Wolf in Watercolor: Expressive Painting Techniques to Capture Wild Beauty

1. Welcome To The Class!: Hello, everyone. My name is Will Elson, and welcome to this watercolor class where we are going to capture the fierce beauty and powerful presence of a white wolf. In this class, we're going to use the expressive qualities and transparency of watercolor to express the wolves vivid features and its ethereal, almost ghost like essence that evokes its wild nature. I've been a professional artist for many years, exploring lots of different subjects from wildlife and portraits to cityscapes and countryside scenes. I've always been entranced by the possibilities of watercolor. But when I started, I had no idea where to begin or how to improve. I didn't know what supplies I needed, how to create the effects I wanted, or which colors to mix. Now I've taken part in many worldwide exhibitions, been featured in magazines, and been lucky enough to win awards from well respected organizations such as the International Watercolor Society, the Masters of Watercolor Alliance, Windsor and Newton, and the SAA. Watercolor can be overwhelming for those starting out, which is why my goal is to help you feel relaxed and enjoy this medium in a step by step manner. Today, I'll be guiding you through a complete painting, demonstrating a variety of techniques, and explaining how I use all my supplies and materials. Whether you're just starting out or already have some experience, you'll be able to follow along at your own pace and improve your watercolor skills. If this class is too challenging or too easy for you, I have a variety of classes available at different skill levels. I like to start off with a free expressive approach with no fear of making mistakes as we create exciting textures for the underlayer. As the painting progresses, we'll add more details to bring it to life and make it stand out. I strive to simplify complex subjects into easier shapes that encourage playfulness. Throughout this class, I'll be sharing plenty of tips and tricks. I'll show you how to turn mistakes into opportunities, taking the stress out of painting in order to have fun. I'll also provide you with my watercolor mixing charts, which are an invaluable tool when it comes to choosing and mixing colors. If you have any questions, you can post them in the discussion thread down below. I'll be sure to read and respond to everything you post. Don't forget to follow me on Skillshare by clicking the Follow button at the top. This means you'll be the first to know when I launch a new class or post giveaways. You can also follow me on Instagram at Will Elliston to see my latest works. I'm thrilled to guide you through the entire process from the sketch to the fine details. So let's grab our paints and let's get on. 2. Your Project: Thank you so much for joining me in this class today. We're going to have a lot of fun because this portrait not only incorporates fine details, but it also lets us express the watercolor in a very liberating way. And that contrast makes it so exciting. We're going to be looking at details that capture the texture of fur, the depth of the eyes, and the dynamic forms of the face. We'll play with color gradients, splashes to give our work a spontaneous and atmospheric backdrop. By the end of our session, you'll have learned not just how to paint a wolf, but how to imbue your watercolor animals with emotion and life. In the resource section, I've added a high resolution image of my finished painting to help guide you. You're welcome to follow my painting exactly or experiment with your own composition. As we're going to be focusing on the painting aspect of watercolor, I've provided templates you can use to help transfer or trace the sketch before you paint. It's fine to trace when using it as a guide for learning how to paint. It's important to have the underdrawing correct so that you can relax and have fun learning the watercolor medium itself. Whichever direction you take this class, it would be great to see your results and the paintings you create through it. I love giving my students feedback, so please take a photo afterwards and share it in the student project gallery under the Project and resource tab. I'm always intrigued to see how many students have different approaches and how they progress with each class. I'd love to hear about your process and what you learned along the way, or if you had any difficulties. I strongly recommend that you take a look at each other's work in the student Project Gallery. It's so inspiring to see each other's work and extremely comforting to get the support of your fellow students. So don't forget to like and comment on each other's work. 3. Materials & Supplies: So before we start the painting, let's go over all the materials and supplies you'll need to paint along. Having the right materials can greatly impact the outcome of your artwork. So I'll go over all the supplies I use for this class and beyond. They're very useful to have at your disposal and will make it easier for you to follow along. Let's start with the paints themselves. And like most of the materials we'll be using today, it's a lot to do with preference. I have 12 stable colours in my palette that I fill up from tubes. They are cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, cadmium red, Alizarin crimson, Opramarne blue, cobalt blue, serlean blue, lavender, purple, viridian, black, and at the end of the painting, I often use white gouache for tiny highlights. I don't use any particular brand, these colors you can get from any brand, although I personally use Daniel Smith, Windsor and Newton or Holbein paints. So let's move on to brushes. The brush I use the most is a synthetic round brush like this Escoda Purl brush or this Van Gogh brush. They're very versatile because not only can you use them for detailed work with their fine tip, but as they can hold a lot of water, they are good for washers as well. They're also quite affordable, so I have quite a few in different sizes. Next are the mop brushes. Mop brushes are good for broad brush strokes, filling in large areas and creating smooth transitions or washes. They also have a nice tip that can be used for smaller details. But for really small details, highlights or anything that needs more precision, I use a synthetic size zero brush. All brands have them, and they're super cheap. Another useful brush to have is a Chinese calligraphy brush. They tend to have long bristles and a very pointy tip. They're perfect for adding texture or creating dynamic lines in your paintings. You can even fan them out like this to achieve fur or feather textures as well. And that's it for brushes. Onto paper. The better quality of your paper, the easier it will be to paint. Cheap paper cuinkles easily and is very unforgiving, not allowing you to rework mistakes. It's harder to create appealing effects and apply useful techniques like rubbing away pigment. Good quality paper, however, such as cotton based paper, not only allows you to rework mistakes multiple times, but because the pigment reacts much better on it, the chances of mistakes are a lot lower