Transcripts
1. Intro: Watercolor Dog Greeting Card: Hello and welcome
to my home studio. I'm Emily. And in today's
Skillshare class, our goal is to relax and have fun while painting
with watercolors. The best part about this class, you can print the design directly onto your
watercolor paper, just like a coloring book. I created these simple designs to be printed on
your home printer, meaning they're
more transparent. In this class, I will guide you through printing
your designs at home, or if you prefer, printing the tracing
template to hand trace my design onto
your watercolor paper. Then I'll lead you through painting the project
using watercolors. Since this is meant to
be a relaxing class, the tutorial isn't very long, just long enough to show
you the techniques I use. So grab your painting supplies
and your favorite drink, and let's relax and paint.
2. How to Print Watercolor Templates: In this video, we'll look
at how to print templates, trace using those templates
and trace using your phone. I'm going to talk
quickly about printers. Not all printers are
designed equally when it comes to printing on
your watercolor paper. The first printer I want
to talk about is the EPS and workforce, WWF 78, 40. I just purchased this printer
and I am in love with it. It's an ink jet printer. It uses pigment ink, which is known to be waterproof. So when you're looking
at your printer, pigment ink is
better than dye ink. The ink that this
printer uses is called dura bright ultra ink. That means that when
it's printed and you use your watercolors
on top of it, those that ink will not bleed. It does have a rear feed, which is definitely useful. You will need to use
Bree or feed when you are printing on
watercolor paper. However, you do need
to load it one by one, which can be tedious and it
is a very large machine. Next, we're going
to compare that with a brother laser printer. With laser printers, a lot
of people will tend to use a laser printer instead
of an inkjet for printing templates
on watercolor paper. Because the ink used as a toner, toner is waterproof, whereas pigment and dies can
be not so waterproof. You do have a rear feed
option which you will need for card stock,
watercolor paper. However, some laser printers
don't print color very well, so you have to be careful when choosing your laser printer. There's also some concern
that the heat used to print using lasers will ruin the sizing of your
watercolor paper. Others have used them and
think that they're wonderful. I personally don't have any experience with
laser printers, but this is just what I've been reading as I've done research. Lastly, we will talk about
the canon Ts 95 21 seat. This is the printer that I'm using in this video tutorial. It's the first printer that
I started printing on. I have been printing
both prints, cards, merchandise as
well as some templates. This is also an inkjet printer, which can cause some
concern because the dye used in this printer
is a dye ink. Dye inks tend to be not
waterproof and will bleed slightly versus the pigment
ink used in my Epson printer. After I noticed how
much bleeding of ink this was causing on
my watercolor paper. That's when I decided to
purchase the EPS and workforce. The Canon printer does
have a rear feet option, which is necessary when printing on card stock or
watercolor paper. However, you do
still need to load it one-by-one, or otherwise, it will jam and cause
a complete mess. As you get ready to print on your watercolor paper
using your home printer. Just be aware of
these differences, knowing that the
template that you print might be
waterproof or it might not be waterproof and might
bleed slightly if this is a concern for you and it
ends up being troublesome. Remember that there
are templates for tracing in this
tutorial as well. And it might benefit
you to trace the template instead of print it directly on your
watercolor paper. Let's take a look
at how to print using my Canon Ts 95 21. See, if you're painting a
watercolor greeting card. I recommend using Canson
watercolor cards. This pack comes with 30
cards that are five by 7 " and 140 pound paper. You'll notice that
each piece has a crease running down the
center to make it easy to fold. And they come with envelopes. To print your greeting card directly onto your
watercolor paper. You need to first open
up your PDF download. You'll need to scroll down. You'll find the video on
how to print your designs. On the second page. Then on the third
page you'll find all of our printable templates. You'll use the following
templates to print each design directly onto your watercolor
paper using a home printer. However, note that not all
home printers are capable of printing on this thick
watercolor paper. In this tutorial, I am
using a Canon T S 95 21. See, scroll down
to the templates. You'll notice that if you are printing on a watercolor
greeting card, it will have a box around it. Find the printer icon and then make sure that your printer
is selected as the printer. Move down. And instead of clicking
on print, all, you'll want to click
on the current page. If you don't want to do that, you can click the page number, check on the box
and the right to make sure it's the correct page. Now we need to change
the size currently, it's for a letter
size 8.5 by 11. And we want to change
the size by going down to Page Setup. Click on Page Setup. And now paper size, we will have to manage custom sizes because
there is no seven by ten. Now, I already have
a seven by ten. But to make your own, click on the plus button, button on the bottom. Then you'll want to
title it seven by 10 ". That's what we use for our
watercolor greeting cards. Change the width to seven, the height to ten. And our margins,
we're going to change to zero for all four margins, we want this to be borderless. Then click Okay. Make sure that you
have the correct size, seven by 10 ". Click Okay. And now you'll notice on the right that
