Teacup in Watercolor Tutorial PLUS What YOU Need to Know BEFORE Buying

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today we are going to look at the two
new watercolor sets from Prima marketing
and I think these are quite a bit
different than the other sets and I
think that there's a little more
information and kind of training that
you need to use these verses the other
watercolor sets which are definitely
more of your traditional transparent
watercolors so I just received these a
couple days ago I got these from
hallmark scrapbook and they're currently
having 15% off all of their prima
watercolor products I believe I'll put a
link in the video description so that
you can go over there I believe they're
selling the first three sets which I'll
show you in a minute for $21 and then
these are twenty three or somewhere
around there these these have come out a
little bit higher of a price point
regular the first three sets were $24.99
MSRP and the these two I think are
coming out at like 29.99 but hallmark
has them much less than lists so this is
how they look if you were to see them on
a store shelf and this one they've even
put ours quality on this one which they
didn't put their other ones but they did
always say on the back of the tins that
they were artist quality this is the
shimmering lights and these are all
paints that mica in them so they're
slightly metallic and if we look at this
swatch here this is they don't really
look that metallic on white paper they
have a little sheen to them but not much
but when you see it on black they have
much more of a sheen to them but I also
want to point out that they're very very
opaque and you can see where I went and
put a second layer on top after they
drive it didn't really add any benefit
you can pretty much get a full load and
a full opacity with one layer with these
I think these would be best for working
on dark papers or accenting paintings
that are all done and you want to add
that little bit of glean to them but
they're not a super shiny metallic
they're definitely more of a shimmer or
a pearl so if you want to like make your
silk flowers kind of shimmery or you
wanted to color your ribbon give it kind
of a LeMay look this would be a nice
option for that and for adding different
accents to your painting so these are
the shimmering lights and that's what
this set looks like and one thing I
really like about their palette is that
the
the trays and mixing trays are at a 90
degree angle with the base so they're
completely flat and I did grab one of my
other tins from Lucas and the thing that
I don't like about that tune is it goes
way down just falls right over and then
you don't have any lip here to catch any
paint that might sleep off the edge and
also there's not enough room for a third
row of paints in the middle here whether
it is a perfect row for like seven more
pans in the middle if you want to
squeeze them in so I think that the tin
alone because these the empty tins go
for fifteen to twenty bucks like on your
art fine art stores or Amazon or any
place like that that I mean just to get
the tin in the half pans even if you
hate the paint you're still you know
getting a pretty decent deal there but I
actually happen to like the paint so
that simmering light the next one we're
going to look at is pastel dreams and um
here we have a swatch and I want to show
you here that I first did just a regular
like watercolor II swatch on the squares
and let it go over the edge so I could
see how opaque they were with one wash
as I normally would paint just the the
amount of paint I normally use and
they're not really chalky and the not
all that opaque which is surprisingly
surprising for a pastel color in such a
light wash and then when I go over them
with another layer they didn't streak
they didn't lift up the color underneath
which I thought they would for sure and
you get more of a robust pastel color
than a chalky pastel color it's almost
like you're using Karen - watercolor
crayons that's what they remind me of
that opacity in that that body of color
it's really nice I thought for sure
these would be chalky but they're really
lovely so if you are looking for pastel
shades they are a good option but I'm
going to go into more what they're great
for and what they're not we are going to
do a little demo the other thing I want
to show you is that when you are mixing
typically I wipe out my palette when I'm
done but when you are mixing they don't
bead up they do kind of lay out you can
see how kind of opaque they are just how
they're laying on the palette there it's
also kind of how a Karen - watercolor
crane would behave so these can be used
on like colored board colored matte
board on top of your colored card stock
if you're doing scrapbooking so it's
definitely or card-making if you want to
use these
unlike craft cardstock I think they'd be
really wonderful um so there's a kind of
uh I just wanted to show you that
because I think if you're getting these
to do transparent watercolor you're
going to have some problems where you
can't get rich enough darks to get the
contrast you need in your painting so
here are some examples I did with the
