Iris Watercolor Pencil Drawing and Painting Tutorial // December Smart

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today we're going to take a look at the
December smart art box what can we have
2 J let's see we have our beautiful
orange tissue paper as always and whew
this looks like it's gonna be a
watercolor e I'm gonna brochure here
that tells us about the project the
products that we've got and it gives us
a project but I don't wanna look at the
TI cuz I want to see the goodies um ok
so he this looks like a brush roll let's
open this up oh wow we get some really
nice brushes here we have a 1/2 inch
aquarelle brush and this is what they
call an aquarelle handle when you have
the clear beveled ends brush so you can
actually scrape and use up for kind of
making marks inscribing marks and
pushing away paint it feels to be like a
golden taklon and in fact when I was on
personally watercolor of seven years old
my instructor had me get a half inch
aquarelle brush like this a number six
round and then a mock and I did all my
paintings with those three brushes till
I was about thirteen years old so the
same three brushes subject eight carry
brushes they will last you a lifetime in
water well I can't say that they'll last
you over a long time and we also have a
lot of room for extra brushes in here
too we have a number one round tackle on
we've got a number six round these look
like they have really good points too
I'm going to discard these little
sleeves and give them a little rinse and
see because right now they have sizing
and let's just rinse those ants in my
water bucket ready here oh yeah look at
them nice points on those these are I'm
seeing as a brand name she's a really
nice s85 I don't know what company those
are from it's probably says Italy I'm
sure it says in a brochure I just
haven't got that far but oh yeah these
have really nice points moderately soft
so they're going to be good for water
color probably be all right for acrylics
or a little software kerlix and this
looks to be a um mop when you have a
brush like this you have to be careful
though because they do shed so before
you use it you probably want to try to
tug out any loose hairs because it's
soft it feels like a like a blush brush
so I'm just going to set those aside
right now I
and we've got a little mini water brush
here with a little stopper it says
Sakura so it's probably like the little
mini G ones I think those are also by
Sakura so what I do looks like a medium
point which is what I like I don't like
the super small ones because they seem
to leak too much water I don't like the
really big ones and what I do to fill
these actually have I keep these in my
bag keep them on my desk there little
flavor enhancer bottles and I use those
to fill up my water bottle my little
brushes so though that's cute there
that's nice and small probably give that
a whirl so that's the full length of it
save your stopper though I put my
stoppers because I have a few of these I
put my stoppers right in the bag so then
I can um so that I can find them and we
have watercolor pencils by all Art
alternatives and I haven't used these
watercolor pencils but I have the I did
they send some pastels once over this
France wall pastels and they seem to be
just fine sticking out and look at them
here oh that comes with a little brush
as well a number four round appears to
be like a camel or something let's see
so we have your primary colors we've got
some secondary colors black and white
brown um us a basic basic range of
colors there we have a big and small
whole Coon pencil sharpener
and we have a pad of eight by ten
richest just brought my water thank
Fabriano studio watercolor paper which I
have actually used before so um so I
know that's decent it is a student
quality paper to sell you it's 25%
cotton 75% cellulose paper so it kind of
a nice step between a student and a
professional paper and I think I'll
start off just by doing a sketch on the
moonlight supplies over my right hand
side since I'm right-handed
and look I think I'm going to sketch an
iris and I'm going to go right in with
um with purple I guess that's the thing
then I say about watercolor pencils that
you can draw a right on your watercolor
paper um I'm going to start off I don't
want to do my like bold
shapes I'm just going to kind of go in
there and do a line drawing I'm going to
try to just get it fairly accurate as I
go so there's one leaf hip a little hip
of that in there just really lightly
I'll be adding green to that I just want
to get it in there um and I am looking I
did pull a reference photo up before I
began and this is the reference photo
from paint my photo and I will put a
link in the video description so you can
check that out and draw from it too and
just getting the ruffles there on this
beautiful petal and get this pedal up
here so I kind of got a big massive
petals there so I think I'll just draw
them as one and then go and divide them
up later here just so I get that let me
I get it fairly proportionate alright
