Transcripts
1. 0 Trailer: Name's Anna. I'm watercolur
artist, teacher, Smink and Devicibrand ambassador and a great lover of watercolor. And today, I want to
present you my workshop dedicated to very
interesting technique that is called wet on wet. It solves the difficulties that beginners in
watercolor would face. If the paper dries too quickly, if you don't have enough
time to make the washes, if you want these beautiful, transparent transitions and these gorgeous
loose large washes. And generally, if watercolor
is frightening precisely because of its speed
and uncontrollability, we will together paint a
beautiful landscape where atmospheric without
long pencil sketch. So it's just joy of
watercolor. So let's begin.
2. 1 About: So today, I will tell you about probably the
most difficult, but at the same time, the most easy and interesting and
cool watercolor technique, the wet on wet. So why do we need the wet
on wet technique at all? And what does it consist of? There's often confusion
in terminology. Sometimes this technique
is simply understood as watering the sheet and
applying wet paint to it. There is water in the paper, there is water in your paint, and generally,
it's called wet on wet when we are applying
wet paint on a wet paper. But today, I'm talking
not quite about this. The wet on wet technique
that I'll be talking about today is a separate direction
in watercolor painting. The main thing that
we will discuss today is the wetting the entire sheet of
the paper with water, soaking it completely letting it dry and only then
starting to draw. This technique is only
possible on cotton paper, and I will explain why cotton and lus papers are
different in their nature. Water doesn't penetrate
in the surface of paper, it's just sit on the top. If you try to pour
water and sillos paper, it will just stand on the surface which
looks pretty weird. In This case, I would not recommend you lose
paper, only cotton. Why? Because cotton
paper works differently. It's like a rag. It's soaked with water. It sticks to the tablet, and then the water stays
inside for a long time. This gives us
several advantages. Firstly, of course, and most important, it's
more time for work. A second advantage
that this technique allows to create very
beautiful washes, very soft transitions
and overflow. It makes the edges soft and
smooth and it gives you more time and you
can even work on the wash that was applied three, 4 minutes ago, 10 minutes ago. And if you have tried to paint
with watercolor even once, now you will understand well
what I'm talking about. In general, I really love this technique and I hope
you will love it too. At least, you will know
that such technique exists.
3. 2 Materials: So about materials,
what colors do we need? Here are my paints, yellow or, I will use it for the trees, perhaps a little in the
grass and even in the sky. Admum orange, it
will be combined with vermilion light,
a warm red color. These colors will help to emphasize the sunset
mood of the sky. Ultramarine, as always, is
present in all my paintings, and this is the paint
I use the most. I will mix gray colors
and clouds on it. Coberturdum is a soft blue
color, bright and pleasant. I will use it for the
blue parts of the sky. Then sub green. I use it for creating greens in combination with SEPA to
get dark and noble green, and I also love to mix
it with yellow ochre, to create kind soft green I
talking about tallow green, it's one of the
colors that I used to create a deep dark green shade, similar to the
shadows on the grass. I think I will
make brush strokes on the grass with this color. And of course, you can
mix green shade yourself. In fact, a little ad that I have a workshop dedicated to mixing greens and
watercolors, take a look. But mostly I prefer to use
ready made green colors. This is more a matter
of personal preference. So I will cover the
bottom strip of the grass with just
ready made green. Finally, I have white. Use a pack Titanium whites. Perhaps you will have a
very logical question. What are they for? White is needed to
create a pack clouds. If we look at the
reference photos, we can see that the
clouds are very dense, they are not transparent and they are darker
than the main sky. In this case, it will
be more convenient for us to use some whites in
the areas of these clouds. About brushes. In this case, natural brushes are more
useful and convenient. For example, it
could be squirrel, it could be imitation
of the squirrel. And I also use a lot
of Casaneo brushes. The imitation of the squirrel. This is natural squirrel. But in fact, there should
be some soft brushes. And this is good brush, and I use it for mixing
the pigment on the paper. Later, you will see how
it works in my painting. But generally, you need some soft brushes for applying these large
loose watercolor washes, and you will need
brushes for details. I have here synthetic brushes. The main thing about them
that they should have the sharp tip so that you
can control your stroke. Basically, it's
all and a pencil. And of course, a question
about the paper. I wouldn't recommend
some concrete brand because I don't
know where you live and what access to the
materials you have. But please choose
the 100% cotton. It's always indicated on the package that the
watercolor paper has this 100%
cotton. That's all. Also you will need
some tablet that is waterproof so it doesn't allow water to soak into the tablet.
