Watercolor Butterfly Bookmark: Make it Stand Out!

1. Introduction: Hello, everyone. Welcome to this joyful and colorful class. If you love butterflies as much as I do, you'll love this class. Butterflies have this superpower of making the world more beautiful and graceful. And they always seem to bring something positive and special to where they land. We just can't stay different when a butterfly is flying around us. I drop everything to try to take a picture of it. I'm Danielk. I'm an architect, garden designer, and artist. And doing artistic activities is my favorite thing, especially creating colorful pieces with purpose and meaning, and it always inspires me creating new classes. To me, butterflies and watercolors have everything to do. It really got inspired to create something with that vibe. I ended up with this bookmark idea because I wanted to create something different, more than just a painting. Now, when I look at my notebooks, with the butterflies on them, What a beautiful thing. They look so lovely and graceful. I even have the impression that the contents of those notebooks have become even better, more interesting and fun. So in this class, we are going to make a bookmark that will literally stand out as we are creating a tree D butterfly with watercolors. It's a short and fun project that brings out our creative side, which is very beneficial as it brings us well being. This is a unique piece that you guys can also give as a gift to someone special, and in my opinion, nothing more special than something made by our own pans. We'll see in this class, watercolor basic techniques like wet on wet, wet on dry. We'll make some loose lines, some stains, a bit of gluing and cutting out. I will share with you all the materials and all my practical tips that will help you to do everything in a more fluid and easy way. In this class, we are not worrying about perfection. This is an intuitive, lose figurative painting with simple and beautiful techniques. Even if you are totally beginner, you will be able to follow along. Okay. At the end of the class, you will have all the skills to create our own bookmarks, using the techniques and tips we have seen today in the class. You'll expand your creativity, use other colors and shapes. Thank you very much for being here, and let's get started. 2. Class project: Your class product is to make your own bookmark using the class techniques. You can copy my design. Or you can be creative using other colors, other patterns, and get a totally different result. You can also use a photo as a reference. It's pretty easy to find a lot of inspiration on Pinterest. In this case, the idea is to get inspired by an image and not try to be too detailed and make a copy of the reference. You should just take the main features such as colors and details that are more prominent. The goal is to simplify and stylize the reference image to make this class even easier for you guys, in the Resources tab, there is a template with three butterflies, silhouettes for download. You can print it out and use it in your project. I would love to see your book Mark. Please upload your projects in the resources and project tab of the class. This will also inspire and encourage other students in their project. Please also remember to leave me your review of this class. This will help me a lot here in the platform. Let's get to the materials now. 3. Materials: Here we have all the materials for the class. So we have this water color set, many different colors. But I'm just going to use one single color, this dark blue here. I want to use this dark color. This is a very saturated color because it gives me flexibility to go between dark color and a lighter color just by adding water. Here I have acrylic paint, white and orange color gouaches. I have these three colors here. You just need to have some thick paint. We need the gas or the acrylics to paint these details. On top of this, dark water color scissors to cut out the butterfly, an HB pencil razor, a mixing color palette, a ruller paper towel, hot glue gun, hair dryer. But this is optional. It just speeds up the drying part of the work. This template with three different shapes of butterflies that you can download from the class resources. You can see that this blue butterfly is the first one of course, watercolor paper like this one, 300 grams/meter This is a thick paper which is very good for the book marker. But of course, if you have another type of watercolor paper, you can use the one that you have, of course, masking tape for the watercolors. I have here, this big brush number eight, for wetting the paper and doing the washes. This number three, brush around for some details. Also, this brush on the left, that I just love this one because it has this very point that allows me to make some very small details. These two brushes are used only for acrylic paints. But keep in mind that you just need to have a bigger brush and a smaller brush for the details that will be more than enough. 