For this class, we will be making together a simple mushroom illustration from start to finish. I will guide you through my process, how I find inspiration, and deconstruct the basic steps for drawing a mushroom in a more cartoony way, but you can also make it realistic, make it yours!

We will first have a look in detail at the materials we will need, I will also give you some tips for using gouache. I used 225gsm acid-free watercolor paper in the size of 148x105 mm (5.8x4.1 inches) but feel free to use any size you want.

You’re going to look at and collect the reference photos you like the best. Maybe you are drawn to a shape or color, you can take whichever parts you like in order to create something of your own. I will show you my main source of inspiration and how to transform the reference photo into something simple and give it your own touch.

Now comes the sketching part! This part is really fun and you should be able to complete it even if you haven’t drawn before. I usually sketch with a colored pencil that you can’t erase very well because I don’t really mind the pencil marks and most of it will be covered with the opaque paint.

Maybe even more fun than sketching, we’re going to paint our mushroom designs. I like to keep it simple and use only around 5 colors if I’m doing a series. For most of the individual paintings, I will show you I used 3 colors! If you have a hard time choosing colors that match well together you can use Adobe's Color Wheel. When I feel uninspired I just have a look there and pick the color combinations that speak to me. I always paint the subject first (aka the mushroom in this case) and then if I made any mistakes I will cover it with the background color.

For this step, you can add some details to your painting, like lines or dots, but you can totally skip this step if you prefer a simpler design.
The last step is sharing your amazing work for the world to see! This is my favorite part! Post your artwork in the class gallery. I highly encourage you to post your process as well. If you’re sharing your art on Instagram tag me! @emiliaghb

At the end of this class you will have a wonderful and simple mushroom illustration which you can frame, give as a gift, or you can make stickers or prints and more out of it, the sky's the limit!

My Pinterest board for inspiration : https://pin.it/3P7R3qO

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Zoe Sieders

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