Watercoloring a landscape

(Originally posted HERE and HERE on August 25, 2010)

This was a special request to watercolor a landscape.  I decided on the Asian Garden image by Doodle Pantry because it includes stone, wood, bark, leaves, grasses/foliage, and water.
MY MATERIALS:

• Small round tip waterbrush with water reservoir filled with distilled water
• Tombow markers 942, 947, N65, 946, 856, 098, 177, 526, 899
• Canson 90 lb. watercolor paper with digital image printed on it

GENERAL INFO:
These instructions can be applied to a more simplistic landscape, but they are designed to help you feel less intimidated with the more complex and detailed landscape images.  The basics are that you start from light colors and move through to the darkest, and to keep in mind the landscape light source, and the landscape elements requiring different brush or color application techniques.
TIPS:
Using your waterbrush:  To get water flow out, you gently squeeze the barrel until desired flow penetrates the brush tip.  Sometimes too much is coming out, and you need to wipe off on a paper towel until you regulate the flow to being steady.  Sometimes, there is not enough water in the brush and you need to give the barrel 3 or 4 quick repeated squeezes until the flow returns.
Blending:  When working with nature scenes, sometimes, if you are "trying" too hard, you won't get a natural look.  Just move gently, make sure water flow is enough but not saturated, and try to only go over an area once, if possible.
Brush stroke style:  Think about the element you are coloring/blending.  Is the bark on a tree smooth or rough?  Where is the light coming from?  Is the water element still?  Or moving?  Bushes and distant trees usually have varying shades within them, make note if the foliage you want to achieve is blotchy or has straight lines through it.  How you tap or stroke your brush on the color in these different elements will change the outcome.
Color order:  I generally work from lighter colors to darker.  I personally feel this is the easiest way to color my images.  Select ALL your images colors prior to beginning and then place them in order from lightest to darkest to the best of your ability.  And then you just start with the lightest color.
Timing:  I find it is best to wait at  least 5 minutes inbetween each color blending to allow  the area to dry as mucch as possible before applying the next color. The only exception to this is if your intention is to add some more marker color to the damp area to give a little contrast of shade.
BEGIN:

My lightest color on this image is the 942 brown.  I added the color to the tops of the branches and the tops of the bridge posts, railings and walkway boards.  If you look closely, you will see that I even went a little outside of the lines.  Lighter colors are easy to cover up with darker colors later on.  Using  your waterbrush, blend with one stroke over each area.  Don't over-do it, all you are trying to achieve on this is to dampen the paper and lightly soften the color you just applied.
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Add the darker brown color 947 to the shadowed areas on the tree trunk and bridge.  Remember to constantly think about where the light is coming from as you color.  Usually, underneath creases and where joints meet is where darker colors are.  You really don't need much of this color, but i added a little more than I normally would have, just for the sake of this tutorial.
TREE TRUNK: Blend with the waterbrush by brushing over the lighter color first and then moving the brush toward and into the darker color. Once you get to the darker color, go to the edge, carefully, and then back out into the lighter color. Quickly move to the next adjacent section and repeat.
BRIDGE: Touch the very tip of the waterbrush to the darker colors and with VERY short and quick strokes, move the color out into the lighter color.  Stay within the lines of the bridge sections.
Don't try to blend too much.  Often times, it is better to just go over once, and wait and watch as the color blends and dries.  Many times the first blending is the perfect one and playing with it too much will make it harder to achieve a natural look.
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Here's what is looks like after you blend the darker color into the lighter.
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Next color is the N65 gray for the stone and cement elements.  Add color to the areas where you think there are the darkest shadows.
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Blend by touching the brush to the clear areas first and then blending into the areas where you added color, and then move the brush back out until the areas are covered. Finished blending of stones above.
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For the leaves, I used mustard color 946 and just added a small dot in the center of each leaf.  I Blended by dabbing the tip of the waterbrush over each leaf individually.
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Above is the blended leaves.
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I wanted these leaves to have a prominent red color in their centers, so I touched very lightly with the 856 marker into the center of each leaf, AFTER the mustard color was dried, and I did NOT blend the red.
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Landscapes quite often have many tones of greens, so try not to limit yourself to just one type of green.  Above, I used the 098 color for the mossy ground around the stones and the bush at the other end of the bridge.  I added dots of the color on the bush, and applied blotchy patches of the color on the ground.  Blend with the waterbrush by grabbing the color from the ground and moving to areas on the ground where there is no color.  Stay away from those leaves.  Using the smallest tip of waterbrush will help you.
Dab the tip of the wet waterbrush onto the bush, but don't try to blend too much, as white spots left will be filled in later with red for "flowers".
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Above: olive  green areas blended
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Add color 526 blue to the edges of the tree/leaves for the sky, and along the bush line, as well as under the bridge for the water, and create some squiggly streaks flowing out, if you want "moving" water.
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Blend by applying the wet waterbrush tip to blue areas on the sky and move back and forth to pick up all the color in that section and move outward to fill the space.
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Above: Blend the water by touching the wet brush tip to the white areas on the water and moving into the area under the bridge. Move the brush back again and over the entire water area.
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I used the 177 green to color the ferns below the tree, the grass on the other side of the bridge and the bushes along the horizon.  For the bushes and grass, I dotted the color on so that after I blend, those dots will remain as an undertone and give the bushes a natural look of lights and shades. 

