Transcripts
1. Hello & Welcome!: Hi guys, my name is Alexandra and I'm happy to
make really cool, struggling project with you. Now, I've been New York in Central Park as we're gonna make watercolors skills will make acrylic painting using
our skills made on air. So you have a choice. You can go through
part in your city. Or if you go to holidays, you can choose a nice
spot over there. Or you can follow along with me. And base does the very fast with watercolors that Absolutely
you can use for your spacing. This class is suitable
for all levels. If you're advanced artist, I hope you enjoyed our
traveling and our journey together and some fun
facing in Central Park, I will show you all the
beauty of channels, kitchen and my secret
watercolor techniques. Don't forget to follow
me on Instagram for new updates for classes and
also my recent artworks. And afterwards you can use this watercolor illustration as a reference for your
beautiful thing, thing that you will
make at home or in your studio with
acrylic sold leaf. And I'm going to show it
to you in the next class. So take your brush
and let's begin.
2. How to Pick Perfect Spot for Painting Outdoors: Hi guys. We're going to make very
fun project in New York. Now we're going to Central five to make watercolors sketches and our sewers who
are going to face me that really focused on my resume, Central Park, I'm trying to find useful. And it's actually a
great quality for the artists to try and capture new interesting places
where you can face up towards when you are as a
tourist exploring new places. You can always go look
around time to make some notes for yourself where
you can frame lag time. Also, it's a good idea
to make photos if you see a beautiful view
or beautiful scenery. And afterwards your campaigns in your studio from
those pictures. So now I'm in Central
Park and that this Baudelaire choose for
our watercolors to get the best would be to choose
a place where you feel comfortable for few hours and also where you have a
good view so you wouldn't need to change the
place many times. And you can just make your
sketch right in the same spot.
3. Materials You'll Need: So for this class you will
need for water colored paper. I'm using both dress
paper, 280 grams. Then you will need your
brushes, medium size. And I'm also using coping bands because it's really cool to make
suit with watercolors. And it's actually what a proof. So it will stay. This one is a multi-line Enter, and this one is actually
quite Figma CO2 liner brush. Also I have an eraser. And so and you will
need our paints. You can use students quality or professional quality and
also your glass of water, or even one better classes. So let's begin, start painting. For this class, you
will need watercolor.
4. Pencil Drawing - Part 1: In this class we will
make pencil drawing. First of all, let's find
the line of the horizon, the skyline, and also where the metal of
the park is ending. And it clearly going to be somewhere in the
bottom of your paper. It's a horizontal line, but it's not
completely straight. And then the next block of
the trees than trying to repeat exactly the same
outlines of the trees. So this line will be very curly because some trees are higher, sudden trees are lower. And we're sort of trying
to draw the leaves, but those leaves are altogether. And you get this
very curly line. That's not very proportional. In some places, you
will have higher trees. In some places you will have
trees that are more curly. So try to make this line very unique way and try to repeat the
shape of the trees. Also, I'm drawing some tree
trunks in just few places. Then we can start
with buildings. I begin with vertical lines
and try to make them as straight as possible
without any help or rulers. Because as an artist
you're supposed to be able to draw straight lines. And usually it comes
with practice. So don't worry if it doesn't
work from the first try. With practice and time, you will manage and
you will be able to draw various traits
and nice lines. The good thing is
that each building is different and that will make composition
more interesting. So you just try to repeat
and just try to keep the right proportions
as you see it on the photo or reference picture. If you're using my painting, then just try to compare, analyze, and make almost
the same proportions. Obviously, some
buildings are very tall, so make sure you're, you're making them
tall and some will be maybe different shape and the roofs might
be different. So try to notice
all of those things and just depicted on your paper, please make sure
that you're leaving some space for the air and leave some space and some margins
on top of your paper. From this spot, we can also see the left side
of the buildings. The front sides of each building will have
rectangular shape. And the side, left side
of each building will have trapezoid shape
because of perspective, in general, perspective is
the most important thing when it comes to architecture. When you draw city,
draw buildings. So just make sure that on
the side you will draw those trapezoids shapes and the further side
will be smaller. And that's why we started
with a pencil sketch. Because it's very easy
to fix any mistake. When you start with
pencil drawing, you can just easily
erase it and try again. And also for your composition. When you're looking for the
right one on the paper, you also started with pencil. Until you're really
happy with your drawing. Then you can start
with watercolors because it's gonna be much more harder to fix anything
with watercolors. So at the moment, we still looking for
the right shapes, for the right proportions and for the right shape
of each building. The painting will look
quite interesting. And as you see, I'm not drawing all the
buildings exactly the same. Each one of them is
unique and it will be great if you will show
it on your painting. Also, If you will find the buildings that are exactly
the same on the painting, will look a bit boring. When you're choosing your view. Try to choose the
most interesting view where you have different
heights of the buildings. Maybe one building is wider. One building is, I don't
know, has unusual shape. This way your painting
will look much more interesting than if you will choose just a view where all the older buildings
like completely the same. Then you can make
some additional help lines where it's necessary. For example, with the trees, we can show even more
the shape of the leaves. On the bottom parts. I can define even more the
line where the grass ends. And the nicest part of
the plan area is that sometimes you have cute
unexpected visitors like this dog and it lifts
up your model load because usually artists
are working very isolated.
