doing softening of edges and flicking motions in the direction of that for growth to either soften edges or pull a little bit of that paint out in a way to help me start developing that irregularity along that edge to describe that fur texture, It's important to paint in that shape with your larger brush and move quickly to whatever work you're gonna be doing with your medium-sized brush while that paint is still wet. Otherwise, you're not gonna be able to soften those edges very easily. And you're not gonna be able to easily pull that paint out in a way as you're doing your strokes to describe that fur texture. If your paint is still wet and you want to darken a certain section of that shape even more. You can go ahead and drop in some of your darker brown in those deepest darkest shadow shapes while that initial layer of paint is still wet, if you drop in that second color on that initial layer of color on wet paint, you're gonna get soft diffuse out wet on wet effects. Here, I'm doing a little bit more sculpting using my medium-sized brush. You can see me do some lifting with a clean and only slightly damp brush, removing some excess color from sections that I have, perhaps dark and a little bit too much. It's just a matter of continuing to compare your painting with that reference photo and making those shadow shapes happen that you're seeing in that photo. Just as similarly as possible. If you're noticing that you've darkened an area too much, go in and do some lifting with either your absorbent towel, do some blotting, or go in with the cleanest slightly damp bristles of your paintbrush to lift up that excess color backup and reveal more of that paper under that paint. Of course, as I said, it's important that you keep it moving, that you work quickly and focus on a section at a time so that you can do whatever work you need to do. While that paint is still wet, your paint starts to dry and you continue pushing on and trying to do more work in that area, it's very likely that that is going to lead to splotchy nest and overworked results. Always keep in mind that less is more when working with this medium, tried to describe more with fewer brushstrokes and don't go in and do moving around of color if you don't need to do that. Also remember that we're gonna be working in layers. So whatever you cannot do in terms of texture and value development right now, you can certainly do with a subsequent layer, something that has helped me tremendously in my own journey with watercolor, is learning when to work quickly and when to stop and allow for something to dry. Because not only are we working on a relatively fragile substrate that is even more fragile when it is wet. Painting on paper is very different from, let's say painting on canvas or wood, where that substrate can tolerate a lot of beating and a lot of layering and even scraping off of paint. Painting on paper is different. We can damage it a lot more easily. And even though we're working on paper that is intended for water-soluble mediums, it is still important to just always remind ourselves along the way that it's still paper and it's fragile. It's important too. Limit ourselves to a certain amount of brushstrokes in any single area, even when that paper is still wet and workable. And the other thing that has really helped me is staying on top of water control and making sure that I am observing and paying attention to how much water is in three areas or three things throughout the painting process because this amount of water changes And depending on how much water we have in these three areas or things, effects are going to be different. So we need to pay attention and learn to manipulate the water content or the water to paint ratio, or just the amount of water on each of these three things. These three things that we need to pay attention to are the amount of water in our paintbrush bristles. So how wet is your paintbrush? How much water is it holding? How watery your actual color mixture is on your palate? So the paint to water ratio in that color mixture and also how wet your paper is Along the painting process, we need to manipulate the amount of water in or on those three things. Your paintbrush, your color mixture, and your paper right here you can see me do a tiny bit of scrubbing along some sections where I don't really like the shape that I've created as I did those brushstrokes and that paint has already started to dry. So what I did here was very gently and just a couple of times I go in with just a clean, slightly damp brush. I do a little bit of gentle scrubbing along the edges. I do a little bit of blotting with my absorbent towel and then I just leave that be if I continue going with the scrubbing, I can run the risk of damaging that paper. So it's best to just do some minimal a gentle scrubbing, some quick lifting, and then allow that area to dry completely. And later on if I need to do even more scrubbing after the paper has dried or I need to fix that shape a little bit with another layer of paint. I'll do that then. Okay, so going back to those must know tips and lessons that I've learned that have helped me tremendously with my watercolor painting. I was talking about the paint to water ratios before and how we have to get really good at manipulating those paint to water ratios in our color mixtures depending on what it is that we're doing. Are you going for paler, more translucent color? If so, then perhaps add more water into your color mixture and use more of a T like consistency instead of like a milk consistency, which I talk all about different consistencies that we can use when painting with watercolor. In my watercolor one-on-one course. So do make sure to go and check it out if you haven't already. If you're going for darker color than perhaps use a thicker consistency that has more paint than water in it. And when it comes to the level of wetness of your paper itself, when we're working with watercolor, we use different levels of wetness of that paper depending on the effects that we're going for. Are you going for blurrier soft transitions between colors? If so, then you have to place paint on paper. That is, what are you going for? Sharper defined edges. Then you have to work on paper that is dry. And the more that you practice painting with watercolor, the better you become at acknowledging when the level of wetness of that paper is what you need for the effects that you're going for. If you're trying to create a lot of dynamic movement of that paint on that paper than your paper has to have a lot of water on it. It has to be quite wet. I feel going for soft, blurry effects, but perhaps you want a little bit more control