Transcripts
1. Welcome to Class!: Painting silhouettes has been a
trend for so long. And there's a reason for that. Actually, there
are many reasons. So one, It's much easier to paint just
silhouette instead of a detailed object with all its
colors, lights and shadows. And much quicker too. Two
by painting a silhouette we Emphasize the background and
all its beautiful colors. And three - this way we give
our painting a minimalistic look. But at some point it gets boring and all your paintings look the same. So what if I tell you
that you can still keep the quick,
enjoyable process but Make your silhouettes looking
more interesting, complex, fresh, with lots of space for interpretation
by the viewer. In other words, take
them to another level. It's possible and
is exactly what we're going to do in this
class. Hello everyone. My name is Elina and I'm a watercolor artist
based in Bulgaria. I've been bending with watercolours for more than four years. I took my first watercolor
class here at Skillshare. And honestly it took
me quite a while to gather the courage and try to
paint something on my own. I started with simple
and easy subjects and silhouettes but then I quickly realized that
my silhouettes look flat, boring, and too harsh
against my beautiful skies. I started to experiment with all the different ways
I can improve them. It was totally worth
it because I found some simple tricks
that help me paint more interesting and
eye-catching silhouettes while still keeping the easiness
and simplicity. In this class, I'm going to share with you my favorite tips for improving
watercolor silhouettes. I promise that they're
going to be quick and easy. We'll practice them on a
separate sheet of paper and then we're going to combine them
all in our final project, which is this beautiful and
mystical desert landscape, I'll keep the class short
and sweet exactly what a watercolor class about
painting silhouette should be. This class is for you if you are a beginner or
intermediate student, and you're looking for simple
ways to improve your art. Are you already,
in the next video, I'll tell you more about the
class and the final project.
2. Class + Project Overview: Welcome back. In this video, I will tell you more about the class structure
and the final project. So as I promised in this class, I'm going to share with
you my favorite tips for improving watercolor silhouettes. Each tip can be used separately or in combination
with the others, depending on what
you want to achieve. I often combine them all
together for a really complex-looking silhouette I will demonstrate the tips on a separate sheet of paper at the end of the class, we will use the techniques
that you've just learned to paint one of my
favorite subjects, this desertscape, though it
might look a bit complex. the process
of creating it is simple and I will guide
you every step of the way. For the purpose of this class, I will focus only on
painting silhouettes. So if you're interested in
how to achieve beautiful, smooth and vibrant backgrounds, I suggest that you first take
my class "Dreamy sunsets" There you'll learn
more about my process. How I choose the
color combinations, how I keep my paper
wet for much longer, or how I get these
nice fluffy clouds. Otherwise, I will see you in the next video where
I will tell you more about the materials
that you're going to need in order to
complete the class.
3. Materials: In this video, I'll tell you
more about the materials that I will be using for
the rest of the class. It's not necessary to have
exactly the same materials. Just use whatever you
have available already. I'll start with the paints. In this class, I will use my art philosophy,
artist grade paints. They come in tubes and
I squeeze them here, but I also often use them
straight from the tubes. This way it's easier to get really saturated mixes
and dark colors. I just squeeze them like that. And when they're dry, they're ready to
use whenever I need smaller quantity of
paint or watery mix. I will also use this color from Sennelier, it is called Royal blue. If you don't have it, you
can mix some ultramarine with white gouache.
Again, you can watch. My class "Dreamy Sunsets" If you want to learn
more about how you can mix pastel colors easily, I'll mix my paints on
this ceramic palette. I love to use ceramic palettes because they're easy to clean. This is just an olive plate, so you can use a dinner plate or whatever else
you have available. Just make sure it's white. For brushes, I will use my Da Vinci Casaneo mop in size four it's
synthetic squirrel. You can use whatever big and soft brush you have available. And this is the same brush, but in size two, I'm not
sure if I'll use it, but I'll keep it close by in
case I need a smaller brush than the size four. This flat
brush by Daler Rowny, I will use only for the exercises when I will
paint some buildings, and this one comes in handy. Next, these brushes by Schimoni art. They're both synthetic and they keep their shape very well. I will use them for smaller
details and thin lines. For paper, I will use
Fabriano artistico or it's 100% cotton and, 300 GSM, you will achieve
the best results with watercolor on 100% cotton paper. If you don't have it,
you can still try and follow along with whatever
you have available. Just keep in mind that you'll
have different results. And some of the techniques
might not work. I will use this paper
tape to tape it down to my board so that it will stay
in place and won't warp. For the sketch, you will
need a pencil and eraser, and for the exercises, you may need a ruler. I will use this spray bottle
to activate my paints. And that's all the materials you'll need for today's class. Gather them all. And I'll see you in the next video
where I'll prepare my sheet of paper for the actual demonstration
of the tips.
