Watercolor Forest For Beginners - A New & Simple Approach To Paint The Wilderness | Sukrutha Jagirdhar | Skillshare
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Watercolor Forest For Beginners - A New & Simple Approach To Paint The Wilderness

teacher avatar Sukrutha Jagirdhar, Watercolor Artist

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.

      Hello Welcome !!

      2:38

    • 2.

      Class Project Overview

      4:13

    • 3.

      Art Supplies & Color Palette

      5:29

    • 4.

      Technique & Practice Session

      10:35

    • 5.

      Class Project - First Layer

      3:52

    • 6.

      Class Project - Second Layer

      6:27

    • 7.

      Class Project - Final Layer

      9:16

    • 8.

      Thank You !

      1:56

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About This Class

Forests are a place of wonder..dense, tall trees..even more thick branches and dark green leaves..perpetually cold surroundings..everything looks more stunning, more beautiful in wilderness..

Forests, naturally are an everlasting inspiration for artists..everyone at some point wanted to create the magic of trees and leaves on their paper..just like us today.. we are painting a very easy forest landscape..but to make the process simpler, I will teach you a new technique..it involves a watercolor brush..if you paint the foliage of the forest quickly, you can paint a forest landscape quickly too..Join me today and get to know how to use watercolor brush to paint forest landscapes...

Materials You Will Need

Paper – Arches 100% cotton paper

Colors – Whitenights Paints

Brushes – Silverblack velvet no 14 & 6,Silver Hake Brush, Davinci rigger brush

Tissues, A clean water jar, a masking tape

See You In Class..!!!!

Meet Your Teacher

Teacher Profile Image

Sukrutha Jagirdhar

Watercolor Artist

Teacher

Welcome to this cozy and creative winter watercolor class! I'm so excited to have you here as we paint a peaceful winter landscape together.

This class is designed to be a relaxing and therapeutic escape--perfect for unwinding and enjoying some "me time" over the weekend. Whether you're new to watercolors or a seasoned artist, I hope you find joy and inspiration in every brushstroke.

Link to the Class - Let's get started and make something beautiful!


