How to paint a fancy goldfish in watercolor Video Lecture - Master

hello friend Lindsay here the frugal
crafter we're gonna do some painting
today we're gonna paint a goldfish
I got a oh no I said it like that I got
a request to paint a goldfish or expand
a fish and so I thought why not um the
the person that requested said that they
had had some trouble making the fish
look like it had movement it was too
stiff so we're gonna do is draw fish
we're gonna start with kind of like a
fancy goldfish here I'm starting with
this kind of jelly bean shape candy bean
shape for the head and I'm going with
this other um I don't know
lozenges shape for the body into the
little bump here so it almost looks like
a cartoon marshmallow pointing I don't
know how to describe it so there we have
the body and that's going to be firm in
thick and stiff and solid so what we
want our fins wanna fins to be very airy
very airy so I'm not even gonna you know
fully sketch them and I just kind of
want to get the the essence of them
because we're going to be wetting the
paper and we're going to be putting in
lots of lots of paint so I just wanted
to get this in here you could sketch
this with a pencil if you prefer I'm
using an inktense pencils which is a
type of water-soluble pencil because um
I just want to make sure that it will
kind of kind of flow out and dissolve as
I go and look at the eyeball in here
there we go so there we've got this got
the basic fish drawn so what I want to
do now is use a large flat brush I'm
using a royal aqua lawn by royal
langnickel
really like these brushes and some fresh
water and I'm just going to brush over
my paper I'm going to go around the fish
to start just to kind of so I don't end
up with a yellow piece paper because
that those intense pencils are very
vivid and then I'm going to just gently
brush over that because I don't want a
very stiff
background you know I don't want the
fins to feel like I've painted around
them so what I've done here I'm just
going around there I'm not painting over
the body I am going just over the edge
of the lines there a little bit to help
of them but I I want to keep the the
part it's going to be solid I'm going to
keep that dry because I do want that to
be kind of a hard edge and kind of solid
and substantial but the rest I want to
kind of kind of be a little translucent
and float into the background so it does
appear that this fish is not all solid
and then I want to throw in some
watercolors and I think I'm going to use
some some turquoise or Prussian blue
here working with my yoga palette right
now I do like that now I'm gonna go
around the the fins a bit I don't
because I don't want to have to try to
paint over that because in turn green if
I do that so it's kind of going up to
and around and it's gonna get kind of
fuzzy and that's alright and then I
think I might add maybe some purple
because I think that would look really
nice with the gold of the goldfish so
you can mix your own purple or I've got
actually got some violet here I'm going
to use and again I'm just going to kind
of put it in around my fish it's not
going to go into the fish's body here
because um because I left that part of
the paper dry I just kind of and I also
want to throw and use some colors I'm
not typically that I'm typically work
with and I think that's kind of a nice
way to break yourself out of a creative
rut if you find yourself kind of
struggling and kind of feeling stuck and
then maybe maybe some green I think I'll
put in some like emerald that's another
color I rarely use so I think that would
be kind of fun to to throw in there
sometimes you just have to use a
different palette this is my yoga
palette we don't use it all that often
so I was I had it in my bag because I
had taught a class and I want to bring
some extras just to key side some
students without supplies and you know
yeah let's do outs do that let's use
that a little bit and it's going in
adding my color now this is going to dry
lighter so if you're a little nervous
about how dark it is right now don't
worry it's going to be lighter plus we
want a little contrast between our fish
and the background so um you know you
can keep adding colors on set
backgrounds what it's gonna it's gonna
respond really well
and then when we're completely sure
we're done then we can go ahead and and
dry it I just wanted to keep the the
fins soft and the the body hard there we
go and then if I feel like the if I feel
like I have like that weird edge there
that I don't want what I'll do is I'll
take a paper towel I'll Drive my brush
off I'll just kind of have a damp it's
clean and damp and I can just kind of
brush over that edge and soften it up a
little bit so dry it blot it off and
then you can just soften any areas you
feel like are a little too hard maybe up
there and then if you fit you feel like
I'm going a little too fast and you'd
like um like to pause the video go ahead
and do that that's a wonderful thing
about videos as opposed to being in a in
a class you can you can pause it
