Transcripts
1. Welcome!: Hi. Welcome to this class where we paint beautiful
spring flowers. These flowers are
perfect for students who are getting started
with watercolor florals. I personally like painting
these flowers all the time for a quick practice and I'm sure
you will enjoy them too. Hi, I'm Kanchan
Kaul I'm an artist, illustrator and an art educator. My work has been used for books, wall arts, products
and even tattoos. Since I started my watercolor
journey a few years back, I've come a long way. Today, I have a
strong community of like-minded watercolor
floral lovers on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, as
well as Skillshare. I get my inspiration from
nature and changing seasons. Spring happens to be
my favorite season because it is the
season of flowers. This class is specially
designed for beginners to get comfortable and confident
with watercolor florals. We will start with understanding the material that works best for beginners then we will have a short drill
for our brushwork, which we will be using throughout the class to
paint these flowers. Then through easy-to-follow
short lessons, you will learn how
to paint a tulips, crockers, snowdrops, as well as the magnolia. For your class project, you will pick one of your favorite flowers
that you painted in the class and create
a floral composition. The choice is yours, which
flower you'd like to paint. This class, as well
as my other classes, not only give you helpful
tips and techniques to paint watercolor florals and practice your brush strokes, but you will have the
confidence to use these learnings in future to
paint any floral project. I am so excited to see what you create. Let's get started.
2. Class Orientation: This class starts with a
quick intro to the materials. Then we will have a short
drill for a brushwork, which we will be using throughout the class to
paint these flowers. There is a separate lesson for each flower that we
paint in the class, you can choose to follow these flowers as
per your liking. But I highly recommend you try all these flowers to
build your confidence. For your class project, you can choose one of your favorite flowers
from the four flowers that we paint in the class and create a floral composition. I highly recommend you choose more reference images and start using them to create
your final project. For questions and
discussions feel free to start a discussion in the
discussion tab below.
3. Materials: In this lesson, we will learn
a little bit more about the materials that we will be
using throughout the class. All right, before
we get started, let's talk about
the materials that we will be using
throughout the class. The first thing is the paper. I find this paper, Canson Watercolor paper,
which is 300 GSM, 100 % cotton, cold pressed paper, which is very good for beginners to use. It's a good quality paper. It holds enough water, and it's also quite affordable. So I use this all the time for my practice and I have
absolutely no issues with it. Now let's talk about the
brushes that we will be using. Even though you might be tempted
to buy the best quality, I would suggest
you get something which is a synthetic brush, which doesn't hold as much water as natural hair brushes, and they were
perfectly fine for me. Then, the size that
I recommend for this class is size 6 round
brush or which works well. I also keep a small
brush handy with me. This is a size 0 brush. Again, this is a small brush, but this is a professional
quality brush. Even though it is professional, it is affordable because usually smaller brushes are
more affordable, and you tend to want the
small brush to be of good quality because you want
the tip to be really fine. A small size 0 brush
anything smaller can do as well for small details if
you're interested in that. These are the brushes, then the paints that I use
are student grade paints, and I use the WinsorNewton
cotton colors for my practice, especially, I prefer using student grade cotton colors
because they are affordable. Check out my blog where
I have more details on the different types
of materials that I use, which you may find helpful. The link is in the
description of this class. If you're using tubes, you will also require a palette. I use this small
ceramic palette in which I mix all the colors, and then you will need
a glass of water and a paper towel to dab your
brushes, and that's it. With this, we can get
started with painting. Grande, I hope you have
all your materials ready. In the next lesson, we will have a sharp drill
to practice a brushwork.