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Level: Beginner

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Transcripts

1. Hello Welcome !!: Forest at a place of wonder. Dense, tall trees, even more thicker branches and dark green leaves. Perpetual cold surroundings. Far is everything looks more stunning and more beautiful. Maybe that's why water is naturally an everlasting inspiration for this. Hi, I'm Sagrada watercolor artist, and I have been teaching watercolors for the past four years here on Skillshare. I have taken many private watercolor workshops as well. For the students all across the world. I enjoy painting watercolor landscape. My favorite subject would be limited palette, moody landscapes. You can find out all about my art journey through my Instagram. Today I'm here to teach you a new approach to painting watercolor, forest landscape. We're gonna be learning a new technique using a watercolor brush to paint the forest landscape quickly and easily. This class is perfect for beginners and intermediate level artists who wants to try something new. We will begin the class by discussing about art supplies and the color palette. We will then move on to discussing watercolor brushes, the technique that I told you guys earlier to paint the foliage. We will also have a practice session before moving on to the class project. In class project is divided into three layers. First layer, Second layer, and the final layer. I will be here guiding you through step-by-step. At the end of the class, you will have a beautiful forest landscape on your table, painted in just 30 min. This class interests you. Let's move on to next video where we will discuss a little bit more about the class and class project. I hope to see you there. 2. Class Project Overview : Give a joining me today in the class. Before we jump into it, I thought we're going to discuss a little bit more about the class project. We are painting a very simple forest scene with watercolor today. And the technique that I am going to teach you is fairly new and also very easy for you if you are a beginner. We will begin the class by discussing about that supplies, especially the colors. I have used only two colors for this class project. And I'm going to talk about this third shade as well. And then we move on to learning the technique on how to paint these values using a brush. There is a technique that I'm gonna be teaching you in the next video called practice session, where we're gonna be using a brush to paint the foliage. If you dissect this class project, you're going to understand that the class project is painted in three layers. Layer one, layer two, and final layer. In fact, that's the name of the class projects in the next video, class project parts in the next video. So I'm gonna be showing you a very easy technique to differentiate the layers using the colors. So the first layer is the background that you are seeing here on the class project, which is done with sap green color, which is the lightest of all things, all these three colors. The next is this dark green color. So I have mixed pines gray and sap green to get that color, which I'll be talking about in the next video as well. With that color, I have painted the foliage with pints gray, the final color. I have painted the dark foliage that you see here. The class project is built up in three layers. Now I'm going to show the layers in colors. Now you don't have to practice this step with me. This is only for you to understand the next videos of this class project. So this is sap green. With this color, I have painted the first layer, that is the background, the lighter color that you're seeing in the class project. All of it is with just Sap green. As you can see, I'm mixing Payne's gray with a sap green to get a darker green color. I have used this shade to paint the second layer, and I have used it to paint a foliage and the tree silhouettes that you are seeing here. So all of it is with this color. So the final color is pines gray. I have used this color to paint the foliage on either side of the paper and the foreground as well. And also a few random details. This is how I have built up the class project layer by layer. I have tried this new color technique to explain how the class project is built up in layers. And I hope you guys understood the process that, that are gonna be coming in the next videos. So yeah, I'm gonna see you guys in the next video where we will discuss about the art supplies and later we can discuss about the techniques as well. Thank you for joining me so far. I'm gonna see you in the next video. 3. Art Supplies & Color Palette : Let's talk about that supplies and color palette in this video, I'm going to get started first with the paper or today's class project. I have used Arches, 100% cotton, 300 GSM paper, uh, by the papers in roles. And I cut them up to what are the size that I need using a cutter. You can see the watermark of the paper here as well. If you don't have arches, it's perfectly alright. You can use any cotton paper. Make sure it's 300 GSM. So I have used this acrylic board to stick my paper too. And of course I have used masking tape to stick the paper to that clipboard. I'm going to the brushes. I have used, mostly these three. I'm going to talk about that one later. It's actually the start of the class. So these two are from silver black velvet, number 14.6. For most of the applying the color to paint background foreground, I have used a silver black will look number 14 brush, and this is a hockey brush. I did not use it much. I have only used to wet the paper, the fast step. And later I have used this round brush, the larger one, to lay the groundwork and to paint the trees. And a few details. I have used the smaller SLO black velvet brush. And the one that I'm holding right now is from DaVinci Casio. It's number six. And this is actually the most important brush for this class project because the foliage that we're going to print is actually painted only with one brush. You can say that most of the forest landscape is through this brushwork. We're going to practice it in the next video, that is practice session. This is, I'm just giving you an idea on what this brush, brush can do. And if you don't have this brush, you can use any of the round, smaller brush. I have made a tutorial on that toe in the next video. So yeah. The smaller brush that I've used is this one as well. Most probably you guys don't have that rigger brush DaVinci. If you in case you have it that soup up. If you don't have, you can use the smaller round brush. A few water jars and color palette. Actually have the ceramic palette. And the most important is tissue papers. Please don't forget them. And yeah, that's all that supplies that we're gonna be using. I'm going to talk about the colors now. So I have used only two colors, pines, gray and sap green. Both are from the brand called White Nights. If you don't have white nights, you can use any brand of the colors. It doesn't matter. Now I'm going to swatch these colors out, and I have used another color as well, another shade of green. I'm going to let you know how I got that as well. So first I'm going to take these colors on my palette, and later I'm going to swatch them. I start with pines gray. This is sap green. It's such a rich green color. I don't use it much. Maybe I should. After painting this class project, I started loving greens. There are actually three shades for the class project. I'm going to tell you how I got those. I've just mixed pines gray with sap green to get that dark forest green color. That is all for today's art supplies and color palette. In the next video, we're gonna be discussing technique and we're going to have a little practice session as well. So see you there. 4. Technique & Practice Session: Okay, Now that we have discussed the colors, it's time to get to know the techniques a little bit. So there is only one technique in this class, and that involves this brush right here. So if you don't have this kind of brush, it's called rigor. And if you don't have it, you can use any smaller sized brush like this one right here. I've taken the paint to my brush and I'm rubbing the brush against the paper under their chest. I'm going to adjust by drawing the sharper line. And this gives the structure of foliage. And now imagine having this foliage on the entire of the paper with trees in between. And that will give you a forest landscape. And that's exactly the concept of this class. To paint a forest landscape in a easy method. So I'm going to show this once again to you. But now I'm taking a little darker color because we're going to use the paint in layers. First, we're going to use the lighter shade. Later, we're going to darken it. As you can see in the final picture I'm showing right here. This is a fairly new technique for most of you, I guess, because this was a new technique for me as well until I have practiced and painted. Painting directly, the class project can be a little intimidating. So I thought I would show you guys a little practice so we can paint confidently I know, for our class project. So I'm gonna get started with our practice landscape. Like I said, first we're going to take the light colors later we can build on with darker shades. So this is only sap green color and I'm going to paint the first wash. We're not going to paint foliage, just add. I'm going to let it dry and I'll come back once. This is this has dried up. So the paper is dry. I'm going to get started with layer two. Here. You can paint the foliage in a lighter shade. You can paint the trees as well. It's completely up to you, doesn't matter because the look of the forest will only come after we finish with the darker shade that is a pines gray or when we mix the sap green with Payne's gray. So these are all still in development phase. Now, I'm painting a few trees using a light sap green color. I'm going to draw in the foreground as well. We can add more details to it later. Now. I'm taking my rigger brush and I'm gonna get started on those little brush strokes that we have practiced before to paint the foliage. Mind you guys, this is only layer two. So the color is not yet a darker. We're going to have to paint another layer later with pines gray. I'm done with layer two and I'm gonna keep this foot drying later. We're going to go for final layer. My paper is dry it up. I'm taking pines gray and the same brush, the rigger brush. And I'm going to get started on painting the darker trees and later the darker foliage. One important tip that I can give you here is that you have to use some time between the layers and you have to let the paper dry Because if you just paint on a wet paper or even a damp paper, these layers will not look distinct to each other. That is, the first layer we are painting with sap green. And the second layer we are painting with a bit darker color. And if the paper is wet, these two colors will get mixed up and you won't see any difference. I'm done with the trees. I'm going to paint the foliage with the darker color now. Make sure that just are sharp. We're almost done here. I'm going to just add a few more tiny details with pines gray. Make the foreground a bit darker. By using the same pines gray color. Forget to splatter some paint. It's my favorite technique. That is all for the techniques and the practice session. So before we jump into the class project, make sure to practice these folios, brushstrokes. Oh yeah, I forgot to show you guys. You don't have a rigger brush. You can paint the foliage structures with the normal small round brush as well. Let me show you. So this is my silver black velvet number six brush. And I'm taking the paint and I'm going to just play with my brush a little and then add sharp edges. So here we go. We have the poly-A structure. So yeah, I hope you guys are ready to get started with the class project. I am. And I'm gonna see you guys in the next video where we start with the first layer 5. Class Project - First Layer: Let's get started with our class project. The first step is to wet the paper. And for that I'm taking my hockey brush and I'm going to wet the entire of the paper evenly with clean water. Now I'm going to take my round brush. This is silver black velvet. Number 14. I'm going to take sap green. I'm going to mix a little bit of Payne's gray to it. But mostly we're going to use the lighter shade of green here. Let's start from the edges and we're gonna keep the middle part a bit lighter. And that way we can show the light in the forest as well. If you keep the middle part lighter, you will see at the end of this landscape, without adding any extra paint here, we're going to just blend these two parts together. That way you can see the middle part is lighter and make sure you follow the step while your paper is still wet. I'm going to paint the foreground right now. And I will work on that detailed for a details later. So while the paper is still wet with the same brush, I'm gonna be adding a few random brushstrokes. As you can see right here. It gives the illusion of a foliage. Be careful with this step. Since this is an easy part, It's, it's, it's natural to get bored with the strokes. So we're going to have to paint the foliage in the next step anyway. So yeah, keep it simple. I'm going to splatter some green paint while the paper is still wet. And with that, we're going to conclude this video. In the next video, that is second layer, we're going to paint the foliage using the brush strokes that we have practiced in previous video. So yeah, that's an important part. And keep this paper for drawing only after your paper is completely dried up. Go ahead with the second layer. So I'm going to see you in the next video. 