If you want to learn how to draw a portrait in watercolor, but are afraid that you will not succeed, first drop your fears and start reading this article. It provides simple and understandable recommendations that will help you pick up brushes and paints and start your work.
What materials will be needed
Before you begin to paint a portrait in watercolor, you will need to prepare the necessary materials for this:
- Good watercolor paints.
- Soft brushes of different sizes (squirrel and columnar are best suited).
- Watercolor paper.
- Wooden tablet (you will need to pull paper on it).
- Hard pencil and eraser.
- Outline paper.
Preliminary work
How to draw a portrait with watercolors, if the head does not have a clear idea of the composition of the future picture? It will be very difficult. Therefore, you first need to make a series of preliminary sketches and decide how the person will be depicted: chest or waist.
If you will be drawing a portrait in watercolor from nature, you can consult your model as to how she would like to be painted. Look together for a comfortable pose, and also find a position in which light falls on the face and figure beautifully and textured.
You can still, before you start working on a portrait, decide on the color scheme of the future work. To do this, you need to make a light sketch directly with the paints themselves.
Watercolor portrait step by step
Well, let's say all the preparatory work is finished, you can begin to create a picture. The entire process is recommended to be divided into several successive stages:
1. Pencil drawing is a very important stage. The lines should be slightly noticeable, it is unacceptable to often use an eraser, this will cause the paper to jam, which is why transparent paints will go uneven. You can perform the drawing on a separate sheet, and then carefully transfer it to stretched watercolor paper.
2. Now we begin to draw a portrait in watercolor. And the first thing that needs to be done is to apply a light, transparent under-paint on the paper with paints. For the face, we dilute cadmium orange or ocher with water (the paint should be very watery, pale). We paint over the face with wide strokes; in the place of glare, the paper should remain intact. Then we select other colors and brush through our hair and clothes, leaving the brightest places untouched as well.
3. Now you need to do the eyes and lips. What is the eye color of your model? Pick the right paint, dilute it with water to a pale state and paint over the iris of the eyes in the portrait. Do the same with lips.
4. Apply shadows to the face. To do this, we mix a little burnt sienna with our diluted pale cadmium or ocher. Shadows at this stage must also be applied very easily, not at full strength. In fact, they should only slightly differ in tone from the first paint layer. Please note that this is a painting, so you need to follow the shades that are reflected on the skin of the face of the model. Suppose, on the one hand, warm light from red curtains can fall on your face, glare from clothes in cold colors, etc. can be reflected on your chin. This should be taken into account and try to display on the portrait with the help of additional colors.
5. Next, we begin to understand the shadows more carefully. We are looking for the darkest places on the cheekbones, on the lips, on the sides and wings of the nose, near the hair, etc. It is with the help of shadows that the face is modeled and volume is added to it. The main principle in watercolor: always move from a lighter tone to a darker one.
6. We are looking for the lightest intermediate tones between shadow and light. On the face, where light falls on it, there are also places darker and brighter. We follow the play of light and try to repeat it on paper.
7. We work with hair and clothes on the same principle as with the face.
8. At the final stage of work on the portrait, you need to take the thinnest brush and use it to trim small details and lines: individual locks of hair, eyelashes, and a line of lips. Always remember that when working with watercolors, even in the darkest places, the paint should remain transparent.
9. Work on the background is best done in parallel with the entire portrait, but you can leave this for later. The main thing is that the background should not be worked out more than the face, but negligence is also inappropriate here.
Conclusion
We hope you have learned in general terms how to draw a portrait in watercolor. Well, now it's up to practice, because only direct work with watercolor paints will give you self-confidence, as well as the necessary experience and skill. I wish you creative success!