and you'll be more likely to create better paintings. I use archers paper because that's what's available in my local art shop. A water spray is absolutely essential. By using this, it gives you more time to paint the areas you want before it dries. It also allows you to reactivate the paint if you want to add a smooth line or remove some paint. I also have an old rag or t shirt which I use to clean my brush. Cleaning off the paint before dipping it in the water will make the water last a lot longer. It's always useful to have a tissue at hand whilst painting to lift off excess paint. Also, you never know when an unwanted splash or drip might occur that needs wiping away quickly. I also have a water dropper to keep the paints wet. When you paint, it's important to have them a similar consistency to what they're like in the tubes. This way, it's easier to pick up sufficient pigment. A hair dryer is useful to have for speeding up the drying time and controlling the dampness of the paper. And lastly, masking tape. And this, of course, is just to hold the paper down still onto the surface to stop it sliding around whilst painting. Also, if you plan on painting to the edge, we'll allow you to create a very crisp, clean border. And that's everything you need to paint along. I encourage you, as always, to experiment and explore with whatever paints or materials you want to try out. Now let's get on and start the sketch. 4. How to Sketch It Out: Now, when faced with an intricate drawing like this, we always have to break it down into as simple a shape as possible. So I'm starting with a big broad circle right in the center of my piece of paper, and then adding these little curvy triangles that will obviously turn into the ears eventually. And I just work around that main circle. Of course, this drawing is quite intricate. So I do recommend using the template if you want to ensure a good outcome for your painting. However, if you're confident in your drawing skills and want to practice them anyway, that's perfectly fine. You can use this lesson however you want, and whatever you feel you want to take from it is perfectly fine. Essentially, by tackling the intricate details, we like to start off with simple broad shapes. So that's what we've been doing and I placed a line in the middle of the face here just to try and keep things symmetrical. So I'm trying to match it pretty much equally each side and a little circle there for the nose. And what's great about this subject is that it is basically symmetrical. The patterns are the same on either side, and we can observe how the eyes match, the jaw line matches. So we want to replicate this on both sides, limiting the detail to begin with. If you find yourself going into details before you've mapped everything out, then mistakes will happen because you need the full context of the forms, the shapes. Now I'm adding a line of the shadow, the shadow line of the face. So I'm starting to refine the outline now. I'm changing from my soft pencil that I always start off with and going with a finer pencil now, going through the outline, basically, yeah, working from one side, moving across, making sure the edges are as correct as I can make them. Of course, at this stage, I'm constantly adjusting the angles and observing distances. I'm keeping my pencil lines still a bit soft, so that I can correct the mistakes if I need to, especially when it comes to painting with watercolor. I don't particularly want heavy markings on the paper. So I'm keeping my pencil lines quite soft. And it's completely normal to make adjustments. Don't expect to do the right lines straight away. I'm going to just record the basic outline with my pencil here. But it's I'm going to have to go back and forth with the rubber to get it really refined because I want to make it perfect for the template. I'm going to be scanning it in and turning it into the tracing template for you. So I want there to be lots of clear lines for you to follow. So you can see that I've basically mapped out the broad shapes, and I think we're in a good spot now to stop the video, and I'll arrase the preliminary lines gradually and clean it up for the scan, and we can get on with the painting stage next. 5. Light To Dark: So to start off the painting, I'm going to pre wet some of this area over the brush just to make the paper alive. I don't want to go direct on the white of the paper with pure wet pigment because that's quite intimidating, even for me, just as a matter of principle, I like to pre wet the paper, especially with these foundational layers. Just easing the pressure is much better. And then I give it a few minutes or seconds, even just to really soak in before I mix this yellow ochre. Mixing the yellow ochre with a bit of burnt sienna. And I can experiment wherever I want a bit more yellow ochre or a bit more burnt sienna as we explore and have your own personal preference really. We're laying down the foundational layers of the painting, and as you can see, we're starting off with light subtle strokes. We're not even really suggesting any fur at this stage, technically, or necessarily. We're just adding a bit of the glow. Because I don't want there to be a pure white. So when we're adding the darks later on, this will just be a subtle little bit of color in the light bits that we'll then paint over. And we can take our time or we can at least be relaxed about it. We don't need to rush ourselves. We can add a bit of tone as we move along. Building up color through layers, and it'll give us the flexibility to enhance depth and detail progressively rather than jumping straight into it all in one go. So you can see I'm mixing this burnt sienna and yellow ochre, a bit of black to take the vibrancy away from this. You can see also that as it dries, it dries even lighter, so it's really not very noticeable at this stage what I've painted, but it's still wet. So you can see these little brush strokes that I'm applying now have quite a soft edge to them, but they still hold their form. So I'm trying to imply a bit of the fur texture now. But because the paper is damp, like I said, they're soft brush marks. They don't have much texture. We'll come back later on with some harsher texture. And that'll make it a bit more dynamic having soft fur and then textured fur on top, making the most out of the whole of the medium. Notice also that I'm only just right now starting to apply a bit of blue and cool colors. So far, most of the painting has been warm colors. But I'm adding blue because blue is the complimentary color to orange or brown. So they complement each other. And as these pigments mix about on the wet of the paper, they look nice together. They work well together. And I've just cleaned my brush, and I've got a tissue in my hand always to soften any hard edges. I don't want any hard edges at the moment. Except for at the ears at the top, you can see I've got hard edges where I've purposely mark that area out. But I don't want to create hard edges in areas that I don't want or intend to. Some accidental hard edges are not what I'm looking for. Now, I'm mixing another blue. This is with a bit of purple in. You can make your own purple by mixing blue and alizarin crimson. And basically, the reason I've added that purple in there is because that complements the yellow ochre. So we've got the purple and the yellow ochre working well together and the blue and the burnt sienna working well together. And mixing these four colors in different quantities, having fun with that will just create a lovely unique interplay of colors. 