4. Practice: In this lesson, we will have a short drill to
practice our brushwork. This will be helpful
for us to paint all the flowers in
the coming lessons. Let's start with some practice. This is something that I call pulling the
paint from the edges, and I love doing this
method of painting because I feel it's easier to
control than wet on wet, and you get beautiful
gradient results with this. I'll show you how you do it, and we do this for most of the petals and flowers that we will be
painting in this class. Let's get started. Let's wet your brush first, make sure you fully
dipping it in the water and then remove some excess
water from the side. Depending upon the
brush you use, you may have more or less water. Practice a little before
we go into painting the flowers to see how
your brush behaves. Once it's wet and
not dripping wet, I'll just take some paint
at the tip of my brush. I'm using this,
any color is okay, for practice I'm using
this permanent rose. In general, you just
have to notice which is the darkest part of the petal and start
painting from there. Let's assume the
darkest part is on top, and I'm just painting a petal, something like
this for the rows. This brush doesn't hold
too much water so you can see it become drier here, so I'm just wetting
my brush again, removing all the excess
water and paint. I'm just pulling this paint
to the rest of the flower. But while the paint is wet, I'm wetting the entire petal. If you see some veins, this is a good time to pull the paint in the
direction of the veins. If I want to create veins
which are in this direction, I'll start pulling
the paint there. In case you feel that
the paint is less, you can just take some water at the tip of your brush and again, do the same process. In this case, it will become wet on wet because your petal is already wet in this
case, so be careful. I'm going to clean
my brush again, remove all the paint and water. I'm just dabbing
it, and then again, I'm pulling this because
the paper is already wet. Don't have too much water in it. You might spoil the paper. Then pull it in the direction of the petal that you want
the veins to be in. I'll talk about the observation
of how the petals look and observing the direction of the veins in the
lessons coming up. But this is just for practice. This is something that I call pulling the paint
from the edges. I feel it gives really beautiful
results to your petals. Let's do another petal. Maybe this time you
start from the bottom. Again, I'm just taking a
wet brush with paint at the edge of the
tip of the brush, and I'm trying to make a petal which is
darker at the bottom. I'll do something like this. Now I see there's not enough paint because
my brush was too wet, so I'm just going to
take some more paint, and drop it here and
repeat this on top. Now I have the darkest shade
at the bottom of the petal, and I just pull the paint in the direction of the veins to give this
beautiful petal detail. This is what I do for most
of the flowers that I paint. If you feel there's
too much water, just pick it up and then dab your brush on
the paper towel. You can just keep
pulling the paint lines. Keep practicing this. This is the only
technique that we will be using most often during
the entire class here. Good hold on this practice
will help you paint all the flowers that we
paint in the lessons next. There's another technique
I wanted to show you, which is called wet on wet. Personally, I don't
prefer that technique. I think it's more difficult
to control the way paint and water behave
or look in then. But some people find it easier. I'm going to just show you, if you want, you can
practice that as well. Let's just show this. I'm just taking a
wet brush for wet on wet and you first create
the shape of the petal. I'll take some paints
so that you can see it, but it can be clear water. In this, you wet the paper
first with some water, and once you have a
glaze on the paper, not too much water and
not to less as well, you take the paint and drop
it at the darkest areas. It starts blending
with the water. Then clean your brush, remove all the excess water because there's enough
water on the paper. Then again, pull it in the direction of the veins
to create these petals. This is another way to do it. It's wet on wet where
you wet the paper first. I find it sometimes
difficult to handle, but both of the techniques
will require some practice. Make as many petals as you wish. All right, I hope you feel confident with your brushwork. Let's get started
with the flowers now.