over that color. You don't want it to move out way too much, then it has to be wet, but you need that even glistening look. And if you apply paint on paper that is just damp, then you're gonna get some amount of blurriness and fuzziness around those edges. But maybe that paint is not going to expand very much at all. So I'm continuing to work section by section using the same technique, placing my paint on paper using my larger mop brush and painting in those abstract, darker, mid-tone and darkest dark shapes that I see in that reference photo using whichever brown color mixture I think is appropriate for the shape on hand. If I see a very dark area in that reference photo, then I make sure to use color mixture that has more of that burnt umber in it. If I see it's more of like a mid tone color, maybe a lighter mid tone that I make sure to use that color mixture that is heavier on the lightest color that we're using for these mixtures, which is the raw sienna. And if it's a medium value that I see them perhaps I use a mixture that has more of that burnt sienna, which is our medium brown. And then within that, you can also manipulate how dark or how light each one of those is by adding more water into the mixture or more paint into the mixture. And as a rule of thumb, I almost always start with a slightly lighter color than what I feel. I need an after painting in that shape. I just add in a little bit more burnt sienna or burnt umber into my color mixture and drop that into certain sections of that larger, lighter shape. This is very helpful because if I go in with a very dark brown over an area that is pretty light, that is going to look quite contrasting and quite stark It's always very helpful and it's going to provide you more control to go in with a slightly lighter color than what you think you need. And then you can develop darker colors on top of that lighter shape. So once again, think of working gradually. Think of working from light to dark. So instead of making a big jump from light values to dark values, think of creating a transition colors as you're working on your mixtures, on your palette. Adding in more of your lighter color or your darker color into the mix to get it to that point that you need so that you don't have a very big jump between the value that you already have in your background, if you will, and this new value for this shape that you're just painting in on top of that background value. And finally, make sure that you're only darkening sections that need to be darkened do not cover up those lighter values sections that you created with that very first layer of paint that we worked on. I'm about to get started with developing these values and the second layering of paint and the dog's face. And what happens with lots of dog breeds is that the hair or fur in their face and head is shorter than the first in their bodies. Though, for this particular dog breed, the hair is short, pretty much everywhere. But what I'm getting at is I'm not going to be creating lots of fur texture in the actual face. I did create for texture with those brushstrokes in the ears, but I'm not going to be developing much texture in the face and head. So I'm focusing mostly on observing those value changes throughout the planes of the dog's head, throughout the snout, the bones around the eyes, below the nose and above the nose, et cetera. And I'm really trying to understand the actual structure of the dog's head and where are the plane changes and what planes or sides of these different parts of the structure are facing toward the light and which are facing away from the light. By combining our understanding of the structure of the dog's head and really observing that reference photo to remind ourselves of the light situation in the environment that the dog is in. We're gonna be able to do our shading or our development of these different values throughout this part of the dog's body. A lot more successfully, but the technique is exactly the same that I have been using throughout the ears and the neck and the other parts of the dog's body. I am going in and painting my abstract, darker value shapes with my larger mop brush. And then I switch to my medium-sized brush to do softening of edges or any gentle moving around of paint that I might need to do. Only this time. I'm not using those we've being curved strokes that helped me describe that texture because it's not necessary. As I'm doing my sculpting of the dog's snout and head. I'm also working section by section to make sure that I am doing the most work that I can do while that paint is still wet. Otherwise, if I start painting in my abstract dark value shapes all throughout the dog's head. And then I switched to my medium-sized brush to do any softening of edges or whatever I might need to do. Those shapes that I started painting in the beginning are going to be completely dry. I'm going to have more difficulty softening those edges. And it's a lot more likely that I'm going to arrive at splotch genus and more texture. Right here you can see me working on two shapes at a time. On this side of the dogs had nearest US. And even in this case, my shapes are already starting to dry pretty fast and I was left with a little bit more texture than I actually wanted because this was already a little bit later in the day and it was getting warmer, so things were drawing Foster all of a sudden, what you're seeing me do right here is I'm actually doing some correcting. Because after painting in those shapes, I had to go in and soften. And then I ended up with more texture and removing more color than I was actually intending to remove. And then I had to go back in and drop in more paint to dark in that section again, as soon as I felt that I had done some correction in that area, it was time to allow that area to dry and switch on to working somewhere else. Later on after things have dried, I can come back to that area to do any more work that needs to be done. But if I continued scrubbing and adding more color and scrubbing and adding more color, I would likely start over-working that area, even more texture. So I've switched on to working on the opposite side of the dog's head. I painted in those darker, mid-tone shapes with my larger mop brush. And then I quickly switched on over to my medium-sized brush. And that's what you're seeing me use right now. I'm going in and softening edges may be doing a few teeny tiny strokes to help me develop a little bit of fur texture. And continuing to do this work to sculpt the dog's head. If you do decide to add in a little bit of that fur texture technique where you're doing those little strokes. With your medium-sized brush in the dog's