6. Wet On Wet: So now we've started to introduce additional colors like blue and purple into these browny yellows, and this is where wet and wet technique comes into play. By applying these colors while the paper is still wet, they naturally bleed into each other and create organic fluid transitions. And the interaction between the yellow ochre and these cooler colors can also produce subtle grays and neutral tones that add complexity to their palette. But complexity in organic way. We don't have to think about this. The beauty of watercolor is that it can create its effects and color expression without us actually having to do it manually. We just lay out the opportunity for it to do it itself. I also recommend using a water spray, likely, you can miss your painting or the paper to keep it alive, to prolong the drying time because this will allow you more flexibility to work with the wet of the paper. It's a technique that can seem quite intimidating at first, but it offers the advantage of extended working time. It means you don't have to rush if you don't want to, because I want you to take your time of this and go slowly and introduce pigments gradually at this stage. Because this is a white wolf we're painting, and we're going to be using negative painting to paint the background, and the main wolf will emerge from the use of painting the background, rather than directly painting the white itself. So we don't want to be too heavy on the pigment here because it won't then be a white fox anymore. Of course, there's different ways you can approach a painting. You can paint the background directly first and then come back to the main fur area and paint these details and painting now. And you can experiment with that if you want to find your own personal way of painting. But today, I've chosen to do it this way because as a general rule with watercolor painting light and then to dark is more secure process, a safer route sometimes watercolor can be overwhelming. So this controlled approach prevents the colors from getting out of control, and it keeps the painting feeling light and airy. We're focusing a bit more on textures now as we're getting a bit darker as we're building up the layers and the general tones. We're still not getting caught up in details, but starting to think a bit more of the direction of the fur and you can use your brush to mimic the direction of the fur or the length of the fur and this can enhance the realism that we're trying to convey. Even though we're not detailing yet, each stroke contributes to the overall texture of the fur. Starting to work on the ears now. And remember the beauty of watercolor, opposed to other mediums, of course, it's relevant in other mediums to some extent. But specifically, watercolor is the layering capabilities. Each layer we add can bring more life and dimension to the painting. And this is still technically the first layer because we haven't waited for it to completely dry yet. So as we continue, keep in mind that patience and the gradual buildup of color is one of the keys to achieving that depth and that vibrancy. 7. Starting The Ears: I like mixing this yellow ochre with browns and blues, because the cool tones give it a serene kind of feeling, and the warm tones bring it a lively, vibrant feeling. We don't want to go too dark at this stage, since it's a white wolf again. I want most of my edges to be soft, as well. Although there is still a bit of texture there, I'm trying to limit the really hard edges or the high contrast of a dark stroke next to the white of the paper, for example. For any hard edges that appear to be drying, just take a damp brush, which is completely full of clean water and gently soften those edges. Now I'm using pure blue against this brown, and I'm going to kind of cross over my brush marks between the blue and the brown to mix them in together. And you'll find that blue and brown, when mixed together, make a kind of gray because as I said before they're complimentary colors, so they neutralize each other. So Now we're going to start moving into painting the shadows, and I think we'll begin with the ears. It's important at this stage to focus on the overall form rather than getting caught up with smaller details. These finer points will come later once we've created a solid context established by the broader shapes and tones. And for those of us who are right handed, like myself, we can work from left to right to avoid disturbing the wet paint with our hands as we progress. And if you're left handed, I suggest working in the opposite direction to achieve the same ease and efficiency. So as we begin with the left ear, I first wet the paper, the area thoroughly to prepare for a smooth application of paint. And this technique helps in laying down a gentle wash that we can build upon. So I'm using a brown tone at the moment, and you can see it's kind of transitioned into that blue down below. This initial wash sets the stage for depth and dimension. Now I'm dropping in some blue onto that brown to make it even more dynamic. A few touches of that blue. And now I'm working on the right ear. I'm doing it the other way around now. I'm starting with this blue wash, and then I'll add a bit of brown pigment later on. And this mix helps create a more natural shade in the fur because it reflects how light interacts with the wolf's coat. With the brown, you can see that I've muted it using black because I don't want it to be too vibrant. I don't want it to be orange, orange brown. I want it to be a muted brown. But when using black or any other very dark pigment, you have to be quite mindful because they're very potent and can easily overpower the more subtle shades we're planning to lay down. So instead of applying black directly, I always gradually mix it in my palette to begin with. To allow us more control and to ensure that we enhance rather than overwhelm what we're trying to achieve. 