4. Preparation: In this video, I'll
prepare my sheet for the demonstration
part or the exercise. You can follow along
or just watch and try to incorporate everything
in the final project. It's up to you. Usually I use the backside of the paper for such projects, you
can do the same. So first, I will tape, the edges of the
paper to my board. This helps to keep it
in place and it will also warp less when
you put water on it. Next, I will make a cross
in the middle of the sheet, which will separate it
into four equal parts. And in each of these
smaller rectangles, I will demonstrate the
different tip or technique. I will also paint some very
quick and simple backgrounds just for the purpose
of demonstration. So that you can better
imagine how to use those techniques if you want to learn more about backgrounds, washes and smooth skies, I will refer you again to
my class "Dreamy sunsets" where we dive deeper
into the subject and just in case you want to follow along with everything. I will show this process in real time and with instructions, you can always skip or watch at a higher speed if
you feel comfortable with painting backgrounds or if you don't want
to do the exercise. So I'll start with the first
one and the first step is to wet the entire
area with my big brush. Next, I will drop some indigo. You can add any
blue that you have, ultramarine, cobalt, petal
or Prussian blue. Then I'm adding some
viridian green. You can use emerald green
or any other blue-green. In this way, we quickly painted a simple northern lights sky. After the next one, I'm wetting it first again. This will be a
romantic sunset sky, so I'm starting with some
diluted yellow ochre. Any other yellow you
have should do the work. Next, I'm adding
some opera rose. You can add whatever pink, magenta or red color you have. I will drag it down
so they mix. In my case, they create this beautiful peach
shade and dragging it up. And I'm adding some blue on top. And our sky is ready. The next one is going to
be a tropical sunset. So we start all the same
way with wetting the paper. I take some
permanent yellow deep and permanent yellow, orange. Just any yellow and
orange will work. I take some red on top and some opera rose below, and then blending them all. I will add some
madder lake on top of the right to
make more pinkish. And I'm blending
everything again. For the final one, I'll
paint a simple dusk sky. Starting again with
some opera rose. I take some cobalt blue and add it in the upper part and then
blending them all. Some Indigo here
to make it darker, more intense opera
in the bottom part. And now I'll leave it to dry. Now that everything is dry, I will use my ruler to divide each of these skies
into two parts. and I will use those to
demonstrate how silhouettes look with and without the tips that I'm going
to share with you. If you do this, you
can use a pencil or a pen with waterproof ink. We're ready to finally
start with the tips, let's see tip number
one in the next video.
5. Tip #1: So tip number one is don't use black or at least
don't use just black. I know that when you
think about silhouettes, this is exactly
what comes to mind. But let me show you what I mean. For the purpose of this demo, I will quickly paint
some loose pine trees. So I start with a
line and then I will go my brush in a zigzag motion. I try to vary the
height and size of the pine trees
and some of them have more zigzag lines and some less because this
is how it is in nature. Some trees have more
branches than others. And so this looks good, but by using other colors, you can make it look more 3D, interesting and professional. And you'll invite the eye of the viewer, to spend more time wandering around your painting. And in our day and age, online space is so
saturated with images. The last one is becoming really important if we want
our art to get noticed. So what do I mean
by other colors? Instead of black, you can
use any dark color that you find suitable and that you think will match
your background. In this case, we have
a cold winter night, so dark and cold color
would seem appropriate. So this is black. And this is indigo. You see how much more deepness, saturation and different nuances we see here compared
to the black. And you can mix just a bit
Indigo with your black. It will still do the work. If you want a more muted shade or one that is closer to black, If you have a more
warm or purple sky. You can mix indigo with a cold red to achieve
a purplish shade. In our case, we can mix
indigo with emerald green to mirror the
colors from the sky. You can experiment with the
colors that you have in your palette and try and mix
some of them with indigo, Payne's gray, violet, or any other dark color
that you have, and it even doesn't have
to be a dark color. You can dilute it with water to achieve a more misty effect. Let me paint some pine
trees using those mixes. I will use them all to
paint a separate pine tree. You can even add different
nuances to the same tree, and this will make it look even more complex and realistic. You can already see
how the pine trees that I paint now look more cohesive with
the background and they match the mood of it, so well, while the
ones on the left are more like cut-out and
you can mix and match. You can add some pine trees
with black in front of this. This will create the
feeling of perspective. I will dry this now. Here is a close-up.