4. 3 Pencil Paper Fin: And before preparing the paper, we will make a
quick quick sketch, pencil sketch, and
the reference photo, you can see in the right corner. But I decided that I will not draw the house
because I want this landscape to be
landscape and also a good thing is to use to have your reference
photos somewhere nearby. I have a stand for my phone
from Mica and it works well. The principle of making
sketch is just a applying some lines that will
mark our borders of our mountains and deciding where should
I have the tree? I think somewhere
here because I don't want my trees to be in
the center of the image, and I just draw the line that
marks my future tree here. Also it's very important
when you are thinking about what you are drawing, you are thinking about
what do you want to paint? You see as the ste
of the mountain a little because I like
to draw mountains. Of course, I want the
sky and all that, but on the other hand, I want the mountain
to be more visible. Again, you see I'm
reasoning and I understand that I want
the mountain to be high, but not that much
because at this stage, when you think about what
you're going to draw, you need to decide what's the most important
part in this painting. With all my love
to the mountains, I understand that this painting will be more about the sky, about this beautiful sky and these crazy clouds and
not about the mountains. That's why now I
load the mountains a little and now I have
a strip of land, a mountain, trees, and a cloud. Erasing all the
unnecessary lines that I have made previously, so that you understand
that all artists do this and all artists decide what they do in the
process of drawing. I decided not to erase all these episodes from the workshop because
it's important. How do we prepare the paper? Firstly, we make
a pencil drawing. Only after that,
we turn the sheet over and we apply lots of water. I have taken my big brush, which holds really much water and I'm super
generously applying the water on my sheet and make sure that the
edges are wet too. And when I applied the water, I carefully turn my paper and turn the sheet over and now coating it on the other side on the
face with clean water. Repeating, I'm doing it really generously and I pay
special attention to the edges and corners because this is where the
paper begins to dry. So it's the process when
we just apply water, apply, apply, and wait. There should be lots of
water because these lots of water creates the effect
that we will use afterwards, the effect of the water
inside the sheet. Um, then I lift the tablet and look at the light and
often appear bubbles. I think it's not
visible on the camera, but I see that have
bubble there in center and I carefully drive it beyond the
sheet with a soft brush. Why I have said that it's important to have
natural brushes or soft brushes because they
don't damage the paper. I try the bubble beyond the
sheet and in such situation, it's also possible that
you can lift the paper up, wet the place where the
bubble was on the other side, and then put it back and coat with the water
again on the top. So this operation takes time and then when the water is evenly distributed on
the sheet of paper, we wait until the paper
dries a little on top. What does that mean? How
can we determine this? We need the paper to almost not shine on top or
not shine at all. Depending on the room, humidity, sun, heating,
temperature outside, it takes from 15 minutes to probably 30 minutes
and during this time, the surface of the sheet
almost always stop shining. I'll say a few more words and then tell you how to speed
this up if you want to. But I personally prefer to
prepare my paints to think, maybe to make some coffee
while my paper dries. Why exactly I used
this technique, and in what cases do I use it? When I want to make
absolutely crazy washes, when I need more time to work, when I want to achieve
soft watercolor effects. You will see that the paper weighted in this
way works a little differently than paper that
is simply wetted from above. I also use this
technique wet on wet. When I paint very large
forms watercolor, it's for example, full watercolor sheet,
it's 56 to 76 centimeter. I just don't have time to
make and even wash while the paper is wet when the
paper is that big size. When I paint really large
sheets at the first stage, often I simply stick and
wet the entire sheep. Uh, make the first wash, and then when the paper dries, you can work on the dry paper. Now, regarding the fact that
we wait for a long time, how can we speed the process? I almost never do this, but for you to know
