Watercolor Pencils Basics : Get Started with a Simple Fruit Painting

1. Introduction: [MUSIC] Do you own a watercolor pencil set you have never used because you have no idea how? This is exactly what happened to my watercolor pencils until I decided to study them and teach myself how to use them to their full potential. Hi, my name is [inaudible]. I'm a realistic arts teacher and I love to experiment with a variety of art mediums. I created more than 500 art pieces within the past three years and I had the opportunity to partner up with several art brands and grow a large following along the way. My art journey started out with a lot of colored pencil work, and later I switched to watercolors. Yet I couldn't figure out watercolor pencils the first time I tried them and like many others, I just set them aside and forgot about them. I know I'm not the only one and that's why in this class you're going to learn the basics of watercolor pencils so you can use them too, and see how fun and versatile this medium truly is. I'm fairly new at creating with watercolor pencil and yet I noticed basic techniques is all you need to get going. This is why first we will go through the supplies we need. Then I'll have you practice blending and layering watercolor pencils, as this will set you up for success when it comes to working with this medium. Later we'll paint the project, a beautiful apple with a simple sketch, easy blending and layering techniques and some fun techniques to add texture to a watercolor pencil piece of art. This class will suit anyone who's interested in watercolor pencils, and you do not need any experience with colored pencil or watercolor. Instead, I encourage you to join me on this fantastic watercolor pencil discovery journey. Meet me next to learn more about the project we're going to create. [MUSIC] 2. Class Project: [MUSIC] The class project is a realistic watercolor pencil apple painting. With this class, I'm going to show you how awesome watercolor pencils are, way faster than colored pencils, and so much easier than watercolor. All you need to get started and create gorgeous pieces are the basic techniques. This is why we will be focusing on the process of blending and layering watercolor pencils, similarly to colored pencil, only faster. Later we'll also be adding texture and we'll use a fun and surprising techniques for more of a watercolor-like experience only even more relaxing. To make the most out of the class, I recommend to go through the exercises as they are foundational for your understanding of how watercolor pencils work. You can also download my supplies list, reference photos, and photos of the finished artwork from the resources section of the class. Please reach out in the discussion section if you need any help and to share your project with me and other students, you can post it to the project and resources section. We're ready to start. Maybe next to learn about the supplies we're going to need. [MUSIC] 3. Supplies: [MUSIC] In this lesson, I'm going to show you exactly what supplies to use for today's class and that work well for watercolor pencil art in general. First, we need some watercolor pencils. I have a Faber Castell Albrecht Durer set of 60 pencils. These watercolor pencils are some of the best and most popular ones among all brands. You might also be familiar with the Derwent Inktense pencils. They are pretty similar and excellent too even though they're ink based. This is a comparison between Faber Castell and Derwent using the techniques I'll be teaching you today. Any other brand will do to get started. So, do not worry if you don't own Faber Castell or Derwent watercolor pencils. Those are just my preferences and suggestions. Be mindful, watercolor pencils can easily be mistaken for colored pencils and vice versa. Boxes are very similar from one brand to another. Let's make sure it says watercolor pencils on the box. My color picks for today's project, are cadmium yellow lemon. The next one is a deep scarlet red. This is a middle cadmium red for shadows. This is indanthrene blue. Any blue that's not too light will work since we will also be using this for shadows. This one here is a van **** brown. I recommend to swatch your own watercolor pencils to better decide on the colors that fit this project in your own paintings best. You can pull up a reference photo of the apple we're painting today, as well as a list of the supplies from the resources section. Watercolor paper works best for watercolor pencils. I found 100 percent cotton cold press watercolor paper, gives me the best results. This one is Arches. It brings the colors out a lot better and layering and blending colors is easy. If you don't have 100 percent cotton papers, you can go for watercolor papers that are cheaper, like the ones made out of wood pulp. It will be fine as long as they are cold pressed. Look at the difference here. I tried a cold pressed paper on