One of the most asked question from my students
is how do I simplify my painting today?
I'm going to share with you one of the most important way
to simplify your watercolor, connection.
(uplifting music)
Hi, this is Eric from Cafe Watercolor.
If you've been following me and my work,
you probably know that I am a loose painter.
Not because I don't like to paint realistically,
I just can't do it.
My lack of patience and focus
just don't allow me to paint in realism.
Anyways, one of the most important process
to paint a loose painting is to simplify.
And the key to simplify your painting is to connect shapes.
Now, this is not a new concept,
I've been sharing this many times.
However, this is easier to said than done,
because connecting shape requires you to understand value.
By merging similar value shapes,
you connect different shapes together,
and that simplify your picture
into fewer, bigger shapes.
Even though I know this concept,
and I've been sharing this many times,
only recently I was able to put into words
what mindset you need in order to do that.
And that is to have courage and trust.
Now, that sounds pretty profound,
but actually is very straightforward.
You need courage to connect and simplify shapes
because this is actually going against our human instinct.
Our nature tendency is to identify everything we see.
We want to see everything clearly.
I mean, we got 8K resolution TV now,
which I don't even know if I can see that many pixel
without using a microscope.
Also, seeing things clearly is vital
for just everyday safety.
If you are shortsighted like me,
I mean, literally, my eyes are shortsighted.
Mentally, I seeing things very long-term.
If you take out your glasses and start walking around,
you probably don't feel really safe.
That's better.
And you're simply not allowed to drive like that.
So yeah, our human tendency is to see everything clearly.
To simplify and connect everything
is to make a picture that is not really defined,
and that challenges you mentally.
So really, don't get frustrated and disappointed
if you are not able to simplify your painting easily,
because you're trying to work against your natural instinct.
It requires training and lots of practice.
So it takes courage to do something
against your natural tendency,
and it also takes trust to keep it simplified.
Because we might start our painting very simple,
but we can often put too many details at the end.
We need to trust our viewers
able to get what our picture is about.
So essentially, we process a scene
into a simplified painting,
and when the viewers sees our painting,
they process the painting on their end to get the scene.
It's visual communication.
And as an artist, we need to trust
our viewers are capable to process our painting.
Most of your viewers are totally capable process
your painting and get your visual message.
Trust them.
Okay, now I want to share with you the process
of this painting.
This is painted from a photo I took a couple years ago
at Downtown Vancouver.
I really like this scenery.
It reminded me of a good time in summer with my family.
I kept this photo because I knew I'm going to paint this.
However, the amount of trees in this scene
intimidated me, until recently, I decided to attempt it.
Throughout the painting,
I kept telling myself to simplify and connect,
to have courage, to trust the viewer.
So without further ado,
let's take a look at the process of this painting.
So we'll start off by doing a value study first.
And again, credit to where the credit is due,
I learned this from Andy Evansen.
This process has helped me tremendously,
and really makes me understand how to connect shape,
how to group things a lot better.
Now, when it comes to the line drawing for the value study,
I usually do it very, very roughly,
because that's not really the point of this study.
So here's the first wash.
The first wash is painting the middle value.
So the work I'm doing right now
is trying to find similar middle value shapes
and connect them together.
So I'm connecting the shape of the tree
and the shadow that's casted from the tree,
and also some part of the buildings, and so on.
We try to separate,
we try to simplify all the values into just three,
which are light, medium, and dark values.
Now, the light value is just the white of the paper,
so I don't paint those in the value study.
So the first wash I'm going to do in the value study
is the middle value shape.
So here you can see
that I'm connecting different shapes together
even if they are different things.
I connect the dark side of the car to the tree,
tree to the shadow, and so on.
And again, this is not a very easy thing to do
because this really go against our human nature.
Our human tendencies to identify everything that we see.
And even though in the photo,
we are able to identify each and everything in the scene,
we deliberately trying to merge them together,
thus, make it less defined.
