Painting with watercolors: landscape in watercolors step by step for beginners. How to paint a seascape in watercolor Summer landscapes in watercolor for beginners

It’s easy to paint a beautiful sky by the sea at sunset with watercolors! Follow our advice step by step, and then you will create your own piece!

What you will need:
a sheet of watercolor paper;
HB or 2B pencil;
eraser;
palette for mixing watercolors;
container with water;
a cloth for wiping brushes;
paper towel.

What paints do we use?
cadmium yellow;
cobalt yellow;
cadmium orange;
deep red cadmium;
alizarin;
opera;
ultramarine;
cobalt blue;
azure;
peacock blue;
gray payne;
grayish.
(All shades presented are available in Japanese Holbein paints)
What brushes do we use?
Brush "cat's tongue" (width 3\4);
Round sable brushes sizes 12 and 8.

What are we doing?

Before we start drawing on a blank sheet of paper, we will outline the boundaries of the area in which we will paint (draw lines at a distance of a centimeter from each side of the sheet, you will get a frame). Subtly draw the outlines of the sun, horizon and palm trees on the shore. Such a landscape will help determine how much sky there will be, and the sun will be the “light source” in our picture.

1. Wet the sky with clean water using a cat's tongue brush. You can apply water directly on top of your palm trees. The sheet should be wet above the horizon line. We will use the wet-on-wet technique and a brush number 12. The colors will go from light to dark. Take some cadmium yellow and cobalt yellow by dipping the wet paints onto the damp paper. Start from the horizon line, making horizontal strokes. Be careful not to apply strokes too regularly. Leave the sun unpainted, it will remain white and will be the brightest spot in your future painting.

2. Now we select colors for our sky. Since we are drawing upward, the color spectrum will change from yellow to blue. In order to get a smooth color transition while maintaining the brightness of the sunset, never mix colors by skipping shades (for example, blue and orange). In the “wet” technique, this can result in a dirty color.

3. After painting a couple of centimeters of yellow, mix cadmium yellow and cadmium orange. The next one will just be cadmium red. You can make light horizontal strokes of orange in the yellow area.

4. Continue adding colors. To go from red to blue, mix several shades of warm red with cool red to create a richer, darker shade. We mixed alazarin and opera with cadmium red. This will "cool" the color, the cool shade of red has a slight bluish tint, so it will be easier to transition to blue. Add those sunset red colors by adding horizontal lines. If the paper suddenly starts to dry out, blot it with a clean brush and water. Once the cool red line is drawn, mix ultramarine and alizarin on the palette. The result will be deep purple. Apply it to the area above the red. Since purple has a blue tint, make sure you don't touch the orange area of ​​your design.

5. Since you are already at the very top, mix ultramarine and cobalt blue on your palette to create a deeper blue shade. Apply it to the purple area, getting a little over the red area but avoiding the orange area. For the edge of the design, mix azure, peacock blue and cobalt blue and apply it to the sky. You can add a little blue to the purple area with horizontal lines.

6. Finishing touches for our sunset: take a clean size 8 brush, wet it with water, and apply light strokes around the sun. The sun should not be perfectly round, otherwise it will look unnatural. It's time to color the water. Wash the palette so that blue, yellow and red do not accidentally mix.

7. So, water. We will use the same colors as at sunset, but in reverse order, because our water is a mirror of the sky. Again, start with the horizon, painting in yellow and orange, excluding the area that is directly under the sun. Apply the paint in a zigzag pattern, this will create a ripple effect on the water surface. When you're done with yellow and orange, add cadmium red, followed by alizarin. Since the water area is smaller than the sky, the height of the color application will be less than in the sky.

8. Using a size 8 brush, soften the areas where the paint touches the white color coming from the sun. You can add several lines of paint in this area, using thinned shades as you approach the horizon line to create the effect of depth.

9. Now mix ultramarine and alizarin to make it purple again, and apply it to the area next to the red. As you approach the foreground, the color should become more saturated. To finish the water section, mix ultramarine, azure, peacock blue and cobalt blue for the bottom of the picture. The painting must be dry before continuing.

10. Check with the back of your hand that the painting is dry. If it's dry, find the lines of the initial palm tree sketch. Due to the illumination provided by the sun, objects in the foreground will be dark and only their silhouettes will be visible. To reproduce this effect, we mix ultramarine, alizarin, cadmium red, payne gray, and grayish. The result will be a rich dark purple color. Use it to draw palm trees. Leave gaps between palm leaves to create a natural tree look. You can add some coconuts to make it look like they grow on trees. Don't try to make trees symmetrical or even.