it's seven by ten. However, we have it on this fit, we need to choose the
actual size button. When you choose the
actual size button, you'll notice a red box around the area that you
will be printing it. And you'll also notice that right now we
have it on portrait. If it were on landscape, it will not fit
within that red box. So make sure it's on the right
portrait versus landscape. Then click Print. I found that it works
the best to load your paper through the
rear tray of your printer. Loading it in the bottom
tray will sometimes bend your paper and cause it
to jam in your printer. My designs are specially
made to be printed, so you'll notice that the lines are more transparent
and not as dark. You're all set to paint. Now, if your project is meant to be printed on an
eight by ten inch of paper, you will need to cut it first. I do recommend using a cold press paper with
of at least 140 pounds. Once your paper is cut, you'll once again scroll down to the printable template
section of your PDF. Continue scrolling until
you find the eight by ten inch design that
you'd like to print, e.g. this peony. Go find the
printer icon and click. Once again, you'll
want to check to make sure that you have
your printer selected. We do not want to
print all of the PDF, we just want the current paper. Make sure that the current view is the design you want to print. Right now, we need to
choose a different size. Currently it's on a seven
by ten inch size of paper. So we're going to click on
Page Setup, then paper size. And you'll notice that there
is no eight by ten option. So we are going to have
to manage custom sizes. Once again, we need to create our own custom size
clicking Plus button. And we'll rename
it eight by 10 ". Change the width to eight, the height to ten. And once again, we
don't want any margins. We're going to change
every margin to zero. Then click Okay. Check the paper size once again to make sure it's
the correct size. Eight by ten, then click, Okay. Now it might be the
setting on fit. We do not want it to be unfit. Remember we want it
to be printed on the button to the right
that says actual size. So I'm going to click
on actual size. You should see once again the red box around the
area that will be printed. Check again, you have an eight by ten inch
piece of paper. Make sure that it's on the correct portrait
versus landscape. If it's landscape, it will
not fit within the red box. And then click Print. Once again, you'll load
your pre-cut paper. The rear tray of your printer, make sure that the rough
side is facing up. These designs are meant
to be printed on, so you'll notice the lines
are a little bit lighter. You're all set to paint. If you don't feel
comfortable printing out the template directly
on your watercolor paper. There are also darker templates
that you can download to use to trace the template
onto your watercolor paper. As soon as you open up the PDF, you'll need to scroll down past the printable templates to the traceable template section. You can use the following
template to print each design onto regular eight-and-a-half
by 11 inch paper, and then trace it onto
your watercolor paper. You'll note that these traceable templates
have darker outlines. Scroll down to the template
that you'd like to print. If you're printing
a watercolor card, you'll notice that it
has a box around it. Click on the print icon. We will not print all. We'll click on the
current selection only. You'll check the paper size. Right now, it's
on eight by 10 ". So I need to go down to my page, setup, find paper size, and click on US. Letter, click. Okay. And now it doesn't matter if
we have fit or actual size. Either one will not change
the size of your printout. It will be the same size. Once again, make sure
that you're printing to an eight-and-a-half
by 11 inch piece of paper and then click print. Another option for your
traceable templates is to trace an eight by
ten inch template. So once again,
you'll scroll past your greeting card template or your five by seven template, and then find your
larger eight by ten. Click on the printer icon. Once again, we are not
going to print all. We're going to print
the current selection. Only. Check the paper size that it's
eight-and-a-half by 11 ", which is a normal letter size. If it is not on that
normal letter size, you'll need to change it
using the Page Setup. Find paper size and
find US letter. Click. Okay. Make sure once again it's the correct size for
normal sheet of paper. And then click Print. Sensory or using
regular plain paper, you can either load
it in the rear tray or you can load it
in the lower tray. You'll notice that your template
comes out nice and dark. To use your tracing template. First, place your
watercolor paper on top of your dark template. You'll need to line
it up correctly. Then use some masking tape or painter's tape to secure your watercolor paper on
top of your template. Use either a light box or a bright window to trace the template onto
your watercolor paper. The last option is
to use your phone to trace the templates onto
your watercolor paper. I like to use an app on my
phone called Da Vinci I. It's a onetime
purchase where you can upload any picture or image
that you'd like to trace. Using the classic mode, you can move and resize your image to help you draw it onto your
watercolor paper. To use this technique, you will need a phone holder. So you can look through your phone as you're
tracing your outline. Please do remember that these templates are
for personal use only. It is illegal to paint them
and then sell them for money. Enjoy painting them
for yourselves, or to give them as a gift. Thank you. If you are interested in these designs printed on
your watercolor paper, but don't have a
printer at home. You can always purchase one of my watercolor kits
on my website. Paper, paints and a brush are included in the
purchase of your kit.