5. Pencil Drawing - Part 2: Okay, so we can continue
with drawing now and just erase some
unnecessary lines. Make sure you clean
up your drawing. And also try to make your
drawing a bit lighter. So you wouldn't be able to see a benzyl lines
through watercolor. Because as you know,
watercolor is a very see-through, very light medium. And afterwards you
wouldn't be able to erase pencil when you will start
to work with paints. And I'm also trying to
straits and all the lines, making sure that I drew each building As it is
actually in reality, there might be some
files that you missed and now you can work
with details even more. Yeah, Makes sure
that you've noticed older architectural parts
as they really are. Go through each
building one more time. Make sure that you leave
only the right lines. All the unnecessary
once you will erase. Just take your time and make sure that you're happy
with all the buildings. You can also pay attention to those because sometimes there might be pent houses on top and obviously there
are different levels. You can also spend some time on those details
because when we start, we just draw the
buildings as the bloke. And afterwards you can draw each building
more detailed and considering all the interesting architectural
constructors.
6. Painting - Sky: Once you're happy with
your pencil drawing, we can start with watercolors. First of all, let's
words all the paints. So it will be more comfortable
for you to work with them. Then I'm putting
quite a big amount of water on the background, on the sky and taking some blue color and
start to cover it. And I'm sprinting paints from the top corner towards
the bottom part. I'm taking a lot of pigments, so this guy will be
bright and intense. And make sure that
you're very carefully go around the buildings because we're gonna leave
them untouched. Then we can continue
with the right side. Again. I'm taking some
clean water and just spreading it all prom
top towards the bottom. So I generously cover all
that part with water. Then I'm gonna take
some blue paint as I've done on the left side, and I will spread it from
the top towards the bottom. What I like about
this technique is that water makes
it very airy and, you know, you will have
beautiful shapes on your sky. Just because the paint will spread very nicely
on top of water. If you would be painting
just on the dry paper, effect wouldn't be that
nice for this guy. So it's always great to use
that technique for Skype. Also, I'm taking some
other shade of blue, so painting will be more
interesting, more engaging. And I think if I would be using just one color of blue than
it would be more boring. So always nice to use
different shades, more colors. This way your
painting would look just much more engaging. And also keep in mind that
once watercolor is dry, usually it loses the
intensity of the pigment. So it's okay to make second layer right on top and to add up a bit
more of paints, a bit more color because it
was a bit too light for me. Yeah, with watercolors,
you can always adopt a bit of more pigment as
a second layer, but just make sure that
you go again through all the corners and spread
water all over that area. So you wouldn't see that it's a second layer on top
of the other one. If you will, cover all the sky with a second layer
of watercolors, then there will be no borders. It will be very, very
nicely, beautifully done.
7. Painting - Trees and Meadow - Part 1: Then I'm taking some green color and mixing it with
a bit of yellow. And we get this beautiful
lemon yellow color and spreading it on the grass. So that's going to be very bright and very happy grass
here, but jokes society. You can always translate your
mood through your painting. And it really depends which
colors you are choosing. If you're choosing
bright colors, you can always make somebody actually even smile
through your paintings. And especially it's
a very sunny day. Of course you have to use
bright and intense colors to show the weather that it's very sunny and that's
sexually midday. And I'm using some green color to some green color
mixed with yellow. So we have this very nice and smooth
transition on the foreground. Then I'm taking some green
color and continue with trees and also some yellow
paint mixing with green. So firstly, we're making this first layer of very
yellowish, light green color. And then we're gonna
work with shadows. Okay, now we have the first
layer, very light one. Now I'm taking in some
more green color, a bit more of pigment, and no yellow. This time. I'm looking where the darkest
parts of the trees are. I'm trying to cover them now. Also, while it's all quite wet, it's very easy to
mix the paints. So transition will be
very nice and smooth. Also trying to make all the
trees a bit more brighter. Now I'm taking some dark
green color and working with the lower side of the trees because this
is where the shadow is. So basically you should make sure that everywhere it's much, much darker than the top part of the trees where you actually
get a lot of sunlight. And also you can get
a bit of dark blue, mix it with green and
get the right color. Usually on the bottom
part of the trees, there's literally no light. Also, there is a
following shadow from the leaves that are on top. And you can also this way separate one tree
from another one. Again, use your reference photo. Compare to your painting. All the area where the tree
trunks are supposed to be, you will be much, much darker
and won't be in shadow. Without any doubts,
you can just fill it up with dark green color. I'm taking some
yellow lemon color and addled up on
top of the trees.