11. Once you've finished painting the trees, use the same color to paint a small piece of land on the bottom edge of your painting. Add the finishing touches and leave the drawing to dry. Finally, you can use an eraser to remove the pencil marks.

In today's photo tutorial we will demonstrate step by step how to paint summer in watercolors. Of course, it’s better to paint landscapes from life, but before you go plein air, we suggest first painting a simple copy of the landscape from a high-quality photo. This is what will help you master the nuances and acquire a little skill in mixing watercolor shades to convey natural objects. In the sketching lesson, pay attention to color relationships near and far, in the shadows and in a sunny area. Our lesson will help you place all these accents in your drawing.

Let's prepare everything you need to draw a summer landscape:

• paper for watercolor painting 200 g/m2;
• a simple pencil;
• eraser;
• stationery tape and a tablet for fixing paper;
• palette for mixing watercolors;
• water;
• synthetic brushes No. 6,3, 1 and 3 flat for washing;
• palette of watercolor paints.

Drawing stages

Step 1. So, first, let's draw our summer landscape in a pencil sketch. We create a sketch in two steps: first we draw the boundaries of the main objects and the horizon line with rough strokes, and then we detail all the details of the drawing, supplementing them with small things (thin branches, the outline of bushes and blades of grass).

Use an eraser to clean up the finished sketch. Use two strips of tape to glue the paper to the tablet. Before watercolor filling, we lighten the overly saturated strokes of the pencil drawing.

Step 2. We begin to work on the color underpainting by highlighting the brightest sunny parts of the drawing. We use cadmium yellow to shade the lower branches of the tree, distant bushes and the tops of the blades of grass.

Step 3. Using a pale shade of indigo, lightly paint the shaded areas in the grass.

Step 4. While the background of the landscape is drying, let's paint the background. Using chromium oxide and yellow-green watercolor we work on the bushes. We highlight close objects with denser and more saturated shades, and distant objects with warm, pale tones. This way we will create the effect of distance and the correct perspective will appear in the drawing.

Step 5. When the last layers of paint have dried, we work on the tree crown with the same shades.

Step 6. Saturate the shadow areas in the grass with an emerald green tint.

Step 7. Give the picture a sunny look by re-applying cadmium yellow. In the process of applying a light tone, we blur the upper boundaries of the dark strokes created in the previous step.

Step 8. Mix black neutral and sepia on the palette. Use the resulting color to paint the tree trunk, large branches and the near part of the wooden fence in the upper right corner. We work on the tips of the branches and the far part of the fence with a more transparent tone of the mixture.

Step 9. Before drawing individual large blades of grass, saturate the shaded areas with dark shades from the palette. And we fill a piece of the sky with pale blue color. Then, using a thin brush, draw out the blades of grass. Using black watercolor we denote the shaded side of the fence, branches and tree trunk.

This lesson shows how to work with color and brush techniques, as well as step-by-step work on the background, middle and foreground.

For beginners, it is best to use inexpensive acrylic or oil paints. For example, acrylic paints from the company "Sonnet"

This picture was chosen for the lesson. A simple night landscape with some brush work on the thistles in the foreground.

This is a sketch. The horizon is below the middle, two mountains, an area with waves and a sand dune in the foreground. Sketch it casually, just as you see in the photograph.

Mix some cadmium yellow light with white and start painting the sky.

Add cadmium yellow dark and more cadmium yellow light to get this color.

Apply paint where I am in the photo and, accordingly, make a color stretch.

Add cadmium red light and black to the final color to get the color shown in this photo.

Fill the mountain behind with color.

Add cadmium red light and blue to get the next color.

Write another mountain like you see in this photo.

Add the same colors for the horizon.

Fill the back area with paint as you see in this photo.

Add black, cadmium red light and blue to get this color.

Make a mixture like for the mountains or use some of what is left and continue writing.

Mix blue and red until you get this color and fill in with paint where you see in the photo.

Here more black, red and blue are mixed to create a darker color. Using upward strokes, blend the paint onto the canvas to create the fluffy outline of soft grass.

Here I used a fan brush to add fluffiness. A fan brush works very well for this process. Now you need to wait for everything to dry before continuing.