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Above is after blending the 177 color. Notice how the bushes appear realistic with the variation in the color due to how I dotted on the color.
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Using the fine tip of the 177 green, I drew over the long grass near the shoreline, added a few blades of grass on the grassy section on the other side of the bridge, as well as next to the big rock in the front left. No need to blend these areas, except for a tiny touch at the  base of the tall grass next to the riverbank.
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We are at the darkest color now, the 899 brown, and this is used for the bridge supports, and for the bark in the tree trunk.  Blend the bridge supports.
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To add a bit of color, I used the 856 again, for the large leafy plant near the bank, and "dotted" on the bush next to the other side of the bridge. Blend the red on the leafy plant.
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Above is where I added the 899 brown as the bark on the tree trunk.
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A few final touches:
Add some gray N65 to the undersides of the stones just to accentuate their contrast a bit more.  If you'd like to blend very quickly and lightly, do so now to smooth out the stones.
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Above: Using the 899 brown again, apply very small dots in the green grassy area in front, just to add some variation in color there. Blend by dabbing quickly with the tip of the waterbrush, over each dot of color.
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Here is the raw finished image.
Now you can apply and attach your layers, sew and finish your image panel.  AFTER the panel is finished, you can add your effects like clear lacquer on the water, or flower soft on the ground or on the bushes.
I chose to add green ultra fine flower soft near the bottom and red flower soft on the little bush and clear lacquer on the water.
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My finished card:


SUPPLIES:

• IMAGE: Asian Garden image by Doodle Pantry
• CS/PAPER: Canson 90 lb. watercolor paper,red, mustard, chocolate, K&Co Classic K Bailey 12x12 stack DP
• INK: Tombow markers 942, 947, N65, 946, 856, 098, 177, 526, 899
• ACCENTS/TOOLS:  Waterbrush,Spellbinders scallop square die, SU button, CDS mustard seed satin, thread, sewing machine, ultra fine flower soft green and red, clear glossy accent lacquer, pearls, glue dots, pop dots

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Thank you for taking the time to go over the tutorial.  I hope you are encouraged to go and COLOR! Wishing you a wonderful weekened and many stamping pleasures!

Fuzzy Fur Watercoloring

(originally posted HERE on August 5, 2010)

Here is a coloring tutorial for the fuzzy fur of this Koala Bear, latest release at Doodle Pantry.  Their fur is quite varying in shades of gray.  Here is how I get the look using Tombow markers and a waterbrush on watercolor paper.  Allow for periods of drying time though.
Materials needed for coloring Koala:

• Koala Me digital image from Doodle Pantry
• 90 lb. Canson watercolor paper and laser printer
• Tombow markers N65, N75, N15, 177, 992, 899, 800
• Waterbrush with reservoir in handle
• paper snips
• craft sponge wedge

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1. First, go ahead and make your mask that you will need for the sponging of the sun/sky behind him. Print a second copy of your digital image sheet on plain white copy paper.  See how his fuzz sticks away from his body? When you cut him out, cut down the MIDDLE of the little fuzzy hairs that stick out along the edge of his body, so essentially you are cutting off the outside edges of those hairs.  Also cut in the middle of the other lines, NOT outside of the lines. Set the mask aside.