with the paint's whoops let me go ahead
a couple oh my goodness
alright so these macaroons I painted
with the pastel the shimmer the pastel
dreams and I was able to lift away to my
highlights but you can see how rich and
dark and deep the color was when I used
a full strength and I didn't use it very
transparently so it's a very it's not a
chalky color it's more of a bold color
but the problem that I had was that I
really couldn't make a nice shadow for
underneath in fact I I got into the the
other palette and got my darkest kind of
pewter color and started to add some of
those colors to what is trying to get
some reflections and shadows and you can
see a little bit of a shimmer here where
I did that but it really wasn't
effective and then so you this if you
wanted to do like a traditional painting
you're probably going to want to mix it
with your other watercolors to get that
effect and on this one I use them more
as transparent watercolors and since I
didn't have the darkest colors here are
the Browns and this this pink colors
deep pink I had to use that for my
shadow areas in order to get the value
that I wanted it was fun and I like how
it really pushed my creativity but it is
going to be a fresh it could be a
frustrating challenge if you're trying
to just do your watercolors with this
set you definitely this is definitely a
specialty set and you would want to
augment it with something else I also
wanted to let you know that there they
put stickers on their pans now my first
three sets that I get I got did not have
the stickers on them so what I did to
remove the sticker off this was I heated
it with a heat gun and then I peeled it
off and it'll did leave a lot of residue
so then I put a piece of cardstock on it
and heated it again and peeled it off
and that took more off and then for the
bits that were left I just took my
gamsol on a rag you could probably use
baby oil or alcohol and he's sort of
solvent and then I just rubbed it until
it came off it does look like I might
have scratched it a little bit so I
probably was a little
I've scraped a little bit my fingernail
which I don't recommend because I got
some little scratches on there it didn't
scratch the paint but I can see them but
anyways that's how I got the sticker off
if you don't want the stickers on there
I also want to show you if you're brand
new to water coloring and you're
considering these products which I
highly recommend
I like that prima has brought these out
at such a low price point and they
perform really well the only downside to
these paints that I can see is that
there's no light fast information so I
don't know what pigments are in here I
don't know if they're going to fade and
keeping in mind that all the markers
that you have are probably going to fade
other than like the Windsor Newton
pigment markers or the Windsor Newton
watercolor markers all other markers
that you're using are going to fade so
maybe your pigment pens well but you
know your coloring markers so if that's
not an important issue to you definitely
I mean save some money and try these and
then you can always buy tubes of paint
and refill them if you're concerned
about light fastness so this was the
decadent pie set which is here and here
and as you can see I put a third row in
just some other half pans I'd kicking
around to round out the set palettes do
stain a little bit I found using a magic
eraser cleans them up real well I just
haven't it doesn't bother me so I
haven't done it this would be the the
tropical I recommend starting oh I'm
sorry
strike that reverse it this is a classic
set down each side here and that's an is
it hold on I think it is let me double
check with this one yes this is the
tropical set here which is what I'd
recommend getting first and then these
are just some extra pans that I had
kicking around and then decadent pies
those tour my favorite classics is good
too I mean you really can't go wrong but
and I think I might have actually taken
out the white and popped in that the
extra grain there I probably do exactly
the classics as a white in it but so
definitely the tropical and decadent
pies are my the two I think most useful
and then after that the other ones I
think are equally equally useful but the
pastel dreams and the shimmering lights
are definitely more specialty sets and
they're not going to behave like your
trip your typical watercolors they're
definitely more like a watercolor crayon
or gouache in consistency and paint
ability so I just want you to know that
before you buy them in case that's not
what you want or in case it is what you
want that way you'll know what you're
getting and if you've already purchased
them you know how to use them to their
best ability
so I took the liberty of making a little
sketch and I decided I would do it
teacup and candies and we're going to
use the pastel dreams which live mixed
everything up already so pastel dreams
and I'll probably also use decadent pies
just so I have some deeper colors to I
just so I have some stuff that I can use
for shadows there we go we'll move that
one right over there
and um we're just going to start in
painting because I've already sketched
this out I am going to just grab a small