head, especially the face area. Just be minimal and do it sparingly. Because if you add in way too much texture, not only are you going to start describing something that is not apparent in that reference photo? Because as I said before, this dog's hair and fur, especially in the head, is not very long at all. But also, if you add in way too much texture, you're going to take away from the focal point in the head, which we want the eyes to be. The greater the detail and the greater the texture, the more visual weight an area has. And we don't want the dogs eyes to get lost in all of that texts are in detail that we create. After painting in that initial lighter, mid-tone shape, I went ahead and added more burnt sienna into my color mixture and added some darker midtones in some sections that I saw darker in that reference photo. And after that, I added burnt umber into the color mixture to make it even darker and darken some sections within that. And I'm continuing to observe the reference photo comparing my painting with the reference photo over and over. Asking myself, is this area here darker or lighter than this area over here? And does that reflect or does that show in my painting? If it doesn't, I think of adding more paint or taken away paint from that area by doing some lifting. And I just continue doing this until I arrive at that range of values that I'm looking for in the dog's head. We're still missing one more layer in which we're going to be pushing darkest, dark areas throughout the dog's body and head. So you don't have to go super, super dark in this layer, but do try to achieve darker brown mid tones. Right here I am doing some gentle scrubbing in this side of the dog's snout to lift up some of that color and reveal more of the paper under the paint. And I'm just going to continue using these same techniques and have all of these things in mind as I continue working on my brown mid tones all throughout the dog, I'm gonna go quiet as I continue working on this Alright, so around here I switch on back to working on the dog's nose. So what you're seeing me prepare right there on my mixing palette is a dark gray puddle and all that is, is Payne's gray with some water added in. I would say it has a coffee consistency, so it's around 50% paint, 50% water in that mixture. It's not super dark and saturated. I am using my size three round brush to paint in these small shapes, just like what I was mentioning with the eyes. I would rather go in initially with a relatively translucent gray. And then after it's dried, I can go ahead and darken certain sections within that mid tone gray layer. It ends up looking a lot softer and more realistic even when you see very dark shapes and that reference photo, I would recommend developing at least a slight range of dark values in those areas. And by going in initially with a more translucent version of your dark gray, you're going to be able to develop that slight range of values by allowing it to dry and going back in later to darken certain sections within that mid tone gray shape. After painting in those gray shapes, I remove that paint for my paintbrush bristles, and I went back in with a cleanest slightly damp brush and just ran my damp paintbrush over little edges of the shapes that I was looking to soften. So you can see how even though I painted in relatively dark gray shapes, nothing looks super stark or distracting. Okay, so it's time to allow that to dry and do a little bit more work in the dog's eyes. So what I am preparing right here on my mixing palette, R2 color mixtures that I'm gonna be using to paint in the dogs pupils. The first color mixture, the lighter one, is a mixture of new gamboge and burnt sienna, heavier on the new gamboge. And then the second puddle of color right beneath it is just explain burnt umber with a little bit of water, add it in. I'm gonna be using my size three round brush to paint in a layer of my new gamboge over this bright yellow underpainting that I had created before, I painted that entire iris shape n plus the pupil. And then I remove that color for my paintbrush bristles. And I'm going to be placing some burnt umber right on top of the pupil, which is the dark gray circle that we had already painted before. You're also going to see me place a little bit of this dark brown along the edges of the iris. Because as I was mentioning before, the outer ring of the iris, which is the colored portion of animal eyes and human eyes. The outer ring is often darker than the inner portion of the iris. I'm gonna be doing this process for both eyes because these shapes that I'm painting in are quite small. The dark brown that I paint and starts expanding a little bit too much and covering up almost all of my bright yellow. So after painting in that burnt umber, I do some lifting with a clean as slightly damp bristles of my paintbrush while that paint is still wet to remove some of that dark brown from certain sections so that I can make sure that certain parts of the iris look bright yellow. I don't want to get rid of that bright yellow glow completely by covering it up with dark brown. If you've ever seen dog eyes close up, then you've probably already noticed that the edges of their pupils are not super sharp and defined like ours are. A lot of dog eyes have a blurred out effect around the pupil. And you can definitely see that in this particular dog in the reference photo. So by adding a little bit of dark brown right on top of the pupil, while that initial layer of yellow is still wet, you're gonna be able to create a slight blurred out effect outside of the pupil. After I did that work in the eyes, it was time to allow that to dry completely because the next couple of layers that we develop in the dog's eyes are going to be painted in wet, on dry because we need more control and definition in those shapes that we're gonna be painting in. So it was time to allow that to dry. And in the meantime, I did a little bit more work throughout the dogs fur, depending on the range of values and the amount of texture that you've managed to develop so far with your initial layers of paint throughout the dogs fur You may have to do more or less in this part of the process. Maybe if you've already developed a good range of values, you can see light areas arrange of mid tones and, and darker values, and you have some texture throughout the entire dog, minimal in the head. Perhaps you can even skip this part of the process. And I would recommend observing your work so far and really acknowledging and asking yourself if you really have to do more right here, for example, I am adding some mid tones on top of the dog's nose and below it. Because when I