Robin watercolor tutorial Video Lecture - Master the Art of Watercolour

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today we're going to do a painting of a
Robin so I'm gonna go through the sketch
with you in a minute but first don't
want to paint in a background wash so
I'm just taking some clear water and
putting it on my 140 pound watercolor
card you could do this on a in a larger
scale for a bigger painting but I like
to do these little these little cards to
a warm-up for the day and actually since
this is the case you wait for my
children this will probably be the only
creative thing I get to do today I'm
making up a puddle of ultramarine blue
on my palette I'm also gonna get some um
you can use burnt sienna this is more
like an English red here so it's you
know reddish brown if you don't have
this uh I've heard it called Indian red
and English red let me see what the
little pan says it says light red is
what this is what this is called here
and I'm what I'm going to do and add a
little bit of yellow ochre here and I'm
just going to put in some um some very
light background wash colors and a
little bit of here on the bird itself I
basically want to just cover some of the
paper but I don't want to have any
really strong colors I just kind of want
to UM get rid of the white and have too
much white on the bird so I think I can
just go right over that and I think I'll
actually even flick in a little bit of
of green in a little bit of crimson well
at it now what I've done here is I have
I've introduced all the colors I'm going
to use and by doing that it gives me I'm
giving my whole painting harmony and
unity because I know that all these
colors are going to come around again so
let's do the drawing some we're going to
work on a bigger piece of piece of paper
here and I'm just gonna grab a marker so
you can really see my lines and um so
for the bird what you want to do and you
know you chose on a separate piece of
paper and then transfer it transfer it
on to your on your good good paper I
usually just draw a really light leave
with a pencil and then I erase the lines
I don't need so it kind of starting with
a oval
okay and then we're kind of gonna make
just another kind of little round II
bump on the top of the oval I want to
bring that out here Robin's are known
for being very very round very large
chested birds and you can make a plum
have you ever seen oh my gosh she could
seals Rob Robbins when I wrote to lay
their eggs they have such big big
tummies and sometimes and they can eat
their weight in in food I hear so you
know they can thicken really I said eyes
you'll see like a white split just like
a white splitter on their chest because
they've I think is they either ready to
have eggs or they've just had a really
big lunch I'm just putting in this kind
of wedge shape for the wing little round
II kind of triangle their beak is a
little rounder than other birds and also
their eyes are more round so that also
gives you that Robin look because their
eyes are more of a circle so then if I
want to mark off some colors this area
is going to be redder so you might just
put a little bit of an indication line
if you want
um and then i'ma give him some legs he's
perched on a branch and I like to put
the feet in first and then draw my
branch okay and I'd make a few branches
off we're gonna have some red berries on
our tree but I'm not going to put those
in yet so just basically I want to get
that basic sketch down and I know it's
really rough looking but trust me it's
gonna turn out alright okay so now what
I want to do is make sure my picture is
dry it's almost there but I can feel
that it's still damp so many heat set it
this is very entertaining isn't it I
should probably just pause it there only
takes a second Oh
actually I will pause it's gonna take a
few more seconds all right you know it's
dry when you put your hand on it and
it's cool to the touch so um so that's a
good helpful hint all right so now I'm
gonna grab a number 10 round if you feel
like using a smaller brush go ahead you
can use a number 6 and I'm going to take
some of that I'm actually going to wet
the chest and belly of the bird and also
the head want too much water so I'm just
gonna blot my brush on uh on a napkin
there
just want uniformly damp because I'm
going to add in the colors and because
their feathers I'm not wetting the wing
I don't want hard lines I want them to
kind of blend a little bit so I'm gonna
go in with this light red and you can if
you have burnt sienna just add a little
touch of crumbs into it to make it a
little bit more red a little bit less
Brown I'm just going to throw that in
that area that I designated as being the
red part of my bird then I'm going to
grab with my same brush not even
cleaning out I'm going to grab a little
bit of yellow ochre for over here around
the eye I love the way the colors mix
and mingle now I want to make a grey and
