Little Sweeteners (TUTORIAL)

So, a few days ago I made a small "First two phases of painting skin with Watercolors" tutorial but, it was only available for 24hrs on my Instagram stories. So, I thought it would be a nice idea to share it with everyone here! :smirk: :hibiscus:

Okay then, so, the purpose of this tutorial is to show you the process of making a smoothly layered surface of skin. I will be focusing on the first two "phases" as I believe that, when it comes to Watercolors, making a good start is probably the most important step towards getting a pleasing result.

For this tutorial I will be making a portrait of a ball ted doll.

I am using:

-White Nights, Maimeri Venezia (student grade), W&N Cotman (student grade) and Umton Watercolors. These are all relatively cheap and offer a very good quality for their price. I especially recommend Umton but, I am afraid that if you don't live in the Eastern part of Europe, you can't really find them anywhere. But, Cotmans would do the job done as well :3

-Pure Kolinsky and Red Sable brushes (nothing too expensive)

-Arches hot pressed paper, 300g (check out Fabriano for cheaper alternatives)

-Faber Castel pencils. Don't know why but, they don't really smudge :grinning:

So, without further ado, let's get right into it!

Phase one:

1) Make a Pencil sketch of your portrait. Apply simple shading. I use a HB and a 4B pencil (I personally prefer using graphite for the sketch but, color pencils would do just fine :v: ). MAKE SURE that your sketch is anatomically correct! Bellow you can see an image and a video where I apply simple shading on the face :movie_camera: :

---->>> VIDEO <<<----

2) Apply water on the face area EXCEPT FROM THE EYES. Don't add too much nor too little water. Let it sink for some seconds.

3) Create your base tone. I go with a VERY VERY light pastel skin tone. Make it yellowish and not reddish (I prefer yellowish because it's easier to build more layers on top and, unlike red, it's easier to lift. But, if your purpose is to create a very warm, pinky skin, then applying a reddish base tone might be preferable). Apply very carefully on the wet areas. DON'T COLOR THE EYES! Let it sink for some seconds. Here is a video:

---->>> VIDEO <<<----

If you are planning on working solely with Watercolors, make sure to leave your white areas white!

4) Create your second tone. This time make it SLIGHTLY darker and SLIGHTLY more towards pink. As the first tone is still active and wet, apply VERY gently the slightly darker tone on the dark areas of your portrait by paying close attention to your reference and/or your light source. This concludes your first layer.

5) Let it dry for at least 40 minutes.

The drawing usually looks "dirty" during this point. But, worry not. This will go away as you gradually build up your layers :v:

Phase two!

1) Be sure that the paper is dry. You can work this phase while it's still kinda wet but, I don't recommend it.

2) Use clean water and apply gently on the colored areas.

3) Use your previous pink tone as a base and add a lil bit more pink+ochre (if you cleaned your pallette then, don't worry, you can always experiment in order to recreate it! In fact, I recommend doing so!)

4) Pay close attention to your reference! Apply the even darker tone on the darker areas

---->>> VIDEO <<<----

5) You can use water to soften the edges on areas you don't want to get any abstraction (like forehead and cheeks). I usually leave the areas around the eyes, lips and nose not completely blended to get some texture.

6) Let it dry completely! THIS IS YOUR SECOND COLOR LAYER. Letting it dry concludes the second phase.

- At this point, I usually start splashing colors to the background as well

-Repeat the second phase to build more and more layers.

So, yeah, it's basically a wet on wet technique :satisfied: . I am currently trying out wet on dry.

Small disclaimer: this is how I use Watercolors. I am by no means a professional as I started using Watercolors a few months ago. You can take all of the above as a complete technique or consider them as small tips and apply them to your own techniques. :sparkling_heart:

If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to drop them down bellow. I always read your comments :v: