Transcripts
1. Intro: Creating magical illustration is one of the things
that I loved animals. I love to find new ways of
exploring watercolor and that magical elements allows
me to play and experiment. Hi, my name is Julia. I'm an artist and illustrator and in this Skillshare class, I'm going to show you
how to create a set of potions while learning
the basics of watercolor. In this class and going to go over all the material
that you need. I will show you how to get
inspiration and create a Pinterest board for
outdoor being referenced. You will see How to sketch and illustration and
how to paint it. I will tell you about some
basic watercolor techniques and I will guide you
through some exercises. And at the end of this class, you will have the confidence
in this case that you need to create your
own set of potions. This class is great
for all levels. It's perfect if it's the first time that
you're using watercolors. But also if you already
painted in the past, this class can give
you a greens on my process and give some new
inspiration for your work. At the end of this class, you will have our
beautiful set of potions to frame or to add
to your portfolio. And every share with you my personal tips and
tricks so that you can have a new set of skills once you're
illustration is done. I'm so happy to be here and guiding these magical
and funny class. In the next lesson, I will take you more about the project. So let's get started.
2. Class Project: For your project, I
would like you to paint at least the Potions incorporating all the exercises and technique that you will
learn throughout the class. Don't forget to
upload your work. Just click on the Submit
Project button in the producting
resources section to share your work with me
and the other students. I suggest you follow me in
the step-by-step process. I really covering that, the sketch and the
creative process. You can pause the class and draw are watch first
and then create. You can check what
materials you will need in the Art Supply class so that
you are ready to start. You will also find the list of everything you need to
start with watercolors and also suggestions on other supplies if you want to experiment with other media. In the inspiration lesson, you can follow along with
the Pinterest board that I created for you or
create your own. In this case, feel free to share the link to
the Pinterest board. In the project section, you will gather
important information about the sketch and
the creative process. So I suggest you follow
along with the lesson, but just in case you want
to go straight to painting, I made a fight
with the sketch so you can download and copy it. I will then guide you
with some exercises. Take your time to
practice and upload the exercises in the
project section. If you have any questions,
feel free to ask. I will share with you
my favorite tips. I will tell you
about interesting techniques I developed over time and some
special suggestions on how to add the final touches. Or you need to do is follow
along with my lesson and then upload what you created
in the project section. This is going to be
a great exercise to get confident
with watercolor. I can't wait to see
what you will create. So follow me in the next
lesson in which I will tell you more about all the
supplies that you will need.
3. Art Supplies: In this lesson, I will tell you what material you
need to get started. It's easy to get lost with
the great selection of Art Supplies that
you can find on the Internet. But I got you. In this class, I will tell you everything you need
to get started. In the resources section, you can find and easy guide with all the information
that you need. If you need to buy
your first supplies or if you wish to
broaden your equipment. Let's start with paper. There are lots of
different kinds of paper that you can buy. And I will tell you a
little bit more about that. If you're just starting, you can buy loose
paper so that you can test what kind of paper
works best for you. Or you can buy a pack of
economic paper in quality. This one here by clef
Fontan is great to start. If you already have
some experience or if you like gorgeous paper, you can try 100% cotton paper, which allows better
control of water on the paper and allows you to
work better with detail. Paper comes in different colors. Sometimes I prefer paper that is a bit yellowish compared
to extra white paper. This allows me to feel like already have a bit
of background. On the other hand, if you plan
to scan your illustration, it would be easier
to do so if you worked on an extra white paper. What about paper scraps? Paper scraps are very
important for color tests, as you will see later. Last but not least,
sketch paper. I use these Fabriano because
it's not completely white and sturdy enough to be handled without
rambling or pressing. But simple printer paper
will do just well. For today's class, you will
only need four brushes for round synthetic brushes
in four different sizes. That's it. This that you are
seeing are my essentials. I always make sure they
are in good shape and replaced him from time to time when the bristles are too messy. I now will tell you more about brushes because I
love Art Supplies. Said that you can also explore different Supplies and find
the right ones for you. This R-squared brushes. You can use them for backgrounds or for a stronger
stroke on paper. The bristles can
be soft or arche. That depends on the medium. For watercolor, I recommend soft bristles to have eye
damage on paper and work easily with water just by striking the bristles so
you can see the difference. These are pointed mop brushes, very soft and with
good water capacity. These are wait for
painting landscapes or loose botanical watercolors. You don't need to
break the bank, as I showed you before
in this lesson, I will only use for brushes. Today. I will use my
favorite watercolor set. This was a present I
got for Christmas, and it has a great selection of 24 professional Watercolors. The quality is great
and the palate as all the colors I need and loads of space for mixing colors. You may also buy at 12 pans set. This is the first
palette I bought when I started painting
and I still have it. You can get the selection of
basic colors to get started. I suggest a warm and cold red, a warm and cold yellow, ultramarine blue, and CPR. If you want to invest in some
professional watercolor, drinker has a great selection of colors that are
great in quality. If you want a
ready-made watercolor, e-coli and inks are great to start at selection of
primary colors we'll do. For today's project, you will also need some white gouache, since we will use it only
for the final Details. And acrylic pen
will work as well. Then you will need
some palettes. I have this one that I handmade, but really any small
container will do, then you will need
some paper tape and Nevada or cardboard support to secure your paper so it doesn't move or fall
when you paint. You can upcycled somewhat
glasses or just for water. I always work with two. Then you will need
a paper cloth. You will need some pencils. Any pencil will do. But if you have
different lead degrees, this will help you in
the sketch process, as I will show you later. Mechanic pencils also
are a good supply to try a pencil sharpener. And as for the eraser, I like to use a
kneadable eraser, but the classical eraser
will do precision erasers that rate for the final step of sketching, but not necessary. Some colored pencils will
help us in the process. I will also use some
carbon paper to copy my sketch as I
will show you later. If you happen to
have a light board at home, That's perfect. You can check my class, develop your style to learn how to create your
own carbon paper. I usually work with my
iPad to get the reference, but you can access Pinterest
from your computer or phone. We're now ready to be inspired
for shapes and colors. So I see you in the next lesson
4. Inspiration: Before starting
painting, we need to gather some information about how apportion bottles can be drawn and pinterest
can help us out. Let's start by opening
the Pinterest app. Here you can find
the search icon and I rewrite down the word potions. I can find straight
away photos and illustrations that I
can use as a reference. By looking at this
world for inspiration, I will start gathering
some information and have a general idea of what a glass bottle looks like
and start sketching. I'm mostly looking
for photographs. So when I find that an
interesting picture, I click on the Save button and create a new
Pinterest board. I will call it potions
illustration at the picture I just found and
keep going in my research. Every time I find that
an interesting image, I add it to the board
address created. You will find the link to this board in the
resources section. When one image is selected, I just need to scroll down. Pinterest shows me
automatically similar images and allows me to create a
board quickly and easily. You can see I have
loads of Board. Since I find Pinterest one of the best instruments
to get inspired, I like to browse and
select images carefully because it's so easy to get
lost in all this information. So I need to make
a clear selection. I'm looking for
shapes and details, but mostly I'm
teaching my brain. Our potion bottle
is made so that I can work through the
sketch process easily, mixing up all the information I gathered and creating
something unique. On this page, you will find that collection
of bottles and glass containers that reminded me of some magical potions. Of course, feel free
to get inspired by books or movies or create
your own Pinterest. I encourage you to share it with other students when
uploading your project. In the next lesson,
I will gather all these ideas on paper
and I will start drawing. Now that we have some
information about shapes and colors for our bottles
reality to sketch. So I see you in the next lesson.
5. Drawing Warm-up Exercise: Before starting to sketch, I want to show you how to
get to know your pencils. And a useful Warm-up Exercise is watch their Pencil
that I have to see how dark they are and to check
if they're soft or not. This will add me understand
how graphite reacts and paper and how to use these characteristics
to my advantage, I will write the
name and number on each Pencil to keep track
of the characteristics. I will now start with some
warm-up exercises to warm up my aunt and my arm
muscles tape to make straight lines or drawing simple shapes allows
the muscles to Warm-up and also apps the coordination between
the arm and the eyes. Brown and squares are great. And also we will
prepare the ground for the potion bottle shapes
that we will draw it. Keep going until you
feel ready to sketch
6. Sketch: We're now ready to
start sketching. And the different shapes of their bottles are perfect
to practice drawing. I will keep my Pinterest
board on site so that I can get some
inspiration while sketching. I have a quick look once again, and then I will go back to my
board when I need to define the details or when I'm not
sure of our shape is made. I need to break the white
paper and start drawing. These shapes are really
simple and easy to draw. I don't want to make a
complicated sketch now around shape will do just
fine. For this Lines. I will use a light
pencil so that it's easy to erase the
lines so that I want later on the main part of the bottle and then
I add the cork on top. This can have any shape. So keep in mind that this
stage is just the beginning. Here we are free to make
mistakes and explore and understand what we like
and what we don't like. We are collecting all kinds
of information to create our set to give volume
to the bottles. I doubt the bottom part. As simple round line can make the drawing more
interesting and realistic. I keep going with
different shapes. Diamond one seems
interesting to me. You can see that I
draw the middle line. This is a great
thing to do because it helps me out a
lot with symmetry. I feel this space is here with smaller bottles in
different shapes. And I work as I did before. For the last bottle, I
chose a heart shape. I don't ever reference here. I can find out the shape of a heart-shaped bottle
just by observing how the volumes of other bottles work and kind of combining
them into a shape. This is a great exercise for imagination and drawing action. Once I've done with
my simple shapes, I'm ready to make this a bit more interesting
by adding details. I add the clerks and start defining our liquid will
react in the glass of the bottles to using a kneadable eraser. I will make the line slider and we're looking at
my Pinterest board. I will take inspiration
for the Details. This time I will
use a darker pencil and I will define more
clearly these lines. Keep in mind that
the more precision you put in this step, the easier it will be
to paint later on. This now is the ground where
we lay all of our work. When drawing the liquid element, I need to keep in
mind two things. Gravity and the
shape of the bottle. Drawing arrows and lines. That's me out in the process. I keep going in this way, defining the final Lines and erasing the ones didn't
send me anymore. I repeat the same process
with all the other bottles. I think some movements in some potions and
keeping stillness in others to make their
overall image Interesting. I also make a study
of a cork to make things more clear and to
learn how it is made, even though I will never see
it completing the bottle. This is a great exercise. I add some accessories like
small balls and all ducks. When we are happy
with the sketch, we can transfer it
onto watercolor paper. Once we're happy
we're ready to paint. We can now set our
sketch aside for a moment and focus on
how to use watercolor. In the next lesson, I will
tell you about the basics of watercolor and how I incorporate those
techniques into my work.
7. Copying on Watercolour Paper: Now that our sketches defined
in the next step is to copy our Lines into
watercolor paper. This step is crucial to me. I like to keep watercolor paper as clean as possible
from Pencil lines. You can use a light bulb
and that's the fastest way. But in this lesson, I will show you how to use carbon paper. First of all, I checked that the watercolor paper is the
right size, and I taped it. Then I carefully put the
carbon paper on top with some small pieces of tape
just at the gardeners. Be careful not touch the carbon paper in any other
place than the gardeners. Otherwise, you will smudge your watercolor paper.
In the same way. I place my sketch and start tracing with
a colored pencil. I always check that
the carbon babies is working and the line is
not black or too thick. From time-to-time, a check how it's working under
watercolor paper. Using a colored pencil
allows me to keep track of the copying process and keep Lines super clean and precise. Once everything is copied, I carefully remove both carbon
paper and sketch paper. In the next lesson, we will
be refining the Tracing Lines
8. Refining the Tracing Lines: Before starting painting, I like to refine
the Tracing Lines. This is a precise process. It takes patience and maybe
more than one attempt. But to me it's like taking
extra care of the illustration and it allows me to work easily when I need
to paint later on. I use a kneadable eraser to make the pencil lines lighter. And then with a super
sharp and Pencil, I redefine once again the Lines. The pencil lines would give me all the information on how they illustration
is going to look. And to do so, they
need to be clean and clear in giving
me this information. Of course, there's
no right or wrong. This is just my way of
approaching the process. If you feel like wanting to skip this step, this is up to you. Just do what allows you
to enjoy the process of painting and making this
an enjoyable experience. Clear, I'm fine lines
give me peace of mind in the next step,
which is Painting
9. Watercolour Basics: We're now ready to
start painting. Let's start with the basics, how to prepare our
watercolor and now it works. First of all, we need
two glasses of water, want to clean our brushes, and one for clean water. I will show you what
this means in a minute. Then we will need a pallet to prepare our color beforehand. If you have a watercolor pan, you need to activate the
color by putting a drop of water into the pan and
waiting a few seconds. You can then take the color
and put it in your palette. If you need a lighter shade, you can dilute it with water. Before adding clean water. I always wash my
brush so that I don't contaminate the
right class and I always have
Clearwater available. Remember, when changing colors, first watch the bristles
in the left glass, then get clean water
from the right graph. It's important to get this habit established and this will
make your workflow quicker. If you have a tuple color, just squeeze the
color directly into the palette and then
add clean water. You need to mix the
color until you feel no lumps and the color
is smooth. And lipids. Starting with clean water, I spread some of
it into the paper. It needs to be shiny but makes sure there are no
products of water. I then take some
color and paper. You can see how the pigment unpredictably spread on water. This is called wet
on wet technique. If you want to achieve a
more controlled result, wet on dry technique
is watching it. Just takes some color and use the brush directly on dry paper. This is a funding
gorgeous exercise that allows you to get to know watercolors and know how to use these different techniques
according to your needs. Now that we are learn the basics of watercolor, we
are ready to paint
10. Watercolour Basics Exercise: In this lesson, I will show you when exercises
that you can make with watercolors and some techniques that we will apply
in the next class. I wet the paper first. I want to create that
transition from blue to pink. So I start with blue, starting from the
top of the page. I will paint with
pink from the bottom so that the color will
mix in the middle. I use the color on paper to create an uneven but
interesting effect. In some places where
there's too much water, I remove the excess with
the bristles of the brush. This technique is
called lifting. I will now try another effect, wet-on-wet. On a pink base. I will add the blue dots while the first layer is still wet. The more water you
have on the bristles, the more the drop will
expand on the wet paper, you can try and experiment
with different colors and different rashes
of water and color. For the third exercise, I want to create a
one-color gradient. I start with just being, while working towards
the bottom of the page, I want the color to be
gradually more transparent. So I will add a few
drops of water at the time in the pink
puddle in my palette. You can see that each time
I need a lighter color, I clean my brush on the tower. I then add the drop of
water in the palette in the same paddle each time and
continue working this way. For the last exercise, I want to gradually and seamlessly switch
from pink to blue. Instead of working on paper, I change gradually color in
the palette compartments, adding more blue to
the pink puddle while I'm proceeding in painting towards the bottom of the paper, keeping in mind that
I aim to achieve pure blue and adding pure color
in the palate if needed. In the next lesson, I will
show you how to apply these four exercises
into our final work.
11. Painting: First Layer, Underpainting: We're ready to pay.
You can now apply all the things that you've learned in the previous lessons. Starting with my
kneadable eraser, I will once again make
this pencil lines lighter. This time my precision
eraser will lead me completely remove the
lines that I don't need. I always keep my watercolor. Step to the right side
of the paper and prepare the color by adding a drop
of water to each band. This way, the color will
activate and be ready to use. I clean the compartments so that the color is not contaminated. I keep a piece of scrap
paper next to me. I will need this delay at
the color before putting it on my illustrate
into your Adriana, I'm ready for the first step. Here. I like to define the darkest shades
of my illustration. To do so, I define them with a grayish blue done by mixing cerulean blue and
a little bit of a written in red and
a lot of water. I switched from the smallest to the larger brush according to the area that I need to feel. If I use a brush
that's too small, I may have Lines on my
paint on the other end. If the brushes too big, I mean, not be able to stay in
line with somebody. I define the outlines of
my bottom creating volume. I apply the same technique
to all the bottles. Keeping in mind, what are the parts they
need to be darker. Since I'm ready to add more
colors, do they illustration? I paint a section on my scrap
paper so that I can try deleting of that color beforehand and avoid
unwanted results.
12. Painting: Second Layer, Colours: Let's start with Colours. I first tried this
shade of pink, Alizarin crimson
on my scrap paper. Since I liked the effect, I preceding working
on my illustration. To give the illusion of the bottle containing
the Potions, I work with layers of
colors to create volume. So I leave some
section lighter than others by carefully
walking around the edges. While they painting
is still wet. I worked with a darker
shade on the outer parts. If needed. I even add a darker shade like
indigo or Payne's gray. I will now show you this
technique called lifting. I used the dry
bristles of my brush to remove a bit of
color from the paper. This will leave our glow and now well blended lighter spot, which works great now that
we are painting glass. Mixing colors take time, but it's a rewarding process. I always take time to create the colors that I use
in my illustrations. In each shade that I use. I tried to use one
that's already on paper. So that now color is completely different
from the others, but it has a little bit of
the shaded I already used. I find that in this way, each color resonates
with the others. For the second bottle, I want to use a shade
of yellow ocher. I use a darker color is I did before to give the
impression of depth, but also to create that
texture in the illustration. As you can see, I add a bit of the alizarin crimson that I
used in the first bottom. Different values
in brightness and contrast make the
image more complete. So creating contrast is crucial domain Illustration
interesting to. For this third bottle, I will use a green you. The color is pretty
diluted but still vibrant. Some ultramarine blue seems to give a magical feeling
to this potions. Don't forget to
always try your color before adding it to
the illustration. Makes sure that you don't use colors that crash
with each other. I am now lifting some
color in the center of the bottle to give
the illusion of light coming from the potion. I create a darker section and some bubbles with the darker
green mixed with blue. If there are some harsh lines, you can soften them with the clean bristles
of your brush, makes sure it's damp and
not drooling with water. I want to make this bottle. I'll a little bit
more realistic. So we'll add some green
reflection to the glass. I will use this same color to darken the upper
part of the curve. I will move on with a
completely different color. This is a Winsor red, a very interesting shade,
warm and transparent. I use the same wet on wet
technique to intensify the red shade on the outer
edges of this section. The layering allows me to get that darker shade by
using only one color. For this bottle, I will use the wet-on-wet technique by
creating a base of water. On top of that, I
will add some blue by carefully sliding the brush
and dotting the color. While the paper is still wet, I add some pink
and blue color to create an effect the
resemble a galaxy. I have our class about
our to paint the galaxy. So if you're interested, you might check my
beginner class, create a magical illustration and you can find it
on my class's page. Last bottle, a heart-shaped one. I apply the same technique
I did in the other bottles, but I want to leave the
upper part a bit lighter. So I work with darker layers only on the bottom
part of the bottom. For detects. I use this yellow. This is a light ocher. I would read down and use
it carefully on paper, paying attention in leaving some whitespaces to create
the effect of an odd paper. I also paint a walk
seal and some bubbles. And I'm now ready for
the final Details.
13. Final Details and Gouache: Our set of potions is complete. So follow me in the next
lesson for one final tip. I know focus on the details. This can make a difference and I find them super important. A codon cord with the tag and some flowers tape
onto the paper. There's more shades
and fine details. Give my illustration I
refined and created look. I also enjoyed this part because I like to work
with small brushes. I find this step makes the illustration more
personal and unique. You can see that I
made a mistake here. I just wet the paper, we can water and collect the
drop with a clean cloth. My suggestion is that
you take some time to go back to this step and
add some personal touch. I also made up an alphabet to give it a more
mysterious look. Adding some smart shades makes the illustration pop and look
special and truly magical. It's time for white gouache. You could also use a white
ink pen slowly and carefully. I add the reflection of light on the shiny parts
of my illustration. You can still use the
reference image or work with your logic and imagination
by asking yourself, if I have a light source
coming from the left, which part of this shape
with eight enlightened?
14. Final Thoughts: Thank you for taking part
in this Skillshare class. Don't forget to upload your illustrations and exercises
in the project section. Also work in progress are always welcome so that I can give
you a personal feedback. You can follow my
Skillshare page if you want to get a notification
about new classes, and if you want some
more whimsical painting, you can have a look at the
other classes that I created. So thank you for watching
this cache class and I can't wait to see
what you create it. So I see you next time. Bye
Giulia D'Andrea, Illustrator - Artist
