Hi it's Anna Mason and in this video I wanted to show you how I layered up
watercolour to create this fluffy little Easter chick. I worked from a photo which
is essential when your subject is on the move and began by creating a contour
drawing, marking out the eye beak and feet. The edge of the fluffy feathers
needed to be drawn very softly with a jagged line and I also marked in a few
key areas of darker feathers within it's body. I started the painting as I always
do by painting the lightest colours in the chick, the palest yellows in the body.
I used my bright yellow. I use Winsor Lemon which is pigment number PY175; a
lovely vibrant and transparent yellow - ideal for layering up. I added masses of
water and I used the tip of my medium sized brush to make sure I got the
feathered edge to the body. Then I used my biggest brush to paint the rest of
the body and right from the start I used shorter brush strokes to begin to create
the impression of the texture of the feathers. I painted this colour everywhere
so that it can sit underneath darker yellow layers as I apply them. Next I
added some brown and some pink to the still very watery mix and I applied to
paint the lightest colours I could see in the beak and feet, adding a little orange
and some more yellow to the more orange parts. Next I painted the lightest tones
in the eye with a very pale grey mix and when that had dried, I went on to use a
thick black mix and my tiny brush to paint in the dark pupil and edge. Then
with that dry, I watered the mix down a little to paint the mid-tones within and
around the eye, adding some yellow to add a touch of detail around the edge. Having
the eye painted, which is the darkest part of the chick, makes it easier for me to
then paint the mid-tones to the feathers. Next I isolated my very lightest feather
colours by painting another watery yellow wash everywhere except for the lightest
parts. With that dry, I mixed brown with the yellow at a thicker consistency and
used my smallest brush to pick out the very darkest areas within the feathers.
Then I worked on the next darkest colours, the darker yellows, by adding more yellow
to the mix with brown and balancing the colour so it didn't go too orange, by
adding a little of some purple paint which contains just a little blue. I used
quite a small brush to apply this everywhere I thought was this colour or
possibly darker, making sure to hold off from anywhere that could have been
lighter. I used lots of short brush strokes and matched their angles to the
angles of the feathers. With that dry, I worked on the lighter mid-tones using a
more watery version of this mix with a little more of the purple and a touch of
grey to make the colour more muted. I applied this into areas I could see
needed to be a touch darker, being sure to continue to create texture by
applying in short angled brush strokes. Then I went back to the darker mix and
added a further layer to darken some more areas that stood out as being too
light. Before I could go further though, I needed to paint the beak and the feet. I
used the same colours as in my first layer, this time taking them thicker and
darker. As the feet and beak contained darker colours than the feathers, once they
were done it became easier to judge how much darker to take the feathers to have
them stay in balance. Then it was time to literally take a step back, compare my
painting to the reference photo and look for any additional details that needed
adding, or parts that needed taking darker. I used my tiny brush and
continued to work mostly with little lines to really create the impression of
the fluffy feathery texture. A full video class of this chick detailing exactly
what colours are used, is available now in my online School. If you've enjoyed this
video please subscribe to my YouTube channel and share it with your friends
and if you'd like to take one of my full-length video classes for free, visit
www.annamasonart.com where you'll find tonnes of resources to help you pick up
your brush and paint the way you've always wanted to. But remember, you won't
improve your painting unless you make the time to paint, so be sure to schedule
in some 'me time' this week and paint something that you love. Thanks so much
for watching and I'll see you soon to help you create
watercolours with 'Wow'.