Mixing Darks with Watercolor

Рет қаралды 9,223

Күн бұрын

An easy and simple to understand tutorial on mixing darks in watercolour.
Deep rich, velvety darks that can often really make our watercolours pop...and they can be great fun to paint with.
But it can be so easy to end up with sludgy colours that just won’t go as dark as we would like or need!….We then find we have to keep going over areas to the get the depth of dark we want, often leading to an overworked and dull look to the paint.
As always, with a few pointers it’s not hard to get beautiful rich darks with life and luminosity to them.
We’re going to kick off with a look at a few colour combinations, as well as what not to do. Then finish off by looking at a few techniques with the paint itself to get our darks really working
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Previous Watercolour Bites Episodes:
1) Basic Terms - • IMPROVING with WATERCO...
2) Colour vs Tone - • Ep.2 WATERCOLOR Painti...
3) Tonal Values (Part 1) • Ep.3 WATERCOLOR painti...
4) Tonal Values (Part 2) • Ep. 4 Improve your Wat...
5) Tonal Values (Part 3) • Ep. 5 Improve your Wat...
6) Single Most Important thing in Watercolour - • Most IMPORTANT tip for...
7) Simple Watercolour Process - • EASY WATERCOLOR Proces...
8) Top 10 Tips - • Top Tips for WATERCOLO...
9) Watercolour Bruses - • Watercolour BRUSHES fo...
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Пікірлер: 55

@melaniecusens4946 3 жыл бұрын

It’s obvious you also teach students outside of KZfaq. A pleasure to watch and I feel like I’m sitting in an art class and not watching on KZfaq! Great video thank you!

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for such a lovely comment! and I am so pleased that's how it comes across and feels. T

@JulianLovegrove 8 ай бұрын

Excellent description of how to mix darks in watercolour. Thank you

@glyniswilkinson3247 Жыл бұрын

Excellent as usual . Thanks so much for your brilliant teaching and channel.

@sarahstevenson2384 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Tom, I have only recently found your tutorials and find them so informative, so thank you so much. What you said about drawings being simple but accurate is all I can think about at the moment as it was a bit of a aha moment!

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

That’s great the hear, Sarah!! It was my personal internal mantra for a long time!!! Still is....all my students said it just goes round in their heads too...along with “shape and tone” 😅

@ZandLei Жыл бұрын

Thank you for this information. You are truly a great teacher. I haven't heard anyone else describe this information in such an understandable way. I really enjoy your art and teachings. Blessings to you and yours. ✌️🖖☺️

@estherhoorn9800 6 ай бұрын

Hi Tom, I recently found your tutorials. Really helpful! I noticed that some other artists also use tricks to remove the water from their brush to enhance the darkness of the brushstroke. I am curious if and how you do that.

@trinidiana 3 жыл бұрын

This is an. absolutely amazing video !

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Ahh thank you so much. Glad it helps!! T

@judyh3017 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent video! Will watch again and take notes.

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Great! So pleased to hear :) T

@leilaskye8143 2 жыл бұрын

Wow this is great. Thank you for sharing

@tomshepherdartist 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, so glad it was useful! T

@anderdiaz1551 10 ай бұрын

Superb information thank you!

@tomshepherdartist 9 ай бұрын

So glad it was useful!!!:) T

@katef8700 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much Tom, this was perfect timing for me as I was struggling to get the right dark to paint a crow and now I feel I know what to tweak! Only started painting at start of December and have devoured all your tutorials, it's been invaluable for me to find such a talented artist who paints in a style I love, who is also a thorough and engaging teacher. Thankyou!

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Wow Kate, thank you so much for such a lovely comment!!! Sometimes just a few little pointers and tips can make a world of difference. Especially when starting out :) I am so pleased they are helping...plus I love your use of the word “devoured”...:) T

@watercolour_ninja1114 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tips Tom. Will try out the phthalo blue combo for a different dark. Currently use a mix of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber. 👍

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

@@watercolour_ninja1114 thanks Ian. Yeah good combo. Might take a moment to get used to but pthalo blue and a red one can give a more colourful and vibrant dark (if that makes sense)..enjoy!! T

@patriciaward8189 2 жыл бұрын

Very helpful. Thank you!

