Hi it's Anna Mason.
In this video I wanted so show you the process I go through to paint water droplets in watercolour.
And it's NOT what you might think.
They're not painted on afterwards using white paint for the highlights.
Instead I layer them up...
I began with the drawing, working from a photo which shows the water droplets nice
and clearly.
Using a light touch with my pencil I outlined the droplets themselves together with any
major shape of highlight within them.
Because we're working with watercolour, we need to get those shiny highlights within
the droplets in position right at the beginning.
So I used a very watery purple mix and carefully went around any droplets where the highlights
were as light as my paper colour leaving them with no paint on them.
In some of the other droplets the highlights weren't as light and for those, this pale purple
mix was a match to their highlights, so I applied the paint right the way over them,
as a wash with my brush; but I always made sure to leave any droplets where the highlights
were even lighter than this pale purple mix.
Next I created a thick purple mix that was a match to the darkest purples in the petals,
and the droplets.
I used it to paint all the areas, which are this dark.
The droplets are simply painted as part of the same process of painting the rest of the
petals, breaking them down into shapes of light and dark colour.
Next I worked on the midtones within the petals, and droplets.
Again I left any droplets that were lighter in colour than the mix I was using.
The key here is not to think about what you're painting, but simply to try to recreate exactly
the shapes of colour that you see.
You could even think of them as a pattern on the petals themselves.
You want to get out of the mindset that these are physical 3D droplets that sit on top of
the petals.
That might be what they are in real life - but not when we're painting.
I then did exactly the same with a more watery lighter midtone mix, again working on areas
this tone, or value, within the droplets, but being sure to paint around any of the
lighter areas of highlight and ensuring, as always, that my layer underneath was dry first.
I then continued to build up the midtones around the droplets and also within them always
trying to get the shapes of colour and the shapes of highlight I was leaving, in just
the right places.
After painting the flower centre and stem, it was time for some tonal adjustments, so
I re-assessed the lightest tones in the flower, including the droplets and darkened them a
touch with another layer of some watery paint where required.
Then with those darkened I could see I needed to take the darkest tones a little darker
to balance things up and ensure that the droplets were looking correct tonally, which in turn
makes them look 3D.
Finally I used my tiniest brush to add an extra level of detail - adding in the smallest
shapes of colour within each droplet, always making sure that those shapes are at just
the right angles so that the eye is tricked into thinking it's a real droplet.
A full video class of this tulip with it's raindrops is available now in my online School.
If you've enjoyed this tip video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and I'd love it if you'd
share this video with your friends.
And if you'd like to take one of my full length video classes FOR FREE, pay a visit to AnnaMasonArt.com
where you'll find even more resources to help you pick up your brush and paint the way you've
always wanted to.
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 YOU love.
Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon with another tip for creating watercolours
with "wow".