8. Adding Some Shadows: So now we've established the main shadow area or at least the underlayer of the shadows on the ears. We're going to address the facial shading. Using similar colors, I'm going to use a bit of blue and purple and a bit of brown. But I'm sticking to the cooler side because it is the shadow. Maybe I can indicate a bit of the body whilst we're using this cool tone of purple and blue. So this part in between the nose and the eyebrows is quite crucial because it helps define the facial structure of the wolf, and it contributes a significant amount to the expression that we're trying to portray. Now, it's quite a light tone, so I didn't pre wet it with water, and I want to keep the edge hard. As you can see in between the eyes and where it meets the bridge of the nose. I've actually kept a hard edge there. And now we've finished that, I'm going to pre wet the area above the head because we're going to start to paint the background. And by adding water to begin with, the pigment will flow freely, so it'll be quicker to apply all this paint. The wash will be a lot smoother because we're allowing the pigment to blend and spread out itself rather than using individual brushstrokes. I'm using the point of my brush to mimic the edge of the fur, the spiky kind of feeling. And then I can connect it all as we move above And when it comes to painting this yourself, you've got to consider what kind of blue you want to use. Do you want to skew it a bit towards purple, have a warm blue, or you want to have a green influence and make it even cooler blue? Or you can just keep it neutral. You can have a pure blue, like I'm using cerlan blue right here. Cerllian blue with a touch of that brownish black to make it not as vibrant. I'm not using heavy pigment. I'm using a light to midtone pigment at the moment, and I'm using the side of my brush to soften that edge and a tissue to help control it. It's very subtle, but as you can see, even though it is subtle, the outline of the wolf is starting to appear. The whole form of the wolf is going to emerge more distinctly from the paper as we start building on this tone of the background. And since we're covering a broader area, it might be wiser to actually switch to a larger brush. As long as it still has a fine point. At the moment, this brush I'm using is fine because I'm just painting a small little area as the background meets the fur. But as we fill it out later, I'm going to switch to a larger brush. Notice how I use pure water to create a nice transition from the pigment to the white of the paper. And now I have changed to a larger brush because I'm filling in quite a large area on this side. It's only for efficiency. 9. Starting The Background: While a smaller brush offers more control for detailed work, a larger brush will speed up the process for filling in the background. So I'm starting to mix a cool blue, purple shade, and it's perfect for the backdrop that I'm envisioning. There's no need to rush this area as well. We can take our time. It's all part of the fun. Painting should be enjoyable and a chance to relax and experiment with your strokes and blends. But also, if you prefer a faster pace, that's completely fine, too. So I'm pre wetting this area, like I did at the top, and I've pre mixed all the paint that I plan to use. And I've gone back to that small brush now, just for the fur line. I'm trying to be mindful of the outer edges. This is where the precision will make a significant impact on the overall composition. We can come back later. We have white gouache at the end just to refine these white furs that stick out. This negative painting technique requires a balance between what is painted and what is left unpainted, because we're using the white of the paper to bring out the form of the wolf. Dropping in pigment and letting it bleed out itself. And this will create a smooth transition of color. I've created a little hard edge on the right hand side there, and you can see I don't know why. I felt like it's one of those things where I felt like it needed it rather than any particular reason I can explain. There's a lot of soft transitions going on in the background, so I felt like an arbitrary hard line somewhere might just help. And of course, we're going to add some expressive lines later on. So I'm going to help interact that into the background. This background isn't just a backdrop. It's actually an integral part of the painting because it interacts with the subject, and the expressive marks that we're going to add later create a kind of cohesive and striking element to the painting. So moving on from the background now, we'll come back to that later. And we can start developing the fur and the shading that goes on to bring out the facial structure of the wolf a bit more. Notice how with this second layer, we're starting to intensify the colors. They're being a bit more vibrant. They're a bit more darker in tone as well. A, 10. Building Up The Layers: And because we've already added that previous underlayer, we're involving or integrating different techniques such as wet on dry as well as wet on wet now. And this will help us control the intensity of the pigment. We're trying to enhance a bit more of the contrast now, and we're beginning to hint at some of the finer details that will eventually lead the viewer's eye across the painting. Of course, the main striking details of the painting are the eyes, primarily, and then the nose and the mouth. But we're not going to paint those quite yet. We're just trying to think of the fur and the direction of that fur. Using very directional brushstrokes that mimic that natural flow of fur. Almost you can feel the wind blowing against that fur and the cool breeze. So with this second layer, we're not only thinking about adding texture, but without even realizing this kind of building up helps make it a bit more dynamic and adds a realistic essence to what we're trying to achieve. By deepening the colors around the eyes below the jaw line along the snout, it enhances the expression of the wolf, and it captures a kind of wildness and a focus. It adds to the depth and gives it a free dimensiality to it. As this process unfolds, it's important to take a step back occasionally and assess the overall balance and harmony of the painting. Each additional brushstroke at this point, is quite deliberate. We're aiming to start bringing things together, all elements into a cohesive and striking representation. So at this point, the color scheme is pretty defined. We wouldn't necessarily want to add a bright green or a pink at this stage. Ir. Keep in mind that the beauty of watercolor is its ability to layer transparency and create that depth that is both visually captivating and because it's visually captivating, makes it emotionally resonant. And as we progress, we will continue to refine these details to make sure that every stroke contributes to it rather than takes away. But it also respects the kind of natural characteristics of the wolf. 11. Mid Tones: But we don't have to overthink the emotional impact because that usually comes by itself as long as we have everything else in order if we observe the tones and the colors and make sure those fundamentals are correct, then the emotional quality and the capturing of the essence will look after itself. The most emotional part, I think, probably with the painting, will be the gaze, like the eyes. Eyes are always one of the most powerful tools we can have as artists to convey emotion and presence because it makes them the focal point of our subject. And that will be later in the painting. So we'll put most of our attention into getting the eyes right because as long as the eyes are right, then we can be quite expressive with the rest of the painting. You can see that most of the colors we've used now are cool colors. On the right hand side, at least, they're all cool colors, and a bit on the left, we've got a bit of warmth