@tomshepherdartist 2 жыл бұрын

Great! My pleasure. T

@lindaw9329 3 жыл бұрын

I've been struggling with finding specific practical color information. Thank you. So clear and full of actual color names and info re what a cool or warm blue, red or yellow. Much appreciated!

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

My pleasure! So glad it helps :6 T

@nadeacheung1715 2 жыл бұрын

Wish I'd watched this before I painted my Black-capped Kingfisher! I used Ultramarine, Phthalo Turquise and Quinacridone Red and a touch of Pyrole Orange. It was pretty dark but there was still that tendency toward purple that you mentioned. Great tips here. Thanks! I've painted a couple of your birds already, the Kingfisher and the Bee-eater.

@joankiely3614 Жыл бұрын

Such a wonderfully interesting lecture on mixing darks in watercolour. You are a wealth of knowledge as well as creating magical artwork Tom! Cheers 😍❤️🥰💕😘😊

@tomshepherdartist Жыл бұрын

Ahh thanks, Joan. So pleased you are enjoying these videos and getting singeing out of them!!!:)

@isabelwittich9148 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

My pleasure

@micheleelliott7768 3 жыл бұрын

Ditto what Kate said. Applies to me as well. Thank you.

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

That’s great to hear! Thanks Michele. T

@alisonhendry2928 3 жыл бұрын

Oh my this was fantastic! I love to mix my own darks and never put two and two together when I used an opaque yellow! Thank you sooo much ! I am always experimenting and this just saved me many ounces of wasted paint! Indanthrone blue and quinacridone burnt orange are often my starters, but I think I am going to brave more phthalate blue for dark deep rich colour.

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Alison. So pleased to hear this. Just one of those things, once you know..you know!!!:) Thank you for your support! Happy painting :) T

@paolagarola5032 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Tom, it's just recently that I have joined your video and really thank you very much for how clearly explain and share your experience. I have copied one of your birds, and I was very satisfied because I discover a different way of painting. Can I show you somewhere? Best regards Paola from Milano

@hfarms5779 Ай бұрын

I don't think about transparent and opaque but I see how important it is.

@gordonsneddon5914 Жыл бұрын

Hi Tom…interesting video. If you want a very transparent and intense black…then try Perylene Green and Winsor Violet

@tomshepherdartist Жыл бұрын

Oo excellent. Thank you :) T

@angieblacktie 3 жыл бұрын

I am so glad I found your channel! Very in depth explanation. Thank you. Do you have any exercises that would help one see values?

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!:)...a great one is just working in black and white. Or in case if watercolour just back and water. Try working from Busch and white version of subject first...then move on to black and white painting from a colour photo :)....really try and focus on just 3 or 4 tonap values - light, dark, light grey and a dark grey. We of course end up with more subtelty than this but keeping values as simple as possible is always a good idea:) I do have a couple of previous videos on tonal values and you may find done useful tips in there:) T

@purpletreetherapy7116 2 жыл бұрын

This is an invaluable tutorial for a beginner like me.. getting any colours dark enough has been one of my biggest learning curves! I really appreciate the explanation of the paint thickness options... originally I was told to just mix my watercolours 50/50 water to paint. No further explanations so I was always wondering why my colours weren't getting dark enough. I personally love phalo blue so I'll defo be dabbling with the combos you've discussed! I have a classic, ( I suspect!), beginner Q though; how do I tell if my yellow is opaque or transparent?!!?. And lastly, have you done any watercolour bites on lifting off techniques? If not, that's my suggestion 😀. Thanks again Tom; love your energy, expressiveness and elucidating teaching style!

@user-pw1sb4ti4t Жыл бұрын

С удовольствием смотрю на ютубе все ваши видео,прошу прощения но в России Патрон недоступен,но это неважно все равно из ваших видео выношу настоящее сокровище,это так необычно я пробую после ваших видео и...получается,по другим как ни странно,хотя там тоже чудесные вещи и хорошие уроки но..не всегда ,а вернее почти никогда.Большое вам спасибо!

@carolynrobinson8124 3 жыл бұрын

I am currently struggling to get darker color so this is wonderful! Can you give me another example of transparent yellows since I don’t use aureolin? Would WN’s Transparent Yellow work? Or if labeled Semi-trans like the Hansa yellows? Thanks! Glad I found you here.