4. Painting the front side: Let's start painting the front part of the butterfly. It's a small painting. I'm going to use a piece of paper that I already have. I'm going to cut it straight and put the masking tape all around it. Because I'm going to use the wet on white technique and the paper can become a bit wrinkled with the water. The masking tape will make it stretch back when it I start by positioning the template on the paper, Hold it firmly, and outline the butterfly with the HB pencil very gently. The template makes the job so much easier. I love using templates because I can do many pieces over and over again. Now all I have to do is to complete the drawing of the body and the wings. For this painting, I'm only going to use the ultramarine blue paint, which is very dark, very intense, very beautiful. I start with a quick sketch here to guide my painting, I'm going to make the lower wings in blue. In the upper part. I'm going to do some stripes like this. Very simple. This is the pattern I'm going to follow in this work. These sketches are practical to guide the sequence of the work, so they make the whole process so much easier. Now I'm going to add the wing to make the stripes. I'm using the wet on wet technique here with the number eight brush, I just want to wet the paper and not soak it if it gets too wet. I can always remove the aces of water using a dry brush until I feel it's good. I'm going to prepare this paint here, adding a little bit of water. I'm testing it on another piece of paper just to see if the color has the saturation that I want. It's always good to test. First, I want this color to be very intense and saturated. I have to say that I love this calligraphy brush because it allows me to make thick and thin lines. It's very flexible. The paper has dried, so I'm going to wet it again, adjusting the amount of water. Now I'll start to make the stripes using the tip of the, since the water will spread the paint, blurring the stripes a little. And that's exactly what I want. Something very smooth and I will paint with a certain speed making the other wing to again wet in the paper to paint next. I know it looks weird, like it won't work, but it will, trust me. That's it. Now I'm going to start the bottom. I'm going to add the paper and now using the number three round brush to fill the entire area with the blue paint. Don't worry if the paint leaks outside the outline because in the end we are going to cut out the butterfly. I'm going to darken a bit, the blue here, It will look better. I think it looks great. Now I'm going to repeat the same thing on the other wing, spreading the blue paint. What a beautiful color. It's important to make sure that the paint of the lower wing doesn't link on to the upper wing. Well, now I need to wait for the water color to completely dry before I start painting the details. For that, I'm going to use a hair dryer, so it goes faster. I'm going to do the body of the butterfly using the same blue. Wait for it to dry. In the meantime, I will make the details of the wings to paint over the blue of the water color. I need a thicker paint to give a good coverage for this, I have two options. I can use the guash paint. I have these tree colors here and I can use acrylic paint. I will use this orange and this white. I want to make some marks on the wings. Something very simple, very furtive. Let's say. I'm going to start with the white paint using the brush I only use for crytic paint. Not the same brush I use for water color. I don't ruin it. I will need to dilute the paint a little, but it still needs to be very thick. I'm going to make two organic shapes with the white paint covering the blue underneath. I'll make a few other dots too. And I'm going to do the same thing on the upper wing. Now I'm going to use the orange paint, making sure it's very thick, applying it over the white marks. And I'm also making some other tiny dots too. This painting is totally figurative. Actually, I can do whatever I want here and you can do it in your way. So let's finish the body of the butterfly using the same blue paint. I want to create a bit of cold trust, so I'll make some lines and outline it to make it stand out. I think it's great. Now I'm adding some small details in black, using the black go, which will make the orange stand out even more. I think that's it. I like the colors, these contrasting colors. It looks very pretty. Now it's time to wait for it to dry. Start painting the back side of the butterfly. 5. Painting the back side: To draw the back side of the butterfly. You can use a window to help you to see the outline on the back of the paper. You can also use a glass table if you have one. You just need to hold the paper and start outlining the wings of the butterfly. It's very easy. Okay, now let's start the paint. You don't really need to paint the back side of the butterfly, But it's more beautiful to have colored wings on the back too. We start putting the masking tape around the paper. Again, this painting is very simple. I'm just using a single color in two shades. I'm using the number three brush painting directly onto the dry paper can dilute the paint a little beforehand If you like. I start with the upper wing and then I start painting the lower part. If the paint leaks, that's totally fine. We will cut out the butterfly. Remember, I'm making this painting very simple because I want this to be quick. But if you want to paint details, make dots, stripes, or use other colors, that's totally fine. You'll have more beautiful butterfly than I also in nature. There