coming through where the light is on the fur. But the majority of the colors are cool, and I've emphasized this because later on when we paint the eyes, we're going to use a warm orange, and this will make them stand out as the central point. And so beyond the eyes, the capturing of the essence of the wolf involves the way we handle the texture and the form and the edges. You can notice how the fur is not so rigid. We're not overly defining the strokes. We're trying to get them to be fluid and expressive. Suggesting a bit of movement and depth. You can see on the right hand side, at the moment, there's a lot more tone. It's darker. It's adding to that form. And here on the snout, it takes quite a lot of observation to see how to create that form to get the lighting right. So we've done the first underlayer, the light tones, and now we're coming towards the mid tones being complete, and now I'm starting to mix some of the darker tones. On my palette, you can see I've mixed some Burnsiano with black to create a dark brown, but I'm going to incorporate that with some dark blue as well. I'm using these lines quite sparingly. Refining that shadow underneath the snout now. I want it to be quite dark, indeed. See, I'm mixing my own red here, mixing green in there to neutralize it, and a bit of blue to make it purple. Now, I'm following that line of the snout to create a nice contrast within the shadows. And I do a few dabs of this dark pigment around the painting just to help my mind assess the tonal values. And what I mean by that is I look at my reference or references, and I assess or observe what's a similar value, a similar darkness or lightness. And I use that brushstroke, that pigment to just dab around the painting where that color is so that it's all balanced. And it's in the right context. 12. Deeper Shadows: Let me talk a bit more about getting tonal values right. Because when it comes to getting tonal values correct and by tonal values, I mean, the lightness or darkness of a color regardless of its hue. The accuracy in tonal values is key to creating depth, form, and a sense of realism in the painting. And it's not just about choosing the right color, it's about making sure the value of that color is correct within the overall composition. And the process I use to check my tonal values is simple but effective. First, I observe my reference or subject and identify a specific tone, whether it be a mid tone, a shadow, a highlight, or even in between those three. But I don't just look at that tone in isolation. I compare it with the surrounding values within the whole of the reference or subject. How dark is it compared to the deepest shadows? How light is it relative to the brightest highlights? And then understanding these relationships is what makes tonal values work in a painting. Then once I've identified the tone in my reference, I then look at my painting and ask, does my version of that tone match the way it sits in my subject? Then I apply a few dabs of that tone in the relevant areas of my painting to see if it holds up within the context of my piece. Then if it doesn't match, that tells me something is off. Either I've gone too dark or too light, or the surrounding tones need adjusting. And from there, I can work out how to correct it either by deepening the shadows or lightening the highlights, scrubbing away some of the pigment, for example, or modifying adjacent areas to match or maintain balance. A good habit is to constantly step back and assess the painting as a whole, because values are relative, meaning that a tone that looks correct in one part of the painting might appear too light or too dark once more elements are added. That's why continuously comparing values within the context of the entire painting is so important and why you can see when I'm painting here, for example, I've applied dabs of this tone to the side of the snout, underneath the snout and a bit on the left on the fur, just because I can see that those are matching tones, even if they're not directly linked. This approach helps create a natural and cohesive balance of light and shadow, and it makes the subject feel believable and dimensional. And mastering tones is one of the most crucial skills in painting, more so than color, because color works itself out as long as the tones are correct. And the more we practice this observing, comparing and adjusting, the more intuitive it becomes. So it's one of the most important aspects, but also it happens to be one of the biggest challenges in painting, getting the tonal values right. A common mistake is focusing too much on individual colors rather than how light or dark they actually are. This is why it helps to occasionally squint at your subject or your reference, because when you do this, you filter out unnecessary detail and only see the major value shapes. And this allows you to identify whether your darks are dark enough or your lights are light enough. 13. Mouth & Nose Underlayer: Another great way to check your values is to mentally compare them against a known reference point in your painting. For example, if you ask yourself, is this shadow as dark as the deepest shadow in my piece? Is this midtone actually reading as a midtone or is it too light? And these constant comparisons help ensure that every value is placed correctly in relation to the others. Sometimes you might feel like a painting looks off, but you can't quite pinpoint why. More often than not, it's because the value is balanced. Maybe your highlights aren't quite bright enough or maybe your shadows aren't deep enough to provide the contrast needed to create that depth. Testing small areas first before committing to a large wash can help. Laying down a small dab of a particular value allows you to see if it works in context before fully applying it across a larger section. It's also important to remember that values shift as watercolor dries. A wash that looks perfect when wet made dry lighter and sometimes white gouache dries darker than when it's wet and light. Sometimes a second layer is needed to restore the correct depth. This is where layering and glazing techniques come into play by gradually building up values to avoid over darkening too quickly and to maintain control over the final effect. Also one final tip about values if you're struggling with assessing them, try viewing your painting in black and white. This removes the distraction of color and lets you access whether the lights, midtones, and darks are in harmony. You can also use this method on your reference image to help identify the value relationships. You can take a photo of your painting, turn it into black and white on your phone, and turn it to black and white on your device. You can do that on your computer settings or your phone settings. You can make the screen turn black and white just for a bit. So you can identify the value relationships in your painting. I'm just setting up the underlayer for the nose here because in the next section, we'll be painting the nose, so I'm just doing the underlayer. We're going to paint the nose quite dark, as well as the mouth and the eyes, and that will create