Today I want to show you how and why I've been creating full watercolor
studies in my journal before I start my proper painting. I painted this little
eastern yellow Robin this week for a tutorial. Before I painted this one I
painted it in my watercolor journal.
I'm not a big fan of new year resolutions probably because I make them and I never
keep them but this year I resolved to work smarter not harder and one of the
ways I decided to do that was to start painting more watercolor studies.
When I say watercolor studies I don't mean a quick thumbnail sketch to
work out the composition or a painting that I can paint really quickly I mean a
full painting in my journal.
That sounds like it might be more work but I'm finding that it's not. I'm
finding that it's saving me time and I expect that it will save me some money
because I won't be wasting my expensive watercolor paper. Watercolor always
surprises me. I start painting and I'm never sure how the final painting will
turn out. We can't hide our mistakes when we paint in watercolor because the paint
is simply too transparent so for me there's always a level of anxiety when I
first start the painting. I find I'm anxious because I don't want to fail but
I'm also anxious because good quality watercolor paper is expensive and I
don't want to waste it on failed paintings if I can help it. By painting a
study in my journal before I start the painting I can iron out most of the
wrinkles that are likely to occur. I can play around with the painting in my
journal and see what works and what doesn't work. I can make decisions about
lots of different things before I start my proper painting. I can experiment.
Experimenting in the journal lowers those levels of anxiety and I find that
I can begin painting with a much calmer approach. So I'm doing everything I can
to set myself up for success. I drew a Robin in my journal. This is a
Winsor and Newton watercolor journal. At this point I wasn't sure
whether I was going to paint the feet in and the branch so I
didn't draw them in at this stage. So once I got my drawing right then I
started to paint in the gray feathers and this allowed me to work out whether
I was going to paint the feathers in individually or whether I was going to
paint them all as a whole. I decided to wash them in all at once and then
while that was wet I dropped in another color just to make the gray more
interesting. I find this first wash is always the freshest and most
vibrant so I want to make sure that I get it right. When that was dry I could
paint the yellow feathers in and I had some decisions to make here. There's more
than one color yellow on the bird's chest so I had to decide what color I
was going to use to paint that darker area that I could see on the reference
photo. I also had to decide whether I wanted to put this darker color on the
damp paper or whether I wanted to paint it wet on dry. There was some feather
detail that I could see on the reference photo. I had to decide whether I was
going to include that or leave it off. I put it on on this study just to see
what it would look like. Here I'm painting on some more feather detail. I
wasn't sure whether I needed more or whether I should leave this section off
so I put it on again just to see what it would look like and by seeing it here on
the study I decided to leave it off my painting. When painting Birds it's always
important to get the beak right so I like to spend a bit of time on the beak
and make sure I've got the shape right and the color so I was able to work out
how I was going to paint the beak on this little study. There was some detail
around the eye that I wanted to include but I wanted to see what it would look
like and I wanted to see how much of it I should include. So here I was able to
work out just how I'd paint that area around the eye.
This allowed me to determine just how much information I needed to give. After
I painted the flight feathers in I thought they looked a bit stiff so then
I decided that if I put this wash over the top of them then that would soften
the look of them. Then I got down to the feet and the legs and I was thinking
at this point that I would leave the feet off and I would just paint the legs in
and then just leave a suggestion of some feet but after I did that I realized I
didn't like it so it's good that I determined it on this study before I
started doing this on my painting. I looked at that and I thought, no that's
just not working. Then I knew I had to draw the birds feet in and the branch
that it's standing on and I went ahead and painted it and I was able to work
out the colors that I was going to use and how I was going to paint it.
Sometimes the feet can be a bit tricky and I don't want to put too much detail
on the feet so I was just able to have a play around and see what I liked and
what I didn't like and also how much detail I wanted to put on there. Then
once I finished painting the bird I had to decide whether or not I was going to
paint a background. If I was going to paint a background, how was I going to
paint it? Was I going to fill the entire background in or just put a splash
behind the bird and what colors would I use? So I was able to play around with
what I was thinking I would do on my main painting. I was just trying to
determine where I should put this splash behind the bird, where I should stop it,
what shape it should be. I was able to determine quite a few different
things from this little painting that I did it in my journal. This painting in
the journal allowed me to see that the back leg was too long. I needed to make
sure that I didn't do that on the main painting. The feet, I wasn't sure whether
to paint them in or not so the painting in the journal meant that I was able to
make a decision on that. The branch was tapering at the top and I need to watch
that I don't do that on the main painting and I was able to make
decisions about the background by painting it in the journal first. All of
these things I could work out before I put my brush to the paper and I was able
to paint this painting with ease. I was relaxed when I painted it and I painted
it quickly with minimal fuss. I did the same thing with this koala painting here.
I painted it in my journal first and when I came to paint the larger painting
I painted it with ease as well. It made the process of painting so much more
enjoyable. This painting is the subject of my next Skillshare class and
Skillshare are kindly sponsoring this video. I've been working with Skillshare
for a few years now and I really appreciate their support. I've published
ten classes now and I'm currently working on this eleventh one. Skillshare is
an online learning community with thousands of classes. There is so much to
explore and there are real projects that you can create. Topics include
illustration design photography video freelancing and more. Skillshare is also
affordable when compared to expensive face to face classes and workshops. An annual
subscription is less than $10 US. a month.
I'm currently enjoying this class by Sorelle Amore - it's called "YouTube
success build an authentic channel that's worth the follow". Sorrell is a
youtuber, photographer and videographer and this class is all about growing your
online presence authentically so that you can enjoy a long term career with
platforms such as YouTube. She talks about the importance of finding your
niche and being authentic and she takes you behind the scenes of her own work.
Make 2020 a year where you explore new skills or just improve the skills you
already have. Try some of my classes and you'll have access to thousands of other
classes as well. I've found lots of different classes that have both
surprised and inspired me. Because Skillshare are sponsoring this video I
have a link for you in the description. Thee first 500 subscribers to click the
link will get two months of premium membership so you can explore your
creativity. Ok back to this. As I said I painted this
painting for my next Skillshare class and I want to give you a quick look at
the study that I painted in my journal. With this study in my journal I could
work out the colors I was going to use. I could work out the technique I was going
to use to paint the fur. I decided to use a wet on wet technique for most of this
painting. It also helped me to decide what to leave off and what to put on,
what was important, what wasn't. I wasn't sure whether to use the same colors as
the Koala on the branch or whether I should go for warmer colors so this
allowed me to try out the warmer colors and see what they look like. Although it
takes time to paint a small study I find that time isn't wasted so I highly
recommend painting a study the painting before you paint the proper
painting particularly if you're not feeling confident. For me it takes away
most of the anxiety that can sometimes creep in whenever I start a new painting
and I don't want that anxiety to hinder my creativity. Ok thank you. I hope you
enjoyed this video. If you did give it a like and make sure you hit the subscribe
button because I post videos like this one every week. I'll see you soon.
Painting in the journal allowed me to see that the black, the black, like this
allowed me to see that the black leg was too long to make sure that I didn't do
that on the main painting didn't didn't so didn't didn't didn't I've been
working with Skillshare for a few years now
I really appreciate their support - motorbike
so if you want to make 2020 a year where you explore new skills even though I
can't say skills then for me it takes away most of the anxiety I can't
say anxiety now