the left, which means it has more texture, it is grainy and colors are vibrant and deep. I was able to layer easily too. On the right, I tried a hot pressed paper, which means it's surface is very smooth and it was hard to get the pigment to show. I didn't feel I can layer the pencils that well, especially when I tried a second layer. The reason for this is a smooth paper with barely any tooth, like hot pressed watercolor paper makes it hard for pigment to grab onto. It becomes saturated very fast. We will need a small sheet for practice, a seven by seven inches sheet for the project, and a scrap piece of any watercolor paper for a technique I will show you later. Two paint brushes will be enough for this project, a round and pointed paint brush at the tip like this silver brush black velvet and one basic round paintbrush. Otherwise two simple round paint brushes will do since there is not a whole lot of detail on the apple. Notice the paint brushes are neither too big nor too small for the paper sizes we'll be painting on. A pencil and eraser will be useful for the sketch, as well as some masking tape. Masking tape is not a must but useful and it will make it easier to draw and paint. We will need one paper towel to remove excess water from my paint brushes and two jars of water, one to wet the paint brushes, one to rinse them after use. I'll be using a little bit of white gouache. You can substitute that with a white gel pen. If you don't have neither, you can still go ahead with the project as we will use those for a few final highlights only. I recommend having a pencil sharpener nearby. This type is called the mechanical sharpener and it's great for sharpening pencils into a fine point. I'll be using my heat gun to speed up the drying time between layers. A hairdryer works just as fine or you can wait for the paper to dry. We'll be working with little water, so that shouldn't take long. We're ready to explore watercolor pencils. So, meet me in the next lesson for our first very important blending and layering exercise. [MUSIC] 4. Exercise 1 : Layer & Blend One Color : [MUSIC] In this exercise, we're going to learn the very basics of layering and blending watercolor pencils by practicing with only one color. As a learner, I found this is a great exercise that will allow you to understand how watercolor pencils work, because most times beginners are confused about how to turn pencil marks into watercolor. We will implement the techniques I'm going to show you in the project. I highly encourage you to give this and the next exercise a try. I'm using a small piece of cold press of 100 percent cotton watercolor paper that I taped to my workstation using masking tape. [NOISE] Let's use red. The first thing I do is to sharpen the pencil if the tip is blunt. A blunt tip is not bad since we will add water later. But it won't let you deposit as much pigment as a sharp one. This paper is quite grainy, yours will be too if it's cold pressed. We want to be able and get into the nooks and crannies of it fast and a sharp tip will help you do that. If you're used to colored pencil, you might have learned to color with care in small circular motions with a goal of having only a few specks of paper showing at the end and a very smooth finish. With watercolor pencils, it's a similar process, except we don't need to be as careful and this is because the water will help the blending later on. This is why I'm able to cover the area fast, I apply some pressure and I move in large circles. Circular motions, avoid making streaks that might come through after we wet this. [MUSIC] As we reach to the right side of the rectangle let's press even less. [NOISE] I'm going to layer more color by repeating the steps several times. [MUSIC] Each time I apply more pressure, but I also stopped sooner to make sure there is less and less pigment as I get to the far-right in this rectangle, well, building a nice and even gradient. [MUSIC] This could look like it's not going to be enough, but for watercolor pencils it is. A little goes a long way. Color will become a lot more intense with water. It's especially true with higher range watercolor pencils. We need to paint from the lightest area to the darkest one so we can keep our gradient looking accurate. This is very important and in my opinion, the absolute foundation of a successful color blending experience with watercolor pencils. If we do the opposite starting with a dark parts, we will keep transferring all the pigment over to those lighter areas, and this is not what we want to keep our coloring effective once wet. I wet my paintbrush and I dab it quickly on my paper towel so it's not dripping with water. [MUSIC] I start with the area that is almost white and I blend in circular motions to help dissolve the pigments and help pencil marks fade away. [NOISE] [MUSIC] It's helpful to wash the paint brush often when blending. Otherwise it will just be transferring