compare my painting with the reference photo, I can tell that the values in these areas are darker than what I have in my painting. But I'm really trying to avoid doing any more work in areas that I don't need to touch anymore. If you just go in and start adding paint with no specific reason when you don't really need to. Again, it's very likely that you're going to arrive at overworked results. And the more layering that you do when you're working with watercolor, the more likely it is that you're going to arrive at overworked results. So for me, I noticed that I have to do a little bit more work with lighter mid tones and maybe darken some sections a little bit more. And even add a tiny bit more texture throughout the dog's head, just in a subtle way. And that's what I'm doing right now. I went in right away with my medium-sized brush at this point because I'm really not looking to create any large shadow shapes anymore. I'm giving myself more control by going in with the medium-sized brush, and I'm just focusing on darkening medium-sized, two smaller shapes. The main points to have in mind are exactly the same as before though. I am observing that reference photo, comparing my painting with the reference, and asking myself if I need to darken or lighten certain areas. Also, if there are any sections where there is a very big step between a light value and a dark value. And I feel that my painting would benefit from adding in a medium shape in-between, or to soften that transition between a lighter value and a darker value. I go in and soften that transition by making sure that I am using a color mixture that is going to allow me to do that. I create a bridge shape between that dark value sheep and that lighter value shape. I'm still making sure to use the exact colors that I was using before for my first color mixtures, which are my raw sienna, my burnt sienna, and my burnt umber. And I am making sure that I am manipulating the ratios of these colors in my color mixture so that the color that I'm painting in is what I need for the value that I am trying to achieve. If I am trying to paint in a lighter value shape, then it's gonna be the raw sienna and the burnt sienna. And if I am trying to develop a darker value, then I'm going to be bringing in the burnt umber. And you can see how I'm not spending too long in any single part of the dog's body. I am jumping around the entire piece and just loosely getting in those different value shapes that I see in that reference photo, it's important to know that whether we judge an area to be light or dark, really depends on the values or tones around that area. In other words, it's about the relationship between the different values that you're creating. Getting those relationships between your different value shapes similar to what you're seeing in the reference photo is what matters. So as you continue comparing your painting with the reference photo, ask yourself, is this area darker or lighter than this area over here? Should I darken this section? Did I darken this way too much? Is there a softer transition between these two value areas? What are the lightest areas and what are the darkest areas, and so on and so forth. Alright, before moving onto the next part of this painting process in which we're going to be painting in the background. I'm gonna go ahead and add in a little bit more detail in the eyes and the nose. By this point, the eyes are completely dry and so is the nose. And I still need to paint in the pink fleshy bits in the inner corners of the eyes. I need to add in a little bit more sharper detail in the eyes. And I'm going to be amplifying that range of brownish pinkish values in the nose. The first thing I do is I paint in those pink fleshy bits in the eyes. And for this I am using my size three round brush. And I am using a mixture of alizarin crimson and a little bit of raw sienna. The raw sienna neutralizes that Alizarin crimson a little bit so that it's not super red. I want to make sure that those little pink sections actually look like a light pink and not leak or red because if they look super red, it might look like blood and I definitely don't want it to look like that. So by adding a little bit of that raw sienna into the Alizarin crimson and by making sure that I'm not going in super thick and saturated with my color mixture, I can achieve those pink results. After doing that, I paint in a little bit more of my burnt umber around the pupil and around the iris in order to achieve those darker brown values around the pupil that I see in that reference photo and also in the outer ring around the iris. And then it was time to do a little bit more of that work in the nose. And for this, I'm using a mixture of alizarin crimson and burnt umber. It is relatively watered down, I would say it's kind of like a coffee consistency, around 50% paint, 50% water. And I switched on over to my size ten round brush for this, I thought this would be a good size paintbrush or the size of shape that I'm gonna be painting it in the nose. And what I am doing in the nose is I'm just darkening areas that I see need to be darkened. So far. I only have the very dark nostrils painted in and I have a lighter, brownish pink, light midtone all throughout the nose. So I definitely have to develop darker values 9. Background: Welcome back. It's time to paint our background. Make sure that everything is completely dry. Before moving on to this part of the process, I did make sure to change my water because it looked pretty murky and had a lot of brown in it. And I didn't want those browns and neutral colors to affect the vibrancy and brightness of the dark, deep blue that I'm gonna be using for my background. What you're seeing me work on right now is my dark blue color mixture, which is a mixture of failover blue and Payne's gray. I'm making sure to create a good amount of this color mixture on my palette because this is a large area that we're going to be painting in. And I definitely do not want to run out of this color mixture as I am painting in this large area. Because if it runs out and I have to take time to make more of it than my paper can start drawing on me. And I can be left with textures that I really don't want. So make sure that you create a good amount of whatever color it is that you're gonna be using for your background. I would recommend that it's a darker color so that the dog here can really pop, but make a good amount of your color mixer and make sure that your color mixture is not super watered down. I would say a milk consistency where you have a little bit more paint than water in your color mixture is what you want. Because we're gonna be doing pre