Color Techniques for Drawing

Lesson Info

Color Materials & Setup

I just got out these materials pretty quickly. So let me just show you a little bit more about what materials I'm using and how. So, like we did when we practiced with our sketching. When you get an idea of some art project that you wanna do, try some samples out first with what you have before you go shopping, before you get into all the different varieties that are available. So we have all kinds of different paints that we're using. We're gonna stick mostly with gouache today. And I just have a lot of different colors. Some of them are called this acrylic gouache. Acrylic, and that's because these have a little bit of acrylic medium mixed in with the gouache. So the gouache is super matte, super removable. You can paint over it some, but it always re-wets itself. This has a binder in it, which is like a glue, so it'll stay down a little bit better. And then there's just all different colors and all different brands. And really with these, you just pick the colors that you like that ...

you see. And then we also have some metallics. We're gonna be using metallic gold, stuff like that. So basically all the gouaches are pretty much inter-mixable, just like the water, and you can mix them with watercolors too. You could mix them even with acrylic, anything water-based that you want. I'm gonna show you a few different pens. Okay so, we have regular pens. This is a micron pen, and what you're looking for on this one is it says it's waterproof. So it just draws a nice, straight black line and you can get them thick or thin in any size. It also comes in a brush pen. And I'll show you how to use this in a minute, but it actually has a little brush tip on it, just like a paintbrush. So you can do it thin and you can do it thick, and you can get different brands of that well. You saw our acrylic medium, I would say all of the major brands are pretty much good, if you're going for like a store brand student grade, then you'll start noticing some differences. I bought this one 'cause I just really like this top. It keeps it nice and clean. You always need some paper towels. If you just get thicker and heavier ones, they won't leave as much lint on your page. But they all work. You could even use a rag if you want, like an old T-shirt. And then brushes. So we're gonna start out with a few brushes here. We have a round. And then there's a flatter one too, and this is what happens when it has the size and the tips are kind of stuck together and they do that in the store so they don't get all fanned up and just dip it in your water to get that glue out of it. And really, this is just you use a bigger brush if you're doing something bigger. You want to really just look for the point on there. That's important. Don't ever stand your brushes up in your water. Lay them flat, though if you want you can have them in a jar that way too. 'Cause then they'll have curves on the end. And papers, the papers we're gonna use today are the Arches. So you can buy a watercolor block like this and it's taped down on all the edges. Like when you saw that I put the acrylic medium on my paper before or if you're gonna stretch it, this is pre-stretched, 'cause it's already taped down. But I would coat this if I wanted to. That is kind of expensive. So, that's when I just buy a sheet of watercolor paper and cut it up and it's the same hot press. There's hot press, cold press and rough are the varieties of watercolor paper, and that has to do with how much tooth and texture is in it. I like to use hot press, which is the smoothest. Because then when I'm drawing with a pencil I can get fine details. And I don't want that texture to show up in my paint. Usually if you're gonna scan your art, you don't want a lot of texture in your paint.

Are you ready to work with color on your drawing but overwhelmed by all the possible options? In this class, professional painter & illustrator Cleo Papanikolas shares fun, beginner-friendly color application techniques that can turn anyone’s drawings into vibrant finished pieces.

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