Jade Crystal

If you follow me on instagram you may know that I recently wrote an instructive watercolor book for Quarto Global Publishing (available for pre order now!). While writing this book, I looked deep into my painting process and how to demonstrate it through visual steps. I have a lot of experience doing this through video because of my skillshare classes, but putting it into written form was a whole new monster to tackle!

I was recently commissioned by Glamour Magazine to paint a jade crystal and rose quartz for an upcoming article that will be out in May. When I began painting the jade crystal I thought if would be fun to document this process the same way I will do so in my book.

So let's get started:

Over a piece of watercolor paper, draw the outline to your crystal. Make sure your pencil markings are soft and not too dark. If you need outline ideas, I just posted tons of examples in the watercolor gems class on skillshare.
Begin painting your frist layers. Be mindful of your pencil markings, I try to paint right next to each line, instead of on top so I can erase later. It is pretty much impossible to erase pencil markings once watercolor has been painted over them, this will not look great especially with watery and translucent washes. I like to keep my paintings nice and clean. As you can see, I am painting some layers in a watery yellow and some a bit darker from the beginning. The watery yellow layers will eventually be painted over a bit to create texture, but I still want the undertone to be light. When painting crystals we need to play around with transparencies because the light reflects in so many different ways.
In the last step, I purposefully painted shapes far away from each other. I do this so the wet paint does not bleed into the shape next to it. Now that these initial areas have dried, I can begin painting the ones next to them. See those fun textures? I am using a bit of salt to get an interesting visual, to learn more about mixing mediums with watercolors, I recommend doing the experimental watercolor lesson in t his class.
Now we begin layering! Do you see the increase in texture by now? I have waited for most of my under-layers to dry and I'm now adding more texture with different brushes, I'm using a round and flat brush here to play around with different styles. If you take a close look at raw crystals, they usually have darker and muddy areas in them, also a bit of cracking in the interior. Here I am just observing photos to see what kind of details I can add to make the painting more realistic.
The watercolor layers are done! By now, I finished painting all the shapes using different values, transparencies and textures. I am also adding smaller lines and oddly shaped triangles to add reflection. If you look my Watercolor Gems class, we did a lot of this in the "gemstone practice" lesson.
On to my favorite part! Adding details with white ink. By this point your watercolor painting should be completely dry, we are about to add the final white ink touches that will make your painting pop! I added a bit of white lines around the corners of the crystal and some more oddly shaped long triangles that go in all different directions to emulate the light fractures within the crystal. You can also use a while gel pen, acrylic or gouache for these final details. My personal favorite is Copic white ink though. If you want to know more about white paint over watercolors, I recommend the lesson with that name in this class.

Now for some extra fun details:

In the book I'm wrapping up, we do a lot of DIY projects with embellishments. Super fun stuff like glitter, metallic dust and rhinestones. This extra detail really makes your projects shine! Here I am using some watered down glue and adding organic sections with different colors of glitter around the bottom of the crystal.

Tip: Just make sure you scan (if you want the digital image) before adding embellishments, or any metallic details actually. They will not scan well and the texture will make it tough to lay flat.

Voilà!

If you live in Mexico, make sure to check out the May issue of Glamour Magazine to see this jade in print!

And if you enjoyed this tutorial, you'll love my online classes and in person workshops!

A bit of news:
-We'll be filming a new Skillshare class this year, a very unique take on watercolor lettering and developing your personal style. *edit* the class is now available!

-My book will be published in December, and you can PRE ORDER now!

-I will be teaching an art biz retreat in October. This is my favorite thing in the world and I hope you can join me!

Spots are filling up for fast so don't wait toooo long if you're thinking of coming.

The Magic Jungle Experience, October 23-28, Tulum, Mexico

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON THIS POST IS YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CONCERNING CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS OR TUTORIAL <3

-Ana

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