6. Tip #2: Off to the next one, I
will take indigo and I will add it to this pool
of colors in my palette. I will add more
madder lake to make it more purple This is the shade that I got something between very dark blue and purple. Now we'll use this
color to paint some buildings just like that, using the shape
of my flat brush. But first I'll paint some with black to show you the
difference between both. And on the right
side I will paint more buildings with my
blue purple mix. So tip number two is, use different color
values with watercolor, this means adding
more or less water. So instead of using the same mix for the entire silhouette, you can add more or less water. And again, this creates a
feeling of perspective. And it makes the silhouette look more complex and interesting. It also creates an illusion of light in the lighter areas. Those where we add more water. So going to the right, I use more and more
water in this creates. The feeling that
there is more light, maybe the sun is behind
those buildings. And you can also lift some of the color to create
a lighter value. You just need a more stiff
brush that is dipped in clean water and then
wiped on a clean towel. So I use that to
lift some color and this way create
lighter buildings. I wipe my brush every
time I pick some color, then I wash it with clean water
and I repeat the process. I will paint some darker
buildings in front. And this is my sunset sky. You can see how much more
interesting the buildings on the right look and
it took me just a couple of minutes to
create that effect.
7. Tip #3: Tip number three is
add a different color. Let me show you
what it looks like. I will quickly paint a
palm tree with some greenery. I will use black for the
purpose of demonstration because this tip helps
even if you're using black, but also in each rectangle, I want to demonstrate just one of the tips so that
it's more clear. If you're interested in how to paint quick and easy palm trees. I also have a class for that. You'll also learn
a nice trick for painting the most
effortless skies. I'll continue with
the greenery on this side and I'll paint
another palm tree. Now, I will add
another color on top. So this is where the royal
blue comes in handy, is my favorite color to use
for detail on silhouettes. And I believe that this is
true for many other artists. It's opaque color and you can add it on top of darker colors, usually with watercolors, we
layer from light to dark. But when the colors are opaque
or even semi-opaque, you can use them to
layer on darker colors. Just make sure you're
using a thick consistency. Sometimes I also like
to add red because it really pops out and it's a
nice color for details. This yellow-orange
is also working well. So how to know which
colors would work? Look for this symbol on
the tube or the pan, it shows if the paint
is transparent, semi-transparent,
opaque, or semi-opaque. You can also check the
manufacturer's website for more information about
colors you are using. The shape can also be
a triangle or square. It's not necessary
to be a circle. And sometimes even
transparent colors work if you take a
thick consistency, but keep in mind that usually they're not
the best choice. I add some royal blue here where
I imagine the shadow parts would be just some color spots
with no particular shape. And some orange on the leaves suggesting that the warm light from the setting sun is
reflecting on their surface. And very important, adding a different color
doesn't necessarily mean adding as a detail. You can change the color
you use as a base, which is a great
way to introduce variety and make your silhouette look much more interesting. What I'm doing here
with the greenery. Here's the close-up.
8. Tip #4: And finally, for
our dusk painting, I'll start with black. I will paint a house
with my flat brush. And here we have a fence. And on this side I will
paint another house. So tip number three
is add more details. This always makes
the silhouette look more realistic and interesting. Even if it's just
some dots or lines or even a dry brush effect like what I have
here on the fence. This immediately
creates the illusion of something more complex, something that you spent
some time working on. Instead of just putting
together some shapes. Here, I'll add some dots on the roof that will
imitate the tiles. And I will paint a chimney. Some dots here and there. Some tiny lines on the fence. Some greenery peeking. We don't know what some
of the things there, but they make a huge difference. You can also add some birds. So this is my finished painting. I will remove the masking tape. So as I said in the beginning, you can use just one of the tips or combine
them altogether. Usually when I paint, I use all of them and this
even makes my process more enjoyable and diverse,
much more interesting. Here's again, a
close-up with all the little paintings we create. I really like this part here where I used more diluted color. Here's the sunset city again. See how flat the left
part looks compared to the one on the right with
its many color values. And for this one, I think the orange and red highlights really adds to the painting, making the palm trees really
look like a part of the scene. I'm not sure about the
royal blue details here in these
tropical landscape, but I just wanted to
show you how they look. And for the last one, I really like the tiny
details I added here. And the best part is that
you don't need to be precise or to know what
exactly you're painting. Just put some brush marks
on the paper and it should be enough to create the
illusion of details. So I hope that you had fun with this exercise and
now you're ready to start painting your final project We'll make the sketch
in the next video.
