Watercolour Cardinal Painting

1. 1 Intro: Hello. My name is Nehal. I'm an artist and designer with fine arts background. Welcome to my class on watercolor gardiner Illustration. I love painting flowers and burs. In past few years, I have created lots of burs illustrations. I mostly work with combining loose and modern watercolor technique. If you are a bird lover and adore the beauty of this pretty cardinal, but struggles with drawing, then this class is for you. In today's class, we will go over about everything you need to know on cardinal watercolor painting. We're gonna be going over bird anatomy, how to draw cardinal, how to paint it using layering technique, and many more. I have also provided a cardinal sketch which you can dress and start painting. As a special gift, I have added a bonus video which includes sample illustrations created using the same cardinal sketch. At the end of this class, you can choose any one of three projects, or you can create all of them. We will be covering a lot today. Don't worry. I have divided it into small chunks, so it will be easy to follow. So let's not waste any more time and hop on to the next video. 2. 2 Art Supplies : Are the all art supplies we will be needing for cardinal per illustration. This is a print paper, which I will be using for a step by step cardinal sketch demo. This is a watercolor paper, which we will use for painting. It's a Canson 140 pound cold press paper. Then we will need pencil for drawing. These are two, three types of brushes, small and medium. Small brushes we will use for details like W and I. Then this is a white marker to add highlights. This is a 0.1 pane for outlining. We will need an eraser, paper towel, and clean water container. About paints, I'm using Miglo Mich and Gold color palette. I usually mix my colors here, it's very comfortable for me. This space is dedicated to mix warm colors, and this is for cool colors. You can use any other brand whichever is available with you. It's right if you don't have any of these art tools like black or white markers. I will guide you how to paint without them. Next, we will see how to choose reference images for painting. 3. 3 Reference Images: I draw and paint birds mostly from reference images. Personally, I find it difficult to paint birds from imagination. While choosing a reference image for painting, these points will definitely help you. Focal point, your photo should have some point of interest to make it worth painting, avoid clutter, proper lighting. Take the lighting of your reference images, avoid overexposed or underexposed images, then good quality. Look for the high resolution photos where you can see all the details of subject, which you can capture in your illustration. Composition. Consider the pose, angle, and position of your main subject. Last and most important point is copyrights. Please do not use or paint from a photo unless you know it is free of copyrights. Let me show you some examples of reference photos I would want to paint. These photos would make a great reference for a number of reasons. There is a beautiful contrast between background and foreground. There is a strong she. There is a good arrangement of subject. High resolution images will always help you to translate the details on paper. Let me show you a couple of examples I would avoid as a reference photo. Some issues I can see with these reference photos are composition wise. Overall, it looks messed up. There is no strong focal point. Branch is equally focused with bird. Main subject is blurred. You can't see the details well enough to capture in your painting. Then in this case, too many subjects. Other subjects are dominating the main subject like the bird feeder and the female cardinal. Almost everything is in focus. Now you understand about choosing reference images. Let's see bird anatomy in next lesson. 4. 4 Bird Anatomy: To properly draw and paint birds, you have to know some basic anatomy of the outside of a bird. There are many more terms than those are listed here. Some are appropriate for one bird and not for others, such as cardinal has crest, eye ring, and wing bars. Some birds have these characteristics and others doesn't. Here I have created a diagram for your reference. Now you know the word anatomy. Let's see how to draw a cardinal step by step in next video. 5. 5 How to draw cardinal : Before start the drawing of any bird, first observe a couple of things. Simply see how big is the head in comparison to the body, how long is the tail and the shape of the big, et cetera. Every bird has different body proportions. Let me show you a easiest way which will definitely help you drawing any bird. Let's start with a reference photo. Now I'm explaining you digitally, but you can use a print of reference photo or YouTube try digitally using iPad or any other drawing tool. Okay, let's start building a simplified structure by using basic shapes like lines and circles. It will give you the idea of his body parts and its proportions. Look for his position and draw a line in that direction, then this oval for the body, a circle for a head, a line for B, I, then look at the tail angle and draw a line, then legs. Here you got the basic structure. You must be wondering how these shapes will help us drawing a bird. Now I will quickly transfer it to paper and show you how we will use this structure to draw a bold. Follow