2. Begin by adding the lighter gray N75 to the areas on his face as shown.

3. Blend using the waterbrush and don;t worry if it looks a little blotchy, this is just the shadowing of the undercoat. The outter parts of his ears and his chin are generally white, so I left them with no color on them. ALLOW TO DRY COMPLETELY.

4. Once the face is dry, use the writing tip point of the Tombow marker and add short strokes of hairs with the SAME N75 marker color. Start in the areas of the shadows and work your way inward and all around the head until desired coverage is attained.

5. His head should look approximately as shown below. I know he looks a little scary at this point, but we fix that later, I promise.

6. Now is a good time to add the light pale pink to the center of his ears and the very  bottom tip of his nose, if you want a little pink on him. Go ahead and blend that lightly with the waterbrush.

7. Using the darker N65 marker writing tip, apply the same very short and light strokes of hair around the head, starting in the areas where there is darker hair coverage and moving inward, making the strokes lighter as you go inward.

8. Now he looks even scarier than before. 

9. Using the waterbrush tip, use short, gentle strokes, brushing in the same pattern as you drew the hair lines, and very little water flow, you do NOT want puddles of water coming out. You want just enough that makes the paper slightly damp as you brush it over the hair lines you just drew on the Koala bear.  Do NOT "try" to blend, just brush over the hair lines starting at one side of the head, and work your way around, using short strokes in the same direction of the hairs.   Stay away from the areas that you want to remain mostly white.

10.  If you've done it correctly, you will get a gentle softening of the hairs you drew, but not a total blending together of them, like below. Allow to completely dry.

11. Once the face is dry, you can add the black on his nose. Don't add too much, the black is a very strong color.

12.  I tried to leave the pale pink color on the end of his nose, but the black took over.

13. Now, following the same steps and rules as we did for the face, do the same for the arms and body.  Think about where your shadows will be... under an arm or chin, on the backside of an arm behind something else, in this case the branch. Below is the result.

14. Put removable adhesive on the back of your copy paper "mask" and put it down carefully lining up the image.

Note: I chose to mask my image and sponge the "sun" prior to finishing the coloring of the branch and leaves.  However, you may want to choose to finish coloring the rest of the image first. It is personal preference.  And I suggest that if you are new to watercoloring with Tombow markers, go ahead and finish the coloring prior to masking and sponging.  Reason being that IF water from your waterbrush touches the sponged ink around the branch or leaves, it WILL pull that color into your image, and you don't want that.

15. This is just the basic masking technique.  Using the sponge with ink color on it (I used pumpkin pie by SU), dab the sponge STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN, do NOT swish in a circle pattern, and do NOT swipe back and forth.  To get the depth of color that I have below, I kept adding more ink to my sponge and dabbing up and down in the same spot until it got as dark as I wanted.  Then I moved over a bit to the next area and dabbed up and down on that area, and so on.  Here, I have created a "sun" behind the Koala bear.

The reason for dabbing up and down and not swishing or swiping, is so that the skinny edges of the copy paper mask that you cut out don't get pulled up by the swiping motions accidentally sponging onto the image underneath.  I have done that before and ruined an entire image, so I learned from personal experience to just be patient and DAB with the sponge.

16. Next I did the SAME thing except with a marigold ink color around the pumpkin color.

17. Mask removed too reveal the soft sponged sun background.  If you completed your branch and leaves prior to sponging, you are done.  If not, you can finish it now.

18. On this image, after removing the mask, there is a TINY spot inbetween bear and branch that should be the orange color, so I came in with a matching marker and just colored it without blending.

 

19. Finished main image.

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Finished Card:
After taking the photo above on step 19, I added some darker shading of the branch to the image, as you can see in the closeup photo below.

The tiny tags in the photo above are punched using SU's new jewelry tag punch out of CDS hot cocoa cardstock. I then glued them down to CDS wild ginger cardstock and using snips, cut a thin border out around them. Then I glued them on a final layer of CDS spring leaf, also cutting out a thin border.