6. Class Project - Second Layer: So let's start with the second layer. This is where the fun is. First check if the paper is dried-up only, then you can go ahead with the second layer. So I'm taking the colors. First. I'm going to be mixing sap green with pines gray and I'm going to get darker shade of green. I'm also using my rigger brush. If you don't have it, you can use any round brush that you have. Make sure it's a smaller brush. Okay, I'm a bit nervous. But let's start. Make these large blobs with the paint and make sure the edges are sharper. This gives the shape of leaves hanging to the foliage. So I hope you guys practiced the technique that I've taught you in techniques video. And I hope you also practiced with me in the practice session. So this wouldn't be too much intimidating, especially if you are a beginner. So I'm painting these structures with confidence here because I have practiced a ton of times before, especially my autumn landscape, you might have seen my previous class. I have used a similar technique for that as well. So I have a bit of an idea on how to proceed. But if you are a beginner or if you're new to this technique, please practice. If your first attempt doesn't turn out that grid, It's alright as well. I just don't want you guys to stress out with this new technique. As you can see, I'm adding the foliage step-by-step. And I'm not attempting to paint the trees. Just add because I want to set the background. I want to set it perfectly. As you can see, how carefully and how sharply I'm painting these leaves. They should never be any round blocked edge for this foliage. That's very important. Now, onto this side, we're going to repeat the same process of adding foliage. Once you start painting the foliage in this way, the process gets very addictive. And it's easier to overdo as well. And it's perfectly alright to go overboard with this loose. They look wonderful. It's like the more the merrier kind of situation here, you can go paint as many sharp edges like this as you can. Since we're painting with a lighter shade of green. In the next video, we're going to paint with darker shade, pines gray. So we're gonna we're gonna get to see the shape of the forest. By then. I think this background looks perfect. So we can move ahead for the final layer. And I'm going to splatter some pain. And that's it. I'm gonna see you guys in the next video. 7. Class Project - Final Layer: So here we are painting the final layer in this video, we're going to start with painting the trees. And for this, I'm gonna be using a mix of sap green and Payne's gray. And I'm using my silver black velvet number six, the smaller brush. We're going to paint a few tree trunks and we're not going to paint any branches, just a few lines. You can paint a very detailed tree trunks here if you wish. Since this class project is very beginner friendly, I thought I would keep it simple. Hey, do not hesitate to turn your paper towards your dominant side. As you can see, I'm gonna be rotating this paper so that my trees will be painted straight. So I think that's all for the trees. Now we're going to paint the foliage with pines gray. Like I said, this is my favorite part. I'm gonna be painting the dark colored foliage. That is pines gray foliage only at the edges on each side of the paper. I'm going to get started on my left. Now. I've painted the foliage using this brush, I think three times now for the practice session and for the background. And this is a third time. So I can already feel the process is getting easier and easier. I hope you guys will not find any difficulty in in painting these foliage with the brush. And I think you guys, most of you guys will not be having this kind of rigor brush So like I've said in practice session, it is perfectly okay to paint with a round brush. Make sure it is a small one. At the beginning it, it will be difficult, but as you progress through the landscape, I'm sure it'll be easier. And that is all. I'm going to be painting a few more details, like a small, small tree trunks using Payne's gray. Just a few random details. It is feeling very easier to paint this thin branches. It's almost like a therapy. I'm gonna be darkening the foreground with the pines gray because since this is looking very dull, I want, I want the foreground to be a highlight as well. That is it. For today's class project, I'm gonna be talking a few more points about the technique and its uses for your future landscapes in the next video, do not miss it. And you can remove the tape once the paper is completely dried up. So yeah. See you in the next video. 8. Thank You !: At the end of the class, I hope you enjoyed painting this beautiful class project with me. So very small and very easy class. We have learned a new technique to paint a foliage and to paint a forest landscape with it. Using just a brush and brushwork or your future projects in case you decide to go with the guy with the technique that I've taught today. If you don't have this brush, you can use alternative round small brush, just like I have taught in the class as well. And my one suggestion would be to use 100% cotton paper. It's just very easy for the colors to blend if you use 100% cotton paper. And that's one of the suggestions that I wanted to make. The fall is that we have painted and this forest landscape we have painted using this brushwork technique. You can use this technique in your future projects as well. Say you can paint autumn landscape like the picture, like in the pictures that I'm showing right here, are our winter landscapes as well. You can check out the examples that I'm showing right here. All you need is a change of color palette. So the reds, oranges and purples for the autumn. Dull, muted colors. For the winter landscapes, my choice for the winter landscape is usually pines, gray, and indigo. I'm showing some of the colors here as well. If you have any doubt regarding the class or any art supplies, you can ask in the discussion section below. So I'm going to see you guys in my next class. Thank you so much for joining me today.