now I can divide these ah it does I'm
kind of abstracting it and I find that
it's kind of easier to do that when I've
got a lot of details and a lot of shapes
going on it just becomes a little easier
for me to kind of deal with that and I
think I'll put a little bud in here I
love to draw irises okay um and I want
to get the yellow beards and before I do
too much oh did the colors are laying
down really well um so it seems they
seem to be pretty pigmented I won't know
how well they release or blend until
they get to that point but so far so
good I also want to get just do yellow
ochre in here but I think I can use this
yellow and the brown anyplace I need a
little bit of a yellow ochre color using
watercolor pencils is a lot of fun
it's very immediate you can sketch in
paint which I like that versatility I'm
a little spoiled with watercolor pencils
because pardon me I have a lot of
different brands I enjoy trying the
different brands out let's do a little
bit of brown and there so this technique
here that I'm doing I am I'm applying
the pencil to the paper I do have a big
tutorial on watercolor pencils on my
channels watercolor pencils 101 if you
want to check that out if you do want
more technique but I'm basically
throwing in any of the colors that I'm
seeing now this is one way to go about
doing the watercolor pencil another way
is to pick up the color from your brush
and I'm going to show you that as well I
think I want to see get this nice rosy
red there's no color names on here so
I'm just want to kind of you can either
have a scratch paper going that I think
this one's a little more pinky you might
want to have a little scratch paper
going and test out your color with the
water on it to see how it's looking so
what I want to do now is I think I'll
use this flax it's going to have a
little bit stiffer of a bristle and I am
going to see how these dissolve seem to
be dissolving pretty well and put a ton
of color down so we're going to see how
that's going to do I think it's doing
all right I like that um it's retaining
some of my some of my um my lines it
just gives a little bit of an energy
that I think is kind of pretty this is a
pretty textured paper this is a cold
press Fabriano paper 140 pounds so it's
nice and thick
okay so that's how I'll leg it down
looks I would I think I'm going to do is
actually um take one of these round
brushes and pick up color from the tip
as if I'm working from a pan of
watercolor and you can use these with
the other supplies that you have in fact
I recommend if you like if you're doing
SmartArt it's a great thing for like
home schoolers it's a great thing if
you're not exactly sure what type of
aren't you want to get into or you just
want to kind of have a little bit of
this in a little bit of that I highly
recommend the mix your your boxes
together there was a there was a box
from earlier this year that had Lucas
studio watercolors in them and that
would be great to mix with these pencils
so uh so you know usual job now if you
mix with what you already have now I can
actually go in there if I wanted to add
like those divisions I want to add some
details some veining I can go in and I
can do that with the pencil on the wet
paper and it's going to give me a really
dark line that I will not be able to
blend in later so just keep that in mind
if you do that technique it's kind of a
um it's kind of a a permanent technique
but it's pretty I also want to see what
this is going to look like if I pick
that color up and you'll get the feel of
how much water you want it's kind of a
tricky no that's pretty I like mixing
those in there you look at the feeling
for though okay so what I'm gonna want
to do um I think I'm gonna I think I'm
gonna try applying this just directly
onto the paper and see what I get
oh I can get a lot of color that way
that's pretty isn't it that's a nice
kind of like a carmine I should swatch
these out maybe I'll swatch it out and
post a photo on my blog so you can see
oh and I like the texture of the paper
this art alternatives brand is not bad
I've never seen
before it's probably something you have
to be like a wholesaler to eat your
hands on but um or annan or like a
school or something but boy i like that
it'll be a nice a nice brand for like a
school to use I mean I know how much it
cost I don't know how much he's would
cost outside of a kit but but they're
nice sometimes with the cheaper and I
don't know they could these are these
say right on student quality sometimes
the student quality pencils or like you
know the store brand pencils that you
see a lot of times they're they just
don't release a pigment very well but
I'm quite impressed with this I am
putting more pink in my flour than the
reference photo has just so you know and
I think maybe I'll try a little blue in
the shadows so as you can see I'm a
water colorist I like to do a lot of
more traditional watercolor techniques
when I even want amusing the watercolor
pencils but I think that's what I like
about this is me being so personal what
I really enjoy is a showing children how
