LOOSE watercolour painting tutorial

[@tomshepherdartist]

Hope you enjoy this one guys. School of Watercolour schoolofwatercolour.co.uk/ Online Mini-course on painting human figure www.tomshepherdart.com/painting-the-figure-in-watercolour

[@user-if8bb5eq7p]

Thank you for this great lesson on big shapes, shadow, and what holds a painting together. Yay!

[@melanieopperman6688]

Tom, you are the 'wild one of watercolour'. As tricky as this medium is, watching you work makes me realise I need to carve out time and persevere with this medium to at least give watercolour a chance... even if mine end up being underpaintings for pastels.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh thank you...yes, stick at!!:) like the idea of watercolour as under painting for pastel too...I’ve seen couple of artist uses pastel over watercolour for finishing touches etc, looks great!!

[@vladimirkrasniy]

This looks like finally something that can make me feel I can do loose watercolour

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh great! Thank you :)

[@22GmaRocky]

Thank you. This helped explain a lot when I see these “ non traditional “ color paintings. Its lovely

[@viewfromthecrowsnest7396]

You are the watercolorist and tutor I've been looking for. Thanks you for your videos.

[@hfarms5779]

Not only loose brush work but loose colors. Turquoise, purple, red, pink, yellow on a water buffalo!

[@denisefortier7769]

Hello from Canada Tom! I have been watching your videos for a long time and always admired your deft hand, exciting compositions and your awesome laid-back teaching style. Just went through your Watercolour Bites series. Wish you had been my university prof! All those lessons and basics from many years ago came together again because of your simple yet complete mini tutorials. What a treasure for new artists, and a reminder for those of us who are getting a little sloppy and wondering why paintings are just not quite right. Thank you so very much for making this available! ❤

[@rebeccahewitt1722]

Thank you very much for this excellent demonstration. Loved watching how you manipulated the colors, lights, and darks. Thank you from hot Arizona here in the U.S.!

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you so much...so pleased you enjoyed it!!:)

[@ericaparker4518]

Loved it Tom 😀👏

[@christinefalconer8886]

Thanks, always love your use of colour. Very free and expressive.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you :)

[@joykruczay]

As always, thanks ever so much for sharing your talents with us! We are all on a quest to find our style, which will likely evolve over time. If we all followed the advice of famous artists to the letter, all of our paintings would look the same. So many artists glaze frequently. For myself, it is the result of not having a clear enough plan from the outset, and timidity in the initial stages. This leads to most of my paintings being quite overworked. The first workshop I too was with Tony Couch (who studied under Ed Whitney and mentioned him frequently). He, too, felt that one should just "paint it as dark as you want the first time" and avoid layers. Whitney used to stand out in the hallway and yell in the door, "Paint darker!", knowing it was good advice for most of the class. Tony also stressed the importance of value and design, stating color was the least important thing. Your technique of using multiple colors for animal underpaintings reminds me of the techniques used in "Painting Wildlife in Watercolor, by Peggy MacNamara. Light washes that are more focused on value rather than color and form the foundation of the paintings. She uses more layers and glazes, which I have a tendency to muddy up, due to my lack of patience. Your work is brighter and bolder.

[@carolpenn1155]

You are amazing Tom..my new guru!

[@tomshepherdartist]

Haha thanks Carol...so glad it helps!!:)

[@ranjanachand9306]

Awesome, as usual, can't imagine using the colours you've used so effectively😂

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh thank you...ha it can feel strange, but it’s those tonal values which hold it all together :) they’re kind of like the safety net when going a bit crazy with colour ;)

[@colleenmcchesney1482]

Wow I love how you used those pops of colors for the background & under painting. Definitely a great fun loose painting. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, progress, & process with us! 🥰

[@tomshepherdartist]

My pleasure...so pleased you are enjoying them and getting something from it :) thanks for the support!!:)

[@colleenmcchesney1482]

@@tomshepherdartist You’re most welcomed 😊💕

[@333Judy333]

Really nice! I love the process that you use. It's fearless and turns out to be so stunning! WOW! Thank you for sharing with us.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh thank you so much!! Really appreciate it...and so glad you’re enjoying :)

[@sandrazern649]

Beautiful painting! Thank you for these tips!

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you so much...:)

[@derekcutsinger3511]

I have learned so much from your work! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skill with us!

