Surreal Illustration with Watercolor and Ink

Surreal Illustration with Watercolor and Ink

“You have reached the end of this course! Thank you for joining me. Now you're more than ready to make a surreal self-portrait! For your course project, you can imagine your heads as homes where your thoughts live, creating a "thoughtscape" inner environment. Let me show you an example of what I would like to see in your presentation: The Inspiration Get inspired by browsing surreal works of art, either through the Pinterest board I’ve put together or via your own search channels. Map Out Activities Sketch out ahead what you will want to use in your illustration, and pick an angle and position you think works best for you. Think about the characters representing your thoughts that will inhabit the head - what are they up to? Map out the activities the characters will be engaged in and pick the ones you will include in the composition.

Rough Sketches Create a rough sketch of the head and the thought characters together. Once the sketch is done, create a digital copy via scanning or taking a photo and get it into your digital drawing app of choice. Create a nested and more detailed version of the rough pencil sketch you did earlier, and plan out the details and positioning of elements. Before you print it out, take a final look to see if you’re happy with the composition and structure. Transfering Print out the digital sketch and transfer it to paper using a light pencil or directly work in an ink pen, which you prefer. Once the ink dries, erase the pencil to have the outlines ready to paint over. Layering Colour Prepare for layering colour! The drier watercolour technique is preferred to avoid smudging the outlines. Use masking fluid for areas you would like to remain intact when painting over with darker colour later on. Once the masking fluid dries we begin to paint. First, fill the shapes with basic light colours of your choice, not worrying about shading or details. By the end of this step, all the shapes in the image should be filled with colour. Before continuing adding colour, decide if you’d like to preserve any light-coloured elements with masking fluid. Continue adding colour, pick richer bolder tones for shadows and bright objects. Decide what the light source in your painting is and how the shadows would appear. By the end of this step, you will have your image in full colour with a light source and shadows. Remove masking fluid. Treat revealed spots with colour or leave them as is. Use shimmer and gloss varnish on elements you find would benefit from being highlighted. You could use a fine brush and an ink pen to add details and highlight the most important objects and characters in your painting. Share Your Artwork When you’re happy with your painting, document it by taking some photos from different angles and scanning or photographing it flat to create a digital copy. Before posting, play with some colour editing preferences in your app of choice, and create the final version that is most satisfying to you. You’re all done! Share your project on the forum by clicking the "Create your project" button. I will look at your publications as soon as possible and answer any doubts that need clarification. In the meantime, I encourage you to see what your fellow students have been up to and comment on their posts! See you soon!”

Partial transcription of the video

“ Final Project Well done finishing this course and let's look back at some key steps to help you on your way. Having followed along, you have seen how achievable it is to create your self-portrait, diving into your mind and creating your own universe. Remember the first useful tip is to seek inspiration. You want to create a visual mood board of your external references before turning inwards to a mind map and channeling your inner thoughts. It can be curious to put your thoughts to paper and discover something about yourself along the way. Begin by doing some rough sketches. I'd recommend...”

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

Course summary for: Surreal Illustration with Watercolor and Ink

• Level: Beginner
• 98% positive reviews (127)
• 5423 students
• 4 units
• 15 lessons (3h 28m)
• 5 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Areas

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