Chickadee Watercolor Tutorial-REAL TIME; 3 colors; BEGINNER ) Video Lecture

you're the frugal crafter today we're
gonna paint a little chickadee this is
my practice one and I thought I would do
it again because now I can do it quicker
and better I think and I'm gonna start
off with a watercolor greeting card by
Strathmore that I picked up at Jerry's
are dorama they're actually the sponsor
of today's video they are the pioneers
of discount art supplies and they've
been serving artists for over forty
three years I'll put links in the video
description where you can check them out
and also I'll put links to the products
that I used at Jerry's so they have
pretty much anything a fine artist would
want they've got the best prices if
you're buying in bulk they are the place
to go I am a teacher so I end up going
through a lot of art supplies they are
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alright so we're gonna start off by
sketching on a chickadee I'm gonna start
with a circle board the body kind of
well kind of more like an oval I guess
and then we're gonna do kind of like a
circle for the head overlapping the body
like that we're gonna do a kind of a
teardrop shape for the wing closest to
us just a little teardrop and then we
also have a little back wing there that
I didn't well it's actually the wing on
the other side but it's kind of up a
little higher and I didn't put that in
the last one and I felt like it needed
something that was a little more
interesting so I'm putting it there and
then we got the tail feathers which is
just kind of like an offshoot there from
the body I'm going to kind of puff all
the chest a little bit more I think and
I'm gonna put tiny little beak in there
alright now I want to get the I was
gonna say pause pause birds don't have
paws silly Lindsey they've got claws
beat I don't know what the heck you call
a little bit of branch for him to be
kind of hanging out on there and that's
pretty much all I need to do for my
basic sketch now what I'm gonna do is
throw in my background I am using a
number 10 round brush this is a royal
and langnickel aqua lon I like these I
like of our beginners they're very
resilient they'll last you a lot
bilis you
ever if you use them with watercolor and
you take care of them the thing I also
like is that for a card you can
definitely grab enough water to do a
background but you don't get too much
which is I think a problem that a lot of
beginners have is they get way too much
when they're trying to mix their colors
I'm just going in I can almost wet
everything but I really don't want to
lose my my sketch so I'm just kind of
wetting everywhere I want the water to
flow right now I am good I'm leaving
most of the branch I'm leaving kind of
like a sliver of dry for the branch just
so I have that base of reference but
other than that I'm just wetting my
paper and I'm using some Cottman
watercolors I'm going to go in with
ultramarine blue we're using well how
many four colors we're using four colors
this is interesting we're using
ultramarine blue which is our blue we're
also going to use yellow ochre which is
our yellow and then we're going to use
burnt sienna which is our red so we're
still kind of using our primaries but we
are using a very earthy muted primary
but we're still gonna mix everything we
need from those colors it's okay if you
want to overlap the edge of your of your
sketch that's fine so this is gonna be
kind of like if you imagine a photo
taken on a kind of a cloudy dreary day
the photo reference I'm using is from
paint my photo the photographer is Joel
McClelland and I live in Maine we have
lots of chickadees in fact I saw a bunch
of him yesterday I think the kids had
tossed some chicken feed out because
they were having a time going all over
the ground and and getting thinking I
think seeds I was kind of worried I had
to keep an eye out make sure my cats
weren't around because I didn't want
them time to all-you-can-eat chickadee
buffet but they're just they're so sweet
they make the sweetest little sounds
chickadee DeeDee they really do that
they do it's so sweet and they don't
migrate they stick it out they stay
through these harsh winters so we're
gonna make sure we have a nice plump
little fluffy chickadee make sure he can
make a livin this cold Maine winter
we're supposed to get a bad one again
this year not looking for
do it alright we want to make sure we
get that little space between the legs
they're painted above the branch so I'm
just basically left a little sliver just
so I know where the branches pretty much
all right now what I'm gonna do is just
dry this with my heat gun and we'll be
back and did you notice how it shifts a
little bit later when it dries that is
just typical of water colors so you
always want to go a little bit more
colorful when you are painting so what
I'm gonna do here is wet to the tummy
and also kind of around the face area
because I want to I want to get some
base color down there don't worry about
it going over the over the wing that's
fine just want to get on I like to turn
my paper and just kind of wiggle my
brush around and make sure I've
liquefied any of the watercolor pencil
there we go and you know what I forgot
to put the the background right there
I'll have to do that in a second don't
let me forget okay now I'm counting on
you guys don't let me forget that okay
I'm gonna grab a little bit of and so my
palettes all dirty just cuz I painted
that other one I'm still using those
same three colors a little bit of brown
ultramarine a little bit of burnt sienna
just making a really light kind of grey
color here and we put that in there even
though the feathers we would probably
call them white they're really not white
nothing's really white things always
have influence of the colors that are
around them so that's how you get you
know your that's how you make your white
flowers look beautiful you look for the
influence around I mean look for what
other colors are activating on those and
do a little bit of more of a blue and I
would just like this one I'm done my
painting for the day I just like that
out but I but if you know if I'm like