round brush and I am going to what the
inside of this teacup where the actual
tea is with water now you get two Browns
in the pastel dreams one is a little bit
redder one's a little bit cooler one
kind of tips a little bit towards right
and one tips a little more towards green
will go with once a little redder I'm
just going to give a little bit of that
in there and let it kind of flow um
another interesting thing I don't find
the pattern maybe it's because I was
using them darker like thicker than I
typically do with watercolor I didn't
find much of a color shift if anything
they might have shifted a little bit
darker especially when I was working in
layers so keep that in mind now I'm
going to want to make myself a nice
shadow color so I think I'm going to do
is actually grab some blue I can grab
some like an ultramarine blue I have all
kinds of green in my palette I could do
this in a clean spot to do this over
here I just need to clean an area oh my
gosh I'm sorry I'm so disorganized today
I'm going on a I'm chaperoning a field
trip that's several days long and I'm
trying to get a few things done before I
go so they're gonna get this lovely
penultimate maybe my brush was dirty you
know as oh my gosh
it will grab a little bit of this and so
you get a nice gray
and that you know that's something you
could always do too you can always
rearrange your paints you can put more
paints in the middle if you have the
several of these sets you could break
them up too however it is useful to you
and I'm going to go in with my shadows
first I think and I'm just going to go
ahead and get a shadow under the candies
in the teacup I'm just gonna warn you I
think this might be one of those longer
videos so feel free to just go ahead and
put me in like fast-forward mode and and
that's fine I don't blame you I'm going
to get a little shadow in there a lot of
times I glaze my shadows on afterwards
um I thought let's do something
different today and a little shadow up
here nice texture on those I like this
paper this is very inexpensive it's the
wind power line from Strathmore and I
picked it up at UM at Michael's I think
I had a coupon and I think it's what
that's why I picked it up excited coupon
I wasn't using for anything and I said
what the heck I kind of want to touch
that into the tea water a little bit to
kind of drag some of that up get that
reflected color um and I'm very
impressed with it in fact I'm not a huge
fan of Strathmore and another wrong was
troth immortal don't take that to me
that I'm like you know a Strathmore
hater I am NOT and I like their Brown
label just fine but I really like this I
feel like it's got extra sizing in it or
something maybe it's a recycled paper
and then there's exercising from like
its previous incarnations I don't know
but I really just love the way the paint
looks on it and and it's very
inexpensive I think I paid $7 or so from
for this pad um so it's worth a look if
you if you see it um I think it's
totally worth look I love what these
what the payments are doing they look at
how pretty they're granulating can you
see that oh my gosh I'm just gonna bring
it up isn't that beautiful what's
happening in there love it looks so
pretty
um I'm probably not gonna get too crazy
with a background so I think I probably
just mix up a little bit more that gray
like and so now I'm saying you know what
that ultramarine blue makes this pick
this kit so much more useful I should
just put a pan of ultramarine blue in
the middle I could stick a little on
museum putty on the bottom
luta will put a magnet all about on my
pan and there I have I would have you
know WC usefulness of that set just by
adding that to it so I think it's I
think it's fun I think it's just fine
but it's definitely a specialty set and
if like you can only buy one set and and
to do your water coloring go with the
tropicals because that's going to give
you way more options then this set well
just because of what it contains now I'm
going to do a little shadow under there
I like with this with this paper because
it's so heavily sized I don't feel like
I have to wet the paper I feel like when
I put the color down I can then go grab
some water on my clean brush and just
kind of spread it around so I didn't wet
that area for the shadow and if I just
clean my brush I can come in here and
hit the edge of it and just kind of let
it float out a little bit so it's really
I really like this I like this uh and
because it's spiral-bound you can use
like a sketchbook take it with you no
I'm not taping it down or anything it's
hundred forty pound this is like my new
cheap paper pick all of it I love cheap
paper thank you okay so now I'm going to
do a little patterning on our teacup
here um I'm gonna start with this
lighter pink it's kind of the midtone
pink now the thing is you can mix these
colors I didn't find I got a lot of mud
but because they are so heavy with white
um you're probably not you're limited to
how much you can mixer you probably
going to end up using more colors like
straight from the pan and not mixing
them then you will if you were just if
you were mixing and I'm going to put a
few little rosebuds in here with the
