I’m usually pretty good at not forgetting when someone gives me a GREAT idea for a video like a comparison of colored pencil vs watercolor pencil. I keep a spreadsheet with a list, and things eventually get checked off.

But….I was working on my website recently, creating new “category” pages. Instead of just having a boring slate of icons, I wanted the pages to be more interesting, more helpful, and more motivational to artists perusing them. When I got to the watercolor pencil category, it struck me that…I’ve not been producing classes in that medium! Combining them with colored pencil would at least help on the website but — it’s time for a new class, dontcha think? Read on, my friend…

Tutorial: Colored Pencils vs Watercolor Pencils: What’s the difference?

I wanted was a graphic and short video-explainer on the Pencil page – and that’s where today’s video comes in. It’s in a few parts:

1. A simple discussion of what makes the two mediums same/different
2. A simple demonstration of basic techniques drawing the butterfly
3. A complex demonstration of the two mediums in 2 sunset drawings

So let’s get rolling, shall we?

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

That webpage I worked on

If you’ve not done any web work, the screen you saw at the start of the video is the DIVI platform, which all my sites are built on. I was putting in a header photo that I created, and the text at the top of the page, but cut out of that before I bored everyone to tears. Ha!

The page, https://art-classes.com/pencil, has the drawn graphic on it but with the handwritten text replaced by typed text so it’s more readable. As new artists come to the pages for each medium, I hope to inspire them with learning things right away, helping them choose a class to start with….and the “voice” I used on those pages to describe the classes is much more of “casual me” – no marketing mumbo jumbo! 

If you poke around you’ll find a few other pages have been started but at this point the only one with a video is this one.

Sunrise Sunset demo and class

This Sunrise Sunset class is taught in both colored pencil and watercolor pencil. I don’t have a good assessment of whether there’s less need for WCP classes, or if I just don’t have the students since I had hardly any classes….? Hard to say, chickens and eggs and all. But….we’ll see how the homework goes and which medium I see folks particpating in!

The double speed-painting of the sunset sky is the bonus lesson in class; it’s not a Level 2 drawing by ANY means, but since I filmed it and did like what came out, I decided to include it without voiceover. Just music and some onscreen captions, and slower. If you’d like to see that, then class is the place to be!

Colors for colored pencil vs watercolor pencil

When choosing the colors for class, I picked a set of 11 colors (I tried for 12 but if you don’t need it, you don’t need it, right?). Faber Castell’s Polychromos Colored Pencils and Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils. That way they’re at least going to be the same colors so we can see the comparison without mixing brands.

These are the colors, in case you have a different brand and want to see if your pencil box has the right ones in it….you might also want to try some Faber Castell and these would be nice colors to have – to save you poking around I have individual links in the free pre-class lesson over at Art-Classes. 🙂

And thus, a new class is born! My apologies to the person who asked SO long ago about this comparison. Thanks to the website work, it’s now a reality and I hope the person is still following me! And I hope some folks will be inspired to give some pencil skies a try! Click on the pic to get to class:

Are you team colored pencil or watercolor pencil?

Okay you can vote for both but I would like to know which is more important for ya! As I’m working on these webpages it’s becoming obvious what the gaps are in classes so the list is getting revamped, and if there are few wcp folks, I’ll keep the focus in other places.

Well except on Saturday. Coz there’s new Anita Jeram coming, and well, I’ll be working with Inktense pencils since I gave a nod to them today without much of an chance for my Inktens pencils to reply 🙂

Sandy

Supplies

Used in this video:

1. Stonehenge sketchbook

Fave Erasers:

1. Kneaded Eraser
2. Electric Eraser, Mont Marte
3. Tombow Stick Eraser 

Fave Sharpeners:

1. Afmat Long Point Pencil Sharpener 
2. Dahle Chubby Pencil Sharpener
3. Quietsharp Pencil Sharpener BLICK – AMZ 

Colored pencil supplies:

1. Polychromos Pencils
2. Polychromos Hex Chart
3. Stonehenge Drawing Paper: AMZ –  BLICK 
4. Blending stumps and Blending stump sanding block
5. Gamsol Blending solution or Winsor and Newton Refined Linseed Oil
6. Jars for solvents
7. Tea Strainer

Watercolor pencil supplies:

1. Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor pencil
2. Arches Cold Press Pad
3. Artist tape 3/4″
4. Ampersand Hardbord
5. Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8: BLICK –  AMZ 
6. Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #4  BLICK – AMZ 
7. Mottler Flat Wash 30, DaVinci Cosmotop Spin Brush
8. Tea Strainer

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Carve out some time for a real time watercolor painting session with me! Learn to paint snowy trees in a forest with only two watercolor hues – we’ll be creating a variety of colors and values with simple supplies!

I haven’t done a ton of real time videos, because it’s so hard to talk that long without sounding dumb! I did take some breaks and just played music during parts, so hopefully that will keep the silence from getting deafening.

Gather supplies

Whatever brand or hue of watercolors you own, try this with your set! You’ll need a blue – I’ll be using Cobalt Blue, but try any medium tone blue. Then choose a midrange reddish brown; Transparent Red Oxide is in my palette, but feel free to substitute Burnt Sienne or something similar. Note that your mixes might have to change a little based on how they mix so try a few puddles of color to see what it takes to make a warm and a cool gray.

You can paint in a sketchbook like my value study – or try a larger painting. This demo is on a 1/4 sheet of Saunders Waterford Rough.

And then brushes – a big brush for the large wash is a must! The Casaneo brush I’ll be using is a size 20 round;  you’ll need something to paint a lot of water and pigment for that first wash, and a small brush will only cause you frustration. For branches and leaves, medium and smaller brushes are fine….scale according to your painting’s size.

1. Sketch a day by Lake Michigan Book Press 
2. Saunders Waterford Rough Sheets 
3. Artist tape 3/4″ 
4. Brushes:
   • Da Vinci Casaneo Synthetic Squirrel Brush – Round 20 
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 10 
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4 
   • Da Vinci Series 17 Maestro Long Needle, Size 9 
     
5. House of Hoffman Palette 
   • Cobalt Blue
   • Transparent Red Oxide

Tutorial: Snowy Forest (real time watercolor painting)

Join me in painting along! Feel free to stop the video as you work, I know I paint a little faster than the average bear. 🙂 NOTE: If you are seeing this post BEFORE noon on January 21, then the video below will not play. But I wanted to get this post out there for those who may want to refer to it as we paint along together at noon!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Value Study

Some of you will be creating your value study as we work – I suggest trying this painting small, then paint it large. The small one will help define where each value is placed in the picture – so you get familiar with:

1. Just how light are the lights?
2. How dark are the darkest places, and where are they?
3. What is the color temperature – which are cool and which are warm?

First pass

The objective here is to cover everything in the painting that’s NOT the lightest light. That means anything that’s light, like sky or trees, but not AS white as the snow patch in the distance – all of that is toned back. Keeping it light is key, but not TOO light; you don’t want to have to keep adding more and more layers later.

Second pass

Establish the basic midtones – it needn’t include a lot of detail, that’s for the next step. But now is the time to start defining all the midtone areas and blocking them in. Be thinking about where you’ll want detail coming up, and tell yourself that can be saved for the next pass – or you might overdo it at this blobby stage!

Third pass

Now is the time to indulge your detailed side. I still recommend keeping brushstrokes simple, and don’t try to define every branch, leaf, and blob of snow. You’re creating the impression of this scene, not every detail of the photo reference. That’s a photographer’s job.

Source image

I wish I could remember which Facebook friend sent me this years ago…hopefully they’ll come out of the woodwork and remind me! And maybe get me a higher res image, too. It’s a wee bit fuzzy. Download it here.