that it's possible, I will show you how to do this. So when the paper stops shining, take paper towels or napkins, but be careful with the texture of these paper towels because the texture of the towels can
be stuffed onto your paper. We, gently, very carefully
pull apply them on the top of the paper and gently
without pressing too hot, ironing them with the hands. And you can see that the excess moisture from the surface gone
into the naptin. You can do this. But for the first time
trying this technique, I will not recommend
do it because there could be some
strange things happening. Also important thing is to wipe off the water
on the tablet. Mm. Because if you have too much
excess water on the edges, this water could interact
with the pigment and there could be
the water flowers, so called water flowers. It's where the pigment
reacts with water. Here on the right side, I have showed you
a few examples of the other painting that
I made with this method. I'm using it often. Also, sometimes I just use my bathroom to water the sheet, I think for 10 minutes or so. This was a short discretion
to show you that this technique is really used
and it's really convenient. Now we can move to
painting our plot.
5. 4 Washes: I have decided that
the base color of the sky will be exactly
this cobbled serodum. It's very light blue. It's also very granulating, it will create the effect of something
interesting in the sky. Now I just mix the
amount of the paint. It's simply this
serodum in pure form. I'm taking the brush
with soft hair. Also in the second
hand, in my left hand, I'm taking the brush of gold, you will see because I simply blend the colors on the sheet. I apply these cobalt
and immediately begin to spread the paint
on the paper. In some places there could be
more paint in some places, it could be less paint and
it will look good if you don't have even
paint everywhere. I'm making here this place look more dark and
some place look light. When I want my paint
to be to look lighter, I'm like using just more water. This is yellow ochre and
because on the reference, we have this sunset. I'm applying this
yellow ochre and also mix some orange and some
red to create this filling. And I think you may have noticed that the paint works
differently on the paper that is prepared
in the way I showed you because the paper doesn't rush you and you
have time to spread all the paint to mix the paint to apply
the paint and so on. Also, it's important
here when you apply this yellow ocher
to be careful when this yellowish mix
goes to the areas where we have blue because
as you know, yellow blues. Blue gives us green and it's not good if we have
green in the sky. Just watch out when
you are in the areas where you have previously
applied this yellowish mix, this warm mix to create
the feeling of the sunset. And I just create this sky, this wash, just
blending the pigment. Basically, now it's
like two colors, it's serum and it's this
mix of yellow ochary, cadmium orange, and mile light. And now we need to
make the mix for our distant mountains and please remember about the
rule of aerial perspective. It says that the
objects that are not close to us are more
transparent and more blue. Now I'm just mixing them ultramarine with
the cadmium orange to receive a mix that is perfect for creating
the distant mountain, more water and excess of water. I always use the
napkin and sorry, it's my hand and you don't
see what I'm painting, but I'm painting these
distant mountains and you can see that I have not the sharp borders
and it's really good because when the
mountains distance, we cannot see the
super clear edges and on the reference
photo is also, you can see that the
distance mountain, they are much gray and have no so sharp edges as the mountain that we can
see on the far ground. I think that here, the mountains will
also look good. On the reference photo we
have here like this house, but I don't want this
house to be my painting. I just apply the paint
and I'm looking at my paper and you can see that the places
where you apply the paint, the paper shines
and when not not. It's also a great mark for you. If you have the shiny paper, it allows you to
work with the wash. It allows you to make some
corrections and so on and if you have the
paper, not shiny. It means that it's more dry. I'm mixing again the color. It's a basic gray, again, the mix of ultramarine
and cadmium orange. I'm now taking my white, I prefer to use whites
directly from the tube, other paints are squeezed
normally on my pad and white, I just squeeze as a
drop when I need it. And the super gray color
will be used for creating the effect of these clouds,
these crazy clouds. For them, it's a mix of