have to stop and I'm still in the middle
of this painting I leave the palette
dirty because I'll go back to those
mixes we're more blue up there now if
you get too much color now remember it's
gonna shift lighter but if you do get a
little too much you take a tissue or
paper towel just gently blot it now I do
want this paper wet though because what
I'm gonna do here is use my credit cards
Reaper by fancy tool it was an LL Bean
gift card and spent of course we do that
with a new LL Bean gift card I'm gonna
just describe little feathers in there
okay I'm just it's just giving a little
bit of texture given that feather look
without actually having to go in there
with a little brush and paint them all
right now if I see any place where I
feel like it's a little a little too
harsh just I have a clean damp brush I
just go in there and soften it just wet
your brush dab it off go in there and
soften it because remember water colors
are transparent we're gonna see anything
that we have left on our paper I also
feel like I want a little bit more
fluffiness down here maybe I'm gonna go
into some of my light mix here just kind
of like a brownish gray and I'm going to
tap it on my towel I don't want too much
as what kind of fluff them up a little
bit and any of the anything I'm painting
that's going on in the wet area it's
gonna be the kind of diffused and
anything on the dry paper underneath is
just gonna be a little bit more
pronounced a little shadow under the
wing there and a little bit of darker
and up here under the head Oh kami can
also go ahead and paint those feet in
there looking a little bit watercolor is
that it's so economical I mean you spend
some money to get set up but once you
have the materials the paint's last so
long you don't waste any which I just
love
all right and remember we got to put
that background bit up there so what I'm
gonna do is wet it love to see which
which wing which wouldn't treat Minelli
better the first one or the second one
I'm just gonna put some of the blue and
I'm not gonna get too complicated with
it because it's already mixing it with a
color from the
from the water color pencils okay now
we're going to do the branch I'm gonna
start off with some burnt sienna and I'm
gonna add some ultramarine to that to
kind of gray it down no if I was using a
true red that would make purple but I'm
not and I'm also gonna pull off a few
branches here off the sides and you know
artistic license I am giving this a
skinnier branch and what was in the
reference photo because I'm just on a
little card I want this to be a little
more delicate looking you do whatever
you like though it's your picture those
if you want to put a little more shadow
which I think I'll put a little more
shadow I'm just gonna pick up a little
of that ultramarine mix it right in and
just kind of add that here and there let
it mix in and something else I decided I
wanted with some pot with some pine
tassels so I'm gonna mix my ultra my
yellow ochre cuz that's a yellow we have
and also my ultramarine now if you
wanted a brighter green what I would do
actually is when I begin the painting I
would put that I would have worked that
green color into the background but
since I didn't I'm gonna stay with the
colors that I've already used and I
actually think this looks really natural
so I am using a look at my brush
straight up and down it's at a 90 degree
angle with my paper and I'm sorry if it
makes my hand in the way let me maybe if
I tip it my hand won't be in the way I'm
just gonna flip some Hill pine tassels
here actually the Maine state bird is
the it's a black cat chickadee and the
flower is the white pine cone and the
tree of course is the pine tree where
the Pine Tree State we get a lot of them
got one in my yard from more than one
one of my front yard very really tall
one oh I like that I like we must be a
pretty Christmas card you know I know I
can't hand paint everybody's Christmas
card but you do a few if your mom or
your sister or something my mom is the
store always get my best
Christmas cards they're special no store
bought for them that's when I start my
Christmas carts early cuz that's like
I'm really awful at sending out cards
most of the time but Christmas cards I
get them out I don't know what it is I
can I can do I can get Christmas cards
out I'll probably forget everything else
but Christmas cards you can put as many
or as few of these as you want and
probably should be getting on with the
painting I just kind of like doing those
are kind of fun oh I like I like that
better than this because I used them
with thicker paint I didn't have so much
water in it so I prefer how this one's
going I always you know a lot times like
my second one better like you know now
that I know now that I've done one and I
know what I'm doing this is this one
will come over that's why I'd rather we
do it then just voiceover I don't think
you can polish crap that's my theory
with like art and YouTube videos is that
yeah I could have just voiceover the
other one but you can't polish crap I
mean you can but it's not going to be as
good as if you just started with good
content to begin with
alright so I'm gonna go ahead and put a
little bit of this more blueish gray so
I made that gray burnt sienna
ultramarine blue but I made it a little
more blue and it's watery that's the
highlight on this wing okay so we've had
a lot of feathers not a lot of contrast
or variance in color so we really need
to make sure our values are how light or
dark our stuff is really shines really
is doing its job here so I get to make
sure that that they all have a little
bit of difference and then we get this
wing back here I know it's probably been
preening probably just you know fluffed
up his feathers to attract some she
chickity you know how they do you know
all those birds those male birds they
gonna they're fluffing up make a little
bit darker here now I'm gonna go with
the ultramarine less water and the burnt
sienna less water make a nice rich
darker color that's still a little too
Brown we scrape off the extra I don't
like to waste deadly weight off the
extra water on my edge of my bucket