Original for sale

You can purchase this painting (unframed) on my fine art website, or a print or framed print at Society6 – I love that they show you how something looks framed!

So….will you be painting along?

Let me know if you plan to or already have! I’m starting a new thread at Artventure to collect all our snowy forests, so be sure to add yours there when you finish!

Supplies

1. Sketch a day by Lake Michigan Book Press 
2. Saunders Waterford Rough Sheets 
3. Artist tape 3/4″ 
4. Brushes:
   • Da Vinci Casaneo Synthetic Squirrel Brush – Round 20 
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 10 
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4 
   • Da Vinci Series 17 MaestroLong Needle, Size 9 
     
5. House of Hoffman Palette 
   • Cobalt Blue
   • Transparent Red Oxide

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Art goes through stages – inspiration, mistakes, creation and more in the process. Sometimes that isn’t a linear process, either! It can be discouraging when the road is long, but don’t give up. Push through!

That happened to me in the creation of what would, in the end, be a simple watercolor sketch. But it was almost a week in the making! I got to the final stage and decided to film the end result – a very simple real time watercolor!

A note about pinterest

Before I get to the rest of this post – I’ve been doing a couple new things this year already, one of which is actually uploading things to my Pinterest page. I’d gotten an email from Pinterest reminding me I had over a million views a month on stuff that was old….until a month or so ago I hadn’t added anything over there since maybe 2015!

But….I’m not looking back to beat myself up. Just going to move forward. And create graphics for each post in 2023+ and they’ve beem getting a little more attention too. I hope to figure out some best practices and create more interesting content over there too. Baby steps though!

If you’re a Pinterest user, I’d love for you to pop over to my page occasionally and repin some of your faves! I made a board with all the classes on it, so if you’ve taken one, feel free to repin it with a comment about what you liked about the class!

Alrighty. Let’s get on to today’s tutorial!

Real Time Watercolor: One painting’s crazy journey of inspiration, mistakes, creation

This video is about the watercolor painting; for further info on the pencil piece, join us over at Patreon.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Explore composition options

These are only a few ways to adapt a photo to make it your own:

1. Tilt the image, move it to one side, what happens if it’s off the page?
2. Change the orientation – portrait/landscape. Add context.
3. Alter lighting – direction, strength of highlight/shadow
4. Add personality in some way
5. Push any of these a step or ten further!

Back to the drawing table!

I followed the advice of an artist who said, “When things go wrong, go back to what you know.” He’d had a tragic start to a painting and was ready to just quit art he had so much doubt. But he decided to go back to what he knew. He knew this shadow should go there. He knew that shape should be rounder. He knew that one brushtroke should…..and so on. One decision at a time.

So that’s what I did! Back to the sketchbook. Explore the idea a little more. Where else could this go?

While I was simplifying, attack the color scheme too. The olive canvas bag made more sense – and has things like a rolled-up cover to protect the books.

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Once I went through the crazy pencil drawing (discussed further on Patreon), I went back to the drawing board. Or the sketchbook! I quickly sketched out some options to start building on the alpaca librarian idea – and loved the simple sketches enough that I realized it was watercolor that would express the whimsy that I wanted in the piece anyway.

Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Because I’d convinced myself that what I wanted was the fur technique – no, that wasn’t going to be what makes me happy. The overall result of the piece, now THAT is what delights me!

Do you struggle with pieces that just don’t work?

It’s not abnormal at all! Most artists strive to do their best work; and sometimes something that appeals to us doesn’t click with others – and other times it clicks with other people, but we just aren’t satisfied!

When we dismiss an artist’s honest critique, we can stymie their growth by convincing them there’s nothing to improve. They might stop trying to learn perspective or improve shading consistency or a technique with their medium. “If everyone says it’s amazing, maybe I’m just being picky.”

But if you as an artist are not satisfied with what you created, it’s important to embrace the learning curve and grow from it. Figure out what you want to improve, and find a mentor, a tutorial, or a class that’ll help you conquer it!

