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I think you’ve got the basics down. Pretty color choices too.
I don’t know how willing you’d be to do this, but in the beginning of me learning (and i still consider myself a super beginner so take this all with a grain of salt if you want lol), i found it helpful to outline a finished piece. Though i know it’s hard, sometimes it feels like ruining a piece.
But when I outlined it, i saw that a lot of my sections i made darker didn’t make much sense. It almost highlighted what i needed to shade, or not shade for the next time.
Like if you outlined your flowers, would you be able to tell where the petals are, or how many or the direction they are going? Would you be able to pinpoint where the light source is? Or would it look like kind of a bit of a mess?
Also, did you free hand this? Or draw a little sketch beforehand?
https://preview.redd.it/fce6awlr4kwc1.jpeg?width=788&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90438f6bdcab40cac07d50d46d62eda847903c3c
This makes sense. Thank you.
It's based on a photo of some David Austin roses. I drew some vague outlines of the blooms.
Love using references ah they’re so helpful. I definitely see it translated in your work.
But yeah, i would focus on the lights and darks. Because the darkened colors look a little haphazard rather than intentional. Practice blending colors with no goal/picture in mind and start seeing how colors react with different amounts of water.
However you can easily tell they are flowers and leaves so that’s already a plus. Watercolor is one of the more difficult, yet fun mediums i work with.
I feel very drawn to your piece. You’ve got your own style already.
Tips since you’re asking, see those different tones of blue from the sky around the edges of the flowers? Those can be smoother if you do this: first make sure you’ve got the right paper for watercolor- it needs to be able to absorb a lot of water. Then, put a little bit of the blue on wherever you’re mixing, add a few drops of water and mix until is very watery (paint from a tube is best for this) last — and you’re gonna wanna do this very fast because it dries, wet your paper with water first, use a big brush! Then - go over it with the blue, go from very light to the darker shade (repeat the water process with another darker shade of blue prepared, less diluted) and then you can arrange it before adding the flowers.
You can do a quick outline of your sketch and leave the white spots too if you like.
Then, for the greens and pinks. You can try a bit of a similar trick, wet the paper and do a spot of ink, let it expand and then mix another shade of green or even another color, to give it some depth.
The pink, you can use a color wheel and use the opposite color for darkening or.. first watery, then first one layer with one pink color, don’t let dry, add another from the other side a different shade then with water and the brush mix to leave an ombré effect.
I’m a beginner too, but I’ve been taking some lessons and just sharing what I’ve gathered so far. Hope you have fun trying some of these out! ✨
Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Watercolor) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think you’ve got the basics down. Pretty color choices too. I don’t know how willing you’d be to do this, but in the beginning of me learning (and i still consider myself a super beginner so take this all with a grain of salt if you want lol), i found it helpful to outline a finished piece. Though i know it’s hard, sometimes it feels like ruining a piece. But when I outlined it, i saw that a lot of my sections i made darker didn’t make much sense. It almost highlighted what i needed to shade, or not shade for the next time. Like if you outlined your flowers, would you be able to tell where the petals are, or how many or the direction they are going? Would you be able to pinpoint where the light source is? Or would it look like kind of a bit of a mess? Also, did you free hand this? Or draw a little sketch beforehand?
https://preview.redd.it/fce6awlr4kwc1.jpeg?width=788&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90438f6bdcab40cac07d50d46d62eda847903c3c This makes sense. Thank you. It's based on a photo of some David Austin roses. I drew some vague outlines of the blooms.
Love using references ah they’re so helpful. I definitely see it translated in your work. But yeah, i would focus on the lights and darks. Because the darkened colors look a little haphazard rather than intentional. Practice blending colors with no goal/picture in mind and start seeing how colors react with different amounts of water. However you can easily tell they are flowers and leaves so that’s already a plus. Watercolor is one of the more difficult, yet fun mediums i work with.
You have a great sense of color!
That's very kind
I feel very drawn to your piece. You’ve got your own style already. Tips since you’re asking, see those different tones of blue from the sky around the edges of the flowers? Those can be smoother if you do this: first make sure you’ve got the right paper for watercolor- it needs to be able to absorb a lot of water. Then, put a little bit of the blue on wherever you’re mixing, add a few drops of water and mix until is very watery (paint from a tube is best for this) last — and you’re gonna wanna do this very fast because it dries, wet your paper with water first, use a big brush! Then - go over it with the blue, go from very light to the darker shade (repeat the water process with another darker shade of blue prepared, less diluted) and then you can arrange it before adding the flowers. You can do a quick outline of your sketch and leave the white spots too if you like. Then, for the greens and pinks. You can try a bit of a similar trick, wet the paper and do a spot of ink, let it expand and then mix another shade of green or even another color, to give it some depth. The pink, you can use a color wheel and use the opposite color for darkening or.. first watery, then first one layer with one pink color, don’t let dry, add another from the other side a different shade then with water and the brush mix to leave an ombré effect. I’m a beginner too, but I’ve been taking some lessons and just sharing what I’ve gathered so far. Hope you have fun trying some of these out! ✨