trobarne and cadmium orange to create the sun whites to
create this opaque filling. Now I just trying
to make this mix look more bluish by adding some erudium
that was on the sky. It's also a good rule that you mix the paint that you have
previously on the new mix, it will look more
harmonious when you have all these
paints in the mix. And don't be afraid. Just apply these
dark dark paint. It looks like really super dark, but remember that it's watercolor and
watercolor lightens after the trying of the paper, don't be afraid to apply really thick layer
of paint in this case. Mm and also watch
your brush movements, that will be not lines that
you apply, but strikes. Strikes in maybe different
direction, maybe, but they should be
round and the form of the sky you can watch also on the reference photo,
it's really convenient. I have blood, some edges with my gold brush and I again
make these clouds area. I'm trying to make
some chaotic movements so that my clouds will
not look really even. Again, blurring the edges, removing the paint on some places with the
other brush and so on, just to create this feeling and the effect of the clouds
that are so crazy, but there are some laws about these forms of the clouds and I'm just trying to
make it look chaotic, but I also watch about the form. It's always usual that when
you paint natural objects, it's not so important
the form and so on. But in this case, I prefer to make it look More like reference photo. I watch about the
form and where I have these clouds and also I'm trying to make
them look interesting. As I have said, I'm trying
not to make it even wash, but there are some chaotic dots. There are some places
that I remove the paints. There are some places
where I have these dots. Now I'm just taking the synthetic brush with a sharp tip to
create these dots. That will help my clouds
to look even more interesting and they will pay attention of viewer
exactly to this area to the clouds when we
drawing the sketch, pencil sketch, I
have said that I want this painting to
be about the clouds. Now I just watch about clouds to create this feeling
of something supernatural, super crazy, and
super interesting. And also one important thing that you should
always do when you're painting in this
technique when you apply paint the water and you stick
the paper to the tablet, you should remove the
paints and water from the tablet because it can interact with the
painting and the pigment. Just if you have too much water drops or
paint drops on the edges, just remove it with the
towel and that's all. Oh I think it's a good time to make
these distant mountains. Again, the mix I'm
using all the time. It's ultramarine, it's cerulin
and I'm mixing here sepia. It's a dark brown color and this mix creates
for us this gray, but the other shade of
gray that I have done previously by mixing ultramarine
with cadmium orange. My base color gray is that mostly I mix it with ultramarine
and cadmium orange, but if I want another gray, I mix it with some brown, for example, sepia or burnt
umber or something like that. And applying carefully the
silete of the mountain. It's super good that I have not so sharp edges and of course, it's because that my paper
has much water inside. I love this effect and I want this effect to be present here. And when we are going to the area where we
have these trees, distance trees, I begin
to mix the green color. I take a green. It's like emerald grill, so it's very, very, very bright green,
super unnatural. But if you mix it with sepia
brown and also some orange, you will receive the noble green that is perfectly suitable for painting these
distance trees. Again, what do I love? It's because my
edges are blurry, but I have the control on the paper and I know
that if I apply paint, my edges would be blurry, but my water and my
paint will not flow. And I felt that it's a problem for many
beginners because they simply don't have this
control on the water and who controls the water that controls the
watercolor itself. I'm applying a little
more warm mix there. Basically, there are two mix. One is tal green and
sepia and I have later added some cadmium orange to
create the more warm hue. And now it's good time to make this mountain
that is near to us and it should be really more warm in color
than the distant mountains. So again, mixing this gray consisting from urchmarin and
cadmium orange. But in this case, cadmium orange
should be even more so that we will have
this gray color, but it's warm gray. It's also this whole mix, it should be more dark than
the distant mountains. I have discovered
