A Year of Watercolor Illustrations (Patreon)

After getting a lot of requests to show more of my sketching process, I made it a point in 2023 to record a series of art tutorials that included my sketching and drawing process. These Start to Finish tutorials are fun to make, and I'm often charmed by the resulting sketchbook illustration.  

These elevated watercolor sketchbook illustrations focused on simple and repeating themes like an easy background, simple yet satisfying composition, people, plants, and animals.  When possible, I included the thumbnail sketch in the video to help normalize the creation of concept sketches and figure out the basic illustration before you start.  These tutorials were designed to produce a printable coloring page for friends who just wanted to color along, and most were meant to be quick to paint- and evening and some change.  And they're the kind of illustrations that are popular sellers as prints, so I'd hoped that this meant others might be inspired to create their takes and share them with me. 

The materials are pretty straightforward-

A watercolor sketchbook- I'm a fan of Canson XL's spiral-bound 9X12 sketchbooks

Graphite or colored lead- I like using Pentel's .5 red lead since it kinda blends in with the watercolor

Something waterproof to ink with- I'm a fan of brushpens, and usually use a Sakura Pigma FB

The watercolors you like to use- it could be an inexpensive Prang set, student grade watercolors like Meiliang Pigments or one of the companies that white label Mungyo watercolors, or professional grade watercolors

And white gouache or a white gel pen for highlights

One of the beautiful things about watercolor is once you've purchased your preferred paper, paints, and brushes, you're pretty set for almost any project you'd like to try!  You don't need a lot of paints to get painting, but many of us do enjoy picking up a new tube or two every time we visit the art store and find new favorites.

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMdUGyPNfIc

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/94839110

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG2VZ40Ct-M

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-93712165

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWTDD95Bn5E&t=3s

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-91860123

Video Tutorial: https://youtu.be/xDn5LWuNMTk?si=nLa7-nzr4hzNJPI5

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-90430544

Video Tutorial: https://youtu.be/hzQa_Gx8wEw?si=a1tzKIIjWmw4A0Bi

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-91860123

Video Tutorial: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-to-86401180Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-86407010

Video Tutorial: https://youtu.be/6HSCuPZrdWQ

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-86400780

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7XfKgj92Y&t=1s

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-85484534

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8icAZDktJ8o

Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/backer-exclusive-83270803

Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY_PQI-JSxA&t=6sPrintable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/lucky-little-95347498

You can find the video tutorials for all of these in this handy playlist! And you can find the links for all the printable coloring sheets here.

There are plenty of accessible watercolor tutorials for people who want to paint flowers and plants, landscapes, and lettering.  There are fewer tutorials on painting portraits, and fewer still on creating caricature and cartoony watercolor art.  There's nothing wrong with wanting to paint flowers or learn calligraphy, but we don't all make the same kind of art, and not every artist has the same goals for their work, and I like to create tutorials that reflect that. As an artist who makes watercolor tutorials, I want to share something a little different from the popular crowd- something that feels unique and uses my skills as a comic artist but is more accessible and approachable than just comic tutorials.