***I’m not talking about those who are dealing with poor self esteem – this is about those who share that they’re learning and they’re hitting some tough spots they want to grow in. 

Give feedback to artists that encourage growth

Be sensitive to artists who post something and say there’s a thing or two they didn’t like. You may honestly not see what they were unhappy with – but that doesn’t mean bulldozing over their feelings of dissatisfaction is always the right thing to say.

It IS great to encourage – but some replies that help people grow:

1. Affirm that it’s good that they shared something they’re struggling with.
2. Thank them for the bravery it took to post something they weren’t super proud of.
3. Tell them something specific you really DO like (a color selection, a particular element of the art, or how the piece made you feel).
4. Let them know you’re learning from what they’re learning, too. We all grow when we all grow, right?

Supplies

1. Sketchbooks:
   • Bee Paper Mixed Media Sketchbook AMZ • Blick
   • Alvaro Castagnet Sketchbook (not available publicly, purchased from the artist)
2. Artist tape 3/4″ 
3. Brushes:
   • Da Vinci Mottler Flat Wash
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 10 
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4 
   • Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 0 
   • Da Vinci Series 17Maestro Long Needle, Size 9 
4. Watercolors:
   • House of Hoffman Palette 
   • Phthalo Blue Turquoise
   • Cobalt Blue
   • Transparent Red Oxide
   • Sap Green
   • Green Gold
   • Cascade Green
   • Quinacridone Rose

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Have you ever wanted to know how to draw a realistic strawberry….in a few mediums? They’re a really interesting fruit – and technically the fruit is those little things we think of as seeds on the outside…each of those contains a seed—and can be planted! Who knew?

Well from the berries on Tuesday to blueberries yesterday and strawberries today….I think I just had a fruity week! If I draw a lot of fruit will I lose weight just by doing that? Please say yes! So much easier than a diet….

Tutorial: How to draw a realistic strawberry

This video starts with almost 11 minutes on a complex speed drawing of a strawberry – worth a watch even if not creating that one because it’ll help you understand the basics of a strawberry.

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Draw a realistic strawberry

In alcohol markers, layering is the key to trying to nail down the color you want in a drawing. The alcohol ink is transparent, so you can shift the hues by which pens you choose! Depending on the photo reference you choose to work from, you may find warm and cool reds, pinks, and oranges, so look carefully to create beautiful color shifts. Use deeper shadows are inside the “pockets” for the achenes (the seeds (fruits) outside the berry).

Realistic strawberries in 3 mediums

I created these little berries on watercolor paper – yes alcohol markers can be used on it, even if challenging! It even helped it to remain a little rougher/looser! Colors used:

1. Olo markers: R0.3, R0.4, R0.5, R0.6, R1.7, YG8.3, YG8.5
2. Albrecht Durer Watercolor Markers Pale Geranium Lake, Leaf Green, Dark Phthalo Green
3. Daniel Smith Watercolor Anthraquinoid Scarlet, Permanent Alizarin Crimson,. Sap Green

What’s your favorite fruit?

Incorporate a strawberry in your next project – even if not a big element you might find these techniques kind of fun! Or see if you can sketch your own favorite in a loose way, small, or create a large detailed version and really get to know it! 

Supplies

1. LARGE BERRY, ALCOHOL MARKER:
   1. Olo markers 
   2. Olo marker hex chart 
   3. Marker sketchbook 
2. White Signo Uni-ball Gel Pen:  AMZ  • BLICK 
   1. SMALL BERRIES:
      1. Small sketchbook was bought from artist Alvaro Castagnet, contains Arches rough and several other papers. Not available online.
   2. ALCOHOL MARKER:
      1. Olo markers 
   3. WATER-BASED MARKER:
      1. Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Markers  Blick • AMZ 
      2. TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen M
      3. Platinum Carbon Fountain Pen Ink
   4. WATERCOLOR:
      1. Anthraquinoid Scarlet
      2. Permanent Alizarin Crimson
      3. Sap Green
      4. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4 

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Before you start reading: IMPORTANT! There’s no brush in the world that’ll magically make you a great painter.