a strong contrast. And contrast is a very powerful element, but you have to use it wisely. High contrast in specific areas like around the eyes, nose and mouth, it grounds the subject and makes it feel solid. However, contrast isn't just about dark against light. It's also about choosing where to sharpen edges and where to let them blur. Too many hard edges can make a painting feel stiff. Whilst too few can make it feel unfocused. So I tend to keep the strongest contrast and the sharpest edges in the focal area, and it allows the rest of the subject to gradually soften in the background. And I end up doing that in this painting. You could see some of this fur outside of the snout and eyes is actually quite sharp. It's not that soft, so I'm going to apply some water later to just soften them out again to blend them. And that's what I'm doing now. I'm blending them a bit. Scrubbing it because it's taking away from the focus of the central part of the wolf's head. Bit like a camera. If you take a photo, you can focus in on different parts, and sometimes the foregrounds blurry and you're focusing on the background or the background's blurry whilst you're focusing on the foreground. So that's what I'm trying to achieve here. 14. Simplifying Details: When painting from a photo, it can be quite overwhelming. Or even in real life, it's even more overwhelming, in fact, because there's just unlimited detail. Sometimes a photo without any detail or if it's pixelated or blurred is actually easier to paint from. Because there's a tendency to look at your reference or subject and paint every single detail. It's difficult to simplify it all. But the key is to simplify the details. You don't have to paint every single strand of hair. Not every texture needs to be painted. Like I said at the beginning, think in terms of form first, details second. The fur, for example, is painted in layers, and we start off with, like, wet on wet, big, broad kind of strokes. Even with a small brush, we're using the wetness of the paper to soften the edges and make them very broad and loose. And then we refine them a bit more later on with smaller strokes. We let the watercolor do the work for us and we allow colours to blend naturally to create soft transitions, rather than forcing everything into place ourselves, this creates a sense of movement and natural flow, which, of course, is key to making the subject feel alive. Even if the watercolor doesn't flow exactly where we want it to, even if it's anatomically wrong, because it has this elusive energy to it, it'll still have emotional value and be captivating. Uh, Even though this is an animal and not a human portrait we're painting, we've got to think about the language, almost the body language of the wolf to suggest feeling and emotion, even if we're painting a vase of flowers, we could still arrange the composition in a way that has character and personality, even though it's inanimate object. We can suggest movement in an object that doesn't actually have movement through brushwork. In this painting, I'm allowing the background to bleed into the fur slightly to reinforce the idea that the wolf is part of its environment rather than cut and paste on top or cut out from the environment at all. And the way we're applying paint in this loose expressive way around the edges versus a kind of tighter, more refined brush style in the face. It subtly communicates whether the subject is resting in motion or observing its surroundings. I mean, to be frank, so much of this is discovered at the end. Like, I try and fill my mind up with the emotion that I'm trying to express and I hope it comes through, but I never know what kind of mood it'll actually result in, whether it does convey these things. I'm not consciously thinking of them. I'm or at least I'm not consciously trying to plan them out. I'm trying to inject myself with that mood that I want to convey and hope that somehow it comes through. 15. Painting The Nose: When it comes to selecting a reference image or preparing for a class, my process often involves combining elements from multiple different sketches and references. I do a lot of practice sketches to figure out composition, and I might look online for a certain reference that's in a similar position, and then I combine that with a different one, as well as doing preliminary work. So there isn't generally a single reference picture that I work from or that even represents the final artwork. But when it comes to searching for an image, I usually look for about five or ten of them. All of them were basically obviously a white wolf with a lot of blue for the snow and the shading. There wasn't any purple in them or even brown. I've used my own creative or my own personal choices to add purple and brown into this. And color choices play a big role in conveying that essence that you want to convey. Using cooler blues and purples in the shadow gives the wolf an air of mystery, while warmth in the eyes that we'll add later provides a contrast to that warmth and it draws the viewer in. And the balance between the warm and the cool tones creates harmony while also enhancing the emotional feeling of the painting. So I've just painted the mouth, and you can notice how I use darker tones to define the shape and the texture. I used a bit of deep purple and blue as the underlayer before I applied that dark black to ensure that the shades are not just strong but also subtly blended into the surrounding fur so that it's not completely disconnected from the rest of the face, especially the upper lip and along the sides of the mouth. And as I'm painting the nose here, you can see that of course, I'm using very dark black. But I'm also going to keep a few highlights, and I might even come back with a white guash just to really make those white highlights punch. But these small highlights are very pivotal in adding realism. I want to imply light naturally hitting the nose because it's a wet nose. And so that makes it quite a reflective surface. And you just need a few touches of this light to trick or create the illusion of that wet surface. The sharp edges around the nostrils make it seem very reflective. And it's that deep contrast between the darks and the lights that give it that glossy look. A, 16. Eyes Underlayer: And now we're going to start the most important part of the painting, arguably, and that's the eyes. But we're going to do it step by step so that it's nice and easy. I'm mixing a little bit of yellow ochre and red to make this nice warm orange. And I'm just painting the pupil, the iris. And that's all we're going to do at this stage, just filling out that area. And we'll come back to it later once it's dried. But now we've got that warm glow to contrast all those blues that are in the painting. This glow, this strong underlayer sets the stage for the intricate details that we will paint later. Because again, it's that gaze of the wharf that really draws the viewer in. So while that eye color dries, we'll start painting the shading on the neck, and this helps anchor the head. And I'm mixing cool colors here. I can specifically tell you what they are ultramarine, bit of cobalt, a bit of purple I have there. But I advise you to explore your own direction because as long as they're cool, it doesn't matter. Any cool color will work well and harmonize with the other warm colors. You can see I apply quite a bold brush mark there. Now I'm using a pure wet brush to soften their edges and the water will flow out nice and freely. I'm trying to be mindful of the way the shadows conform to the contours of the neck. Adding a bit more purple into there. And as it reaches the bottom, I'm adding a few strokes to imply the fur. And once that pigment has fully mixed in and sunken into the paper, I'm just going to clean my brush, take some water out of it, and just suck out some strokes. So I'm creating or I'm pulling out some of the pigment to create some directional lines. And if there's a buildup of paint that you don't like, you can just use a tissue to dab it out. Or even if there's some areas that have dried, you can scrub away at it with a clean brush and then use the tissue to wipe away scrub out that pigment. 