8. Painting - Skyscrapers - Part 1: Now we have the first layer on the trees and we can
continue with the buildings. And because that's the
only untouched part that we have left. So I'm taking some violet color. I'm starting with
just random building. I'm taking some violet
paint and making vertical lines on the left and right side of the buildings. Once it's done, I'm taking some blue paint to
fill up the space in-between because
it's a reflection from the sky. It's
going to be blue. On the other sides. I'm making some horizontal lines just to show that there
are windows over there. Then adding up a bit
of more blue paint and dragging it all the way down
and filling up that space. Adding up a bit of more blue paint right
on top of the building, just to define the edge. Then we can continue
with the next building and we can make the first layer. Over there. I'm taking
some blue paint, filling up that building. Some bright blue collar, working with the front side, Hearst, dragging paint
all the way down. I'm taking some
water and slightly making the color
a bit more pale. Because it's supposed to
be almost the same color. Sky. Because we see the reflection in the
glass in the windows. Then I'm filling
up the left sides with a light blue color. Also all the way down.
9. Painting - Skyscrapers - Part 2: Afterwards we're going to
work with details obviously. And we also can
use multi liners. But now we're just working with the first layer of watercolor. Then you can take some sienna. Make those vertical lines. There are two lines
in the middle of the building that we
can obviously see. Then there will be
Windows in-between. Let's try only to fill up those parts that are supposed to be in this color and leave
the windows untouched. Then I'm mixing some violet
color together with sienna. And I'm getting
some sort of brown, brown paint filling up another
building on the left side. Continue the same way with the built-in
in-between those big ones. Making some horizontal
line. Thank you. Into showed them
windows afterwards. There are a small building
on the right side. We can also pin that. Trying to show the windows and making some horizontal
and vertical line. Slight connects almost. They're crossing each other. The same way. I'm taking some sienna Payne's making more defined the
building in the font. Also making some
horizontal lines. Decides in the front. Also on the left side of
the building. In the back. I'm also making some
horizontal lines, but they're supposed
to be in perspective. I'm mixing some paints and
getting more violet color. Getting some brown paint. Then trying to define the lines and the corners
of the buildings. Now we are working
with the sides of the building that will be
darker than the front side. I'm trying again to show the small windows making some little horizontal
lines almost like adults. The front building. The same with the other one. Just small dots. And I'm going to make
short vertical lines also to show the windows.
10. Painting - Trees - Part 2: In this class we're going
to continue with trees and we're going to add
up some volume to it. So I'm taking dark green color. And everywhere where it's
supposed to be dark, where it is in the shadow. I'm filling up with
dark green color. I'm repeating the same shape. So just try to analyze what
shape those shadows have. Mostly all of the bottom part will be dark because
it is in the shadow. The sunlight doesn't go there. It's mostly on the
top of the trees. That's where you get
a lot of flights. So I'm gradually filling up all the shadows with a
green color, very intense. Plus you can also mix
black color with green. And it will give you
also quite good, nice color for shadows. And you also can use
touch of blue to make the shade cooler because, well, as you can always see on the nature shadows,
they're very cool. And in terms of temperature. So we can also use
very cold green color, but dark green also
will work quite well. In some places. I'm also trying to make
my brush strokes very thin to show the tree trunks. So it's just dark
black field lines that are not exactly straight. I'm trying to repeat exactly the same as the tree trunks are. And usually they slightly band and each one of them
has a unique shape. So make sure that you read it. And one can be a bit thicker, one can be a bit thinner. One turn to the left, another one turn to the right. And also there might be some branches that
are also visible. But of course I'm doing it
mainly in the bottom part. Because on top there
a lot of leaves and we don't really see the
branches very clearly there. And we're looking from the fire. So it's nice when
you have this sort of shape of the tree and
shape of the leaves. But you obviously don't paint exactly each leaf and you don't paint exactly each branch. But you give this
right impression of the trees that
you are looking at. This is very common
technique that artists use when
they paint trees. So you can use it afterwards
in your other paintings. And just, the main thing is to create the right
volume for your tree. And we're doing it by showing
the places where we have the sunlight with bright
yellowish green color. And we're showing the places
that are in the shadows with a dark green color and maybe
some cold, cold shades. Take your time and do
it with your own pace. And also you can always
use the reference picture. And maybe you already
downloaded it so it's more comfortable for you to see all the details on my painting. Then we can also define
the line of horizon. And I'm taking dark green color and making this horizontal line, but it's not exactly straight. It slightly curvy. And after that we can also
make some shadows even darker. And I'm using even more
intense dark green color. And making this easy shadows. Like repeating this
flow of the leaves. And you see each tree is
completely different shape. So I'm trying to also define and make each tree
stand out slightly. And mostly on the left side of each tree we have
the big shadow. Because sun comes
from the right side.