[@tomshepherdartist]

Totally my pleasure! So pleased it helps:)

[@sponce500]

Thank you for the video ,excellent

[@marionbik2022]

Fabulous tutorial. Love how you use colour. Thank you ✨🎨

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you so much!:)

[@housegaben1178]

You are highly underrated

[@ruthnash8486]

Wonderful water color technique

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you :)

[@SezCreate]

This blew my mind actually. I have always wanted to hear exactly the break down of using multiple colours that aren’t true to the subject but still keeping the integrity of the image. ( For any medium really ) I love colour so this is exactly what I needed. The theory of shapes made so much sense. I am brand new to watercolour and trying to loosen up….this has helped so much!!!!!!! Thanks so much...following for more !

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thanks so much for positive comment, and so pleased you enjoyed it and it made sense and was useful!!

[@Manjoume_Thunder]

Beautiful painting; thank you for sharing your tips. It would be a dream to one day paint like you

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahhh thank you so much...and my pleasure! Thanks for continued support!!:)

[@gwenharrison7624]

So inspired after watching a few of your videos. So free, yet illustrated well. I am pursuing with determination.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh so pleased to read this and thank you for the kind words!! Yes, keep pushing forward..you’ll get there!!!:)

[@ladym6738]

Okay. That really helped. Thanks.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Great...so pleased to hear this!:)

[@simondo1027]

Excellent demonstration of light and dark.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you!! T

[@edrisseale2513]

Just beautiful, and so free!

[@sunku260]

this is wild man..... that's so beautiful. thank you very much for sharing :)

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh thanks so much for the reaction!! Much appreciated. T 🙌🏼

[@PeachesandMoss]

Absolutely fantastic video! I love the result. Great teaching🎉

[@MonicaMarelli68]

❤Great!!!

[@Mr.MKBone]

I enjoyed this video so much Very brave I don’t have courage to try something like this Thank you for your coaching ❤

[@alicebrown-dussault3526]

Very good tutorial!! I love ur teaching style

[@cindycarey]

So inspiring! Thank you.

[@carolpenn1155]

Oh Tom you make it look so easy. When I get the brush it all goes wrong! Keep practising I guess 🤪

[@toninoantxoa]

Maravilloso. Gracias ❤❤❤

[@chiarasola826]

Amazing! 🤩

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thanks so much!!:)

[@ruthnash8486]

You must have really great paper Tom

[@tomshepherdartist]

I think is Canson paper, fairly certain it’s 100% cotton but it’s not overly special...behaviours Stengel at times, but that can be fun..especially when working like this.:)

[@sanshine5128]

Beautiful houseplants too! except for the plastic one🫢😁

[@tomshepherdartist]

Haha thank you...no plastic ones in our house ;) (we’ve got nearly 120 on last count:)

[@sanshine5128]

@@tomshepherdartist wow 120 is a lot 😮 and i really thought that the one behind you was fake😅

[@elizabethvisser7219]

awesome!

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you!!!☺️🙌🏼

[@CreativeGiffy]

This is amazing , I tried this❤️ But I feel mine look little bit overworked 😅

[@tomshepherdartist]

Ahh thank you so much!! Overworking is so easily done...all though I often think that then look at it again a week or so later and think it’s not so bad!!;)

[@sreejithkumar3875]

Super❤

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you!:)

[@lesleyanderson3662]

Hi again from New Zealand. Great tips and skills, another fabulous painting. Thanks, Tom. In essence, then, we could use any colour on this, we dont need to copy yours? The tone is the important aspect and the shapes of light and dark? :)

[@tomshepherdartist]

Thank you:) yes, absolutely...get the tones working, simply light and shadow shakes, and use whatever colours you like!!:)

[@carlro4392]

Tom, did you use some type of masking fluid or are you very steady making hard edges. E.g. highlights on the horns.

[@tomshepherdartist]

Hi there...no masking fluid, I’ve never really tried it :) a reasonably steady hand ha!!

[@carlro4392]

I watch a lot of artists on you tube. You work process flows so intuitively. Something that I don't believe can be taught, just God given talent. Maybe the process but not the feel.

[@meaben-joseph3874]

So helpful! How do you keep it wet so long to keep working into it and dropping in colors?