What WILL make you a great painter?

PRACTICE.

(Yes you knew I’d say that, didn’t you?)

However, using the right brush for the job is important. In general my rule is that of a mentor of mine:

Use the largest brush you can for the task at hand.
That will help you stay loose.

But what do you make of that when painting very small paintings? And very small subjects like tiny branches? I’m not one normally to teach watercolor in tiny formats for tiny subjects; that’s one reason my watercolor classes are limited. Painting tiny, with tiny detail, teaches students that they should treat watercolor as if it’s a pencil…and….it’s not pencil.

So my compromise is this: Find larger elements where you can be loose and free. Only use tiny brushes for tiny elements, and do NOT make paintings of only tiny elements.

Tutorial: 4 Brushes and a Toothbrush: Winter Watercolor and a new class!

So in this video, there IS a featured element, a snowman – but he’s BIG. So the tiny details are only in that background, not throughout the painting. Also – the other two videos mentioned in this one are:

1. Pencil Snowman (large)
2. Pencil Snowman (small)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Brushes

Let’s talk brushes a bit and when to switch from one to another.

Da Vinci Maestro Round 8

The “Maestro” designation is reserved for brushes manufactured using male winter Siberian Kolinsky Red Sable fur. These are top-of-the-line, high quality brushes. (read: $$)

I love the sharp point and long hair length — I get good spring and control, and these brushes are great to carry water and pigment to the paper in good quantity, releasing when *I* want it to. That said – some say naturan brushes don’t have “spring” – but what I seem to see is the expectation is “stiff” not “spring.” Stiff brushes, which you get in a lot of synthetics, act more like soft pencils. Maybe that’s why folks like them – they want a pencil.

Da Vinci Maestro Long Needle 9

This brush has a long sable point attached to a full sable reservoir in the belly. You can create the thinnest of lines, and with pressure you can change to wide marks easily, all with the same color from your palette. On a large painting it holds enough pigment/water to create a very long continuous line – no need to reload the brush. But again….$$$. 

Da Vinci Maestro Round 4

Re-read the Round 8 but in a tinier voice.

Silver Brush Black Velvet Round 2

Now is the synthetic alternative: at 1/10th the cost! If you’re painting small, then you don’t need to make a line that stretches across 15 to 20 inches. The brush holds enough for a little line. And being synthetic, it’s stiffer than a sable, so it’ll act a little more like a pencil too. 

The one thing to remember is that you may need to adjust the amount of pigment vs water; use more water — a thinner mixture — and after making your line you can dab off excess, and that can make the line appear more subtly. That fools the eye into thinking it’s as thin as the Long Needle brush. 

Toothbrush

Winter is the perfect season for being able to easily “FIX” any painting mistakes! Use a toothbrush and some gouache to create spattered snow. Create a heavier snowstorm if you’ve really bungled it, or lighter snow if you’re happy with the work underneath. (And remember, if your painting rocks, it’s OK for snow to only be on the ground and let your work shine!)

New watercolor class!

It’s called Winter Watercolor Bookmarks – and if it’s popular that may lead to others and we’ll make it a series!

This one’s a level 4 class; but if you completed the 30 Days watercolor class, and feel good about it, you might be ready for this! They’re called bookmarks in this course – but you can change the size and orientation of them as desired. The ones shown are a good size to trim for slimline cards that fit in a business envelope, or leave them as is with the beautiful deckled border, and give them as holiday gifts!