pigment to the other parts when you already have all you need on paper. You will see more or less leftover pencil marks beneath the watercolor. This is a part of how watercolor pencil painting is. That's what makes it different from colored pencils or watercolor and this is charming in a way. You will see how to use this to our advantage with a project. Be aware not all brands perform equally when it comes to blending. If you're seeing many streaks with your pencils, it could be because there are kind that don't blend as well. Otherwise it can be pressed too hard when you're recoloring and you created some marks by indenting the paper. Remember to keep your pencils sharp, to color in circular motions, to vary pressure for more or less pigment, to blend the light parts first, and to remove excess pigment often while blending by rinsing the paintbrush. Great job with this exercise. You can share it with everyone in the project section. If you want to share also about how your watercolor pencils behaved when you blended them, I'm sure this will be extremely valuable to everyone. Let's move on to a slightly more complex exercise. See you in the next lesson. [MUSIC] 5. Exercise 2 : Layer & Blend Two Colors: [MUSIC] In this second example, we'll be layering and blending two colors. It's a bit harder than what we did in the previous exercise since one color is bright and light while the other one looks pretty dark. Let's sharpen these yellow and blue pencils. I'd like you to imagine before we start how this kind of blue could completely overpower this light yellow during the blending stage. This could cause a lot of beginners to give up on watercolor pencils, and that's why we're going to learn how to avoid it. First, let's start with a light color. Previously we had to rely on only one color, red, and we built a gradient by adding more or less of it. Here, the gradient will take place through two distinct colors. This is why in this exercise we're going to simply color one half in yellow and the other one in blue. I use a little bit of pressure and larger circular motions. [MUSIC] Let's do the same with blue. [MUSIC] We need to overlap blue onto the other color a bit. It's important so the gradient looks nice. [MUSIC] To make the blending with water easier later on, I like to overlap the light color over the top. We now have yellow, blue, and yellow again all in one place. [MUSIC] I find that I need more blue over there so let's add that. [MUSIC] Now like we did before, we can wet our paintbrush and remove excess water so it's wet but not dripping with water. [MUSIC] Blending yellows alone is pretty easy. As we reach the area where blue comes into play, it gets trickier. To keep it blue from mounting the yellow parts too much, I make sure to avoid back and forth movement with a paintbrush, and instead, because blue is so much darker, I push the yellow and blue pigment towards the left to keep the gradient where I actually want it. Don't forget to rinse your paint brush, especially with changes of color. [MUSIC] We're done with our exercises. Please share them in the project section of the class. Remember with two or more colors, start with the light color. Overlap with the other colors. Layer more of the light color over the top. Apply water to the lightest color first. With strong dark pigments, avoid any back and forth motions and push them away from light pigments. Now you know my secret of blending and layering watercolor pencils easily. Let's meet in the next lesson and draw an apple. [MUSIC] 6. Apple Part 1 : Draw the Apple: We're ready to get started on our project in apple painting. First, grab your seven by seven inches paper. We will use masking tape in two ways here. First to tape the sheet, so it's steady while we've color and paint [MUSIC] Then we can use it to trace a circle, which will be a great way to draw the apple easily and make sure it is centered on the sheet [MUSIC]. When you take a look at the reference, you'll notice not all parts of the apple are perfectly round and shape. We're going to use the circle as a base and adjust parts of it. I start at the top [MUSIC]. Then I adjust the sides, if this is not completely accurate, do not worry because the shape of an apple will vary from one to the next. Here the sketches will make our painting look realistic. Although ideally we want it to be recognizable as an apple [MUSIC]. Let's erase this last lines [MUSIC]. Now we can draw the stem [MUSIC]. That's it, fruits are simple to sketch for a quick experiment, I think they're great. Remember to use masking tape to make drawing easier, to use objects around you to trace certain shapes. To soften sketching lines when they're too strong. I'll meet you in the next lesson to get started with color [MUSIC]. 