I'm not even cleaning my brush I'm going
to take a little bit light red a little
bit of that ultramarine blue and mix it
till I get a nice gray color and then
that's going to go um down here on the
bottom and back here towards the back
and add a little touch more blue to it
because it is really you know it just a
little bit has a little bit more of a
cool or grey to it a little bit of that
in there wipe my brush and then just
kind of any any areas that look a little
rough I'm gonna go in and soften okay
now I can grab my credit card scraper
tool and I can add some little bits of a
little uh carry bits little kind of like
a little bit two feathers you know just
a little line so basically mostly where
like the red is going to
blend out to gray that's where I want to
have those little feathery marks kind of
go with the shape of the body go with
the direction of the feathers kind of
head to tail just a little little hacci
marks and left less is more when in
doubt leave it out if you feel like this
is an area we're gonna mess up then and
then don't do it
of course the other on the other hand
you know we're just working out a little
greeting card so you know don't don't
stress about it too much and you just
want to give a hint just put a little
here and there and that'll be enough to
you know for the brain to fill in the
rest all right so while that's drying
I'm gonna go in and paint the branch so
again I'm going in with my number 10
round don't be afraid of using a big
Brush um it really helps you not fuss
around with a little with a little bits
in the picture I need to make some
darker Browns so I'm taking the light
red with ultramarine mixing myself up a
decent sized puddle of it there that's
good and I'm gonna use a tip of my brush
and I'm going to paint in the branch and
if I press my brush down sometimes
they'll get a nice random branch and
that's what I want I don't want it to
all look the same don't paint over the
feet just kind of go around those and
sometimes I'll actually drip in some
more color so I can have some more
variation I think that's you know the
look of watercolor that I really like is
variated
colors and the blended the blended
colors I'm also going to drop a little
bit of yellow ochre into my branches
I'll give it a little bit of a highlight
I'll warm it up a little bit we don't
have much for leaves on our branches yet
around here you do see some with berries
on them still be very pretty okay now
we're going to put some berries in and
I'm actually going to show you a little
cheat here what I'm going to do is I'm
going to wet my pinky finger and I'm
just gonna put it on the cake of crimson
here I'm just going to dot little bear
now you can't paint a berry more perfect
than that okay so we're just going to go
through and add a few berries here and
there you can go right over the branches
go next to the branches um you can do
large groupings or small groupings if
you can do a small grouping try to keep
it in an odd number that will just look
a little bit nice a big berries little
berries and that's about it now if you
want to add stems to them that's
completely up to you what you want to do
is just grab this small um a small brush
like a little liner or something this is
number two I could even go smaller than
that what I would do is just kind of
kind of just get it wet and kind of
twirl it so you get a nice point and
then I would just from the either from
the branches from the berries just dry
do a little line of water and some color
from the branch of the berries will go
in there and it will look nice and
natural very easy and you don't have to
do every one just a few of them just to
give the UM it give the illusion of them
all being done okay now let's um move on
to the wing and the tail and I'm gonna
make a nice dark mix I don't want that
brush I think I might want to go a
little smaller than my number ten let's
just see how that's gonna yeah won't we
go to like a number six that way we
don't even have to worry about the brush
being too big um kind of get some blue
and light red in the ultramarine blue
and I'm just actually going to go in on
the dry paper I'm going to paint my
shadows in first the darker areas
and this little wing in the back here
has a little bit of dark on it and I'm
going to go in and get some of the
streaks to suggest the feathers here on
the wing that's going to dry really
quick and I'm gonna make something nice
real dark color and do the do the UH
that's pretty well dry and do the beak
in the eye just give it you know what
I'm gonna hit it with just uh heat for a
second just to be absolutely shorts I
don't want my color to feather off I'm
gonna try to paint around a little spot
for highlight and if but if I don't that
is bleeding a little bit um then I can
go in and get it later I just kind of
blot that area where it's bleeding out
not a big deal don't don't freak out if
that happens it's watercolor it's fine
little bit on the beat