whenever you need come back to it later
like if you needed a break in this
painting this would be a great time to
take it while you're waiting for the
background to dry and you can always
come back in later and work on it I feel
like I want to add a little more color
there by the head and it go with the
blue again I didn't like that and I
don't want to introduce too much water
has I'm doing this because if I have a
wetter area on a damp background it will
cause a bloom and sometimes that looks
really cool and sometimes it isn't what
you want so I just want to control that
a little bit and you can soften the edge
there if you want to or you don't have
to it's completely up to you so what I'm
going to do now is I want to pause the
camera I am going to dry this and we'll
come back and we'll paint the fish okay
we're back you can probably notice the
shift in the background how it's a
little bit lighter now that happens when
your paint dries so that's just yeah I'm
sure you can really see it on the video
you know going from wet to dry so
hopefully that helps you out a little
bit now I'm going to switch to a round
brush and I've got a number six round
you could use anything between like a I
would say like a four and a ten
depending on what you prefer and how big
you're working this is just a five by
seven watercolor card and I'm going to
get some cadmium red right on my palette
I like to
to put my stuff out on my pallet rather
than going right from the cake of color
because sometimes you get a gob of paint
it's just a little harder to control and
I'm also going to grab a little bit of
cadmium yellow I need to clean that oh I
got a messy cadmium yellow I must have a
either been remiss when I used it last
or my kids used or the other the yellow
there you get stills it's a little grimy
yuck and because I'm wanting to use some
different colors and I normally use I'm
going to grab some cadmium orange too
and I also got my homemade shimmer paint
the eye shadow I use a dollar store eye
shadow and some gum arabic and made my
little watercolor paint be if you have
some other shimmer paint go ahead and
use that that's fine little disturb with
how how filthy that pan of yellow is oh
my goodness and then I'm going to just
wet the body with my brush and I am
being careful that I only add water to
the body and I don't go outside to the
fins right now and as it liquefies the
pencil that I sketched with it's just
kind of going away the pencil just kind
of absorbing into the body and that's
that's fine go right over the eyeball
I'll put the eye in after it guys now
I'm going to go in with the red and I'm
going to add it here up to the top I
like to paint on on wet paper personally
because I I just love to watch the
colors go I find that very satisfying
for some reason I think it's because I
just love that teeny little bit of
surprise they even know how much you
paint and how much experience you have
there's always that little bit of
surprise when you put that watercolor
down onto the wet paper what's it going
to do where is it going you know it's
just it's fun and the other thing I love
about watercolors is that they are
always ready to go they're ready to go
when you are you can like Spontini
suicide I got paint something right now
and your pen your paints are ready to go
and I just I love that there's no set-up
time like with with oils or acrylics is
no cleanup time really other than you
know spraying your palette wiping it off
and then you're good to go for the next
time so I just love that about about
watercolor paints as opposed to other
art mediums I love that I can keep them
you know keep a set of paints and a
little postcard pad in my
a car in my dashboard and I'm good to go
when inspiration strikes them at the
beach if I'm you know waiting at a
doctor's appointment I can be ready to
paint at any time you know if I see
something pretty I just want to stop and
paint I can a little bit more right up
there into the back of the head because
I was losing my color it was getting a
little too muddled and I can we find the
shape of the head a little bit if I need
to like getting a little bit of a nose
there all right and then I can just kind
of leave this be if I want to add the
the goal to that I can do that too while
it's still wet hopefully my I sprayed my
paint before I began and it looks like
it's all look how juicy that is looks
nice you want to make sure that if you
make your own metallic paint or if you
buy metallic paint do you let it
completely the watercolors I mean you
let it completely dry before you recap
it or you're going to end up with some
moldy paint and that's kind of gross you
know what that happened so like I'm just
dripping some in and I think I want to
get a little scaly effect and I'm
thinking I might get a really cool scaly
effect if I drop some salt in there
because it does give you that kind of
like sparkle eNOS so I'm gonna drop some
salt in there and we're gonna hope that
that's gonna give us the effect that we
want to I'm pretty sure we'll have a