11. Painting - Skyscrapers - Part 3: We continue with the buildings. So I'm taking some blue color, mixing it with sienna or
little touch of black. And I'm defining the right
side of the building. Then I'm cleaning up
my brush and taking just see Anna paint on it and defining the right side
on the next building exactly the same way with
some vertical lines. And then also clean up
your brush properly. Take some violet color on it and fill up the
next building. Now we are working with
the short building and try to analyze which buildings are
supposed to be more violet, which are bluish, where
you have sky reflection. I'm trying to work now
with purple color on the old buildings that are nearby that actually supposed to be almost the same color. And also if you have
some windows there, then you can try to repeat exactly the same way with some vertical and some
horizontal lines. So you have this illusion
of little windows. Then I'm adding two purple
or touch or brown color. And with that paint, I'm filling up the building
that's on the right side, almost on the corner
of the paper. And also, you can make some horizontal
and vertical lines like crossing each other to make this visual illusion
of windows and leave some gaps in-between untouched, would just clear white paper, that would be sort
of small windows. Then I'm taking some blue paint and filling up the skyscraper, the one that's made of
glass right next to it. And just with some
vertical lines, I'm filling up that building and leaving up some
space for the Windows, untouched, white, and also making some
horizontal lines as well. And also you can add
a touch of sienna to that blue paint and continue with the next building
that's exactly next to it. And it has very interesting
shape, rectangular shape. So we can try to
repeat it to now. Now I'm working
with just one side of it that's more in the shadow. And that's exactly
on the right side. And then you can
also try and make this visual effect of construction with
some horizontal and some vertical lines. And we can leave it for
the moment as it is. And continue with
the next building. That's also very purple, violet. So I will just fill it up
with this beautiful color. As you see, the paint
is quite intense. It's gonna be nice to
have our sketch quite intense and with
beautiful variety of colors and shades that will make your painting more fun and engaging for people,
for the viewers. And with the violet color, I'm also filling up the
side of the building, which is actually brown. But we're leaving the
front side as it is. It's brown. But the left side will be in
the shadow and it's called, and that's why
we're using purple. So now you can see
this building, it has certain shape with the same violet
color you can fill up the building
on the left side. The first layer
would be that you completely covered with violet. And then you'd take a bit
of brown color and you add it up right on top and
just spread it all over. And in the bottom part, it's mostly will be brown. And on the top you can
leave a bit of violet. So this way you will have a beautiful shades of different
colors on that building.
12. Painting - Skyscrapers -Part 4: Let's continue with details. And I'm taking some
blue color and making horizontal lines just to
define where you have some sort of balconies or
windows on the buildings. So as you see, I'm
making this sort of transparent lines on both buildings just to
show that there are different levels and
different floors. And this way, you have this illusion that there are certain floors
on the building. Then I'm taking some violet
paint and I'm trying to make straight vertical line on the second skyscraper just to show that this is the
separate building. And obviously we have a shadow in-between
those buildings. So this way you can separate one skyscraper
from another one. Then I'm teaching
a lot of water and just a touch of purple color. And I'm filling up
completely that building where we already have sorts
of imitation of Windows. And I'm doing it right on top. So it's like the top coat layer. It gives us very nice
transparent look. Then I'm taking quite intense
violet color and making straight vertical line on the building that's next
to it also to define it, to show the edge
of the building. And the same with
the buildings on the left side and
on the right side. And we're showing the windows and different
floors by adding up some horizontal lines with
a light violet paint. And in some places, I'm taking a bit
more intense paint just to show those floors. And now we're
working on details. And let's add some horizontal
line on that building that has very interesting
shape. Everywhere. I'm adding up a bit of shadows. Just defining the sides of the buildings because they're
supposed to be much darker. And there are some parts
that are in the shadow. Then we clearly can see there's interesting construction
on the left side and they're like few buildings. So I'm also defining the sides
of it with violet color. And I've noticed that I'm not very happy with this guy right there because of the line
between the two layers. So what I'm doing is I'm taking a bit of
water just to mix it and blended in and
to have smooth sky.
