Painting Realistic Watercolor Landscapes

Painting Realistic Watercolor Landscapes

“Congratulations! You have reached the end of this course. Thank you so much for taking part and I hope you've enjoyed it. It's now time to work on your project. This could mean finishing the painting you started by completing the course tasks or making a brand new one! Either way, I strongly suggest you take the time to gather inspiration and make a unique project of your own. Make sure to keep track of your progress with different pictures of each step. It'd be great if you could also explain the choices you've made along the way and tell us if you have any doubts. This will help me guide you better if you need advice. Here are the main steps to follow: The Scene Decide on what scene you are going to draw and paint, it can be a landscape, a seascape, or a still-life – for the latter, the painting process is the same as it would be for a landscape. Choose something that really does it for you! Remember to be selective.

The Sketch Sketch out the scene using pencil and paper, paying special attention to the overall design of the scene. Try a few different sketches of the same scene and see if you can improve on the composition. This is important as it will determine the dynamic quality of the final painting. This is the compositional sketch. Next, develop the tonal sketch. Note the various tones in the scene, from light to dark. Sketch these out using charcoal or Conte. You can cover large areas using the side of the stick. Finally, determine the overall colour of the entire scene. Usually, a scene has a pervasive colour. This will help to create a harmonious wholeness in the final painting. The First Washes Apply the first washes, making sure not to paint anything specific. At this stage, you're only laying down the primary/pervasive colours. The washes don't necessarily have to be light in tone, you can drop in other tones on top of the primary washes while they are still wet. The Final Washes Work more washes into the painting, either on dry or wet paper. Be conscious of making the shapes of things even if they're still amorphous. Further washes will bring the painting into a tonal key that you're happy with and the forms will be more defined. Maybe use some spatter-work to create texture and shape. The Details Now you can add detail and also make any tonal/colour adjustments if necessary. When adding detail, this can be executed with a variety of tools, including pens, a rigger or fine brushes, watercolour crayons, bamboo pens, and so on. And that's all! I can't wait to see the project you come up with, so don't forget to share it in the forum. You can do so by clicking on 'Create your project'. Remember to share both the final result and the steps that have led you to it. It would be great if you showed a picture of each step and added a brief explanation about what you have done in each one. I will be more than happy to answer any of the questions you might have along the way! I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, participate in the forum, comment on others' work, and interact with the community. See you there!”

Partial transcription of the video

“ Final Project Well done for reaching the end of this Domestika course. In this lesson, I'll share with you what we've done so far and give you some extra tips to help you on your way. I hope you've seen how achievable it is for you to create your own watercolour landscape paintings. As I've reiterated throughout this course, we all have an appreciation of nature and now it's your chance to translate this into your paintings. If you're stuck or unsure where to start with a subject, I suggest you try and look for something that excites you and something that will prompt you to want to draw ...”

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

Course summary for: Painting Realistic Watercolor Landscapes

• Level: Beginner
• 99% positive reviews (324)
• 12456 students
• 4 units
• 16 lessons (3h 30m)
• 5 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Areas

  Fine Arts, Naturalistic Illustration, Painting, Sketching, Watercolor Painting