9. Final Project - Sketch: This video will make the
sketch for our final project. I've already taped my
paper to my board, decides is about a tree, but you can use a size that feels more comfortable for you. So let's start with the sketch. We just need to draw the
mountains and it's not necessary to copy exactly the
shapes from the reference. I hold my pencil high and
I make tiny wobbly lines. Our time one tracing the
edges of the mountains. For the camel, I will start with more simple geometric lines because it's a complicated
subject to sketch. I use this technique every time I'm drawing something
that is more complex, it really helps to get
the proportions right. And when you've done with that, you can start defining the shapes and
adding more details. So now I'm drawing the hump. Here, it has some
kind of handles. Now the neck the year end this now. Now the neck again. Whoa, we did doesn't work. Okay. I'll fix it. I guess I need a
bigger curve here. Here the leg is like an
extension of this part. The Bailey. I always
find camels legs. They have to sketch. They all seem to look differently shaped. But they tried to follow
along with the reference. Here we have some things
that the camel is covered with some
parts of the saddle. I think I re, I will show you the lightly
so that I can better imagine what it will look like when it's
filled with colors. I'm happy with it.
So I will just draw some lines that are actually
the camels brittle. And this is it for this sketch. In the next video, we'll paint the sky. I'll see you there.
10. Painting the Sky: In this video, we'll
paint the sky. We won't be taking too
much time for this because the accent flower painting
will be none the sky, but the mountains or dungeons
and the camel itself. So I will use the big brush to wet the entire sheet of paper. I always tell my
students not towards the tip as it is
extremely important. You want the surface
to be evenly moist and I'll website with a paper towel
because I don't want some drops of water
to go back to my sky. Once I'm done with it, I'm making sure
everything's evenly moist. And they'll start by taking
some permanent yellow deep. I will add some blame onto it. The mixture is watery. We'll use this to paint the
lightest area of the sky. Hello, my name is
circle like that. And I'll add more concentrated permanent
yellow deep below. On the far right edge, I will add some permanent
yellow, orange. This way we create the light in our painting going
farther from the sun, we use darker colors, blend everything, and I drag some of the color
down into the desert, just saw the data in half. I heard it when it's dry. Now I've washed my brush
with clean water and I wipe it on my towel and I will
fix this pool of water here. So I'm taking the
excess water and I wipe my brush on
my paper towel. Finally, I will add more intense colors to the
bottom part of the sky, overlapping again
with the mountains. Now I take a very watery
mixture of lighter color. I adapt my brush
in a paper towel and I go over this part again, just making sure that
everything is smooth there in that instead of
the white from the paper, I have this very light, transparent yellow, which is the light
coming from the sun. I wipe it again whenever I feel I picked up too much color. I want the upper area
to remain super wide. Now, I will leave this to dry, and in the next video
we'll paint the desert.