13. Painting - Details - Trees and Buildings: Let's continue with the trees and now we can work on details. So I'm taking dark green color and working with
the shadow parts. So just some small details where you see that it's
actually in the shadow, but you have light
green color there. You can just fill it up
with a darker green. You can also take
a bit of emerald green and added up right on top. It will be nice to have different
shades and more colors. But in general,
you can still work with the same palette as before. So I'm just, as you see, I'm just adding a bit
of shadows, dark green. I'm leaving light
parts untouched. Just a bit of contrast
right on top. Since our watercolor
is dry now and we see that the intensity is not as strong as before
when it was wet. So we can add up a little
bit more right on top. Then we can start working on
details on our buildings. So I'm taking blue color and making second layer
right on top, making this vertical straight
line to add up intensity. And also, I'm doing exactly the same with
the second building. And this way you see they becoming more separate
one from each other because I left that straight
light line in between. So mainly I'm working with the right side
of the building. Then with the same color. You don't need to change it. You can add up some
little windows. So I'm making some dots, like vertical dots on
the building next to it, just to show that there
are small windows. And I'm doing exactly the same with the next building too. So just try to have
a look where you have different
floors, balconies, and try to repeat the
same little lines just to show like imitation of the windows or floors
or different levels. And the same I'm doing with
the skyscraper on the left. Because you see, I mean, they're like different
blocks of the building. And right on top, it's a bit darker. Maybe there's a
balcony or something. And just imitation
of it would be small, horizontal, blue lines. You don't need to
make it precisely, you just have to show that
it's supposed to be there. And just slightly define
the edges of each building.
14. Final Touches - Part 1: I'm very happy because
now it's the last part. Final touches with an ink pen. So you can take a
special marker or pen, that's what a resistant. Or you can just use normal ink pen as long as you don't put
any water on top of it. So I'm working with the edges of the buildings and try
to make straight lines. Not necessarily
all the way down. It might be short lines, but straight and vertical. And yet tried to be as
accurate as you can be. It's very important. And this way we're
going to have more, our image will look
like an illustration, which is kinda nice and it's pretty nice
and cool technique. In general, I like to
add a bit of lines, like black lines with a pen on top of
watercolor illustration. Especially if it's
something that you do on the plain air.
Something quick. It gives you good contrast and you can make accent
on certain details. And in general, you
can work with it. Like, for example,
if you haven't done something with your
watercolor before, you can paint, like draw
with, now with pen. But what I'm doing
here is very simple and easy because I'm just trying to add some
straight lines on the edges of the buildings. And basically this is it. Okay. And I'm not entirely happy with those lines
because they are too thin. So I'm taking Copic marker and doing pretty much the same, but just the lines
will be thicker. And this way the contrast
will be more visible. It will also help you to separate one building
from another one. So have a look and analyze
where it's actually necessary. And you can make the lines there for you can
just follow along with my video and do
exactly the same as me.
15. Final Touches - Part 2: And once you've finished with buildings and you happy with it, you can continue with the trees. I'm also going to add just
small little details, some little curves
just to show where the tree is ending and to show that there
are little leaves. They're also slightly defining the line on the grass. I'm adding up some
vertical lines on the skyscrapers so they
will stand out even more. Okay with the band, there is actually
no right or wrong. You can finish and stop
when you feel like. But in general, I'm
just trying to adapt. Touches of black lines
almost everywhere, not much, but it shouldn't be in harmony on your painting. So have a look. If it's almost everywhere,
you can finish. And you'll get this
beautiful illustration made on the plain air from
actual, real buildings. And you can go back to studio or your home, take a canvas, acrylic paints, and use this sketch as a reference
for your main painting. And that's what we're gonna
do in my next lesson. So follow me not to miss it. Also follow me on
Instagram because I'm posting a lot
of my art process, new paintings and all the updates for my
new glasses there. It was not an easy sketch, but he managed so I'm very proud of you don't
forget to share it with me in your projects and I will give you feedback
on your artwork. See you soon in my next classes.
Alexandra Ali, ARTIST, ILLUSTRATOR, ART DIRECTOR