5. Tulip: Hey, welcome back. In this lesson, we will
start with painting a tulip. In this lesson we're
going to paint a tulip. In this reference
picture that you see the darkest tone is at
the edge of the tulip, which is using a
little bit of orange. We're going to start with this cadmium orange hue that I have. Again same method, take some paint on the tip of your brush and let's paint
the first edge here. In this case in the tulip, there are multiple colors and that's why I
picked this reference. You just place the
paint first and again, you notice how the veins are. In this case, the veins are
going upwards like this. You can actually make an edge if that's helpful and
just pull the paint upwards to give the textures. Now I'm going to keep
this area light. It's the lightest
part of this flower. Now let's repeat this
on the other side. Before that, now let's take some permanent rose and
drop it at the edge. Again, this is multiple
color so this is wet on wet. Let it blend with
the cadmium orange. If you want, you can
take your small brush. This time clean one, no paint and just help it
to blend with the orange. I'm just going to
pull it like this. In the process, I'm creating
some textures as well. Something like this. Now just leave it as it is, let it dry. While it's drying, we'll
paint the other side. Again, we take the
same cadmium orange and we make the same edge here. It's easier to turn your
paper in this case, to make this edge. For me, it's easier because
wherever the darker shade is, I usually like it to be at the top because I'm
right-handed person. Depending upon what is
convenient with you, you can move your paper around. I'll again make the
same edge here like this and bring it
to the center here. Something like this. Again, just mark the edge of
the flower like this. Let me move it back. I'm just marking the edge of this petal and this time the direction of the veins is
top-wards like this. It has some straight
veins going up. I'm just pulling the
paint with my wet brush. Again, be very gentle with this. Like you see, I'm taking
rest of my hand with my pinky finger on the paper and then I'm
just gently pulling it. Now this petal is wet so I'm
going to drop some permanent rose at the edge because it has beautiful
colors in this tulip. I'm again, dropping
it at the edge, removal the paint or you take a small brush and
repeat this process of pulling the paint and
creating some textures. I'm just using the same brush to add some textures and veins. It's not too much detail, just a little textures. Usually you will be
done within one layer. Now, I'm going to wait for
this tulip to dry before we add the center which
is slightly darker. Let it dry completely. While it's drying, we can
actually add the stem. I'm just blending these together
and taking some orangish green to make a dirty green and making the stem
like this similar. Again, I'm pulling the paint. I just drop the
darker shade on top, clean my brush, and
just pull the paint. It's so much easier to control your water and your
paint in this way. Now I'm going to add
the leaf as well, the long beautiful leaf. Like this again, pulling
the paint from the edge. Clean your brush, and just
pull it to give some details and textures and highlights. If you feel that
it is too light, you can again take
a darker shade of green and drop it as wet on wet. If you feel this is missing out on some of the textures
again, take your brush, small brush, and keep pulling it to get
those textures back. I love details and I love adding more and more details
to my flowers and petals. It's all up to you if
you like this look in which the colors are
blended but not too textured, then you can keep it as it is. The petals have dried. What I'm going to do is
now take a darker shade, so it's only permanent
rose this time. I'm going to mix a
little bit of orange. It's orangish permanent rose. I'm going to just drop
it in the center. There's no texture
here this time, I'm leaving a little
bit of highlight, like a gap between the petals. I'm just dropping this paint
here to mark the center. If you want, you can drop
some lemon yellow as well on top because I see some
highlights there. Just drop it, give it a
loose look and that's it. This is your tulip, which is so easy to make. Just a little bit of
practice if you're not getting it right
the first time. I've painted this
many times and I'm sure you will do much better every time
you practice this. Did you have fun
painting this tulip? In the next lesson, we
will paint a crocus.
6. Crocus: It's a beautiful purple color, sometimes even yellow
color, spring flower. In this reference,
it's very easy to see the darker shades at
the tip of the flower. Again, I'm going to just
take my brush, wet it, remove excess water, take some color at the
tip of my brush. Let's make the
center petal first. I'm just going to
drop it like this. I feel there's too much
paint on my brush, so I'm going to just
remove some paint and wet my brush and pull
the rest of it. To make this. This
is the first petal. It has a bit of
yellow on the bottom, so this is wet on wet. I'm just dropping some
yellow, but not too much. While it's wet I use
my small brush to pull to make some
veins and details. This is again, your
personal choice. If you don't want to make,
it's perfectly fine. I'm going to make the
central vein as well. There is slight detailing
here, darker central vein. I feel some of the printer's
gone missing here, so I'm just dropping some
more and then pulling it. This is the first petal. Now let's do the other petals. I'm just taking some paint
at the tip of my brush and I'm making a
small petal here. This is just the
back of this petal. Then I'm going to add
more details later. Then we will remove
all the paint and the water from my brush and
just picking up some of this. Like this, it's a bit too light. I think let's drop
some more paint here. I'm just dropping in
the top like this. Now let's make the other side. On the crocus. Again, just the tip of my brush with the paint,
wiping everything. Since there's enough water and paint on the paper already. I'm just pulling it in the shape of the petal
towards the center like this. If you want, you can add
more petals as well. There are a few
that I see behind. If you feel it's too wet
right now to do that, then you can just stop
for now and then add later while it's drying and
you can add some leaves. I'm just going to take my
hooker's green mixed with lemon yellow and add some
leaves while it's drying. The leaves are very simple, there's not much to it.