11. Painting the Desert: My sky is now completely dry and now start
painting the desert. We'll start by painting the wider hills that
are in the back first. So I'm taking some
yellow ocher and I add to that some
permanent yellow deep. We want that color to be darker than the sky, but not too much. So we want to paint those
mountains the way we see them in the photo reference
with all those jagged edges. To achieve this effect, instead of holding
your brush like that and getting a
smooth mountain, I will hold it vertically and we'll wiggle it up and down. Now, I see that my
brush is too dry, so I'll take some more water and now added to the mixture, you want to have a lot
of water and paint on your brush in order to paint
the entire mountain quickly. Otherwise, some parts of it
may dry before you finish it, and it will result in
patches or blooms. I take as much liquid as
possible on my brush. And now I'll start with
the first mountain. I'm fixing the edge
while it's wet. And now I wash my
brush and I add some clean water to smooth
out the edges here. We'll add darker color on top so they won't be visible,
but just in case. Now, I will leave this to dry. You can do the same or
just use a hairdryer. It's up to you. My first mountain is completely dry and now I will
paint the next one. We'll use the same process
for the rest of the desert, adding more and
more darker colors for each mountain
that comes next. So now we have to prepare
a bit darker mixture. I'm taking the same colors, but this time I add
some permanent orange. I will add a bit of
permanent brown to getting these earthy orange mix. And I'm starting with
the next mountain. Again. I'm washing my brush
and I'm smoking the edge. I'm leaving this tray. This is now dry and now prepared the mix for
the next mountain, I think permanent
brown to whatever I have left here on my palette. As I'm tasting the color, I see that I needed to
be more concentrated. And I add some more
paint to the mix. And you can use each
next layer to cover some areas from the previous
one that you don't like. Well done. These
goals are to us, I'm going to add a
bit of texture to it. Just sound worse marks with the same color but more intense. Once I'm happy
with how it looks, I'm leaving this to dry. And for the last month than
the one that is closer to us, I'm taking some permanent brand. I'll add to that
ultramarine blue and I get this brownish
purplish color. I really liked a lot. And I'll paint a
mountain the same way that they painted
the others before. I will now change the value by adding some pure
ultramarine here. I think some to the mix as well, and I continue to the right. And then we'll finish with
some more ultramarine. I will splatter some clean
water while it's wet. Spots with pure ultramarine. Here on the right. Some more splatters with clean water and we are
ready with the Desert. You see how interesting this
last mountain looks when we added some change in value
and another color to it. And the one behind has a vowel
change because it's more distant and we see fewer
details and colors there. So this way we created a
feeling of perspective, but also with painting
each of the models with different colors
getting whiter and whiter when it gets
closer to the sun, leave this to dry,
and I will see you in the next video where we'll paint the camel and then we'll be
ready with our desert scape.
12. Painting the Camel: Okay, in this video, we'll paint the camel
and then we'll be ready with our final project. So starting by putting
some water here, this will help the
colors to blend well, instead of drawing in patches, I'm taking some permanent brown and I'll start
with the head. I'm just filling the shape with a water mixture of
permanent brown. Getting closer to the neck, I will change the color
slightly by picking some of that ultramarine
permanent brown mix. And then I'll continue
with the hump using permanent brown in the front and the
darker mix on the back. Now, bend the front legs
with the dark mix again, you need a brush with
a sharp D for that. You can already see how
the puddle of water is helping me to get smooth
blends between the colors. I'm painting the value
with the darker mix. Again. I'm filling the
entire shape here. For the last part,
I'm adding more blue to the mix and I'm
filling in the shape. I think more darker
color here and there. And with my rigor, I will paint it down
lines that are here. I want to add some
orange here and snout, the part that is
closer to the sun. I blend it with the rest. Now I'll make some colors,
boats for details. What are some ways that may
be a part of the saddle? They're usually very colorful. Some dots and lines
here and there. I do the same with ultramarine, but it's not very visible. So I'll switch to write a book, taking it straight from the tube and making some spots
here and there. I really like the contrast between this color
and the right. Place, the red in the parts
where the highlights should be and the blue in the
more shadowy part. I'll make sense
potters again here. And finally, I will
sign my painting. I started signing my
paintings only recently. It's a great way to
feel better about your finished work and
yourself as an artist. Because you are all artists, no matter if you
do this full time or just for fun whenever
you have some time. Now let anyone tell
you the opposite. Now we'll remove
the masking tape. This is our finished painting. I'm really happy with it. You see that with some
simple techniques, we managed to create a
nice atmosphere and to turn plane silhouettes into something that is
more eye-catching. Maybe even telling
a story and making the viewer wonder what it
is exactly what's there. We'll wrap up the class in the
next video. See you there.
13. Wrapping up the Class!: Congratulations on
completing the class, that you had fun and that you learned something new today. I believe the main takeaway
is that with watercolor, you don't need to
spend too much time or effort to create a
beautiful result. I'm curious to know
which is your favorite. Now forget to post your project in the project
section of the class. If you want to get
notified about my future classes,
just give me a foul. If you post your
project on Instagram, don't forget to tag me and I'll be happy to share your work. If you have a question for me, just post it in the
discussion section of the class and I will get back
to you as soon as I can. I hope to see you soon in the
next class, have fainting.
Elina Zhelyazkova, Watercolor Artist