are many butterflies with wings full of details and different colors on both sides, finishing here. Now I just have to dry it and then cut it out. Once it's dry, I can remove the masking tape, always pulling it carefully sideways. It looks great. Now I cut it out very slowly and carefully, and if you have a smaller scissor, it's even easier to control little by little. Okay, now it's perfect. It's beautiful. Now I'm going to make some creases on the back side using a roller and the scissors to mark the paper. I'm marking the first crease here. I use the tip of the scissors to scratch it very lightly. I'm being careful not to cut the paper. And then I'll do it on the other side too. This way we can fold the wings as straight and easily without damaging the paper. Look how beautiful this butterfly looks with the wings up. The paper is very stiff, making the crises before folding makes all the difference. 6. Painting the base: Well, let's start painting the base of the bookmark. I'm only using one color, the same blue I used on the butterfly. But of course, you can use any color you like. It's a very simple painting. I'm going to use the wet and white technique. In other words, I'm going to wet the paper a lot. I'll start by putting the masking tape all around the paper so it stretches back when it dries. Now I can start preparing the surface by applying a generous layer of clean water. For that, I'm using a large brush. Number eight, I'm trying to apply the water evenly, spreading it well, trying not to let the water accumulate in any part of the paper. I want to ensure that the whole paper is damp so that the paint spreads evenly. That's it. Now, with the same number eight brush, I start applying the blue paint, not to concentrate. And I do it randomly, bing and rubbing the brush at different points of the paper, making quick movements throughout the surface so that the paper doesn't dry out. I'm just spreading the paint out and it mixes with the water on the paper, creating the super beautiful stains. Notice that I'm not being careful while I'm painting because there is no right result. I just go painting intuitively, very loosely. I'm not planning it out. So feel free to get playful here. There is no room. I love this technique because it's so full of surprises, it really looks wonderful. Now with the paper still wet, I'm going to apply a more concentrated paint in some spots with more pigment to create darker stains. I'm going to do this in a few random places. It's important to work quickly so that the paper doesn't dry out, because I need the water to make the paint spread and mix. Creating these beautiful effects of soft and undefined stains. Remember that water color always gets lighter when it dries out, and you can apply the paint until you feel it's enough. Just enjoy it while the paper is still wet. Okay. So I can see that the paper is starting to dry, so I'm going to stop here. I love this look. I think that this deep blue is beautiful with this butterfly. The paper is still wet. You can see it from this angle here. So I'm going to speed up the drying process with the hair dryer. 7. Finishing the work: The painting is dry, let's put all the pieces together. You'll see it's very easy. I see that I have enough space to make two bookmarks here. I'm going to mark 2 centimeters at the bottom and at the top of the paper. And draw a straight line with the pencil, actually 2.5 centimeters. Now I can remove the masking tape. I do this carefully, always pulling it sideways so as not to tear the paper. Using the scissors, I cut along the line and cut out the white part where the masking tape was Also, I'll save this other strip of paper to make another book mark. This paper is great. It's very stiff and hard. It's perfect. This butterfly looks so beautiful. With this stained blue paint, I'm now going to cut off the top of the paper. I'm going to make it narrower, it looks more delicate. I turn the paper over and with the three figures, I make a mark with the pedicile with H 1 centimeter in the center of the top. And I cut off these two scraps on the sides. And this will make the butterfly look more delicate at the tip. That's it. Not the moment to turn on the hot blue gun. I will blue the base of the butterfly to the end of the strip of the paper. I apply a generous amount of glue here. Press it down and hold for a while. That's it now tip. To keep the wings of the butterfly up, I apply a little bit of glue under the wings, on both sides. This will keep the wings in this position permanently. Okay, that's it. You see, the process is very quick. It's done. What do you think? I think it looks great. 8. Final thoughts: I want to thank you so much for being here. I love being here. I hope you have enjoyed creating your bookmark. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be very happy to help you. And I really want to see your work. So remember to open load it into the project gallery. You can submit it in the Projects and Resources tab of the class. And I want to ask you to please leave me. Your review is very important for me and helps me a lot here in the platform. And be sure to check out my other classes. And make sure to follow me here and get to know when I have new classes for you. So thank you again and hope to see you soon.