7. Apple Part 2 : Base Layer ( Coloring): In this lesson, we're going to color this apple with the watercolor pencils. Let's use yellow or green depending on what you picked, and a bright red. I went for yellow and red because when you take a look at the reference photo and you concentrate on the lightest and the brightest tones, you will notice most parts located on the left side and bottom are of very light red with a lot of yellow patches showing. That's why it makes sense to me to start with these two colors. Both colors are quite light, even though this red will probably overpower this yellow a bit when we blend, and this is why I start with yellow. This way I make sure I'll have it in all the spots I want it to be at, regardless of stronger and darker colors. Remember to work with a sharp pencil for more pigment and circular motions for a smooth drawing and new streaks of color showing. On top, there's also a lot of yellow showing in the stem, so I will apply it there too. With watercolor pencils, similarly to colored pencils and watercolor, we can layer more colors even after we activated the first layer with water. This means to make the process in blending easy, I find it interesting to start with the light colors and leave all shadows aside for later. There could be other ways to do it. I find this one more of a step-by-step and less overwhelming approach that allows us to make adjustments bit by bit. [MUSIC] Now let's cover everything else in red. [MUSIC] Notice how I have my coloring follow along the shape of an apple. [MUSIC] I add a lot of red onto those yellow parts since we can only see patches for yellow on the reference. I don't copy exactly what I see. It's not necessary for something like an apple. I used a reference photo as a guide more than anything else. Don't be afraid to layer. Layering is great because it will help intensify a color. For example, if you apply more red pigments somewhere, it will become even more intense there when water is added. With layering, you can also create new colors and make this apple look more realistic because of it. For instance, when I apply more yellow in places on top of red to tie both colors together for this base layer and tone to the reds down, I can already tell we're going to get more of an orange color there. [MUSIC] Let's add more red pigment in places here because I don't want all red areas to look the same. Some should look more intense than others. It doesn't really matter where, it's just nice to have a variety of tones. [MUSIC] Let's work with brown now to add the lightest shadows, just so we end up with a good base layer. I'm adding a little bit to the stem. [MUSIC] Then a little at the very bottom because there's a shadow there. We really want to keep this light and use very little pressure. [MUSIC] I noticed there's a little bit of red and yellow in that shadow, so let's add them. [MUSIC] Finally, a bit more brown here, [MUSIC] and also towards the top because this is a hollow area and it makes sense to make it a bit darker. [MUSIC] Remember to study your reference photo, to apply a light base now, take care of shadows later, to match strokes to the shape of the subject, and in this early stage, to layer as a means to intensify colors or create new ones. Let's get ready for some paintings, so see you in the next lesson. [MUSIC] 8. Apple Part 3 : Base Layer (Painting): [MUSIC] Welcome back. In this lesson, we're going to activate the colors we just applied to the apple. This is the most fun and satisfying part of working with watercolor pencils, and it's surprisingly fast to do. We want to paint brush like so in one of the water jars, and then don't forget to dab it quickly on the paper towel because we don't need tons of water here. I prefer my round and pointed one because it is better for detail than a basic round paintbrush. Note that there is a lot of detail here, but instead tight spaces to get into and the fine tip will make it easier to blend these areas. Too much water will make it difficult to blend each area of the apple with a control that we need to render the coloring into watercolor. I start with a yellow parts in the stem and then moving towards the brown parts of the stem. Doing this the other way around will muddy your yellow parts with brown. Now we have brown pigment on the paint brush. This is why we're going to rinse this in the second jar of water and dab it again on paper towel to keep blending with clean water. Now let's activate this light yellow area. Notice I take care to outline this part of the apple as a way to separate each area. I also take care not to touch too much of the red part. Otherwise the yellow parts will turn orange or red. [MUSIC] With red, it's the same. I outline the edge of the apple first. Then I push red towards yellow, so both colors meet. [MUSIC] I add strokes of red within the yellow part, just like the ones we can see in the reference photo. Doing this reinforces the impression of shape. Let's keep going. On the left side of the apple itself, both colors are already mixed up, so we're not going to try and avoid