Supplies

• Daniel Smith Watercolors:

  1. Phthalo Blue Turquoise 
  2. Cobalt Blue
  3. Transparent Red Oxide 
  4. Quinacridone Rose
  5. New Gamboge  

  Paper

  1. Arches Cold Press sheet

  Brushes

  1. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 8 
  2. Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Round 4
  3. Silver Brush Black Velvet Round 2
  4. Da Vinci Series 17 Maestro Long Needle, Size 9
  5. An old toothbrush

  Snow

  1. Winsor and Newton White Gouache

  Miscellaneous

  1. White artist tape, 3/4” 
  2. Grafix Art Board to tape down my paper

There are MANY types of art, but today I’m focusing on three areas of drawing and comparing what they do for me….and I’d be interested to hear what they do for you!

I’ll be using a Fluid Writer – it’s a “pen” that has a well on top and thin nib below. My old one is hidden somewhere with my Pysanky supplies – but I also remember trying it with ink after using it for the eggs, and it didn’t work so well after being heated. So….I treated myself to a new one – and found a PAIR of them – a fine AND extrafine nib! It doesn’t seem that you can order JUST the extrafine, you need to get it along with the fine, but they aren’t expensive.

You might wonder why you’d want one – should you even get one!? No one “needs” one. But what I find it helpful for is to use a little bit of an ink on a project when I don’t really want to clean out a pen to change inks; that process uses a lot of ink between washing out the old and putting enough in the pen that you can use it, then flushing that again. You can also use a glass pen but I do find those a bit scratchy – the fluid writer doesn’t have that problem.

What’s the difference? Doodling vs Sketching vs Art Journaling

In this video, I’ll show you some snippets of the three projects that follow, as I talk about my own experience with these three drawing styles. Yours may differ and I’d love to hear how they affect you!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Doodling

The benefits of doodling are vast, in my opinion!

• Relaxation. I can just turn off my brain and make lines!
• Explore style variation. When it’s just lines, it’s easy to play with lines – shape, width, interaction, crossover…..so many options. My style of drawing has begun to develop more as I’ve been doodling longer.
• No subject matter. While I might be inspired by something (a map, a flower, a line style), it’s not supposed to look like anything.
• Although…Some folks DO doodle by drawing a subject – and that’s ok too!

Sketching

Making a sketch has a different set of benefits in my mind – and sometimes the borders of doodling bleed over into sketching as well.

• Practice subject matter. Practice drawing a specific item – a landscape, trees, people.
• Practice foundations. Perspective, value, color, line – anything you put on paper is excellent practice!
• Use your brain. Sketching engages the brain and hand-eye coordination as you look at a subject and replicate it.

Art Journaling and Bible Journaling

Sometimes doodling or sketching crossover into journaling turf! I do find some people think art journaling is only 1) trying techniques and 2) using up all the junk around your studio that you haven’t found another use for.

That’s limited thinking, in my humble opinion! Art journaling can do so much more if you change your perspective….and let your mind travel while you create.

• What’s going on in your life? What challenges need a creative solution? Often getting your mind busy on other creative ventures results in another solution popping up.
• What are you grateful for? What are the things that make your life happy or successful? Pondering those things can lead to a heart that’s got a better outlook than it had before you started creating.
• What is your spiritual journey like? What have you been learning? Capturing that as a Bible journaler can be a celebration of your faith in a creative way.

Last year I taught in but also participated in the November Gratitude Junk Journal class. And I’ve been invited back this year….and jumped at the chance. Last year was soooo good for my heart and attitude!

If you’d like to join in, class starts November 1 – and you can get 20% off by using my oupon code JOY when you click HERE.

How do these types of art help you?

I’d love to know how you are changed by doodling, sketching, or journaling – how do you feel after spending time creating? What’s life like when you don’t spend time in your studio?

Supplies

• King Art Fluid Writer – 2 sizes
• Small sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Zeta
• Large sketchbook: Alvaro Castagnet – only available from him personally
• Art journal: handmade from Yasutomo Mineral Paper
• Pilot Iroshizuku Bottled Fountain Pen Ink, Kon-Peki