2 minute read
Fairy Wings
A mother fairy cradles her little one as they snooze among the flowers.
BRUSHES
Advertisement
1 ½” flat #2 round #1 round #00 round #000 round
WATERCOLORS
Vermillion Rose Madder Burnt Sienna Raw Sienna Peacock Blue Cerulean Blue Permanent Yellow Deep Van Dyke Brown Violet Ultramarine Blue Opera Ultramarine Deep Chromium Oxide Green Hooker’s Green Viridian Lemon Yellow Indigo Ivory Black Yellow Ochre Red Brown Permanent Rose
1. Start with the Drawing
Lightly draw the mother and child fairies directly onto watercolor paper, or if you’ve done your drawing on another piece of paper first, you can transfer it using tracing paper and graphite (as discussed on page 11). You can use an old inkless ballpoint pen for transferring.
2. Apply an Overall Wash, Then Add Skin Tone
Use a 1 ½” flat brush loaded with a thin wash of Vermillion and Rose Madder to cover the entire drawing. Apply a thin wash of Vermillion and Burnt Sienna to the skin and flower centers with a #2 round brush.
3. Begin the Cheeks, Hair, and Dresses
Apply a medium Vermillion tone to their cheeks with a #1 round. Apply a thin wash of Raw Sienna to the child’s hair with a #2 round. Let dry. Apply a thin wash of Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna to the mother’s hair. Apply a thin wash of Peacock Blue to the child’s dress. When dry, apply a wash of Cerulean Blue to the mother’s dress.
4. Paint the Wings and Hair
Using a #2 round, beginning at the base of the wings at the shoulder blades, apply a thin wash of Raw Sienna. While wet, apply Burnt Sienna, bringing it down to bottom of the wings. When dry, use a #2 round to apply a thin wash of Permanent Yellow Deep, adding Raw Sienna to the bottom. With a #2 round, apply a thin wash of Van Dyke Brown to the mother’s wing at left in the background.
Begin adding shading to the mother’s hair in the areas that turn from the light using a #1 round loaded with a medium wash of Raw Sienna. For the child’s hair, using a mixture of Permanent Yellow Deep and Raw Sienna loaded to a #1 round, paint the areas of the hair that turn from the light. Carefully strengthen contours with 0.3 mm graphite using a mechanical pencil.