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Oh so pleased it helped! I think any transparent yellow should be fine, yes, I would imagine WNs transparent would be great, even a warm transparent yellow could work like New Gamboge I haven’t used Hansa yellows (have just bought some) so I can’t say for certain. In my experience, semi-transparent colours can be totally fine as usually the transparent colours dominate. I have noticed it does depend on brand a bit, for example an opaque red from some companies works great but from others it can go really sludgy. It also depends on how many pigments are in a colour. Lots of colours are a single pigment which works really well, whereas others are made up of multiple pigments, and they can go sludgy a little more easily. Finally, depending on all of the above, sometimes a tiny touch of opaque colour can be ok but too much, or more than one opaque colour, can go sludgy. There is an element of experimentation and also personal preference involved :) Hope that helps:) T

@charlesmckinney 2 жыл бұрын

Tom...you ever try indigo and sepia for mixing darks. Easy peasey blacks

@tomshepherdartist 2 жыл бұрын

I used to use indigo for darks, never tried with Sepia! I’ll give it a go..thank you 🙌🏼🙏

@charlesmckinney 2 жыл бұрын

@@tomshepherdartist You're welcome. The strength of the sepia is key to unlocking great darks that truly look black. You're fully aware of the power of indigo. Thanks much for reminding me.

@carolynrobinson8124 3 жыл бұрын

May I ask a slightly off topic of layering transparent color like transparent yellow (WinNew PY150) over versus under the staining pthalo blues and greens? Does a transparent yellow “disappear” underneath a staining pthalo blue/green? Or does it change the pthalo green/blue? And does layering trans yellow On Top of staining pthalo work differently, where yellow is more effective in changing the pthalo? Thank you!

@tomshepherdartist 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Carolyn, thanks for question. I won’t say I have a definitive answer but I can certainly give my experience using transparent yellows and pthalo; and hopefully this may help...whilst the yellow is certainly the “weaker” colour, I think it all comes down to the tonal value of the underlying colour, and the level of transparency in your wash of the top colour...for example if the yellow is your base colour it will always influence the phthalo blue top wash, how much depends on the amount of water in the pthalo (and therefore also the tone)....for example a neat mix of pthalo will be so dense and dark the yellow may have little effect. Use a single cream mix and it will have some transparency and be light enough to let the underlying yellow influence the final colour . Use the pthalo at a watery milky coffee consistency over the yellow, and the influence of the yellow will be greater still as the pthalo is lighter and more transparency. The effect if the underlying yellow is also dependent on how dark and intense it is.......similarly, the effects of using the yellow over pthalo on the final colour will depend on the darkness of the underlying pthalo and intensity of overlying yellow. Yellow over a very dark pthalo will probably give a nice greenish change to it but not hugely noticeably, whereas over a much lighter pthalo undercoat, you will see a much bigger change. Again, it depends on how intense (how much pigment and water) is in you top yellow wash too....T

@victoriajowett7976 2 жыл бұрын

Is there a brush you'd recommend? I think I heard you say your using a Mop brush but wondered if there was a particular one you'd recommend?

@tomshepherdartist 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Victoria. I love the escoda mop brushes, and at smaller size the Jackson’s Raven mops. Both faux squirrel hair:)...lots of great ones out there but I like those best...any mop that holds loads of water and pigment but also comes to a nice fine point I like...general quite soft hence the faux squirrel :) T

@DazzlingAction 2 жыл бұрын

What is a flat color?

@tomshepherdartist 2 жыл бұрын

I basically mean a colour that is not jumping around too much in terms of tone, i.e. it appears to be flat and fairly uniform and/or not too patchy :) Hope that helps. T

@wyntube07 2 жыл бұрын

Is it phthalo red shade or green shade?🤔😅

@tomshepherdartist 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, good question...ha! I generally use the green shade because I assumed it was slightly cooler, and I like it as my very cool blue. I would assume the red shade would still make a great dark!:)

@wyntube07 2 жыл бұрын

@@tomshepherdartist It does! thanks for clearing that up. great tutorials by the way. i like your painting style.