one of them. Remember, these are light colors that work well together and the way they appear here is okay to just paint over the entire area. However, they are two things to take into account. To make the apple realistic. First, we direct our strokes to paint the apple as if he was a real one, and we want to avoid back and forth movements with the brush so we don't lose the colored patterns and turn this into a flat and solid orange mush. In the first exercise I had to plan one single color with circular motions to make it smooth. Here's difference since we have more than one color and we want to preserve all the shapes and details we added one coloring. You can see this is working. We can see the texture of an apple coming to life with fast, clean strokes. I find this is one thing about watercolor pencils that makes them so fun to use. Because when you know how to blend them, it's pretty quick and relaxing to do. You plan the outcome with the coloring and make it come to life with water. Unlike watercolor, harsh paint lines that have tried to fast or not as much of an issue. But we will still have a few hard edges showing if we were to stop halfway and finish blending later. [MUSIC] Do not worry about remaining pencil lines beneath the watercolor. It is part of what watercolor pencil is, even if some brands do better than others with blending capacity. I learned to embrace the way watercolor pencil work looks like, and I think we can take advantage of those pencil lines to create more texture in an art piece. For an apple like this one that there is not much of an issue. The lightest part has been taken care of. We can keep moving onto the red areas section after section. [MUSIC] When it comes to the bottom shadow, we're not painting inside a shape here. Instead, the very bottom of the sheet should remain white and we need to blend a pretty dark tone of brown right next to it. To manage easily, let's once more move from light to dark. Similarly as what we did in the first exercise. With a wet paint brush, I start adding water underneath the coloring and I move up slowly because the closer we get to the apple, the darker the color is going to be. By moving in this direction, we make sure to keep the bottom of the shadow very light and the top a lot darker. [MUSIC] I'm going to try this with my heat gun. Remember to wet the paint brush, then remove the excess water with a paper towel. To clean the paintbrush and repeat when switching areas. To outline important areas with a wet paint brush. To keep shape accurate with stokes, to afford any back-and-forth, and to always move from light to dark areas. I hope this lesson helps you better understand how to use watercolor pencil. Feel free to add photos of your work in progress in the project section of the class. Let's add some depth to this apple in the next lesson. [MUSIC] 9. Apple Part 4 : Shadows & Texture (Coloring): [MUSIC] Our apple is looking great already, but we could add some vibrancy and a few shadows to keep a nice contrast to it and make it look all the more realistic. This is why in this lesson, we'll be coloring some more to place the shadows and increase texture and vibrancy. We'll be using all five pencils. I add more yellow to the stamp. [MUSIC] It's still lacking shadow, but with brown, it doesn't come out so well and it's a bit boring. This is why I picked blue. Blue is a cool color and it's perfect to bond with red and yellow, warm colors, and add nice contrasting shadows to our apple. [MUSIC] Let's add some in the hollow area of the apple too. [MUSIC] More red, the dark version of it this time as a way to add subtle shadows in some of the red parts and also texture with more lines to emphasize the round shape. [MUSIC] On the left side of the apple, since this is the lighter one in the reference photo, I suggest you stick to the bright shade of red from our vibrancy there and take advantage of layering to add lines and more texture. [MUSIC] Towards the right, we can switch to the dark red pencil because this area clearly is darker on the photo. [MUSIC] Don't forget to layer both shades of red where they meet to make sure the transition comes out smoothly. [MUSIC] Let's add yellow now on top of this. I insist on the left side where there's more of it. I'm really looking for vibrancy here. This is why I press harder with a pencil at this stage. I want to fill out the remaining tooth in the paper with it. It is okay to do now since we already have a base layer. [MUSIC] Let's add a bit on the right side too to tie these colors together. [MUSIC] We're going to add a little bit of blue to the right side of the apple for striking shadows. We don't need too much of it. A little will go a long way once we add water. [MUSIC] Remember to layer a second time to add the vibrancy, shadows, and texture. To use a cool color like blue to balance warm colors when possible. To add very little of the darkest color, here blue, for