wedding before starting to paint in our color, which means that there's already going to be a certain amount of water content on our paper that is going to dilute or watered down the color even more. So if you prepare a very watered-down color mixer on your palette, that water is going to be added to the water that you prepare your paper with as you're doing your pre wedding. And then what happens is you're gonna be left with a very pale color background. Alright, so once that consistency was where I needed it to be and I had a good amount of that dark blue mixture on my palette. It was time to get started with the prereading process and to do my pre wedding, I switched on over to my size six mop brush. Because once again, I'm going to be painting in a pretty large area. And this larger mop brush is going to enable me to do my painting quickly and loosely because it's able to hold a lot of water and paint in its bristles. I first do my pre wedding with this larger mop brush using clean water and I am making my way carefully around the dog. And I want you to remember everything that I shared with you when we were painting that very first layer of color in the dog. Take your time with the prereading process and go over everything multiple times until you arrive at a nice even sheen all throughout. Don't get started with painting in your background color until you've arrived at that nice even sheen all throughout this area. Take your time and don't rush it. Bring out a little bit of water at a time from your container so that you don't accidentally drip water all over the place. You don't want to get any water inside of the actual dog. And you don't want to be left with puddles anywhere because that can lead to splotchy ***** and undesired textures. After I arrived at that nice even sheen all throughout the background, it was time to start painting in my dark blue color. So I continued to using my size six mop brush to paint in that dark blue color. And you can see me carefully go around all of the edges of the dog and I continue adding color until the level of intensity and darkness is what I need it to be. That water that I've prepared, my paper width is doing half of the work for me because that paint is expanding out on that water, creating nice soft effects for me. Not only this, but I've expanded that working time that I have before things start to dry on me so I can continue adding more paint until I have arrived at the level of intensity and darkness that I like for my background. Also, if you create any strange textures when you're applying your paint, you can go in and smooth that out because the paint is going to be wet for longer. Just avoid going over the same spot again and again so that you can avoid overworking your paper. Embrace the effects that watercolor creates. Your background doesn't have to be super even Once I'm happy with the color in the background, I am going to allow that paint to sit on the paper a little bit longer. And once that paint is at a point at which it is still wet, but it's just starting to dry. I'm going to be doing some splattering for visual texture in the background using water. In the meantime, while I allow that paint to settle on the paper a tiny bit so that I can then move on to doing my splattering more successfully. I do a little bit of absorbing of excess paint and water that has collected along the edges of my masking tape. This is important because if you leave all of that water and paint sitting on your masking tape, what happens is that that excess water can start creating little bank runs and splotchy nest along the edges of your painting. So just take your time to remove that excess water and paint from the edges of your masking tape. Before moving on. For my splattering, I'm gonna be using my size six round brush and I'm just going to be flattering some water on this blue paint that is still damp if you do your splattering while that paint is still super, super wet, what happens is that you will initially see that splattering texture and then it's going to start disappearing because the paint is still moving around a lot. So by giving that paint some time to settle on your paper, a lot more likely that you're gonna be able to do your splattering and it won't disappear. Splattering is a very nice technique to use whenever you're going for some texture in background areas are larger areas. I'm just taking a little bit of water from my container in those paintbrush bristles and doing flicking motions using my index finger. And what happens is as you're doing your splattering, those teeny tiny drops of water gets splattered on your paper. And the drops of water kind of push out that paint which is in the middle of the drawing process. Those drops of water that gets splattered on that drawing paint disturb that pain, pushes that paint outwards and you're left with little blooms. The more splattering you do, the more texture you create, the less flattering last texture. I don't want to go overboard with this texture because I don't want to take away from the actual focal point of the piece, which is the dog a little bit goes a long way. When you're done, make sure to allow everything to dry completely. And I'll be seeing you in our next class where we'll finally be removing the masking fluid and adding more detail to the eyes and the nose. See you there? 10. Eyes + Nose Details: Once everything is completely dry, we can finally remove the masking fluid. I like using my hands to remove my masking fluid, but you can always use a rubber cement pickup or even a clean, soft graphite eraser if you don't want to use your hand or even some sort of soft towel that you can do your rubbing wet, especially if you have sensitive hands. I wouldn't recommend using them to remove your masking fluid because by rubbing sections of paper over and over again, it can just start hurting or even creating blisters. But I will say that your masking fluid should be removed relatively easily. You shouldn't have to rub too hard to remove your masking fluid. I've never had any issues with this masking fluid from Winsor and Newton. Alright, so I've removed all of that masking fluid Already. You can see those bright sections of paper where that masking fluid has kept those areas protected for us as we've been doing all our painting with all of the masking fluid completely removed. I am now going to be moving on to adding more detail, sharper detail this time wet on dry and both the eyes and the nose. First, I prepare a mixture of burnt sienna and some burnt umber on my palette, a little heavier on the burnt umber. And then I also create a little puddle of Payne's gray and some water. I would say both of