17. The Eyes: Returning to the eyes now, now that the base layer is settled and dried, we can start adding a bit of depth to them. So to begin with, I'm painting the outline with a nice thin stroke of black. And then bit by bit, using the tip of my brush, I'm going to fill in the rest of the space where on a human, it would be the whites of the eyes. I'm actually going to paint black. To really make the orange glow, contrast. And because black is such a strong pigment, really take your time and use all the fnease you have to make sure you don't go past that line. We want these orange circles to be perfect. We want the irises and the pupil to be perfectly circular. Of course, the eyelid on the top cuts off the top of the circle. And now, when I add the pupil here, see how I'm leaving a little bit of a gap between the top eyelid. There's a little bit of a reflective highlight that I'm leaving there. Of course, if you're not comfortable, you can just paint it black and then come back with white gouache at the end. Same thing on the right hand side. Although I decided to paint the pupil first. I really like this brush because it has a very fine tip. I don't need to swap over to a tiny little brush because this one's already got a fine tip, so there's absolutely no need to. And in fact, it'd actually be harder to paint this with a smaller brush because it would keep on running out of pigment or water. This brush holds a lot of pigment and water, and it still retains the tip. The sharp highlights there obviously convey where the light naturally hits. And this small detail can make the eyes appear very moist and reflective. And it's vital for capturing that essence. It's the most important part of the painting, really. Trying to enhance the richness of the iris by deepening the orange around, ensuring that they're vivid and striking. The darkest tones towards the outer rim of the iris and around the pupil create kind of natural gradation. I'm slightly softening the iris. Then refining the outline of the eyes with the very fine tip brush of pigment. This, you can use pure black or a very dark blue or purple. You can see the ultramarine in my palette. It's so dark, it may as well be black, really. It's only when it's diluted, you see the color in. And this darkness of the eyes contrasts with the white around it, and it really makes it pop. It gives that wolf a piercing gaze. And I've actually painted over the highlights there. So I will come back at the end with white gouache. But I have to make sure it's completely dry before I get to that stage. 'cause I still want to create that high contrast of the highlights to make it sparkle. 18. Eye Highlights: So getting the hair dryer out to make sure that it is completely dry. And as I was saying before, as pigment dries, sometimes it dries a bit lighter than you'd like it to. So I'm just having to go back there to emphasize the dark darks. Now using the pure white. Just to add that lifelike sparkle, a tiny speck of light on the upper part of the iris over the darkened area to simulate that effect of light catching the eye, enhancing the free dimensiality and the reflective aspect, trying to be cautious with the size and the placement of these highlights because it should be subtle. And this subtleness is actually very effective. If you make it too big, then it actually doesn't become effective because it's not realistic anymore. Now I'm just assessing any more details that I might want to put before applying the rest of the background. Just using a palette knife to scratch away some of the highlights. You can use a card or maybe you don't need to use one at all. I just felt like it at that stage. So yeah, thinking what final changes I can add to the ear. I need to do something there. It's a bit too undefined at the moment. But even now, it's not necessarily detailed I'm painting. I just have to make it look a bit more natural. I'm not aiming for perfection, though, and huntiva really. Because the most compelling paintings aren't necessarily the most detailed, but they're the ones that make us feel something. And sometimes that aim for perfection actually gets rid of the feeling. So don't be afraid to let areas remain unfinished or suggestive. What you don't paint is just as powerful as what you do. 19. Left Background: So now as we bring our wolf to completion, let's focus on finishing the background and using the negative painting techniques to further define the silhouette of the wolf. And we can also introduce some abstract elements that enhance the artwork's expressive quality. So I'm starting by mixing the colors that I want, and I'm going to be quite vibrant to begin with. I'm going to use this serlean blue and a bit of purple. But then I'm going to bring it down with a bit of black. Once I've got the color that I want, then I need to think about the vibrancy of it. And if it's too vibrant, it just won't work. So now that I have the colored mixed, I'm prewtting the area that I want to work on, and I'm pre wetting it further than I plan to paint because I want it to transition to white. The white of the paper. And to allow that transition to happen, I have to go further. So using this larger brush that still has a nice fine point, I'm just dabbing in there, and you can see it just flowing out. I might encourage it a bit. Of course, I chose blue because it complements the tone that we've used inside the wolf, but it does stand out enough to create a contrast. I have to use controlled brush strokes when defining the fur, but I'm trying to use broad fluid strokes to fill in the space outside in the background. And I'm trying to maintain a balance between control and spontaneity, really. I'm allowing the colors to blend naturally on the paper, this purple and the blue. I'm just going to try and allow that to do what it wants now. I can splat a bit of water on there to help a bit of chaos. A few arbitrary and abstract brushstrokes going on now. Trying to create that atmospheric effect by giving the impression the wolf is emerging from a misty, undefined space. I'm personally not trying to define it. I