Something like this. Let's wait for it to dry
and come back to it. I feel due to too much water, some of the details
have gone missing, so I'm just adding that
with a darker color with my brush in water and
just pulling the paint. Again, this is also
a personal choice. If you feel it's looking fine, you don't have to
do this and add some color to make
it look different. Now, this petal, if you want to show some
darker color like this, like a cupping shape, you can actually just draw it on top of this once it's dried. Something like this. This would be the flower which is behind. This is a very simple
flower to make. Again, keep practicing. If you feel it's
blending too much, you just wait for it to dry
and then add some more color, one more layer in
the similar manner. In the next lesson, we
will paint a white flower, which can be a bit challenging
and it's a snowdrop.
7. Snowdrop: In this lesson, we will paint this beautiful white spring
flower color, snowdrop. The next flower we
paint is the snowdrop, which is a beautiful
spring flower again, and it's really easy to paint. It has a slightly
different technique because it's a white flower. White flowers can
be slightly tricky, but not so difficult to paint from the method
that I'll show you. Again, we are using
pulling the painted me, but it's slightly
different in this case. Let's start with creating
the end of the flower first, which is this bulb on
top. Something like this. I'm just dropping some paint. If you want you can mix it
with some lemon yellow to give a little bit of detail
and highlight here. Now clean your brush completely. No paint in this, and pull this paint
to create the petals, so white petals are
not really white. They actually have a tinge
of green and then sometimes, or a little bit of indigo. You can even use some
indigo very light, not too much and just pull this to
create the first petal. Then again, I'm just
using a wet brush to pull it from here,
create another party. If you feel is not pulling enough paint, that's
perfectly fine. You can use some indigo
or darker shade of blue and just drop it to mark
some of the petals. It's very light, you don't
have to make it too dark. In the center again,
it has some detail. You can just create that here. Just be too gentle and then create the beautiful
drooping stem like this. This is a very
easy flower to me. Let it dry. I can
see some details. If you're into details, let it dry before you
use your indigo and small brush to add some veins. Since it's a white flower, you need to be very
gentle with this. Don't make it too dark. Just use some indigo to
create some wins and details. It's just really watery
consistency of the color. To add some details. Beautiful flower like this. Add some leaves as well. I'm just going to mark
some leaves like this. We lose, have fun, more details. This is just a fun
flower to paint in practice. Something like this. If you wish, you can
add more petals and more flowers into this
one. And that's it. It's a really quick, beautiful white flower to paint. Did you have fun
painting this snowdrop? Let's get to the next lesson now where we paint a magnolia.
8. Magnolia: Are you ready to
paint a magnolia? The last flower we
paint is a Magnolia, which is my favorite flower. It may be a bit tricky to paint, but with all the practice
that you've done previously, I'm sure you can do this. This cloud is a bit
different in which the darker shade is at
the bottom of the petal. We'll start with that first. Let's take the brush, clean it, take the paint at the
tip of the brush. Let's start with
the first petal, which is on the left
of this flower. I'm just going to make
a petal like this just the bottom of the petal and then I'm cleaning my brush and just pulling it to make
the rest of the petal. Something like this.