to use watercolor pencils it's not
something that parents need to be afraid
of it's not that messy of a technique
and when you're comparing it with
something like markers like a good
quality marker you're going to spend
more on markers and the chances of the
kids leaving the cap off is so much
greater and as long as you know the
pencils don't get dropped they're going
to last you until you use them up and
that's what I really like about them so
if you are a parent and you're trying to
think of something to get your kids
interested in art I would say you really
can't you really can't go wrong with a
watercolor pencil I'm going to ever want
to blend that out a little bit more uh I
think I might just see what happens if I
try to smooth that a little bit I can I
can drag the color around a little bit
but once you color on the wet paper it
does want to uh it leaves like a little
gouge in there basically and it catches
the pigment
I think mixing too much with these is
going to be a problem just because if
I'm looking at that that does nice
vibrant as I would prefer this paper you
know what I am keeps neat so I always
get the the 90-pound cold press Fabriano
studio and I have to say this is lifting
this lifts a lot better than the than
the 90 pound stuff that I have so it's
kind of neat that's what that's I love
about these boxes being able to try
something new new to me even though I
think Lacroix got everything what are
they going to send you that I don't have
well it'll be a brand that I have a
dryer it will be I'll be something
that's kind of new to me so another
technique I want to try it I'm going to
and I don't want to do this upturns part
yet because um that is going to bleed
into what I've already painted so I'm
going to move over a little water
droplet there if you do drop water on
the paper try to get to it before it
sets in I'm going over here I'm going to
wet this pedal first and then I'm going
to add my color and see how that looks
now when we do when we pick up our
pigment for our pencils and we put them
on the pigment is going to go where the
paper is wet so I don't have to worry
about it going into the background if I
haven't wet the background but if I have
a petal next door that's wet it's going
to go right into that so keep that in
mind now I think I'm probably going to
just sharpen my pencils pretty soon
because I'm going to be using up a lot I
probably should have just like whittled
away the the wood to begin with because
that way you waste a lot less red they
don't think I have a knife handy still
getting used to working upstairs in my
heated studio as opposed to the cold
unheated basement where work all summer
you can leave areas for highlights this
is a great technique when you want a
soft look when you want things to be
blended together we find my edge there
got a little sloppy irises are so pretty
I used to have so many growing and we
try to transplant them and they all died
I was so disappointed they were so
beautiful we had
any of them I'm going to blend that
around a little bit and I think I'm
going to go ahead and throw in some
veining there with the tip of the pencil
what do some probably some sideload
shading on this too it might be a bit of
a longer tutorial because I'm just
having fun and why rush it if you having
a good time right I like that that kind
of carmine
pink color so I'm going to add some of
that in here I don't think I'll add the
blue on this one if I do it'll just be
like in kind of a shadow area because I
felt like the blue kind of muddied it a
little bit I don't have I don't have
like a French ultramarine or something
that's a really good purpley blue so I
think that I might just use that for
shadow because it's going to neutralize
the color a little bit too and it's
going to make it less vivid and
typically I don't typically use a ton of
colors well I am while using pencils or
watercolors but I find it that I'll
change up the colors so I do like to a
large set of watercolor pencils and I'm
still my only used 7 colors but the
colors will be different depending on
what I'm painting so that's kind of this
will give you an idea whether you like
working with watercolor pencils or not
and then you can decide whether you'd
want to invest in a bigger set and I
think for me when you find a brand of
pencils that you like it's most
economical to get the biggest set that
you can see that's kind of like a
phthalo blue um get the biggest set you
can afford because you're going to
choose different colors and they're
they'll mix well when you're using them
in this technique but if you want to go
dry to paper you just you you're going
to want more colors to achieve the
effects that you want to achieve I mean
I could pick this up and mix this on a
pallet doing this technique but if you
wanted the linear' sketchy technique
you'd want more colors
but this is a great way to get get into
it and decide whether this is something
year you like before you go and spend
you know pretty penny on on the set I
feel like I what this this is a little