these color mixtures are somewhere around 50% water, 50% paint. So somewhere between a coffee to milk like consistency would be good. That's all I'm gonna be using to add in this seat till the first thing that I do is I use my size three round brush and this Payne's gray plus water mix. And I go over the same shapes that I first painted in when I started with the eyes, which is that long curved shadow shape on top of the eye and a tiny bit below the eye. I also paint in the pupil shape again. Some of this paint was removed when I remove the masking fluid. So by going over these shapes again, I am reinforcing those dark shadow shapes that I see in the eyes. I also go ahead and reinforce the pupil. I go in with this gray and paint in the pupil once again in the center of the eyeball. The next thing that I do is I take a little bit of this gray in a water downstate. So I take a little bit of water added to the gray color mixture and I paint in a very light pale gray and paint in a long shape right below that darker gray shape that I added in in the upper part of the eye, covering up a section of the bright highlight. I don't want to leave the entire highlight shape completely white. So by adding in just a tiny bit of very pale gray in that highlight shape, it looks a little bit more realistic. If you zoom into that reference photo, you'll notice that the highlight shape is not completely flat white. There are some sections that are a little bit darker. So that's what I do with that very pale water downgrade. Once I'm done with that, I remove that gray for my paintbrush bristles by swiveling my paintbrush in my container of water. And it's time to darken some sections around the eyes with a darker brown. Sometimes I'm using my burnt sienna, burnt umber color combination and other times I'm adding a little bit of that Payne's gray into the mixture to darken my brown even more. But I do so gradually making sure that I'm not creating a ton of contrast. I definitely want to make sure that I'm not creating an outline that is super stark looking around the eye. I am continuing to paint in dark shadow shapes that I see around the eye in that reference photo. This helps reinforce that shadow shape below the upper eyelid. It also helps reinforce that depth in that inner corner of the eye and in other little sections and the outer corners, as I paint in this curved brown shape, especially along the upper edge of the eye, I make sure that that shape is irregular. In other words, I'm not going in and painting a perfect curve line around the eye. Instead, I think of this dark brown shape as an abstract irregular shape. Meaning sometimes I'm pressing down my paintbrush a little bit more. And sometimes it's just the tip of my paintbrush that is coming into contact with a paper. This helps you create more of an abstract shape that is thicker in certain sections and thinner and others. And you can see how especially in this I nearest us, I did do a few flicking motions along the outer edge that helped create the illusion of little eyelashes. I added a tiny bit of this brown in the outer corners of the eyes and just a tiny bit in the inner corner of the eye, near the pink fleshy bit that I painted in the eye nearest us by creating these brown shadow shapes in these One corner is definitely provides more depth and realism to the eyes. After doing that work in the dog's eyes, it is time to do a little bit more work in the nose. So I remove that brown for my paintbrush bristles. And what I'm doing is I am going in with my size three round brush and I'm using my gray, which is just plain Payne's gray with water added in. And I am reinforcing those dark shapes in the nostrils. I made sure that these dark gray shapes and the nostrils still don't look very stark. If you notice, they still have somewhat of a softness to them. They don't look super, super dark. And I did soften some edges by going in with a cleanest, slightly damp brush after I painted in those shapes and just running my clean paintbrush bristles over edges that I was looking to soften after painting that and I removed all of that crave for my paintbrush bristles. I'm still going to continue using my size three round brush because we're working on finer detail right now. And what I am doing is I am painting in that line that diagnosis have a right in the middle. And I also create a little bit of a shadow shape right under the nose. I'm painting this with my burnt sienna plus burnt umber color mixture. This is heavier on the burnt sienna. It is more of a medium brown. And you can see how this brown doesn't look super stark when I paint these shapes over that pinkish brown behind it. There's not that big of a contrast or jump between these two brown values. I also added in a little bit of a brown shadow shape on the upper left edge of the nose shape because I do see a little bit of a darker value in that area in the reference photo. After working on the nose a bit, I take a quick second to add a little bit more detail in the eyes. Now that everything has dried in the eyes, I can go ahead and do a little bit more layering. If I feel I need to darken certain sections, create little shadow shapes to add more depth, etcetera. For that, I was using primarily burnt umber. And after doing that, it was time to switch on back to working on the nose. I want to add a little bit of a brown mid tone between the dark gray and the nostrils and the pinkish brown outside of the nostrils. In order to make this look a little bit more realistic. And I also want to add a little bit of a hint of texture which the masking fluid is already helping us create to a certain extent. But I also want to add a teeny tiny bit of those little dots on the dog's nose using light scribbling motions with my paintbrush. So actually painting a little bit of texture in there. You can see how I created some brown shapes right above those gray shapes that I had painted in in the nostrils, creating a little bit of a bridge tone in-between the light browns and the gray right here and painting in a little bit of a shadow shape and the upper section of the nose shape. And I just did that very, very subtle scribbling effect with a very watered down version of my burnt sienna, burnt umber color mixture. If you ended up with very stark, maybe larger white shapes created by that masking fluid. Something that you can do is go in over those white shapes with the cleanest slightly damp brush and do a little bit of gentle scrubbing just a bit is enough. You should be able to at least soften those shapes a little bit by activating that paint and softening those edges. Okay, that is it for this phase. In the next class, we're gonna be working on the final layer all throughout the firm. So we're going to be pushing those darkest, dark areas throughout the firm. See you there? 