Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, everyone. My name is Irina Trzaskos. I'm an artist and illustrator. Welcome to my studio to explore the magic of watercolor. In today's class, I will show you step-by-step how to paint a Poinsettia flower in three different styles. You can use Poinsettia flowers in all kinds of holiday art, such as greeting cards, gift tags, gift wrap, or even pattern design on fabric. I hope my classes will help you build a successful and beautiful portfolio. In the next video, I will show you the supplies we'll be using in this class. Let's get started.
2. Supplies: In this class, we'll be using following supplies: watercolor paint, watercolor paper, I'll be using, Canson cold press 140 grams, a paper towel, water, paint palette, a pencil, eraser. For illustrative style in ink and watercolor, I'll be using sharpened pen. You can use also ink or any pen you like, but just make sure it's waterproof. I'll be using a medium watercolor brush. This is called cassibile number 4. This small watercolor brush. This is called cassibile number 2. If you are painting bigger flowers, use the bigger watercolor brush. This is a square brush number 6. Also, I'll be painting some details with white ink, but feel free to use some white Japan or white glue wash if you like it better. To paint with white ink some small details, I'll be using cassibile number 0 old brush, and this is it. You can find the list of suppliers in a broader section of the class. In next, detail will be mixing colors for our flowers.
3. Mixing Colors: In today's class, we we'll be using a very limited color palette. For example, if we would like our pulsator flowers to be a warmer shade of red. For petals we'll be using a cadmium orange at the top and then we'll add some cadmium red to it. For very bottom in a cadmium red, we'll add a drop of green. This is our cadmium red with a drop of green. We have cadmium orange at the top, and then cadmium red and cadmium red with some green. Therefore we'd like our pulsator flower to be a colder shade of red then we'll be using carmen red. At the top of the petal we'll be diluting carmen red with more water. When you're getting to the darker part of the petal we'll add more pigment. There at bottom we'll add some emerald green to our carmen red. A colder shade of petals will be using only two colors, carmen red diluted with more and less water and emerald green at the end. If you would like to create cranial light flowers with some darker spots on them. We'll mix some cadmium orange with carmen red. We'll dilute it with a lot of water and it'll create very light petals. Here we used cadmium orange and carmen red and diluted it with a lot of water. Then when we want to add some darker spots, we'll use a carmen red. For our leaves we can use cadmium yellow and the green for, the classic green shade. When green gets darker, we can add a drop of ultramarine blue and of course use more pigment. Here we have cadmium yellow, green and ultramarine blue. If we would like our leaves to be more unusual color, we can mix some emerald green with a drop of purple. We'll get this unusual but very beautiful color for leaves. These leaves will look beautiful with a colder shade of the petals. Here we have purple and emerald green mixed together. For the the middle of the flower we can use cadmium yellow mixed with a drop of purple. Be careful with purple, it can be overwhelming. A little bit of green. Some of them [inaudible] have some red in it. We'll be using carmen red if we'll decide to add red to it. Here we have yellow, a drop of purple, green and maybe carmen red. These are the colors for our flowers. Next, we can start painting.
4. Poinsettia in Ink and Watercolor: So let's start off by setting up an ink and water color, illustrative style. So with a pencil, I'm just drawing one circle, just for composition, so I know where my poinsettia will be and a smaller circle for a middle of the flower. Next you can continue in drawing with a pencil, if you don't feel confident or you can start drawing right with fineliner. Makes sure your fineliner is waterproof because after we'll be applying water color on our fineliner drawing. So we're starting with five little circles and one in the middle and then between each circle will add a bigger circle and then some circles in between again. Continue until the shape is filled with little circles, this is the middle of our flower. Next will draw six petals. I'm leaving some distance between the petals. In illustrative style, we can get as creative as we want because it's okay if the drawing does not look realistic. We have our six little petals. Now between each little petal, we'll draw another bigger one. Then we will add more petals in-between. It doesn't have to be so symmetric but I'll say it could be symmetric. Inside of every petal we can add some decorative elements such as lines even patterns. Just try not to over do it. We can always add some more later. Also we can add some decorative elements between the petals, if you feel like it. As you see, I got my paper in the shape of the card. I'm going to add some more elements around the poinsettia flower before I start painting. Let's add a branch here. You can draw your branches anyway you like. You can branch here and one coming this way. I would like to have some eucalyptus branch with some leaves. Of course we always can add more branches after we paint our flower. I'd like to add complementaries. Just add as many elements as you feel like and the branch with tiny, tiny leaves. Here, I'm leaving some space for a topography. Later on I can edit on computer or by hand. I decided to add some berries here too. So I just get creative and add as many elements as you feel like. After we are done with our drawing, we can start adding color to our poinsettia. For middle I'm taking some cadmium yellow with a drop of purple. This is too much purple and this usually in illustrative style, I like to leave some spaces [inaudible] I decided to make this painting in warmer shades, so as we discuss during mixing colors by mixing some cadmium orange with cadmium red. Let's just start coloring the smallest petals and to give your painting outside the lines. After we've painted the smallest petals, we can start coloring the ones next to them. I am taking more pigment to do it. You can skip your petals sending them totally white, or you can start adding some petals right with the paint like this. In there I added some cadmium orange to my red just to change a tone with the paint and it will make the washes more interesting. Our poinsettia will be made red with some spots up orange here and there. Of course, I like topping white on it, which makes it more interesting. After our middle of the flower is dry, probably I shouldn't get a small brush, I'm adding some dots with green. As I'm taking some of this yellow with purple and color this some berries. I'm mixing a darker shade of red adding to it a little bit of green just to bring a little depth to our poinsettia. Make some darker strokes next to these small petals. I'll use this dark red for these berries, and the berries here. To my yellow I'll mix a little bit of green. This is too much. Add more yellow, and I will paint these leaves. For other leaves I'll mix some green with ultramarine blue. I'd like to darken some of the petals, so I am taking more red and more pigment on the brush and just add some depth to our flower it feels like we need here a leaf. There is a raise at the end, we can add more details with white [inaudible] , white ink or white brush. I have white ink here. Adding some white dots to the middle of the flower and also I'd like to add some qualitative details and maybe some dots on our leaves. The paint is still wet. This is our [inaudible] poinsettia with ink and water color.