like a shadowed pedal I want to get that
in there dark
I'm just very carefully coloring it in
so I don't get into any wet paint and
I'm eating the purple in the blue I was
thinking I should swatch this right off
in the corner but it's kind of like a
little spin he's going to come in out
all right I don't think I want to mess
up the corner of it sweat that you don't
have to have your paper so when you when
you're doing the pencils so you can kind
of sneak in there a little bit I want to
get that shadow too what I like about
these is that I'm feeling like I can go
right from wetting the tip and then
write to coloring without there being a
big issue which I've always been a
little timid to do so I do feel like
these kits kind of give me a little bit
of a freedom to experiment okay so now
let's go into this area that's a little
shadowed and because I know I wanted a
little darker I'm going to go ahead and
color and I'm just using little circular
strokes because I don't really want to
see my lines I just want to get more of
a darker area in here and go in here
with the blue so I'm just coloring it
over I'm kind of when we're doing it
like this we're almost um just kind of
layering to makes or visual just uh
we're not we're not blending again we're
just kind of almost juxtaposing our
colors and they just look darker because
they're next to each other on there I
want to put in quite a bit of color
there I could even add in some of the
red but that red is going to kind of
muddy it a little bit you see how it
almost wants to add a blackness to it
when I overlay that and now I can go in
my brush and liquify it I'm glad these
pencils are decent I was a little
concerned because I'd never heard of
this I never had used this brand before
I have used some real duds of watercolor
pencils it seems to be I don't know if
it's hard to get it right or what but
like there are some store brands that
are horrible and then people write me
and they're like I can't get my pencils
to do what your pencils are doing what's
going on then it's like what's the brand
it's like oh well that's probably where
you having issues but these are fine I
don't know if they make bigger sets I'm
not familiar with this brand really I
really have great luck with Derwent any
of their water water soluble pencils
with the exception of the metallics I
don't care for those but I love their
ink tents and their regular
water-soluble pencils and their graphic
they have so many specialty pencils they
do a fantastic job um I also I'm going
to do the same thing right over there
I also like um the faber castell
polychromos rod the alb right drawer
rather those are really nice
water-soluble pencils the Karen - super
color are really nice I haven't used a
museum they're a little out of my budget
because I only use them casually so I
don't feel I don't feel justified
spending that kind of money on them but
um but the super colors are nice I know
if I like them better than dirt than the
derp ones to tell you the truth though I
really enjoy the Derwin pencils but it's
one of those personal preference things
I think once you get a decent brand the
differences are nominal and a lot of
it's just on personal preference like I
was talking to a colored pencil artist
who can't stand color soft pencils but
they're one of my favorites because I
like how quickly I can lay down color
with them it's just it's all personal
preference and once you get to a certain
level of products I did so now I'm going
to look we'll find this just like I did
before you know you do want to be
careful not to put too much water when
you're using watercolor pencils and you
might even have a better better luck
using a small flat or small Philbrook
filbert brush because they're stiffer
and they're not going to hold as much
water so that's just something to
consider as you go on as you're working
more with this I'm really thrilled with
the brushes in this month's smart art
box because I feel like
like a brush bonanza there's so many
good brushes for watercolor and I'm a
watercolor watercolors my favorite so
it's nice now I'm like well I got this
big annoying brush I want a waste is I'm
just going to come down here and and add
what I had left on my brush over there
just kind of start building that up a
little bit maybe we'll work on the stock
here and I kind of like this blue
because it does have like a green base
to it so I'm going to pick up some of
that give that a little bit of a glide
see I like color like as I like splashy
veils of color you don't have to do this
if you don't want to no I'm thinking no
one's really pretty easy to do a little
bit of this it's purple in that that
method just kind of these loose splashy
washes and I know I'm going to do
something with the background I don't
think I'm just gonna leave it white
because I think what did that aquarelle
oh here we go I think that I would
really love just to have some modeled
color in the background here oh pretty
I'm not a huge fan of the white
background I think it's really pretty
when uh when some people do it but I for