We try to give them just enough information
so when the viewers looking at it,
they will be able to process the painting themself
and experience the scene that we want them to experience.
So here, we finished the wash for the middle value,
we connect all that shape together.
And now the second wash is to paint dark value.
So starting from the tree,
there are some trees that's in the shadow,
and also the figure on the right.
And I also connect that to the background,
to the walls, and so on.
So we use the dark value to start to separate shapes,
and also to define the structure of the things
that we are painting.
And just by adding a little bit more detail
like the wheels on the car,
the darker leaves, the dark branches, and tree trunks,
people will start to able to identify each object
without losing the big shape.
So that's what makes a loose painting effective
because we simplify the shape
by merging them, by connecting them.
But we separate them just enough
for people to able to identify what those are
without trying to give them everything.
So they're able to sort of reconstruct what they see
from the painting,
and experience the scene from their end.
And that makes painting a loose painting fun.
That also makes viewing a loose painting fun.
A few more darker details.
And here is the value study.
Loose and simple, but is readable.
So let's move on to the final version.
After we are able to figure out
how to connect the shape in this scenery,
we start to add color into them.
Now, for the final version of the painting,
the line drawing is a little bit more refined.
Since this is a three scenery,
certain things like perspective will be important.
Now I'm not an industrial designer
who does this beautiful perspective drawing,
but it needs to be at least believable.
That being said,
when you are doing line drawing, there's still priority.
There's things that's not really focus of the painting,
you don't really need to draw them out.
Like, even though there is a lot of trees in this scene,
I don't really draw them out.
I draw a few lines to really block out the shape
and the position of the tree,
and that's about it.
I don't go in and start to draw all the branches and stuff.
If you treat everything the same
and you try to draw detail for everything,
that's going to carry into your painting.
So you start out with the first wash.
I pre-wet the paper,
and I start to paint the color of the light.
So that is the white paper in the value study.
But light also have colors,
unless you're looking directly at the sun,
which is really bright
and you just can't see anything.
Most of the things, even in a light value
still has its color.
So the blue sky and the light part of the tree
which you see this warm green.
And I also continue down
and paint the skin tone of the people.
And as well as giving some colors
for the shadow area already.
Now because this is the first wash.
I do everything wet onto wet,
so nothing is very defined.
And that is okay.
When I paint in the middle value,
you can start to define things a little bit more.
So in the first wash,
don't worry about color blending with each other.
Just relax and enjoy the process,
and see watercolor does its magic.
So here I start the second wash.
It's kinda like a light medium value,
because the light part of the tree
and the background building
is definitely darker than the sky,
but they're not as dark as the middle value.
So that's why I paint this layer.
But still, I'm trying to connect the shape,
so you can see that I paint the background building first,
but then before it's dry,
I start to paint the tree,
and I let the color blend with each other.
And because the mixture is a little bit thicker,
is not as wet,
even though the color is blending,
it doesn't spread out as much.
So I also give the buildings on the side
a little bit of value as well.
Do some wet onto wet,
make the tree looks a little bit more interesting.
So even though I'm connecting shapes,
but I'm giving the shape different varieties of colors.
So that's how you make it look rich and interesting
without painting a lot of different shapes.
And at this stage of the painting,
I have to constantly remind myself to simplify,
to connect, to trust my viewers.
So I continue and finish this wash,
and now I start to paint the middle value.
And this is usually the toughest part of the painting
because I need to start to paint the big shape
of the painting.
And also while at it,
I need to mix different colors,
and also try not to fall into the trap,
trying to define everything that I see,
and focus on the big shape.
So just like the value study,
I start to connect the tree to the building,
to the shadow that's casted on the building,
cars and the cast shadow on the road.
And just like the last wash,
while I'm connecting the shape,
I will change the color.
