Learning to paint realistic watercolour birds, certainly involves painting feathers, here's how to do it!
In this video, I demonstrate some common mistakes that I encounter, and I show how they simply don't work on a bird. As I gradually work through the lesson, I add in, and remove elements to slowly increase the realistic feel of the feathers. There are lots of things to think about and consider, and sometimes seeing mistakes, and how they affect a painting, is a good way of remembering not to do the same thing. On the final study we paint the feathers using all the techniques I usually use, and you will see how much more, realistic and lifelike the bird is as a result.
For a much fuller explanation on painting a realistic watercolour Robin, head to this complete tutorial next, and let's get them brushes wet: https://bit.ly/3ofDrcJ
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🕒 Timestamps 🕒
00:00 Realistic watercolour bird
00:25 Going too dark too quickly with the watercolour feathers
01:44 Applying the feather detail too thick and too evenly, with lines that are too long
03:18 Adding depth to the feathers by criss-crossing the lines
05:40 Painting feathers using short lines, so they look more realistic
07:00 Be mindful of the outer edge, and keeping the overall shape of the bird correct
07:23 Using a size 00 to paint the feather detail even finer
07:59 Thinking about the direction of the individual feathers
11:46 Lightening the pencil outlines
12:34 Applying a foundation wash, which will add depth to the feathers
14:26 Adding feather detail over the foundation wash
18:12 Painting a realistic watercolour bird using all we have learnt so far
22:22 Softening down feather layers on the bird to make them more realistic
24:10 Varying the colour mixes so that the bird looks more lifelike
27:45 Adding highlights using watercolour white, to give more shape to the bird
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