the same sequence and draw the structure, slanting line for his posture, then a body, then head, then bill line, and tail. Draw the lines for fits. Now we have got the basic structure. Let's join these parts. We'll start from B. We will be drawing around these reference lines. Draw the crest, black face and I. Note that I is closer to his bill. Now join the head and body with gentle curve. Now let's add more counters for his back and wings. Don't hesitate to correct your shapes. Those lines are just for reference. Now let's draw the undertail coverts. Observe the tail feathers. They are underlying on each other and draw accordingly. Now let's move to fits. Look at the reference picture, check the thickness of his fits and draw accordingly. The fingers are long and thin. Notice how his fit took a perfect shape to embras a branch. Before drawing a second leg, I'm going to quickly outline a branch so it won't look hanging. Now adding nails. Let's draw the second leg. Let's draw the other wing which is behind his legs. You can see it partially. I'm just making some of the lines prominent so you will see it clearly. Also adding some details on his being. Now you know how to draw a word using basic shapes. Next, draw it on watercolor paper or use dressing provided in the project section. 6. 6 Outline: I have already sketched the cardinal on watercolor paper. Hope you have done it too, grab a point on micron pane. Here I have left the multiple pencil lines just to show you how to get rid of them. I usually draw very lightly and avoid outlining. It's not a rule, but my personal choice. Many of you must be drawing bid first time, so it is right to have multiple pencil lines to get the correct shape. By practice, gradually, you will learn to draw with minimum strokes. If you have traced it using a stencil provided in the project section, then you probably have less chances to have multiple pencil lines. Anyways, I'm using a 0.1 micron pen. You can use any other fine line markers like Sharpie. Don't press it too hard. Just try to draw on that exact shape so we can erase the rest of the lines. This outlining should work as a reference line, not as a thick black line which will disturb our printing. Let's erase the unnecessary pencil marks, and we are all set for painting. Next, we will have a look at how to choose color. 7. 7 Cardinal colors: Choosing a color palette, observe the subject carefully. In this case, we'll start from crest. There is a slight rome yellow. Then yellow orange on his face. Then orange red on his bill, then pure red on his body. Next, for wings, there are shades of browns. Let's start from reddish brown, brown and black for face, and to mix in with other browns to get more darker shades of tail feathers. Usually, I avoid using direct black for muddiness. Instead, I use blue, but in this case, we can use black. Next, we will start with painting. 8. 8 Cardinal base layer: Usually start painting with applying clean water wash, leaving white spaces in between. Considering the light source, we'll apply light application of yellow orange as a first layer to a body of bird. As I mentioned, I am using Miglo Mission gold colors. Every brand will behave differently, meaning in pigment intensity. Now we'll slightly alter the color with red orange to add gray strokes. Now quickly wash the brush and blend the colour strokes. To take the extra color out, you can use the brush or use a corner of paper towel, hold it like this, and press and lift up. Next, apply water and continue adding Blair to bird's body. While the color is real weight, we'll go ahead and add different hue, it is creating interesting texture as the colors are bleeding themselves. With layering technique, we start with lighter applications and gradually get to darker applications. We'll progressively add the darker values instead of adding them quickly. It will be difficult to lift up darker values to make them lighter in some cases, whereas it is always easier to start with light odes and work your way to dark. As the belly base layer is done, let's move to undertail coverts and wing feathers. You're using a different hue. Note that when watercolor paint dries, it looks much lighter. So this patch over here will look lighter when dried out completely. Next move to wing feathers. Let's start with pack. Look at the reference image. Now we need to introduce brown for wing feathers. Use a little bit of orange and then reddish brown. Just to let you know that the other side of palette is out of frame, I have loaded my brush with reddish brown color. Look for the feather directions and apply your brush strokes in the same direction. Don't worry if you put too much pigment at a time. You can always lift it up with your brush, take it out on your paper towel. Simply hold your brush in slanting position and use a tip of your brush to add thin strokes. Don't need to add details to them right away. We can add them in layers. Now, loaded the brush with black color, applying it at the end of the fans, and then moving to black face. Apply the water wash and then gently touch the loaded brush with black colour. Now we have covered almost 80% of bird with paste layer. Next, we will add mid tones to that. We'll paint Bill and tell letter. 9. 