me I like a little bit more expression
and I'm quite frankly I'm probably going
to spill something or smudge something
so having having something the
background is really great for me I like
that green I was just using a bit ago
and add some of that I think it was this
one and then what I like since I like to
do this technique sometimes I end up
spattering by mistake so that helps
there as well oh I think that's pretty
very very fun
I might do some like actual splatters in
a bit too and I like that blue if you
wanna do some of that with the blue so
this is a really nice brush here I think
this would be very useful to have for
lots of different projects I have to
find out about that brand of the of
those pointed rounds because those are
really nice so so have a really nice
sharp point and I'm always looking cuz I
teach classes so if I see like if I find
a good brush that can buy in bulk for
like my summer workshops I am all over
that now because we have a lot of purple
up here what's going to be really pretty
in the background is some yellows so I'm
going to go right in with this and whop
go huge bead on that that's just going
to that fell on my flower that make a
mess so I'm picking up this color here
and I'm just going to add some if you're
worried about um getting too harsh of a
line which I don't think you need a
really real harsh color um you can
always wet the area first and then add
the color to it and it will it'll be a
little more blendy if that's a you're
worried about that which I've done that
too that's also a very pretty technique
but I'm just having fun playing right
now I have really no preconceived ideas
of how this pictures going to come out
we lost a little further they lost a
hair this is a tackle and it's not not
fur per se but it's a lost a little hair
there oh this is fun I like that okay
yes that's nice
I think I kind of might want to add some
more grasses or stocks or something down
there but for right now I think I'm
going to go ahead and start working on
this part of the flower I am putting in
some lines because I do want to show
that this is one petal and it's got kind
of a beaming direction so I am putting
that in I want to put in some of this
color it's just a little quicker to do
it this way then pick it off off my
picking up off my brush quite frankly so
that's why I'm doing it this way I'm
keeping this light edge
x2 that dark shadowy pedal because I
want tableau contrast there um and I
think I'll probably end up with a little
darker over here quite frankly so maybe
I'll go in with a little bit of that
nice deep blue ooh you know what the cat
has been on my people again and again
are sticking to my damp pencil I did
fresh in my water just want to let you
know I do fresh in my water I put fresh
water in my bins every night so that I
don't poison my cat I'm not drinking
cadmium water or anything I think my
favorite technique for these particular
pencils is picking up the pigment from
the lead because I well I didn't I
didn't color really firmly with these
but I feel like they're they don't lay
it down quite as much pigment as I would
prefer bringing that over there but I
think honestly this is one of my
favorite smart boxes so far just because
I really like watercolors now while
that's what I do want to define the that
kind of center vein I do want to get a
little bit more suggestive motion in
there and if you want to pull some more
reading out but I also I'm just going to
pick it up off of this too and just kind
of lift the color weaken a little bit
so I think that if you start off with a
kit like this and you find out that you
really enjoy working with watercolor
pencils rather than running on buying a
big set of anything what I would do is
order a few individual pencils try and
in order different colors because
they'll all work together you can use
all of your brands together they're
going to be fine but I would like order
a couple Karen - super colors order a
couple um intense order a couple Derwent
watercolors order a couple al bright
drawers and and work with them and see
what pencils have the properties that
you prefer I know some brands will say
do not do this technique um I've done it
with all the brands that I own and I
think some of those brands they don't do
it but um I've never had a problem I
think the thing is they don't want you
to like dip this in the water or forego
and put it they'll put the tip in the
water for too long and forget about it
because that yeah that would waterlog
your pencils and ruin them but I haven't
had a problem doing this but every once
a while get an email somebody says my
pencil vac says don't do that you're
doing it you're gonna ruin your pencils
and I reply I like to live dangerously
I'm a wild woman with my pencils anyway
and you can mix them with your other
stuff I know I know another another fun
technique and I learned this from
cinnamon Cooney the art Sherpa she
sketches on her canvases like when she's
going to draw for her acrylic painting
she'll sketch on with the water-soluble