CARD SUPPLIES:

• IMAGE: Koala Me by Doodle Pantry
• CS/PAPER: 90 lb. Canson watercolor paper, CDS spring leaf, CDS wild ginger, CDS hot cocoa, Basic grey max & friends DP
• INK: Pumpkin inkpad, marigold inkpad, Tombow markers N65, N75, N15, 177, 992, 899, 800
• ACCENTS/TOOLS: waterbrush, sponge, snips, MS frond punch, EK border punch, SU jewelry tag punch, SU mini flower punch, PTI ribbon, Basic grey button, Kaiser pearls, linen thread, sewing machine, glue dots, foam pop dots

I hope the tutorial was a little useful for you.  I also hope it was easy to follow.  I value your feedback!  Either comment here or send me an email laurie@doodlepantry.com
THANKS for stopping by (again) today!

White wash watercoloring

(originally posted HERE on July 20, 2010)

Good morning!
This tutorial is a sort of "white wash" technique with watercoloring on watercolor paper.  Pretty much, all that is different than regular watercoloring, is that you are applying a VERY SMALL amount of color and then leaving MORE areas white or a diluted version of the color.  What you end up with is what appears to be a nice crisp, almost "white-washed" looking image.  This type of coloring is great for water or ocean themed images, but it can also look great on a country type image.
WHAT YOU NEED:

• Waterbrush with water reservoir in handle
• Dye ink based markers
• 90 lb. Canson watercolor paper
• Stamped image in waterproof ink OR printed digital image

Let's get started.  I have mostly just shown you the photos of my progress, with a few notes when needed.

I used my Stampin' Up! markers this time, as I just got them in and decided to give them a try. I was surprised that they worked VERY well for watercoloring on this particular watercolor paper.
Colors I used are Marina mist, Crumb cake, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede, and a little Early Espresso on the feet.

(ABOVE) Start by adding just a TINY bit of the blue color in the ares shown around the pelicans. For a "white washed" look, that is ALL the color you need.

Begin to blend using the waterbrush and move the tip outward away from the edges of the pelicans. The color will get lighter and begin to disappear to further you move away from the color.

Keep blending all the way around, along the lines of color you placed.  You want it REALLY light.

See how very light it is?

IF you want a little more contrast, you can add just a VERY TINY amount of the blue color along the edges where you started, but don't blend that color out too much.


Here you can see above, the blue area is finished.  Allow to completely dry.

I added the peach parfait to just the lower half of the beaks.

I personally think I added just a tad too much of the peach color, I needed a little less.  This would have been much more "white washed" if there was a little less of the peach on the beak.  See what you can learn from my mistakes? LOL
After the beaks were finished, and I added just a teeny tiny bit of the marina mist blue color to the tips of the beaks. You can hardly see it and I did not blend it out.  Some pelicans have a bit of blue streaks on their beaks, so that is why I did that.

Above you can see that I started with the Crumb cake marker on the pelican body.  I just added small amounts of color where I thought there would be shadows or color variation on the feathers.  You need to leave A LOT of white areas.

If you want a tiny bit more contrast, take the soft suede marker and just add a few streaks in between the wing feathers, and do this before blending.

Above, begin blending by touching the crumb cake color and moving the waterbrush tip outward into the pelican's body. This color blends out quickly, so you will be left with a lot of white.

When I got to the wings, I went all around them first with the wet brush, and then quickly swiped over top of them. Wipe off your waterbrush tip before moving to a new area on the pelican body.

Above, I used the soft suede color on the wood areas, and I just traced over the already printed lines in the wood, and then made "shadows" of color under each pelican.

When you start to blend, this time, start just off the actual marker lines and move toward the line of color, grab the color and move back away, with the color blending out.

As long as you have just a SMALL amount of the soft suede, this color will blend out quickly too leaving you with a nice white washed look.

Continue with each line of color on the piling and dock. Make sure your waterbrush doesn't have too much water flowing out. You want it flowing enough to grab color and pull it into the paper, but not so much that is begins to puddle on the paper.

FINISHED IMAGE!
The finished card and supplies is pictured HERE.
Thanks so much for stopping in today!  I hope you enjoyed this easy tutorial and I hope you are inspired to create!