want it to be ambiguous. Particularly where this wash meets the fur, it has to be a strong contrast. Now I'm introducing some abstract brush work. You can apply some slats as well if you want, but I'm doing a lot of dry brush marks to create that textured stroke look. You could experiment with salt, even though I'm not doing that today, or you can even dab it with a sponge a bit because these expressive touches should complement the overall composition and it'll make it unique to you because these abstract or expressive strokes are impossible to replicate. So when you do them yourself, you're going to create an original artwork. A, 20. Right Background: You can see the direction of those abstract marks do point inward as they curve around and go to the bottom, they point inward. They draw attention to the head. So continue building up these layers until you achieve a desired intensity and texture. Adding a bit of brown because that complements the blue on the other side. I think I have to be a bit stronger up here. The contrast doesn't really match, so I'm going to have to boost it a bit. Each addition now should enhance the visual narrative, so we can try suggesting elements of the wild environment or simply adding a few dynamic brushstrokes. I'm adding a few dry brush marks because there's not many dry brush marks in the actual painting itself. So to make the most of the whole medium of watercolor, I'm going to start adding some there. Because it's all very controlled. The wolf itself is very controlled. So adding this expressive side of it gives it a nice bit of balance and contrast. Again, contrast is not just about color or tone. Contrast can be abstract and defined. Using an old rough brush to soften some of the edges there. And because it's all wet, I can just dab in this pigment and it'll blend out nice and smoothly. I'm squinting my eyes a lot, actually, just to see if the tones are balanced. Now, if you remembered when we first painted the background, I left that hard line at the top there. Now I'm going to create a few more strokes that are parallel to that. And it's almost a bit symmetrical with the other side. On the other side, we've got strokes facing down, coming down from the left, and now we've got strokes coming down from the right, it creates a kind a V shape with the wolf in the middle. 21. Finishing Touches: Now I've dried everything off completely with a hair dryer, and I'm just going to go in with pure white paint to further refine the fur the outlines. We can also enhance any highlights we want to add and maybe introduce a few splatters because these small yet powerful additions help bring the wolf to life. And they add a bit more contrast, texture, and a bit more refinement. Because some of these strokes we just couldn't pick out with the blue paint for the background. So just adding a few more lines like this, add a bit more depth. A few highlights on the ears, the outline. Maybe along the bridge of the nose, the edges of the eyes, up at the top here, highlights that catch the light and ultimately enhance the realism of the painting. They make the fur look more dimensional and luminous. But it's important to keep these highlights subtle. We don't want to overdo it. A little goes a long way in creating these final touches of brightness. It's easy to be over enthusiastic, and it's difficult to go back because this white paint it's hard to scrub off. What feels right now might look a bit overdone if you leave it a few days. What might be a good idea is to save this part in a few days time, maybe do another project and then come back to this. But as long as use your judgment wisely and be conscious of the fact you might overdo it, then you probably won't overdo it. Now, adding some whiskers there. Again, very subtle. I only need to add one or two each side. And not even complete whiskers, implying a few whiskers. I'm trying to achieve a dry brush mark. So sometimes the pigment might not even fall off my brush because it's too dry, but that's okay. It's better than having an overly wet brush and losing that texture. This last date is about bringing everything together to ensure the wolf doesn't just sit on a page, but actually feels like a living, breathing presence within its environment. Maybe a few more lines just to help the flow, the direction of the fur. I don't want I'm trying my best, at least, I try my best to make sure that wherever you look at the fur, it follows a kind of flow. There's not a lost strand somewhere. It's always going with the flow, so to speak. And lastly, I'm going to wet my brush, get some pigment on there. So it's not a dry white anymore. It's a very wet white, and I can just flick it off into the dark areas to create more contrast. Again, being very sparing with this. That should be it. I don't want to overdo it with any more spatters, a subtle touch, just to add that lively feel. 22. Final Thoughts: Well, welcome back, and congratulations on completing this class on painting a white wolf. I hope you found the experience as exciting and enlightening as I did. In this class, we covered many things, everything from rendering realistic fur to adding abstract elements that amplify the mystical qualities of our subject. We also embraced the fluid spontaneity of watercolor to enhance the atmospheric backdrop. Remember, watercolor painting is not just about technical skills, but also about expressing your creativity and personal style. I encourage you to continue exploring, experimenting, and pushing your boundaries to create your own unique watercolor masterpieces. As we come to the end of this class, I hope you feel more confident and comfortable with your watercolor painting abilities. Practice is key when it comes to improving your skills, so keep on painting and experimenting. I want to express my gratitude for each and every one of you. Your passion for watercolor painting is so inspiring, and I'm honored to be your teacher. If you would like feedback on your painting, I'd love to give it. So please share your painting in the student projects gallery down below, and I'll be sure to respond. If you prefer, you can share it on Instagram, tagging me at Will Elliston, as I would love to see it. Skill Share also loves seeing my students work, so tag them as well at Skillshare. After putting so much effort into it, why not share your creation? If you have any questions or comments about today's class or want any specific advice related to watercolor, please reach out to me in the discussion section. You can also let me know about any subject wildlife or scene you'd like me to do a class on. If you found this class useful, I'd really appreciate getting your feedback on it. Reading your reviews fills my heart with joy and helps me create the best experience for my students. Lastly, please click the follow button Utop so you can follow me on skill share. This means that you'll be the first to know when I launch a new class or post giveaways. I'm so eager to see how you're gonna use these techniques to create your own beautiful wolves. As always, explore and experiment with whatever you feel you want to try out until next time, bye for now.