a lot of Robins in our area right now
you can do this with a liner if this is
a little feels a little unwieldy you can
do that with a liner brush all right now
I'm just going to get a lighter wash of
that gray color that we made I'm just
going to go right over my wings in my
tail I think I'm going to do a little
bit add a little bit of yellow ochre in
there too after I get it filled in
yo little girl will kind of warm it up a
little bit much
lot off my brush and pick some of that
up I'm actually just gonna dab some of
that because that is a little harsh okay
a little more gray there alright we're
gonna let that dry for a second because
the branch is too wet to do the feet but
I want to show you how to make a little
matching envelope so I've got this
envelope here and I want to kind of add
something I think along the flap and I
think it'd be cute to put a little um
little branch so what I'm gonna do is
just kind of go from one side and start
just making a little branch maybe add a
little bit more of that red to it red
light red which is kind of like a burnt
sienna color and then my finger I think
is said to be too big for those dots so
hmm maybe I'll just use the it's a q-tip
or something look at a little little
q-tip I'll wet it so it's not too uh too
unwieldy and I'll just dab on a few
little berries I'll be cute on a
Christmas card too
there we have a little matching envelope
I think that's really cute right down
the flap and if you want you could even
do like the the edge like a little uh a
little green that's these uh these
watercolor cards have a cute they come
with envelopes a little deckled edge so
I don't want to close it somebody seal
it up but you can see there that's why
that's not look so I'm gonna set that
aside I'm gonna check on our card let's
dry that and we can go on and finish it
up all right let's paint the legs we'll
go in with our small round you can use
your liner if that's a if that feels a
little uncomfortable but I think a
number six round is going to be good for
that I'm going with that dark that same
dark that I mixed and I'm just gonna
paint in the legs and the feet just like
that
remember you don't put too much detail
and it's just a water color I'm going to
add a little bit of shading underneath
the feather with that same color red any
that wing I mean behind the wing and a
little bit more detail but you know not
too much and then just to blend it out
I'm just going to wet my brush and just
bring some clear water over alright I
feel like this is just maybe need to
brighten up the the broadens chest a
little bit so I'm going to go in a
little bit more color there and I'm ping
this on a pretty wet paint on dry paper
but then I'm going to go in with a damp
brush and just kind of soften the edges
so it kind of blends out here he goes to
get that you know really nice bright
robin's redbreast there
and you just add a little bit of this
color in there too I feel just a little
too dull they are high like that
alright so now I'm also thinking this
doesn't look as springy as I want it to
so I'm gonna grab a half inch flat brush
and I'm going to throw in a few SAP
green leaves so I'm just feeling like
it's it doesn't look that springy to me
so and what I'm doing leaves I tend to
UM turn my paper as I need I'm just a
few a few here and there and I'm just
using the shape of the brush to my
advantage I'm just kind of pressing and
lifting and I know it does look a little
decorative but it's a card it should be
there creative you know I'm just kind of
adding just from my imagination so you
don't want to you don't have to and as
and I do like to uh let this um spatters
on and I know a lot of you guys don't
like to do that you don't have to
because it's your picture so don't worry
about if you don't like it
don't do it it's your picture but I feel
like I just need a little more
liveliness in here so I am going to do
some splattering if you get it on the
bird just blot it off don't worry about
it
you can even um lay like a scrap of
paper over the bird if you want this is
splashing onto my face I've never done
it like that before I was just curious
this is somebody else to do it that way
in the craft video and I was like hmm I
think it's all in my face I don't think
I'm gonna do it that way you're gonna do
it that way that's the way I always do
it and a little yellow ochre because I
like yellow ochre I like to spot like to
have the right side up for me when I
splatter because I have better control
over where they go but again if you
don't like that don't do it now I don't
forget to sign your name you can use
your small liner brush for that if you
like or a pen I can't sign it upside
down so I'm just gonna
do my initials right down here date it
and there you have it I want to thank
you so much for painting along with me
today few many questions leave them
below please give me a thumbs up and
subscribe if you like this video until
next time happy crafting