light color and I am using it pretty wet
because I want to be able to mix my
other my other colors in there I hope I
don't sound like a complete spaz today
any more than usual I should just say
because um I know I've got like 10
minutes before the bus shows up with my
kids and I was just like oh I'm gonna
get this done
cuz I'm insane a little bit of
just dabbing down there just to give a
little Hello color I'm going to go in
with this darker pink these these colors
are unique they're not I don't have
watercolors like this probably because I
try to stick with single pigment colors
and these would definitely have white in
them but I'm finding them very enjoyable
so if you were doing this on a scrapbook
page you can paint a lot thicker with
them and not wrinkle like a thinner
cardstock like you would like watercolor
papers a lot thicker than card stocks
again significantly so so I can see how
that would have a major appeal for scrap
Booker's so the greens in here are not
going to give me a nice green so I'm
going to take this beautiful green gold
that's in the decadent PI's set and I
really should have clean my palate isn't
that pretty then if I already had a blue
I was using from this set I could mix it
in like if I wanted to use this I feel
if I'm going to use that somewhere else
and I could tint it a little bit but
it's much weaker tinting strength can
you see that it's not affecting the
color as much as if I had used that
ultramarine blue or or phthalo blue or
anything so you know it's still very
pretty and it makes that brighter green
kind of fit with this with this
composition a little bit better I don't
really know what I'm putting in here to
some little I don't have any fancy
teacups I should make a point of getting
some fancy teacups because I don't know
what a fancy tea cup really looks like
so I'm just kind of dabbing it up a
little bit down here too
that's dry enough that I can dab a
little green in there and yeah good
enough so um I don't know how well let's
try with the shimmering lights colors
just just for fun just for giggles here
I wouldn't necessarily go and do this
but um this way we can see kind of how
these colors react on white paper as
part of a transparent watercolor
painting so I am just using the same
brush I'm loading up with this bronzy
color I put my I don't have my paints in
the order that they came in when I
unwrap them I put them back in kind of
like a kind of a spectrum order so I'm
just gonna well it's pretty I'm just
gonna pull this line around and I feel
like now that I've done that there I
really ought to do that somewhere else
like maybe I will do this around the rim
here and I'm wishing I use the lighter
color gold because I feel like that's
too dark
yeah if you're gonna do the whole room
you gotta make sure your sketch is
pretty accurate or it's gonna look real
wonky all right now I'm seeing that I do
need some shadow on that handle but I
care I don't know if I can
oh yeah I think I can get around after
that after that stripe is dry I can get
around without a little bit more um so
I'm going to skip down to this area cuz
touch with the back of my hand that is
dry I can go ahead and put some more
little flowers in here I'll try them
with a dark first few little oh I do
enjoy these that I'll have to say I
honestly I was a skeptical I kind of
have a little bit of complete set
syndrome if it's something that's not
crazy expensive I have like poor-man's
complete syndrome if it's nothing that
if it's if I can afford it afford the
whole set I kind of want it which is
kind of stupid but so I was really I was
really anxious to try these and and
because I know the tins are such good
quality that and I always need empty
pallets for different colors I'm trying
out I knew that it would be a good value
anyway but I mean I'm just so thrilled
with these are so fun and now we'll go
into that lighter pink of the of the the
other example that I painted that I
didn't um I didn't share um that I
didn't demo rather and put them on my
blog so that when I post this video you
can kind of look at them and website not
that color just so you have that
information I think that might be a
little helpful and we're going to mix up
a little bit more of that green we did
the ah now what do we do we can do that
we did the green gold color from the
decadent pies we mixed that with some of
that there we go that's the thing you
get so many palette so it can be very
confusing as to what you used and this
is a quick sketch so I'm really not
being
to particular I just want our like a
random pattern in here but I want it to
somewhat like yeah represents flowers
okay so that needs to dry and I am going
to kind of move over here to the
chocolates and let's just do this brown
on its own I am going to try to paint I
mean I haven't sketched in swirls for
like the icing on the chocolate so I'm
just going to kind of wing it just kind
of paint around where I think there
would be icing using the white of the
paper because there's no whites I'm
trying to think I thought that the the
classics had a white and a black in
there but maybe I'm mistaken I don't
remember throwing it away or cleaning it
out but maybe let me know in the