11. Fur (Third Layer): Welcome to Part five of this painting process. In this one, we're gonna be working on pushing the darkest dark areas throughout the dogs for the objective with this last layer is simply to push the darkest areas throughout the day. We're not going to be doing any more layering of brown in any other sections of the fur, except for the deepest shadow areas that we see in that reference photo. For example, there are very dark shadow shapes beneath the dog's ears and the lower part of its snout, mainly where different body parts are overlapping over each other and creating a shadow on each other. Or where there are plains in the dog's body that are facing away from the light. What I prepare in terms of color mixtures for this part of the process is a combo of burnt sienna and burnt umber, heavy on the burnt umber this time, which is the darkest brown. And I also created another even darker color mixture by mixing together burnt umber and Payne's gray. I don't want to add too much Payne's gray into that dark brown color mixture because I don't want the color to start looking more gray than brown. It should still look like a dark brown. So if you have any doubt that maybe you've added way too much Payne's gray or whatever grade is that you're using into your brown. I would recommend testing out your color mixture on a scrap piece of watercolor paper before using it in your painting. Because if you go in with a super dark gray, that's going to look very, very stark and very contrasting over those browns. Once my color mixtures are ready, I am going to be using my size three round brush because I'm gonna be painting in pretty small, deep shadow shapes. And simultaneously, this smaller paintbrush is going to help me continue enhancing the fur texture in these darkest areas. I'm gonna be using those flicking slightly curved strokes in order to get that irregularity in the edges of these darkest shapes. I'm not gonna be doing this in every single deepest shadow shape, only in some where I'm looking to enhance that for texture. So I'm observing that reference photo and I'm just pushing those deepest, darkest shadow shapes that I see. I'm making sure to acknowledge these shapes as abstract, irregular shadow shapes. I am making sure that I am not creating solid, very heavy, dark color shapes anywhere. And I am making sure that I am changing and shifting the angle that I'm using my paintbrush and how much of those paintbrush bristles are coming into contact with my paper. Sometimes it's just the tip. Sometimes I press down the entire belly of my brush so that I create narrow and wider sections in those abstract shadow shapes. And sometimes when I'm looking to enhance that fur texture, I use those flicking kind of slightly curved emotions to help me move that paint and create more of that texture along the edges of my shapes. Always observing that reference photo and bringing to mind the length of the fur and the direction of the fur growth. As you can see, I am not spending very long in any single area and I'm just darkening sections that really need to be pushed more. I always got started with the lighter color of the two that I've prepared for myself, which in this case is the burnt sienna and the burnt umber mixture. And then after having painted that in, I go ahead and use my darkest brown, which has the Payne's gray in it. And if I want those transitions between the two colors to be soft and blurred out, make sure to drop in my darkest brown, the one that has the Payne's gray in it. And while that first layer is still wet, I finish up with this part of the process pretty quickly because the work is minimal at this point. As a rule of thumb, the darker I get with my colors, the smaller the shapes that I create a specially inside of the subject. But if we've done our job right throughout this process, developing that wide range of values. This is the point that our subjects should really start to pop because all that was missing was developing those deepest, darkest values. We have our highlights, we have our light mid tones, we have our dark mid tones, and now we have our darkest darks. So things should really start popping at this point. Right here I take a quick second to deepen and darken some shadow shapes around the eyes and also inside the nostrils for those darker shadow shapes around the eyes, I use my burnt sienna and burnt umber combo, pretty heavy on the burnt umber at this point. And to darken the nostrils, I use my Payne's gray and burnt umber color combo. And then I'm just going to finish up with a couple of more shadow shapes in the dogs fur. And when I'm done with that, I'm gonna be adding a little bit of a mid tone in the dog's nose, especially in the front plane. It's going to help me make the nose look a little bit pinker and simultaneously develop a little bit of a mid tones so that, that line in the middle of the nose and doesn't look as stark. It has a little bit more of a subtle look to it. I also distinguish a little bit more between what's the front plane and what's the top plane of the nose. So this helps create more of a 3D look mixed together Alizarin crimson and a little bit of my raw sienna to neutralize it a little. And I quickly paint in some shapes, right in front of the nose and in the upper left edge of that shape. And finally, to finish up with this part of the process, I'm going to be developing those soft dots in the dog's cheeks where the whiskers are gonna be coming out. It is important that I develop all of the detail that I'm looking to develop before moving onto the next part of the process, which we're going to be painting in the whiskers with white gouache, the technique that I like to use in order to create those soft little dots in the dog's cheeks, which cats also have is I go in and do pre wedding with water all over the cheek area where I'm gonna be developing those dots. I go a little bit past the area where I'm gonna be painting the dots. Of course, everything has to be completely dry. If you're going to be doing pre wedding over paint that has already been applied on paper. And if you're gonna be doing pre wedding over paint that has already dried, make sure that you're going in with very gentle brushstroke so that you don't run the risk of reactivating that color and messing up the values and the work that you've already done. Once I have done some pre wedding, I go ahead and switch to my size three round brush, and I drop in a little bit of my burnt sienna and burnt umber color combo, taking clues from that reference