9 Mid tones : As we begin with the mid tones, we need to increase the pigment intensity. I have loaded my brush with orange red and adding the color in specific areas. You may need to work as quick as possible, wash the brush, take extra water out on paper towel, and blend those brush strokes with wet brush. If you do it slowly, then it will be difficult to blend those strokes very smoothly. While the color is still wet, load the brush with red and add it on specific areas. Always keep in mind that whenever you add high intensity pigment, use wet brush to blend the brush rocke smoothly. While adding midtones, take care of highlights, reserve the white, so it will create interest in the painting. Now moving forward, observe the darks and lights on the reference image and use the same process to add further mid tones. I tried to arrange the color palette in the frame such a way that you can see me mixing colors. It will be easy for you to understand the mixing and its application. Carefully leave the base layers and highlights as it is while applying further layers. I'm just applying the pigment on specific areas and quickly blending it with the help of clean wet brush. His belly part is almost done. Now we will move to his back and wing feathers. I have loaded my brush with brown color. Brown pigments are on the other side of palette. You won't see me loading the brush. Follow the same blending technique, apply the pigment, then clean the brush, and use the wet brush to blend the pigment. For wing feathers, darken the wing strokes and use orange as a best layer in those caps. At this point, you can switch to a smaller brush, so it will be easy for you to achieve thin strokes. Now go ahead and use darker brown. Use a little bit of black at the end of the wing feathers. Loading the brush with orange red and continue adding the strokes on wing bars. To add further darker values on wings, let's switch back to smaller brush. It's loaded with darker brown and applying it on specific areas. At this point, I'm going to go ahead and add more dark tones on his wings. Here we are done with adding med values on wing feathers. Now we will move to tail. Applying water wash with medium brush, now loaded the brush with orange red and applying it on specific areas. Now, using Brown to add it in between. At this point, we will continue adding another darker layer. This time, use a little bit of black and add it on specific areas preserving highlights. Now let's add midtones to undertake COVt feathers. You don't have to add the dark pigment all over it. Just put it on specific areas and blend it using clean weight brush. Do let this part dry. We will add further dark tones later till the time switch to smaller brush and let's move to Bill. For that, start with applying water wash, leaving some white spaces, then apply a base layer of yellow orange. While the color is still white, add orange and blend it smoothly. Follow the same process for the other part of Bill. Here we are done with mid tones. We still need to add darkest dark values, pint eye and legs yet. We will do that one by one. 10. 10 Dark Tones: Darkest dark and lightest lights are equally important in the painting. I have loaded the brush with reddish brown color. This will be a final color application, so this time, we will be using high pigmentation and least water. But we will be sticking to the same technique we use till now. Using the wet brush to plant these hard strokes. Just check it out darkest dark values on photo and try to transfer it on your paper. Darkest dark and lightest lights refer to values. How dark or light they are. The lightest light in a watercolor painting may be or recommended to be the white of the paper itself. To achieve that white, the paper is left empty, is not painted. You can see how I'm lifting up the extra color by brush and taking out it on Piper towel. Let's move to back and wing feathers and add another darker layer. I'm trying to get a feather shape with brush. There is a blood red on his face and collar. Let's take care of that. To plant those strokes, I'm using tip of clean wet brush. Notice after a certain time, I'm cleaning the tip of brush on paper towel. There is a bit of red under his black face. Observe all these tiny details and try to transfer it on your paper. Now loaded the brush with brown and adding it near the eye ring and collar. Et's move to back and wing feathers. I have loaded the brush with reddish brown color and using the tip of brush to add wing bar strokes. As we are applying darkest dark values, I'm using more pigment while applying strokes and then using water to blend it smoothly. This way, there won't be any sharp patches left behind. Now using a little bit of black to add on specific areas. It will create a depth in those wing bars. To add further dark strokes, I'm switching to a smaller brush so it will be easy to achieve thin strokes. As you see, we have already achieved low and mid values now simply add thin black lines, so it will create some texture over there. Blending this black patch with water, so it will create some depth over there. But at this point, we will continue adding the darker values underneath the rear wing, creating the shadow underneath the wings. Dark and light values now started communicating the bore form. With these darker values on brush, we'll continue to add some contrast on undertail feathers. It's time to add some black to create highest contrast. Adding one last layer on undertail covert feathers. Now, let's have