Expressive Watercolor Portraits

Expressive Watercolor Portraits

“Thank you for joining me on this journey of expression, color, and creative exploration. We have now reached the end of the course. Remember, our main objective of this course was to open our minds to the elements of painting that create a whole. This includes dissecting our mind/perspectives, examining our emotions, utilizing our watercolor techniques, building our understanding of color, and learning how it all comes together to create a captivating piece. What I truly want you to take away from this project is the ability to manifest your own ideas to build something that comes from your heart and soul. When trying to think of your next painting, I strongly encourage you to refrain from browsing online to find inspiration. Instead, start brainstorming. Take any word or idea that you’ve seen today and start dissecting what that word brings to the forefront of your mind. The goal here is to expand your mind. There is no limit! Some examples of words I have used myself are masculinity, femininity, alone, faith, hope, beauty, devastation, life, birth, delicate, humane, man, young, childhood. Once you free your mind, it’s time to start exploring your vision. What images come to mind when you look at your word web? Start sketching them out. Stick figures are perfectly okay! As long as you can tell what you’re drawing, nothing else matters. After you create your thumbnails, don’t forget to create your mood board. The images on your mood board can accumulate over time. You never need to focus on one project. Typically my mood boards form throughout weeks, months, even years. You can never be too full of inspiration by what surrounds you. We can find images on Pinterest, Iinstagram, Google, Facebook, YouTube, but don’t forget you can also take your own in real life. Sometimes you’ll stumble into a garden, see a beautiful sky, a design on a decorative vessel, etc. A couple of different edits for the same image will be helpful over time. I advise one with exaggerated colors, one normal, and one in black and white. I encourage you to continue studying color theory and different watercolor techniques. You will never be too good to continue your studies about color. I even find myself learning new things about color on a daily basis. I am constantly growing because I am further trying to understand the different elements that create a painting. It is important that you feel the same way. Continue your practices with color until it becomes intuitive. When you feel as if your color mixing naturally becomes part of your process, you’ve made efficient progress. Next comes putting your composition into place. If you’d like to further your composition after finding inspiration, there is nothing wrong with that. An idea develops over time, it is constantly changing. Sketch things out to the right size on tracing paper and transfer it to your paper. If you are feeling extra ambitious, begin sketching freehand, without using tracing paper to transfer your painting. This will allow things to feel more original, but I recommend this, once you really feel confident about the lessons covered in this project.

After your composition is laid out and ready to go, it’s time to get painting. We started with the first fundamental layers, then the facial features, and then the skin. I wouldn’t say this is completely necessary in this exact order, but I do advise that you always start with a first step of fundamental layers that cover the whole painting. This will allow your piece to be more cohesive by the end. As you work on your painting, remember, light to dark. You can always build the layers but you can not take them away. There is no rush. Be patient. Creating art is about the journey, not about the result. As we worked through the face, we focused a lot on the eyes because they are so unique. They have a different texture and usually a variation of different colors that aren’t the same as the skin. The highlights will always be extremely crucial in creating a glossy like texture for the eye. After you’ve reached near completion of your painting, now is the time to add your final details and darkest shadows. Since we know that it is time to add those dark areas that we won’t need to take away, we can confidently do our dark line work and shadows as needed. This is usually where we add in some fine lines in the mouth, the nostrils, the pupil of the eyes and eyelashes. When your painting is complete, it’s time to start thinking about the presentation. It’s your painting, so don’t feel as if you need to adhere to rules and regulations. Yes, traditional frames are nice, but don’t be afraid to look out of the box at different frames that are going to compliment your work and further carry your message. You can find unique frames anywhere, but my favorites would be at thrift/antique stores. Now that you are ready to take on a new way of creating, I strongly encourage you to share any of your future projects with the community. It’s inspiring to see original ideas flourish and come to life. Please feel free to share your final projects and include your brainstorming map and moodboards. This will help others in expanding their mind and thinking differently on their next projects. Don’t forget that I am here to help you grow as a creative visionary and artist. I will answer your questions on the forum as soon as I am able to! I’ll be busy throughout the year with multiple projects, but I’m looking forward to assisting all of you in a new growth.”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Hi, we have reached the end of the course and now you have completed your very own watercolor portrait. Before saying goodbye, let's go over the steps that are crucial to completing your project. First, take some time dissecting your brain to come up with a concept so you can create one of a kind pieces that come from your heart. With your idea draw very quick and suggestive thumbnail sketches to explore various possibilities and approaches. Don't be so concerned about how your word web looks or how your sketches turn out. Once you've chosen your thumbnail, start creating your...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Expressive Watercolor Portraits

• Level: Beginner
• 97% positive reviews (154)
• 3819 students
• 4 units
• 19 lessons (4h 13m)
• 14 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Fine Arts, Painting, Portrait Drawing, Traditional illustration, Watercolor Painting