photo in order to see where I should be painting in these shapes. It's not a straight line, It's more of a curve. And I still want to make sure that these shapes are not super-pattern me or super organized. If you paint in these shapes and they look very, very stark, I would recommend softening them by going over them and doing gentle tapping over that shape, using a clean and slightly damp brush that should help soften that color. I just want to make sure that these dots are very soft looking and they're not super distracting. By going in with a brown color. That is a good next step after that background color that I'm painting them on. And by making sure that I'm getting those nice soft diffused out edges because I'm painting these on wet paper. I can ensure that the overall effect is going to be quite soft. You can see how I was left with a soft blurred out shapes, which is exactly what I wanted. It creates a much softer effect if I paint these in on preloaded paper than trying to paint in these shapes on paper that is dry. I'm going to allow everything to dry completely and then it's gonna be time to move on to the last part of this painting process, where we're going to be painting in the whiskers 12. White Gouache Details: If you've made it to this point, congratulations, we are officially in the very last phase of this painting process. It is now time to add our final details with white gouache, everything is completely bone dry. And what I am doing is I am preparing my white gouache. So I squeezed out a little bit of gouache into this little ceramic mixing palette that I use for my gouache. And I added a little bit of water into the wash because it is very thick straight out of the tube and I need it to be a certain consistency in order to paint those long, thin lines that I'm looking to paint for the whiskers, I would highly, highly recommend doing some tests, drills on a scrap piece of watercolor paper, maybe over some color the way that I'm doing right here on screen. So that you can ensure that a, the consistency of your gouache is what you need it to be. And B, so that you can make sure that the paintbrush that you've selected is good for the job. Both of these things are essential if you want to paint in those long tapered lines for the whiskers and also to be able to paint in any final little highlights in the eyes. This is key because correcting gouache after it's been placed on your painting is very, very difficult, near impossible to do. Because what you have to understand is that gouache is an opaque painting medium. Watercolor is not opaque, it's translucent. And after gouache has been placed on paper, if you try to go in and do some scrubbing over that white gouache. What's going to happen is that you're going to create a chalky patch over that beautiful, luminous watercolor work that you've already been working so hard on. You want to avoid having to correct wash at all costs. Once I have added a few drops of water into my gouache and the consistency is where I needed to be. I use my size two rigger brush first to enhance those brightest highlights shapes in the eyeballs. And if you've accidentally covered up any of your highlights shapes or you want to add more into the eyeballs. You can do that at this point, just don't go overboard. You can add in teeny-tiny white highlights in the nose also if you want to. And once I'm happy with that, I'll go ahead and start adding in the whiskers. I wanna do my best to paint in the whiskers with one single stroke. And it is very important to observe that reference photo and notice the length and the direction of that whisker growth. You're going to notice that those whiskers have different lengths. And you want to get that in as best as you can. Make sure that the lines that you're creating aren't super straight because this will lead to too much stiffness and your whiskers won't look very natural. Makes sure that you're incorporating slight soft curves in each whisker. Continue observing your reference photo closely for ideas. Continued taking a little bit of gouache at a time from your palate with the tip of your brush, you're likely going to have to reload over and over maybe in-between each whisker because you're only able to load up a small amount of paint in this very small brush and that is normal right here. I'm going to make a little mistake and I want to show you exactly what I did to correct that. I painted in a whisker and it was a little bit too thick. So I stopped what I was doing. I went in to do some quick lifting with my absorbent towel. I removed all of that white gouache for my paintbrush. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to do some very, very gentle scrubbing only in that teeny tiny area where that whisker was. I dabbed a little bit with my towel, did gentle scrubbing again, lifted again, and then I just left it be I allowed it to dry. And then what I did was I actually did a little tiny bit of painting with my darker brown that I was using in that edge of the dog's face to paint over a little section of that chalky gouache shape that was left behind. Of course, for that I was using my size three watercolor brush and then I just left it to dry. So I was very, very careful and I only did what was necessary to make that mistake less visible, and then I just left it alone. It is definitely not necessary to add in every single whisker that you see in that reference photo. After finishing with my whiskers, I went into the highlights in the eyeballs to enhance them a little bit more with my white gouache, you covered up those highlights shapes accidentally throughout the process. This is definitely an opportunity for you to add them back in. Remember that less is more and you don't want to overdo it. And with that, we are all done with this watercolor dog painting. 13. Thank you: If you made it to this point, congratulations, I really hope that you enjoyed this course. I hope that you learned a ton of helpful tools, tips, and techniques that you can take with you to future watercolor paintings. Don't forget to share your work in the Projects and Resources tab here on Skillshare. I cannot wait to see your work to provide any feedback that you might meet and also to answer any questions that you might have for me. Don't forget to follow me here on Skillshare because I have lots of new courses coming down the pipeline for you. And also make sure to check out all of the free resources that I'm making available via my website, my YouTube channel, and over on Instagram. I would love to connect with you. Thank you so much for checking out this course. I wish you a wonderful rest of your day, enjoy your art practice and see you soon.