Make sure the surface is dry before taking the next step. For the main color of the foam, mix blue, a little black and white.

After the main wave and a few at the back are painted, I add the foam pattern in the foreground.

This is what your underpainting should look like. Leave to dry before continuing.

Using a flat brush, mix black, phthalocyanine green and cadmium red to create a dark green color. Red dampens the brightness, but leaves a green tone.

Draw the lines as you see in this photo. The trick is to make them look more natural, they need to be placed at different levels. Try to avoid very curved and very straight lines. Practice on a separate canvas if you are unsure.

We begin to paint the base of the thistle, moving the brush from below from the middle to the side.

Now mix Neopolitan yellow with light cadmium yellow to lighten the dark green mixture. We will use the resulting color to highlight the lightest areas in the foreground.

Add the thistle stems as you see in this photo. Let them overlap each other at different angles to maximize the natural effect.

Using the same color, bending and turning the brush, we paint the leaves with strokes. This takes practice, so practice on a different canvas to get the effect right in both directions: left and right.

Here I used Alizarin Crimson to change the color of the leaf. This adds interest and play to the foreground.

Mix in a light blue color for the thistle flowers. Use blue or phthalocyanine blue.

We write with sharp movements from below so that the flower seems to dissolve in the darkness. Wipe out the brush and repeat so you don't end up with a dark color on top. Use white and yellow to highlight bright areas.

The lesson is over.

It may take you several times to get the strokes right. Don't give up, keep going. Don't be afraid of mistakes because you will make them anyway. Paint this picture 3 times and the fourth time you will get it right. Use art panels, they are inexpensive and good for practice.

In order to paint a simple landscape in watercolor, it is advisable, first of all, to choose a suitable motif. This could be a photo from the Internet or a beautiful place in nature. Drawing from life will be easier if you are not going to redraw it exactly. In this master class we will draw 2 landscapes at once, of varying complexity.

To begin with, it is advisable to secure a sheet of paper on the board with pushpins so that it does not curl when it gets wet and just for convenience. The board itself, called an easel, is usually located at an angle of about 45 degrees.

After the paper is secured, you need to take a pencil, eraser and make a sketch. The sketch should not be made with too thick lines so that they are not clearly visible under the paint in the end. There is no need to work out all the details in the sketch; it is enough to roughly outline the main elements of the composition.

Next, the sheet of paper should be wetted. Usually, the background and sky are painted with watercolors on wet. This gives the effect of beautiful and smooth transitions from one color to another. Try not to paint the sky only blue or the grass only green - it is always better to use several colors, this will make the picture more picturesque. But also, try to avoid mixing a large number (no more than 3) of different colors, otherwise it may turn out gray. And if you still want to paint gray, then use not black paint, but a mixture of colored paints (red and emerald, for example). Then the gray color will have a beautiful shade. Don’t be afraid to experiment with color, add colors that aren’t actually in the picture. Even in the most colorless landscape, you can find all the colors of the rainbow, because light is made of them.

When painting a landscape in watercolor, you need to start painting with the lightest tones and ending with the darkest, because a light tone can be covered by a dark one, but vice versa - not. Most often, the lightest part of the picture is the sky and they start painting from there. If you paint the sun, then it should be the lightest element of the picture and you can paint it over with the most diluted paint - then it will shine.

In addition to the sun, light can be a reflection on water or fog - they also need to be drawn first, along with the sky and other light details.

Gradually, from lighter tones, we move to darker ones and begin to draw more precise shapes. Now the paper should not be too wet so that the paint does not spread. But it can be wet and if you paint the background, it will turn out a little blurry and create a hazy effect. In order for the picture to look natural, the background should be blurrier and lighter, and the foreground should be darker and clearer.

Thus, we will paint the entire general background with light tones. After this, you can move on to drawing smaller details. They should also be painted, first, with lighter paint, and then paint over the darker areas.

And only at the very end, you should work out small details, add the darkest shadows, and add clarity. That's all, the first landscape is ready.

Here is an example of the second landscape, a little more complicated.

MASTER CLASS “Watercolor landscape”

Painting lesson in plein air classes for teachers and students of 3-4 grades of the Children's Art School on the topic: Sketches by the water.

Stages of work.

1. The landscape motif is not very complex, so we perform the drawing directly with a brush, in a cold or warm color.