comments below that if the classics had
a white in them I'm thinking I thought
they did but but maybe they didn't
concentrating that's how you you know if
I when I stop gabbing then I'm
concentrating happens so infrequently
all right
and then while this is still wet I'm
going to mix up a little more of that
shadow where Elsa marine blue there you
can add a little shadow towards the
bottom
dark chocolate might be a little too
much I could have done that when I was
dry them I've been better idea maybe if
I do a little bit of that dark right up
next to the icing it'll make it look
like it's raised that's a little better
better switch to a smaller brush I'm a
big brush type of girl okay we got
another another little candy over here
so we can do the same hopefully we will
run into some flowers on the side this
end might be a little darker so I'm
looking at a reference photo from
graphics dot-com there's some love glue
things all right
and a little more paint and we'll do our
we'll paint in between all the stripes
here as well it's kind of like a cafe
sketch if you ever see photos online if
you follow any urban sketches and they
sketch in restaurants and cafes it's
really cool whoops do we watch that oh
well
oh well nobody's perfect
I want some chocolate
it's the impression we're just giving
the impression of these chocolates right
yeah this one uh it's a little crazy but
that's all right
and then we get another little chocolate
back there which I can do the inside of
the little peanut butter cup here um
don't think I'm gonna wet it though
because I think if I do that it's not I
don't have that much room to work in it
I don't need to wet it there we go get a
little bit of the lighter color and
their little shoosh together do their
thing and then I think we're gonna let
this all dry a little more dark in there
well let this all dry before we go any
further okay that's all dry I'm going to
get a lighter brown by just taking in
that same brown I was using and just
letting it you know just kind of
thinning it down making sure I don't
have too much paint on my brush and I am
painting in the back part of this
wrapper I want it a little bit lighter
because the light is shining through it
you might be able to see some things
kind of through the glassing wrapper a
little bit there and then on the front
side I'm going to use that that up that
same lighter color at the top part of
the wrapper but I'm going to have a get
darker as it goes down actually I think
I'll do the whole thing that light color
and then I'll just paint the darker
after it dries that'll be a little bit
more sensible of a of an operation I
think and let's see we need some shadows
on the handle the teacups will go back
to this gray that we mix just add a
little water to it I'll have to worry
about watercolors they can dry and you
can reactivate them and just getting a
little bit of a shadow
a little dark think I'm gonna go in that
shimmering color is totally totally
reactivating I'm just gonna go ahead and
tone this whole handle and then I'm just
gonna blot it a little bit yeah
definitely I guess with the shimmering
lights they're really liftable probably
because they stay on the top of the
paper so much I grab a little that color
and actually move it over this teacup in
other places so that's good to know so
when you're painting you can kind of
account for that maybe if you're going
to do any accents with the shimmering
lights do those last instead of trying
to glaze over them because they are
definitely very liftable well give you
the opportunity to put that gold on
there if I want to because I talked
about not really caring for the the
bronze after I headed down there so a
mistake an opportunity for an
opportunity for change right and we've
got a little um we've got a little silly
little silver spoon there but I don't
want to do anything to that quite yet I
feel like I want to maybe have a pinkish
gray adding a little pink into that
mixed gray because this saucer is does
kind of have a lot of pink reflections
on it so I want to kind of tone that and
like address very much that's one of my
not for this anyway that's I need one of
my ones act a little bit more natural a
little more absorbent nothing wrong with
that brush I just had it just wasn't of
this paper it just wasn't working all
that great you get quite watery
and I feel like I want maybe like a bit
of a golden color on the front of the
teacup I'm trying to think um you know
so really pretty Naples yellow in the
the decadent PI's set I think that would
be ideal that would just be lovely let's
kind of glaze oh isn't that pretty
now it's like just because I'm used to
painting and I have a pretty good color
vocabulary just from what I've painted
with over the years
I mean I would like all this Naples
yellow and it makes me and it's so funny
because some of the colors like the
ultramarine Zaid they behave just like a
regular ultramarine would so it makes me
think that that's probably the pigments
are using I just wish they would come
out with those pigment the pigment
information so we would know for sure so
when we're painting we know whether we
need to protect it in like a notebook or
if we can hang on the wall not worry