darkest dark on his face. Though it is all black, be careful about preserving fight spaces. Now slightly blending the sharp edge of this black patch. Next, we will move to Bill, switching to a smaller brush loaded with orange red and adding it on specific areas. Observe the dark tones on reference photo and try to add it on the exact same area of Bill. Blend it with water. Now using darker brown and applying it on the right edge of W, let it dry till the time let's move to fit. Using the same smaller brush, it's loaded with light watery brown and applying it as a base layer. Now adding a bit pigmented brown only on the right edge. You're trying to create some texture on his feet. The other feet is quite darker as his body shadow is over there. Let it dry for another layer. We still need to paint the other wing. Let's load the brush with reddish brown and apply it as a base layer. For second layer, I'm using darker or blackish brown. Let's add one last dark layer on feet using blackish brown here. Using the same dark color and adding darkest dark on wil adding a very thin line as a bill separator. Next, we will paint an 11. 11 Eye : I grab a 0.1 micron pane or use any other fine liner. Make a circular outline like this. Make another one inside that as an eyeball on the upper side. I'm using the same brush as it has a good point, but you can use any other smaller brush like number zero or one. Using a pottery black and applying it on the outside of an eye and blending it immediately. Now using pure black for inside circle. Leave that white dot empty as a highlight. If by mistake, you painted the entire circle, then use a white marker to add a dot. Now, let's add some highlights on wings. If you don't have a marker, then use thick white paint and add it carefully. By adding lines with br, it could be a little tricky. I would recommend if you have a white pin, then that would be really helpful. Now let's add some thin dark lines with micron pen. That is it. We are done with cardinal pearl. Next, we will see the color palette for branch painting. 12. 12 Branch colors: Let's refer the photo and see what colors we can use for branch painting. There is a yellow ocher, then dark brown, reddish brown, brown and black. It is right. If you don't have a variety of browns, you can still paint with single brown by adding different hues like you can mix a little bit of orange and red to get reddish brown tint. For dark brown, you can add a little bit of black to it. Now you know the color palette for this. Next, we will start painting brown. 13. 13 Branch: For branch, I am using medium brush. I have changed the water so we don't get any orange pigment on branch. Also, I have flipped the color palette now so you can see the colors I'm using. Let's start with yellow ochre. Just pushing a bit onto a paper and dragging it with the help of clean water. Let's add a bit of brown. By now, you know the technique, apply the pigment and blend it with fat clean brush. Very likely we have got kind of first light coat here. You can see I have left little bit of whites here and there. Now let's grab a yellow occur again. But this time, increase the pigmented density. Applying it on specific areas, preserving highlights. Now I'm just dragging things along. At this point, we have enough mid tones on paper. Let's load the brush with darker brown. Notice the dark tones on reference image and accordingly try to transfer it on paper by using a tip of brush. Just touch it on specific areas. It's going to create a very sharp strokes, but don't worry. We will blend them quickly with clean weight brush. This way, we are trying to get some texture over here. While it's still wet, let's grab a darkest dark pigment this time mixing a little bit of black. As we are using black, be careful while adding it on paper. We need to add just right amount of black. Otherwise, it will look muddy. Again, work as quick as possible to avoid the patches of black. Blend them with clean wet brush. Mom At this point, switch back to a smaller brush. Use the same dark color and apply thin strokes carefully under the fit. Now blend them with water. This way, we got some shadows over here, and now it's looking more natural. We still need to add nails, so grabbing a 0.1 micron pen, draw nails and use small brush to blend that black ink. If you don't have micron pen, you can use gel pen or any other fine liner. That's it, and here we are done with our cardinal watercolor bird illustration. Next, there is a bonus video for you that will give you an idea how you can use the same sketch and make a variety of illustrations out. 14. 14 Bonus: Here is a special gift. Variations created using the same cardinal sketch. Here is project one. It is the same as we learned in the class, a cardinal sitting on a branch, which you can frame and hang it on a ball. Project two, a greeting card. It could be a holiday greeting card or a gift card. The mean subject bird, and its position is common throughout the options. I have just arranged a holiday decor elements and made a composition. Here is another example. Instead of pine cones, you can use pine needles and Hyberries. To learn to paint holiday decor elements, you can check this class in my profile and it will guide you. These are the samples for your reference. At the end of this class, you can choose any one out of these projects or you can create all of them.