there get some nice ultramarine I'll
have to refill that fairly soon this is
this is actually the palette I teach
with because sometimes students are like
well you've got these fancy fancy things
and how am I ever gonna paint like you
if I don't have those fancy
fancy things and I'm like we're painting
with the same $20 palette there settle
down I'm told as well yeah well do I
know you think how do I act in a real
guy act pretty much like this in a real
class you know missing out on anything
don't worry quit your complaining yeah
that's I tell my students no I don't
well maybe I do I don't know I don't I'm
not even aware I don't have there's no
video evidence of my classes so I don't
know exactly what I say I guess people
come back sometimes so I guess it can't
be that bad if you've ever taken a real
life class with me please let me know
how I act I have no no concept I knows a
few of you out there few out there that
take merit my in life class some of you
that taking my workshops in the past all
right so I'm just kind of you know I'm
just basically making little you shapes
kind of and leaving a little highlights
it's very glarry for me hopefully not
for you um it's kind of leaving the
highlights out I'm gonna round that up a
little bit more okay and what we can
also do is we can put in some scrapey
scrapey now what you can do there's a
couple different options here you have
on your aquarelle brushes the clear
handle brushes you have the scrapey back
okay and that you can use to scrape your
paint and oftentimes what happens is it
pushes your pain away and brings you
back to the white of your paper works
great when you need like a when you need
a bigger streak like we have here and
the tail and the feathers and then you
sometimes you can go on the edge and get
more of a darker strictly see if I can
do that now that's still pushing away so
if you want to push away your color and
get lighter use the acryl ends on your
brushes if you want a finer scrape use
your credit card scraper I always joked
that these are my most expensive tools
and I love them and I want to get them
back you know in classes but really they
work so good
I do find like this where the paper is a
little bit drier I it still wants to
push the paint away rather than scribe
it in but remember when it was really
wet over here is scraped in darker lines
let's bring that hopefully you can see
that without glare there so two tools
they work great please practice with
them because they will give you so much
wonderful effects in your painting okay
now we're going to do
black cap in the beak and the other one
I made the beak too big so I'm gonna
make them make sure you do the beak a
little bit smaller here they do have a
very small beak there we go now the
black is your basically your ultramarine
blue and your burnt sienna I still have
some of my palette so I'm gonna go right
ahead with that and I am just going to
paint in this little kind of triangular
area looks like a beard a little bearded
chickadee preening for the ladies I'm
just I'm dabbing in the comics I don't
want it to be too solid I felt like I
was getting a very awkward you solid
area in my first attempt so I want to I
want to not do that this time
and I am gonna kind of flick out some of
that paint it sorry to paint a little
bit in where you within the area that
you wanted them to kind of scrape it out
with your scraper I think anyway I think
it just kind of you can always drag out
more with these dark colors you can't
always erase it and it looks awkward
when you try to remove color a lot of
times I think that's where you get that
kind of people say the watercolor is
very difficult to fix it's just it's
kind of hard to give back I'm gonna put
the eyeball and right now and I'm
actually making the eye a little bit
bigger because I want to leave a little
sparkle there and I know some of its
going to get obscured so I'm just
getting in there nice and big to begin
with I know it sounds completely
opposite of what I just told you but
trust me on this you'll see in a second
and then I'm going to put the black cap
in here dab dab dab and a mill work
fairly I'm turning my paper cuz it's a
little easier if I can turn it for me
hopefully doesn't give you too much
stress here watching it and I'm going to
put this I'm actually gonna try to just
be be careful when I paint and give it
those little flicks as I go up that way
I can hopefully not have to do too much
more to it and be just about done hope
this tutorial isn't going too slow for
you I know it's a beginner sometimes
they get a little flack for taking too
much time on
beginner tutorials but you know what
beginners need a little more time so
watch it and double speed if this is
giving you if it's too slow for you
please because it's really important for
the beginners to have a little more time
to learn things and and I want to give
them that I want to I want to give
everybody something that they can use
but but quite frankly the beginners need
a little bit more
okay I gotta smooth that looks a little
awkward there we go and then you can add
a few more scrapes in there with this if
you want to you know if you didn't leave
a sparkle out on the I don't worry about
it you can go in there with an exacto
knife later just scrape it out just just
or a little thumb tack would actually be
better just take a little thumbtack and
give it a little a little scrape and
that will that will remove that I'm
gonna dry this and just give you a look
at it when it's all dry and I'll be
right back okay at this point you can
just add any little details you want
like if you want a little shadow on the
leg on the feet not pause or is that
another take I can't remember I was
trying to figure out what the heck to
call the feet you can add texture on the
bark or just you know little shadows
whatever you want but this is pretty
much done I always put my initials on
the little watercolor cards and that's
all I do but you can fully sign them or
whatever you want l and w15 and that's
all she wrote I wanna thank you so much
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much for watching until next time happy
crafting