about it
I'm dabbing in some of that Naples
yellow cuz I just really like it it's
awfully pretty I'm gonna teacup up there
it's looking like some pretty weak tea
isn't it and um let's see is that that's
pretty drywall that dry quick I'm going
to get a little bit darker with my brown
so the brown plus that ultramarine blue
I'm trying not to go too crazy with too
many colors a lot of tempting palettes
out here right now brushes too wet the
women just kind of it's so because life
is passing through the wrapper that's
why we see it later at the top and we
see if I can get some of the folds in
there
now I'm just a little indication that
that you'd have a little bit darker area
with a wrapper folded and dragged up
some of those fold lines there - and
whoops that's not the brown I was using
stick to one Brown I think I don't think
we need more than one Brown here and
just gonna glaze in some more Brown make
it a little richer and I feel like that
tea is a little too weak looking so I'm
gonna add a little more color to
something anyway give it a little bit of
let have some reflection that actually
so I don't want to darken a tallest a
little bit nothing worse a weak tea and
really I think is about it maybe a
little bit more shadow under one of
those shock let's I get a blot off the
extra what hopes I got a fuzzy in there
little shadow in there a little more
shadow in there oh we got a painter
spoon handle even done that though just
I'm just giving it a little bit darker
shadow right up close to the plate okay
so we've got to do something about that
spoon mixing up a little gray it's a
subtle gray because I wouldn't call that
burnt sienna it's definitely has a
pastel body to it but it is orange
enough and it is deep enough in color
that it gives us a burnt sienna quality
for mixing
I guess I can go pretty bold with my
color here because I think it's going to
lift a bit if I glaze over it probably
should have done a wash of like a cool
gray first
we'll see how it will see how it goes
spoons hidden the bowl of the spoon is
hidden behind what I'm gonna do I think
is just wet my brush and very gently go
over here oops I can hear some water
being run upstairs so it's gonna get
loud down here in a minute so why don't
I just go ahead and pause it now and let
this dry and we'll meet back up again
after this dries so it's gonna get
really loud down here in a second okay
this is all dry foot strand a little bit
with it while the water pump and furnace
we're going and I have to say that I
kind of wish I didn't put the spoon on I
don't like the shadow and I find that if
you start going in there and messing
about too much you just get you kind of
get mud and it lifts up with underneath
and I'm not sure if that's because this
paper is has a lot of sizing on it or if
the paint is extra liftable but but
there you have it I'm I think it's fun I
think it's cute I enjoy painting with
them but they're definitely more like
using a water color crayon than using a
regular water color I think they're a
great addition to transparent watercolor
set or for somebody looking to get more
into a gouache style of painting because
you can build the layers up as I showed
you in my my macaroons here you can see
you can build up and it lifts easily but
you can keep layering without it lifting
when you are using a lot of water though
like I did in the transparent techniques
here and it did want to lift up a little
bit more so just something to to think
about and if you have these already play
with them use them get to know them
they're going to behave a little
differently than your traditional
transparent watercolors they have it's
not a chalkiness to them but it's
definitely almost like a waxy body to
them the only thing that they really
remind me of is like the Karen -
watercolor grounds and their product to
happen to really like so as long as you
don't go in it with the mindset that
these are going to be transparent colors
I think you're going to be very pleased
and I think these are going to work
extremely well on colored scrapbook
paper colored cardstock and for your
stamping techniques when you want to
like stamp on Kraft cardstock and then
color it make like a you know maybe you
want a yellow peony and you stamp the
stamp out on Kraft or a dark color
cardstock then you can paint over with
this and it will show
same thing with the shimmering lights
they'll be great for accents because
they are going to show up really well on
your dark cardstock like if you're doing
a brush lettering or anything like that
it's going to be a boon to those types
of projects so I just wanted to give
them a good overview and help you guys
use them if you have them already and if
you don't I got mine from hallmark
scrapbook com I'll put a link in the
video description they're having a being
a 15 percent off sale on the Prima stuff
right now so and it's an affiliate link
just to let you know if you do click on
it I do and earn a small percentage I
thank you for your support but I just
like to put that out there to say no
anyway thank you so much for watching
please give me a thumbs up and share
this video if you enjoyed it and until
next time happy crafting