pencils and that way when she paints
over them with acrylic they just
dissolve so she doesn't have any like
pencil or pen marks ghosting through
later at a you know after it's varnished
or whatnot or she doesn't have to go try
and cover up any lines later I thought
that was a brilliant idea so there's
another thing you can use these for I
feel like I'm having a hard time
building up the color I want here but I
don't really want too much blue on that
okay and um I'm feeling like I want a
little bit more color over here
I just skip around I just feel like I
get kind of tired working out one
section I'll work somewhere else for a
while and it's a little bit more
enjoyable little brown in here this
Browns not too potent so it does work
all right to try to make your own yellow
ocher this is fun I was wondering when
they were going to get to another like
water media watercolor type media box
because it seems like it's been forever
a lot of acrylic stuff a lot of well mix
meat acrylics is used in so many things
so of course it'd be more acrylic than
anything but um it was like yes
watercolor I never know what's gonna
come though even like even though they
sponsor my videos they don't tell me
they haven't they don't let me know what
I'm going to be getting I'm just kind of
going in cold just thank you guys I
would get your boxes what a fun gift
though like if you're trying to get a
good birthday or Christmas present or
something or somebody I want this to be
quite a bit later I'm gonna go right in
with my hopefully that will dissolve
alright my pencils a little damp I got
kind of a glob there I'm going in with
this kind of pinky red first and I'm
going to go over it with some of this
purple and this time I liquefy it I'm
going to actually go right in with the
purple on my brush so I need a little
extra pigment as I go
and I didn't take down my paper I'm
working right off right on the pad and
that's something that's also nice about
watercolor pencils is that you're not
dousing your paper like you do when
you're watercolor painting so it's a lot
more forgiving all right not crazy about
that pedal it looks a little strange so
I am going to add some like veining and
some shadows try to give it a little bit
of a rough leanness you break that up
into two petals or something yeah good
do something here and make this like
it's like turn from that petal over
there we free a allocate that petal make
it so part of that one a little bit more
very fun very fun a product for
sketching as you can see just dampen
that so I can blend a little bit very
versatile product great way to get get
acquainted with it and decide whether
you want to go further with it or not
okay and I've got the full petal over
here I think I'm just going to wet it
and add some color off my brush and then
I want to show you a quick shading
technique called sideloading which I
know I've showed you before but I think
it's really really great for a subject
like an IRS little pink in there
oh we know what I didn't add any water
to my beards there may be a little bit
brown in there but I think we'll go
right from the pencil and just kinda
throw in some details listen little
lines to show like a little needle Lola
furry furry bits there okay so the
technique I want to show you a side
loading I'm gonna see if I have
something I can scribble when we try the
package here and see if I can scribble
some of that
oh that's hourly rough enough maybe on a
cardboard here I'm just going to
scribble off a bunch of pigmen this is
not ideal like a sanded piece of plastic
would be better but this is what I have
right now and I am going to use my
aquarelle brush which is the half inch
flat okay it's got a pretty white here
because I'm actually just going to pick
up that pigment on one half of my brush
okay and now what I'm going to do is use
the whole flat of my brush but and I'm
going to go around the contour of this
petal look at that I'm able to add a
beautiful a shadow all around that also
I do it under this beard isn't that a
fun fact all right I do recommend you
clean your brush and just blot it gently
before you load back up again and feel
free to turn your paper as you go so you
have a comfortable working stance I
think that adds a lot of really nice
dimension to a flower petal like that
you can also use it for shading let's
scribble I want a nice shade you know
the school isn't that blue in there
I will scribble some of the purple right
on top for my purple girl there we go
get my aquarelle back into both of those
colors there you do need your brush what
enough that you bristles stick together
and I'm going to turn this and I'm going
to go in here I love that little shadow
in there so that's just another
technique that you can try and I think
it just gives it a really a little bit
more dimension gives it just gives it a
pretty pretty look and you can also use
this to kind of throw in some lines if
you want well there you have it a little
iris using the stuff from our smart art
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