subtle but striking shadows. That's it. Wait to see until we blend it all in. Let's meet in the next lesson to do just that. [MUSIC] 10. Apple Part 5 : Shadows & Texture (Painting): In this lesson, we're going to blend our second layer of watercolor pencils, and I can't wait to see how the apple turns out. We're going to proceed exactly like we did last time we blended the colors on this apple. Let's start with the stem, light greenish part first, dark brown and blue parts next. [MUSIC] Like we did before, we want to clean the paintbrush since there are dark pigments on it now. In this area of the apple, remember we added a little bit of blue for the shadow. I wouldn't want to muddy the yellowish parts that's above. I'm going to blend it first and avoid touching the dark blue parts. Now we can blend the darkest parts. [MUSIC] Finally, the red parts. Remember to move the paint brush as if the area was round like on a real apple. [MUSIC] I clean it, then dab the paint brush, and now we can move on to the left side of the apple. We keep moving as if this was a 3D surface, so our strokes emphasize shape and help create realism. No back and forth, instead, we want clean strokes to keep all the coloring beneath from melting into one single color. I suggest to keep the darkest parts the last. [MUSIC] You can see here how the blue pigment we added is coming through and how it helps create an impression of shadow. [MUSIC] At the very bottom of the apple, we're going to blend the shadow in the exact same way we did before. We start by adding water on the paper all around the shadow, and we merge toward to base of the apple where the colors are darkest. [MUSIC] Great job on getting to this point, we're almost done. I'll see you in the next lesson to add the highlights and some fun details. [MUSIC] 11. Apple Part 6 : Highlights & Final Details: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we're going to paint the fun details and highlights. You will need a scrap piece of any watercolor paper you have, some white gouache, or white gel pen if you don't have gouache, and the yellow watercolor pencil we used in the previous lessons. [MUSIC] Let's drop some of the white gouache on the scrap piece of paper. We're going to thin it a bit with water so it becomes creamy. [MUSIC] Next, I grab my second paintbrush, the brown one I showed you in the lesson about supplies, and I'm going to wet this area of the apple. [MUSIC] Let's drop the white gouache there now and clean up the edges with our round paintbrush to help them fade into the painting better. [MUSIC] We can repeat this technique elsewhere on the apple, where highlights are visible. This is going to emphasize the shape even more and increase realism in this apple. [MUSIC] Something very fun to do now is to splatter paint on the apple, to create additional texture and add color. To do that, we need liquid paints so we can make splatters. How do we get liquid paint at a watercolor pencil? It's not as hard as you might think. All you need to do is scribble on a scrap piece of paper with a pencil and then reactivate the paint and pick it up. The only problem is yellow is not going to show very well on these reds. To fix this, let's mix it up with a little bit of gouache. [MUSIC] I splattered the mix all over now. It's perfect to create more of those little specks of colors that we can see on the reference photo. When you splatter it, be mindful of the amount of water on your brush. Too little water and the splatters don't come out. Too much and the splatters will be huge and dry, very light. If you're not sure, you start with little water, try splattering and add a bit more if it doesn't come out easily. [MUSIC] To add highlights with the gel pen, simply tap the gel pen in the lightest place. Because the wires that come out of it are very sharp, I like to fade them with my finger. [MUSIC] Remember to thin white gouache to create subtle highlights. To use a gel pen for sharper highlights, turn them down with your fingers if you need to. To scribble, reactivate, and use the mix as liquid watercolor paint, to mix liquid watercolors to white gouache to make them opaque, and to adjust the amount of water for the splatters. Congratulations for finishing this apple, please post your finished project to the project and resources section of the class, and see you next for some final thoughts. [MUSIC] 12. Final Thoughts: Congratulations for completing this project. Please post your painting to the project gallery and let us know how you enjoyed working with watercolor pencils. You're welcome to let me know what you thought of the class with a review and if you'd like to keep in touch, follow me here on Skillshare. You can also find me on Instagram, and YouTube for more about watercolor pencils. To connect there and show your work, use the hashtag createwithfrancoise. Thank you so much for watching this class with me today and see you in the next one.