that I have not enough dark paint and I'm mixing again these two colors and it seems almost
like a brown color. Also careful when
you go to the area when you apply these mountains
because in this area, the edges could be blurry. So it depends on
you, if you okay, that you have this blurry
edge there, it is okay. If you want the
foreground mountain to look even more sharp
with sharp edges, then you should simply wait till the area where you apply
these decenc mountains, you should wait a
little when the paper starts not to be
shady and then apply. And here, I'm taking
this gold brush. It could be also
calligraphic brush, the brush that creates these very unusual strikes and this is simply sub
green in pure form. I try to apply grass and here, the brush is the made helper
because it allows to do these strikes and I'm also applying these mix
that I was using for these daca trees
on the background. But generally, it's
all about the grass and I want to paint
the the trees, but I have this paper wet. If I paint the trees, now, the edges would be blurry and I don't want
them to be blurry. I'm always looking at my paper on the
angle where I can see that the paper
shines or not. Again, repeating this
process of removing extra paints and water
from above the tablet, and now seems that I
have ended my washes, my big washes, and I
will use hair dryer to dry my paper because now I want my trees to
have sharp edges.
6. 5 Details: Now for painting the tree, I need to have a brush
with a sharp tip, it's a synthetic small
brush that allows me to create very controlled strokes. I will now mix the colors. It's paler green. I have used it previously
in my subject, it should be really dark. All these mix, so I'm
mixing plenty of it. And sepia brown to create
this really dark green color. I could see as almost
black on the palette, but due to the fact that you
have this fallow green here, it will be this noble
gorgeous green color. Also, I'm doing
it automatically. But if you have just
started painting, you may need a little
time to get used to it. I always adjust the humidity
of the brush and the paper. So for this purpose, I use paper towels. So when I have too much
paint on my brush, I simply wipe the
excess paint with the napkin or towel or whatever, so that I have this
control of the paint. For a second, I remove the reference photo so
that you can see that I always have a
towel on my palette. It's critical for watercolor. I begin to paint the tree. I want it to be really easy. I'm painting the lower part with some kind of really
hard strokes and on the top, I use more control
strokes just to have this thin line in
the top of my tree, and the lines are really thicker when I go to the
bottom of the tree. So I don't care about
reference photo now. I just look where I want these
dark paint and dark trees to be and simply painting like this with a
few brush strokes. If you want, you can follow
the reference and draw the shapes of the trees
as shown on the picture. In the background, you
can see that there are not only trees trees
as Christmas trees, but also trees with leaves. If you want to have
more diversity, you can use this mix of feta green and cadmium orange
for these autumn leaves. But I want my trees to be
rather homogeneous, so to say. I'm just applying
this paint and I I try to make the
trees different in tone because of
the al perspective. I have these trees that are closer to the viewer
and I have this paint, but with more water to make the trees that
are on the background, it's again the Al
perspective that the objects that
are not so close to us look more
transparent and blue. That's why I also I want to add more color and some chaotic dots in my so to say, main tree. I add in my mix some ultramarine and I have this dark mix, but more blues I'm adding these
details making some dots, making some random strikes just to create interesting look. And I'm looking at my painting and the main thing in watercolor
is to finish on time, not too late, not to
overwork the painting. Now I have the mood
in my painting that conveys this feeling of being in mountains and so on. I don't want to add more
details or something like this. So I think that this sketch, this painting is ready and
I hope that I was able to convey to you a little of
my love for watercolor and this interesting
technique wet or wet. It's complex in preparation, but it really gives excellent results within
all these washes. So I hope you love this class and if you have any
difficulties or question, do not hesitate to
write them either here in comments or in direct
messages in Instagram. I wish you good luck
and enjoy painting.
Anna Zadorozhnaya, Watercolour artist