5. Poinsettia in Painterly Style: For the painterly style for poinsettia I'll take some carmine. Starting from the middle of the flower, though, you just put some dots your colored brush. Next, I'll make some carmine red with carmine orange and I'll dilute it with a lot of water. Starting from the middle I'll start painting the petals. You can save the yellow from the middle of the flower getting into our petals. But this is the way how I like it. Some value watering watercolor, I'm painting the petals. I like to have a smaller flower right here. I'm starting with dots in the middle again, and just some small petals. Random brush and they're absorbing the excess of water on the petals. Next, for this small branch, I'll make some carmine red with a little bit of emerald green, to get the darker shade of carmine red. Next I'll add some detail to my petals. Some of the petals are still wet and you can see how beautifully the colors are blending together, and some tiny details of a little flower, and maybe few petals in between. Next I'll make some emerald green with a drop of purple for all this. Paint a branch and I'll add some leaves to it. Try not to control the watercolor during the painting is started, and some leaves here, and maybe one here. I think I should add more purple to my paint. Here more decorative branches. Also this serve the color add some decorative details to the middle of the flower, and then we put the middle brush with carmine red and some darker accent. Try not to over dot. Maybe few berries here. Here we'll reach out some spaces so if you fee like it. Maybe one leaf here, and few darker dots. This is our painterly style procedure.
6. Realistic Poinsettia: A realistic poinsettia flower requires time and patience, like any other botanical illustrations, and I have a reference flower right here. So we'll start the drawing. Try to make our drawing as loud as possible. I'm making it thicker so you can see it on camera better. So I'm starting with the circles in the middle of the flower. Then we'll draw the smaller petals. I think this is enough, and I'll start with the bigger petals behind them, very simple shape. It's very easy to draw. You can draw as many petals as you feel like, and here we'll have a leaf, which also looks like a petal, but they're just different color. After drawing, we can start painting our first layer. So for first layer, our middle of the flower, I'll mix some yellow with a drop of purple for more natural shade of yellow, and all first layer will be very watery. Here and there, I'm leaving highlights of white paper on the circles of the middle of the flower. Next I'll mix some cadmium orange with cadmium red for our petals for the first layer, and again, I'm diluting with a lot of water. While the petal is still wet, I can add a drop of cadmium red to the bottom of the petal. Make sure you have your paper towel next to you to dry your brush when you need it, and a little bit of orange on the top of the petal can look nice too. So I am just coloring [inaudible] every petal with this water and mix of watercolor. I will skip this petal until this one is dry, and some petals have more orange and others big ones have more cadmium red which keeps some interesting and different. For a bigger petals I'll use a medium water color brush. As you remember from other classes on painting a botanical illustration, it's important to let the layers dry in between. So I got some paint from this petal on the little petal and it's okay because it just first layer, by edging other layers we can still fix it. Use whichever brush you are most comfortable with. Few more petals left. So this is our first layer. It looks pretty flat and doesn't have any character. But we'll be adding more layers and we'll bring our flower to life, and we still have to color our leaf. So I'll mix some green and my yellow mix, and we'll just color it with a little watery tone. Now I have to let our layer totally to dry. After our first day is totally dry, we'll mix some color red with some emerald green. As a result I have this a beautiful burgundy tone and with a small brush with a lot of paint and not a lot of water on it. I'll paint this area in-between and the circles for our amino on the flower. If you need darker just add more emerald green tint. This instant that creates a focal point in our flower, which is the middle of the flower. It is important to have a good brush over this tiny detail. And the little water total variety to meet. This area is drying with and start a darker shades on our petals. So if garment rack with some orange, just we've more pigment and less water than in previous layer will start darkening some of the petals. So I can add some darker carving grad from the previous mix. For example right here, where it touches another petal and even start adding some texture. Petals are darker at the edge and in the middle. It's important to leave some fresh layers surface simple while doing this. Some of [inaudible] have a middle on the petal very dark. Next time switch and just monitor brush. I'll keep working on these smaller petals or a smaller textures. On these petals, I'll write it as I draw lines. Don't want to over work these letters piles but they still need some shadow, and of course this one. While our petals are drying, we can add some watery red spots on our leaf. [inaudible] with a lot of water and just add some spots on the one side of the leaf, like this. Next one is green, mixed with some yellow, on empty circle on the bottom I'll add a green shadow. Now our petals are dry enough to add some more details and textures to the petals. I added more carbon branch to around green and carmen red leaks, and with a small brush, I'm starting to add some texture to the petals. These petals looks so much like leaves. I think they are actually leaves which turn red. So you can skip some petals or you can just cover them all with some texture. I think this petal needs some more carmen red on this side. Next let's mix some green with ultramarine blue, and do the same for our leaf. While these areas are still wet, I want to add some ultramarine blue into it. Last details I'll add some carmen red with green. I feel like I need some darker spots right here, and p lines here. Of course, around you can add some more details, like branches, berries or anything you feel like, and cute berries. This is our poinsettia in a realistic style
7. Last Thoughts: Thank you for watching my classes. I hope you had a chance to paint with me. If you liked this class, please leave a review and upload the project to your project section of the class. I can't wait to see your beautiful holiday art. See you in my next class.
Irina Trzaskos, Watercolor Artist & Illustrator