little salt in there but you know if you
want to wait and see how mine turns out
before you go for it then you are more
than welcome to do that and this is just
a kosher salt which is a little bit less
uniform than regular table salt but you
can use table salt - absolutely and I
somehow I mean you see some glitter
I think I'd glitter off that bag you
never know I just kind of shoved stuff
out of the way spite of enough room to
paint today okay so what should do it's
like ah but they just got a paint it's
for just gonna pay for a few minutes
before I do my real work you know how
that is uh now I'm going to wet the fins
and I'm actually gonna just pretend I'm
painting the fins with just water
alright and because the key is here we
cannot Foster the fins or they're going
to look unnatural so then I could
actually even just kind of wet the edge
of the body here and let some of that
color flow I'm going to just add a
little bit of color in here
paint in a few like little streaky
details but really I want the paint to
do the work if you want a fine line
you'll go right on the tip of your brush
hold your brush at a 90 degree angle
with the paper if you want some fine
lines remember your paint is going to
flow though because you are working on a
wet surface now if you want any defined
lines on the other fins go ahead and put
them in before you wet I just want to
feel in there doing some go some orange
let some colors flood you can also use
your credit card scraper if you want to
put some um if you want to put some fine
lines in there I'm feeling mellow have a
quiet house kids are all off doing their
thing today and I can get some work done
don't tell anybody I'm just fooling
around painting all right now I don't
really read on to other stuff but you
know you just got to take that creative
time I think everyone deserves a little
bit of creative time and you know what
it's like why don't we feel we don't
feel guilty when we only sit in front of
the TV nobody judges us if we you know
if you're just watching TV but I think a
lot of times great if people feel judged
that they swish to spend their time
doing creative things I think that's
totally backwards I think I think it's
one of the best things you can do and I
feel I think it's a shame that people
feel like they can't they can't indulge
in anything creative until everything
else for everybody else has done I think
that's baloney I think you're going to
be a much better giver if you um we take
care of yourself first just like you
know when you're in the airplane they
say put your own mask on first before
you try to help anybody else with theirs
I think it's the same thing you if once
you're you feel fulfilled in your life
you're going to you're going to be a
much better you know mother father wife
husband because you've given that you've
you've taken that time for yourself
you've invested in yourself so then you
can invest in others I think I don't
know maybe I'm just selfish
but if I am I don't know I don't think I
am I think that you know we all need
that that time and if we can spend half
an hour watching TV in the evening we
can spend 20 minutes painting you know
you might have to trade some of that
time but I think it's worth it you're
all worth it you're all worth spending
that time on I feel like I need a little
bit of a maybe no morphine eNOS there
but let me go with a different color so
I have a little contrast with that
orange a little bit of a fin back there
maybe I need some red and net to to kind
of cover up the Emerald Isle of these uh
these goldfishes so freely and flouncy
I'm gonna head fish like this I'll get a
goldfish I swear it's been like it sold
to all the other ones in the tank died
just want to just like lingering on
alright so I'm going to let that dry
because I can't do the eye or anything
else until that happens so let's uh
pause this try this and be back and
finish it up okay I didn't get I got a
little bit of a scale enos but not as
much as I was hoping in there but you
know I think that's alright I'm going to
now add some I want to do a couple
things I want to add some details to the
fish and I also maybe want to add just a
little bit of um I don't like seaweed or
something for the fish to be kind of
going down after so I think what I'm
gonna do clean up my brush there I'm
going to just kind of paint some like
seaweed just some little grasses here
with my with my brush and then I'm going
to take that emerald because we've
already used that color and I'm just
going to kind of charge it in there and
let it do its thing just kind of tip my
brush around and then I take some of
that yellow and also add that in there
because I don't like to add new colors
at the stage of the game I like to kind
of keep it oh you know keep it keep it
with the same color so that I have a
harmony in my picture and I could put a
little just a little bit in front of the
fish but I don't want to do too much of
that maybe a little bit over there just
to balance it out a little bit and then
um on the fish to make the eye what I'm
