Pigeon’s guide to water color ~coloring drawings~ (image heavy)

[Kotorichan]

There are lots of ways to use water coloring, you can use it for mixed media, just as a pure medium, or even on some fabrics.

This is just a simple tutorial on how to use water color to color and shade in drawings that you might otherwise use markers or pencils for.

I personally find watercolors preferable to the other options for a few reasons. First of all it's a let less expensive to buy a few academic quality tubes of paint and mix them than it is to buy hundreds of markers or pencils. It's also a lot more portable if you keep your colors in a foldable palette and use an aqua brush, which is a brush that you fill with water and then squeeze to get the water out. Just carrying around a small palette, a single brush, and a small rag or paper towel is much easier (and lighter) than carrying about a big bag of markers or pencils. I also personally enjoy the smooth look that one gets from watercolors.

Anyway, on to the tutorial. I'll try to post more involving watercolors, if there's something specific that you're interested in then feel free to let me know (landscapes, line-less art, mixed media, watercolors on sculptures, watercolors on fabric, etc.) also if you want more clarification on this tutorial then let me know and I'll try to explain it better. (sorry about the sideways pictures, I couldn't figure out how to fix those)

 

 

 

What you’ll need: A drawing, water color paint, water, tissue or rag, water color brush. *IMPORTANT* test the paper before you use water color, light weight paper will rip or become soggy with watercolor, I am using 70lb (114g) paper in this demo and it warped a bit in the areas where I used a lot of water

 

~Part 1~

First sketch out your picture as you would for anything

 

Go over the sketch with a WATER PROOF PEN a lot of pens will bleed when touched by water and this will ruin your picture. If you’re not sure then test the pen with water on a separate paper (I use Sakura pigma Micron)

 

Make sure that none of your shapes are smaller than the tip of your brush, otherwise it will be harder to color

 

Wait until the ink is completely dry to avoid smudging then erase the pencil. The pencil will show through the lighter parts of the watercolor if it's left there

 

~Part 2~

When water coloring you should always start with the darkest colors, I also start with the smallest details like eyes

 

A darker more pure color can be made by putting more paint on the brush and less water, however this uses a lot of paint and isn’t good for large areas because water colors don’t spread easily like acrylics or oils

 

*IMPORTANT NOTE* Black and white are not good for shading, they can both “ruin” a painting. To darken a color it is best to add blue and/or purple. This is simply because black tends to make a color more grey and lifeless, while blues and purples make it more vibrant and natural. In water color white should only be used to lighten an area than was accidentally made dark, since it is easier and cheaper to just use less paint. It is also good to have a separate page to test your colors

(from top, left to right: Original, with blue, with purple, with black)

 

(left to right: With white, with less paint)

 

Once you finish the dark parts, gradually move towards the lighter parts *Remember your light source*

 

A little yellow is good to add highlights to white

 

It’s good to leave visible brush stokes when coloring the hair to add texture

 

~part 3~ add in any details with pens, such as pupils or eye shines (white pen)

 

Enjoy your work~ and remember to always practice, practice, practice!

[E.r.o.s]

Wahh it was a good tutorial, I always used black or white to darker things with watercolor, never knew we could use the blue or purple instead. It does look a lot more vibrant with those~ I'll try it next time Thanks for taking your time to post a discussion~

[Tetsu]

woahh!! such a nice and detailed tutorial! I never did water painting since I was a kid. I'll definitely try this out when I know how to draw! <3 <3 Thanks Pigeon <3 I like your Discussion.

[BlueNeon]

Great tutorial Pigeon! I hope you'll post some more. ;D

[~Mitsukuni~]

That was a great tutorial! I love your drawing *_*

I really hope you will show us more helpful stuff

[garumba]

great tutorial, really detailed!

[Never]

Wow~~

That's was a cool tutorial Pigeon!