I will make it look more interesting while I'm painting it,
but I need to focus on the big shape
which is why value study is so helpful
because you get that process out of the way,
and you were able to do a practice of that.
So I'm painting the cast shadow on the building.
Those shadows are casted from the trees on the left,
and I connect those shape to the tree itself.
I pre-wet the tree area a little bit,
and I start to paint it wet onto wet,
and I also try to define the shape of the tree.
And this is the part that I start to paint a little bit
of the tree branch, and tree trunk, and so on.
And as you can see,
I connect the shape of the tree
to the shape of the cast shadow on the building.
Where does the tree end?
Where does the shadow start?
I don't really know,
but that doesn't really matter
because when the viewers see this painting,
they will be able to tell what this painting is about.
And is it really that important for me
to separate and define everything?
Probably not, if I just want to deliver an experience.
So connect that to the bus,
and the bus connect to the cast shadow, and so on.
And at this stage,
you can probably able to tell
what the painting is about already.
There are already enough information in this painting
for the viewers to tell what the painting is about.
And most of the viewer who's seeing a lot of things,
they're able to take the clue from our painting,
and recall their own visual library
to reconstruct the scene in their brain.
So here, I'm just giving a little bit of detail
on that big clock on the building.
Something to make it look a little bit more interesting.
I'm quite happy to be able to paint this painting.
This photo is probably taken six years ago.
And before I started to paint this painting,
I actually went on Google Map,
and take a look at this tree scene.
And I realized that since last year,
all these tall trees were gone.
They were replaced by smaller trees.
So some of the stores that were there
when I was taking the photo,
they are closed and they're replaced by other stores.
So when I was painting this painting,
it remind me of that summer,
the fun that I had with my family.
And I was able to experience this place again in my memory.
It's almost like time travel in a way.
And that's what makes painting so powerful to me,
because when I look at the photo,
I was looking at memory,
but when I'm actually painting the scene,
I am experiencing the memory again.
So the middle value wash is done,
and you can actually start to see the scene already.
It's already quite defined.
However, I still need to go in
and start to paint some darker value
just to make the painting look more complete.
To complete the value range from dark to light.
Dark value to me is like rhythm and beat,
like a lower tone in the music.
It makes the whole painting
feels a little bit more anchored,
a little bit more stable,
but also has more excitements.
So here I switch to a smaller brush
and start to really go in and define some of the shapes.
So the tree branches and the tree trunk,
I really try to make those shape looks good.
However, this stage can also be a trap,
because once you start to paint the details,
sometime you just want to keep adding more detail.
So it's helpful to step back once in a while
to take a look at the whole picture if you have enough.
Also, imagine yourself as a viewer,
is it enough for you to able to tell
what's going on in the painting?
Is it too much?
Adding some more dark underneath.
The dark on the tire, and the wheel,
and the bottom of the car.
Some occluded shadows.
Just a few darks,
and will make the painting look a lot more complete.
Make some form more solid
and make some light pops.
And now I'm working on the figures,
adding some hairs, some darker clothes.
And I also connect the dark shape of the figure
to the background as well.
Even though there are figures walking,
you don't have to separate them from the background.
You can separate a little bit
and connect some other shapes.
The loss and found edges are so important in a watercolor,
because that's what makes it look interesting
and keep the flow going.
If you try to separate everything,
the visual flow of the viewers will be stopped constantly.
And you want to give them this really fluid experience
by keeping their visual flow going.
And that's why doing a painting
is not just a visual, a static image,
it's also an experience that you want to deliver
to the viewers.
Now, it has a lot to do with your skill as a painter,
your brushstroke, your colors, and so on,
but a lot of time, it's your compositions.
How you connect the shape,
how you define the certain things.
And here is the finished painting.
I hope you enjoy this process,
and I hope you like this painting.
And there you have it.
I'm really happy with the result of this painting.
I hope this video is helpful for you.
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This is Eric from Cafe Watercolor.
Hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.
See you next time.