3. Painting the Card, Part 1: To paint the next card, do I smell cake? You'll need the card
template from your kids. Your watercolor
colored dots with your practice sheet,
your brush, water. It plate from mixing
paints and a paper towel. Remember that we do not want to fold our card until
we are done painting. We're going to write, you
can get your paintbrush wet. And we're going to
activate the burnt sienna. I'm adding a few drops of water to my burnt sienna
to activate it. And now I'm ready to paint. I'm going to paint
the iris of the eyes, making sure that the two
circles in the center of the eye are not painted. One of those circles is going
to be black for the pupil, and one is going to be white for the
highlight of the eye. Okay, now that I'm done, I'm going to paint this burnt sienna
along some of the fur. I need quite a bit
of water here to make sure that my
color isn't too dark. I'm going to start
with the ears. I'm also going to paint some brown along this outmost
section of the firm. I'm going to continuously go
back and pick up more color. Then I'm going to do
the same thing as I did on the inside where
I'm just going to let my brush strokes
determine where it ends. It's going to end somewhere
here before the chin. The last little section of
brown that I'm going to add is just slightly to one
of these wrinkles here. This outmost wrinkle,
I'm going to add just a little hint of brown. So I'm pushing down
with the edge of my brush to create a thick line. I'm gonna do the same thing
on this right-hand side. Push down with my brush
and towards the eye. One single stroke. Alright, the next section
that we're going to paint is going to be the red of the tongue,
the mouth area. And we do have a little
bit of red below the nose. Once again, you will
wet your paint brush. And we're gonna be using
our cadmium red deep. So you can wet the dot
card where the red is. The few drops of water. Since this is the most concentrated red or
the deepest red, we're going to paint
the tongue area first. This section of the tongue
is going to be a little bit lighter since
it's the underside. I'm just going to
add a little bit of water to that red that I
already have on my paintbrush. If it still is too dark, I can wash my brush, dab it on a piece
of paper towel, and then I can lift
some of that color up with my damp brush. Just to lighten that
section a little bit. The rest of the areas
that we want red. We actually want
more of a pink tone instead of this dark
red for the tongue. So I'm going to take my
plate and some water to it. I'm adding water
because I want to make a lighter pink with my red. And so adding, we add water
to lighten our colors. Instead of adding white. I'll grab some red from
my practice sheet. No mix it with the water. I can always use
the freespace on my practice sheet to test
the opacity of my color. That's looking like a
good pink tone to me. So now I'm ready
to paint the pink. Of the mouth. The next section that
I'm going to add, some of this pink too, is going to be right
around the notes. Now. I definitely want it
nice and water down. So I might need to
add a little bit of extra water to my color if
I notice it's too dark. I'm going to start closest to the jagged line
here by the nose. I'll try my best
to paint in here. Now, I'm going to somewhat dot
my color as they come out. Now, I might dab my
color on my paper towel so that I have less color
the further out I get. Now I can move on to
the pink of the ears. Once again, if it gets too dark, tap your paper towel. And I'm going to pull some of that pigment from
the outer edge. I do want it darker
towards the center. I might actually
grab a little bit of dark red directly from my paint dot and just add a little bit of that darker red towards the
center of the ear. Well, I'm allowing the pinks
and the browns to dry. I'm going to work on
painting a colorful word, cake across the bottom. I can use any of the
colors included in my kit. Remember we have yellow, blue, red, and purple. Now, you might notice that
there is no green or orange, but we can mix those two colors. So let me show you how you
mix them using your plates. Grab some water from your dish
and add it to your plates. We'll start by mixing a green. So green is made by yellow. So we'll grab some of
this gamboge yellow. Remember you need
to wet the dots first to get some
of the color off. Add it to your water. Yellow and blue, make green so I'll clean my
brush off and grab some of this yellow blue
to mix it with my yellow. And this will create
a nice green. So at this green, I can paint any of my letters. Remember that if you paint first some of
these polka dots, you have to wait for
the green polka dots to dry before you can paint
the section behind it. So I'll start painting
only one section, each of these letters. I'm going to move on to
some of the stripes. I might want some orange. And even though I don't
have it, I can mix it. An orange, of course, is yellow mixed with
a little bit of red. We don't need that much
red to make an orange. So be careful to not have a
full brush full of this red. I might use this orange for some of these
stripes in the letter a. Remember that we need to let these stripes we just painted dry before we paint
the other stripes. So I'll move on to
the next letters. I'm going to speed this
up a little bit and use whatever colors I
can to make this cake. Word nice and colorful.