While I pull it, it is adding some
details and textures. That's your first petal. Then I add the second petal
similarly on the other side. I'm just dropping some
more paint here first. Again, on this side, it is a petal which is
very close to this. I'm just going to
mark the bottom, which is the darkest. In this case, not even putting it in the
shape of the petal. Now I'm cleaning my
brush and pulling this in the shape of the
petal, something like this. Now I'm pulling it upwards. It's darker here. I'll keep it darker there. Just pull it to create the
other side of the petal. Now, let's do the center one. If you wish, you can
wait for it to dry. If you're confident that you're not going to blend it together, you can do it right away. What I usually do is leave a small white gap between this
so that it doesn't blend. Again, I'm just going
to drop the color, the paint with a small white
gap. Yeah, it's tricky. It is already blended here, so I'm just going to pick it up, put the paint here, and now
pull it with your brush. I'm just marking the
center vein first. I'm going to just pull
it in the shape of the petal with the veins.
Something like this. If your brush is not wet enough, you can actually wet
it and then pull. If you feel you've
pulled too much paint, you can actually drop some
more and make it darker here. Then just pull it
again in the shape of the petal to add these
veins and details. Now, let this dry as well before you want to
probably repeat this. If you want it darker, if you think is looking perfect then leave it just as it is, it's looking beautiful already. We can mark some of
the petals which are behind in similar manner. I will mark a petal here
which is darker here. Again, try to leave a small
gap so that it doesn't blend. Or if you feel you should wait, you can wait, I'm just marking
the darker side first. Then pulling this in the shape of the petal,
something like this. This mark are slightly white gap so that it doesn't blend. I'm going to mark
another petal here. I'm not following the
reference exactly. I'm just using it
just as a reference. I'm going to add
some petals here, which is a very light shade of this permanent rose and some
petal here to complete this. While the flower is drying, you can add the
details of the stem. In this case, I
want it to blend. It gives a really nice
loose look to it. I'm just dropping some paint
to mark this, and the stem. Something that is
not too detailed. It's a very
loose-style painting. I love details like
I've told you before, and I feel like it's
a bit washed out. I'm going to add these details
once the flower dries up. It's a bit dry now
and I'm going to just take a small brush and
some paint at the tip and mark some veins,
something like this. I see some veins here
as well going up. I'm just marking
some veins here. If you want, you can
mark a darker edge here. But like I said, it's a
very loose style painting, so you want to keep
it just as it is. That's perfectly fine. If you want to blend
it with a little bit of purple to give it a slightly different
shade so that it's two different
shades and not just one, then you can [NOISE]
do that here. Just blend it. Too purple. I'm going to try to remove
some of that with a dry brush. Just wipe it, clean
it, blend it. Perfect. I really
like this blending. It's so typical of watercolors and gives
such a beautiful look. If you feel the
veins are too harsh, you can just use a wet brush to blend it with the
rest of the flower. That's it. With this, we are done with
the last flower, which is the Magnolia. Don't worry if you didn't get this flower right
the first time, it takes a lot of practice
to build your confidence. I recommend that you keep
practicing until you build your confidence
and your muscle memory.
9. Class Project: I'm sure you enjoyed painting the four different
spring flowers. Now is the time to get ready
for your class project. For the class project, I would recommend picking one of your favorite flowers
that you painted in the class and then create a beautiful floral
composition with it. My favorite flower is the tulip. So I'm going to paint a
tulip floral composition. I also recommend
that you go ahead and pick your own
reference images and try to make this
floral composition with different reference
images of your choice. I would highly recommend
you watch Lesson 8, breaking down a
reference from my class, Watercolor Florals
for Beginners, exploring depth,
color, and detail. I'm really looking forward
to seeing your projects, so please post them
in the class gallery. We are a supportive
community here. So don't be shy and
share your work.
10. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on
finishing the class. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing your class projects. If you need further practice for mastering your
brush control, I would highly recommend
watching my class; Mastering Watercolor
Brush Control. Painting five different types
of leaves in a glass jar. If you enjoyed the class, do let me know how you like
it by leaving a review. For questions and discussions, feel free to start a discussion in the discussions tab below. Follow me on my social media
to get future class updates. Thanks for joining and
see you next time.
Kanchan Kaul, Artist and Illustrator