going to do I'm gonna make my own black
and gonna take the emerald green and the
red that I that I was using and that's
going to give me a really nice natural
black because again I don't
want to add a new color so see how nice
and black that that is right there it's
like a perfect black and I'm just going
to go ahead and paint that in with the
tip of my brush you keep your brush
straight up and down practically and
you'll have a nice fine point to work
with and then I can always cut like use
a little exactly knife and scrape out a
little detail if I need to after and I
can also water some of this down you're
not a little yellow to it and then I've
got this nice shadow color and I can add
the shadow here like kind of the gills
anywhere on the body then I want to have
a little bit more definition I don't
want to do this um on the fins because I
want to kind of keep that very loose and
flouncy and airy I want that to kind of
be floating in the water
so this detailin putting on is on the
head and I'm going to go in with a
little bit more of that bright red that
cadmium red that I was using because I
feel like I really want a little bit
more here at the top like I feel like I
lost a lot of that when it dried and
then maybe a little bit more yellow here
and there and it's really hard to see
how it's going to turn out until it's
dry so don't be freaking out if you
think that you've kind of uh you've
gotten too dark you've overdone it
because you really can't tell until it's
dry now I'm also going to just dab on
some some texture here so it looks a
little bit more scaly remember less is
more you're just insane you you're just
suggesting these textures and I think
that's what happens when you when
opinion ends up too stiff you've over
painted that you've added too much
detail and your brain really doesn't see
that much detail your eyes don't see
that much detail it your brain tells you
what you're seeing but your eyes just
kind of see the the basic outline so I
can put a little bit of detail here I
don't want to go too crazy just a few
flicks of my brush and maybe just a few
back here just for movement but really I
don't want to I don't want to add too
much so let's let that dry and then
we'll see how it turns out although you
know what before I'm done maybe I'll put
a little feel at all just a watery
streaks of some blue here just to kind
of give a little movement to the water
because everything's really faded out in
the water it's up to you whether you
like that or whether you want to do that
or not you know you don't have to I just
want to kind of it
you can kind of go over the fins and
stuff and just add a little blending to
it but again that's your discretion go
ahead and do that if you want or skip it
if you don't if you have a big puddle
there don't let it dry just as it is dry
your brush off set it in the puddle and
it will suck up the water it'll drink it
right up so that you don't end up with
weird blooms sometimes they look really
awesome sometimes they don't so so it's
a good idea to kind of keep that in
check if you're not sure and you can add
a little more pigment to that if you
want to make it stand out a little bit
more so we let that dry and we'll be
back and we'll see how the painting
turned out so exciting all right this
technique I'm really excited to show you
it's using exacto knife and you can like
carve out like little sparkles and
details it's really great for when you
need to add like the sparklin and I'd
make it look a little bit more realistic
um you just kind of you just kind of cut
off that top layer or paper that has the
that has the the paint on it and then
you can go in I'm gonna go and actually
a smaller brush and I'm going to just
paint a little bit around the I know I
can't find my smaller brush hold on
let's pause it it's not the one I was
going for but it's gonna be fine and I'm
actually gonna put a little bit of this
gold eye shadow paint I do have a video
on how to make this I'll put a link
below the video if you want to see how
to make that uh that eye shadow paint if
my description wasn't good enough so
this is a little bit thicker than I
would want to use for a brush but I'm
gonna add a little bit of that gold
right around the eye just to kind of
give it a little bit of a more
definition and I can dab and some more
that gold really thick wherever I want
it and really that's all there is to
this painting you know a little glossy
highlight up there if you want you can
do that with a metallic paint it's kind
of fun I really like the using that
metallic paint on my uh in my work
especially on a card where it's going to
be held and you know it'll be moved and
you can you know catch the light like
that see if I tip it you can see the
shimmer since this is a card not
something is going to be matted it it
works really well for that just don't go
too crazy with it and I think you'll
really enjoy it too I want to thank you
so much for watching please give me a
thumbs up and subscribe if you like this
video and until next time happy crafting