4. Painting the Card, Part 2: Right now I am ready
to start with some of the darker colors
on my painting. I'll wet my brush first. And I'm going to be
using Payne's gray. I need to wet my Payne's gray. I'm going to start
with the nose. I'm going to paint this
entire section of the nose. If you notice, my color
is not extremely dark. I do want there to be
a darker tone on top. I'm making sure that I have
enough water with my color. That's hard to do
just using the dot. I would suggest to mix your
color on your plate first. Using the same lighter gray. I'll show you what it will
look like from the plate. If you do decide
to use the plates, you might need to clean your plate from
your other colors. Once again, you'll add
some water to your plate. And then we'll add some of our
Payne's gray to the water. Sometimes this
helps just to make sure that you don't get
too dark of a color. Alright, now that I
have some Payne's gray, now I'm ready to paint
the rest of the mouth. Any of the sections here
that we had left white, we are going to paint darker
except for the teeth. So you'll want to be careful to paint around the teeth here. Remember if there's too
much liquid on your brush, tap it on your paper towel. And that's going to
help you get some of those little fine details in between the
spaces of the teeth. Now we're going to paint one of the sections
of the tongue with that using this Payne's gray just to make it
a little bit darker. So this uppermost section here, I'm going to paint on
top of that red with a second layer using
my Payne's gray. Once I get towards
the edge here, I'll take some liquid off
of my brush into mu now. Now in order to make
this not look different, I'm going to then
just add a little bit of that Payne's gray
shadow at the top. Since this line is very, very straight and sharp, I can soften that edge
by cleaning my brush, tapping my brush to get a
little of that water off, and then smoothing that edge. I'm going to continue
with this watered down Payne's gray to paint some further details around the eyes of my dog
and in the ears. I'm going to start
with the ears. So I want to use this Payne's gray as more of a shadow color. So I'm going to start in
this upper fold of the ear. Then gently come
down to the base. That's going to create this
little shadow in the ear. And then I'm going to
create a little bit of shadow on this right-hand side, I'm going to start with the first assert closest to
where the ear connects. And I'll just pull some
of this shadow up. That's going to create a few
strokes that look like for, I'm gonna do the same thing on this folded area of the ear. So first I'll paint a
line of my Payne's gray. And then I'll come
back and I'll use my brush and there's too
much liquid, dab it off. Use my brush to pull out to create some of
these hair details. I'm going to use a similar
technique around the eyes. I'll start closest to the eyes by outlining
just above the eyes. Now I'm going to follow the same curve with
my paintbrush. But I'm going to gently
pick up and leave some white areas in between my brush strokes and come
all the way around and over. I'm gonna do that along
the bottom as well. So I'll take my Payne's gray
first, I'll outline here. And now I'm going to use my
brush strokes to pull out. And in this fold
here by the brown, I'm going to add just a few
more brushstrokes of this. Payne's gray. It's going to be a little
bit more vertical. And just a second
layer around the eyes. Because that's the section
that I want the darkest. The last sack area that I'm
going to add some details to is going to be the fur
along the edge of the body. Once again, I'm using my
water down Payne's gray. I'll start at the top. And just like I pulled down with my brush to create some strokes
for the brown of the fur. I'm going to do the same
thing now with this gray. I might add just
a little hint of shadows here in
between the toes, just to where the toes
attached to the body. And I'll add some little detail around the top of the nose. So along this fold here, we have just a few little
almost spots by the nose here. If it gets too dark, I'm going to take my brush, dry it off, lift some of it up. Alright, the very last step of any watercolor
painting is to add the darkest tones
at the very end. The darkest tones
here is going to be the pupil of the eye as
well as the nostrils. I'm going to use my
Payne's gray and directly from my paper. Of course they need to wet my brush and make sure that
the Payne's gray is wet. I'm going to use
this Payne's gray directly from the dot of color. I want it to be the
darkest that it can be. And the dots that I'm going
to paint for the pupils of the eyes is going to be the
larger of the two circles. The smaller circle
is going to stay white to be the
highlight of the eye. Now we're going to use
that same dark Payne's gray to paint the
inside of the nostril. And we'll also use it to paint
around this bottom edge. So there's a slight line
here then I'm going to paint slightly darker. As well as the vertical line that comes up and down the nose. Make that darker as well. Lastly, you can check
out the tongue area and see if you need anything
darker in this tongue area. I do notice that the area around the teeth
might need to be darkened. I'm going to use that
darker, Payne's gray. Now that we're all
done painting our dog, the last step is to paint the little hearts and the
backside of your card, as well as add your
name in pencil or pen. And then your card is ready
to send as soon as it's dry. You for watching. If you enjoyed this tutorial, please follow me
on social media, check out my website, and make sure to subscribe
to my YouTube channel.
Emily Marie Watercolors, Watercolor Artist and Dog Lover
