The Painting Process

A Tutorial of an Angel painting by Jessica

This painting of an angel is going to be a squared shaped card when it´s finished and will be published by a cardcompany for Christmas time 2005. I will try to explain the steps in making this painting as thoroughly as possible to make it easy for you to understand the development and process of it. I´m using a 140 lbs/300 gsm paper in size 11.7x16.5"/A3 and unless otherwise stated all the colors I will refer to is Windsor & Newton Artist´s Watercolors.

This is the simple sketch how it first looks like. 

I scan the sketch, alter the size to fit into the width of an A3 standing paper and print it. After that I cover the back of the printed sketch with an HB graphite pencil and transfer it to the watercolor paper by following the lines of the printed sketch. The graphite on the backside will color the paper as I draw, and form the image. One can also use tracingpaper but it can be very difficult to erase and change lines tranferred with such paper so I hardly ever use it any more.

Now, since this is going to be published as a square card something needs to be put in the empty corners.

You can see above how the bow, ribbons and bird top left is coming off stronger than the other ones? It´s because I draw that one first directly onto the watercolor paper, then scanned it, printed it out in different angles and transferred it again to the rest of the corners. I wanted the ribbons to be exactly equal. The computer has become an important tool in my work. Anything to save some time, and that is vital when you´re doing this for a living.

As you can see, I have also made a blueish backgrund for the angel. But before I started to paint it I covered all the little stars with my white colored pencil (Derwent´s Artist - not watersoluble watercolorpencils) to not have to paint around them. One could used white gouche to fill them in later on but it doesn´t give the same glow as leaving the paper white.

After that I cover the whole circle with water, except for the girl and the cloud or snow - I haven´t decided which it is yet - to make it easy for the coming blue paint to flow. I  use French Ultramarine, in my opinion the most beautiful blue paint in the world, and it forms itself on the paper into lovely patterns that add texture to the painting. I´ve also added touches of the pink Quinacridone Magenta.

Ok, now the background is all filled in. I used French Ultramarine blended with some Payne´s Grey to get the darker blue I wanted. For the bows and ribbons I used a blend of Cadmium Red Deep, Perylene Maroon and Alizarin Crimson. I also do the berries around the ribbons in the same color.

Then I begin with her face. I really like doing faces and often finish them in the early stages of a painting.

I use Rose Doré, Raw Umber and quite a bit of water to get the right color and cover the whole face with the mix. When it has dried I use some Quinacridone Magenta for the mouth, and some Windsor Red on top of it while it´s still damp. 

I also paint her cheeks with some more of the Rose/Umber mix and let it dry. After that I remove any lines that has occured on the cheeks and around her eyes and soften all edges with water and let it dry. I put water again on her cheeks and is "dotting" on some Windsor Red, let it dry and again remove lines and soften the edges with water. 

I also put some Rose/Umber blend above her nosetip together with a little Winsor Red to add soft shadow and then I soften lines and edges there too, after drying.

The angel is holding a light and I want it to show in the shadows in her face but instead of adding more shadow I gently scrub selected parts of her face - the forehead, below and a little bit on the nosetip, under her eyebrows and on the chin.

Now I use the French Ultramarine and the dark blue mix for her eyes. Both the light and the dark parts of her eyes are created using the same mix, by changing the amount of water used with the paint. The eyebrows are made by using Burnt Umber.

I fill in all the green areas except for the lingonberry-leaves with a mix of Sap Green Permanent and Sepia. I´m thinking about maybe using a different shade of green for the leaves, but have not decided yet. I paint the candle bouqet the angel is holding using the same green and paint the bow and berries in the same red mix as I used for the bows and berries in the corners. The cones are painted in a mix of Burnt Umber and Sepia.

For the red skirt I mainly use the same red as before except for some of the shadows. I make shadows in the folds with a mix of that red and the French Ultramarine before I paint the whole skirt red. That way I get soft edges for the shadows and I believe it makes them look better. When the whole skirt has dried I gently scrub and dry off red paint for highlights and then cover it one more time with a thin red wash.

I use the same mix of Sap Green and Sepia but with less water in it to darken the greens up and paint in some of the needles.

After that I use Sap Green (Winsor & Newton´s Designer´s) Gouache paint mixed with Yellow Gouache paint to make the needles stand out more. I also fill in all the lingonberry-leaves with the same mix and to finish it up I go over the greens one more time with the darker Sap+Sepia mix. For the shadows on the bows and ribbons I use the same red they were first painted in mixed with blue. 

I paint the coat in the same red as the skirt, mixing it with a little blue to paint in the shadows. I make the red paint thinner the closer the candle I get. I decide I want to have two ribbons hanging down from the bow so I leave them out of the coat. 

I use some Cadmium Yellow over the red paint around the candle and on her arms where the candlelight should reflect itself on the fabric.

I gently scrub the paint around the three candles and lift it off with some ordinary kitchenpaper, making the edges soft. After that I use Cadmium Yellow to create the warm light around the burning candles. I also scrub parts of the bows and ribbons, lift off red paint and give the areas a wash of Cadmium Yellow to give them light from the candles.

I scrub all the berries gently and dry off paint with the paper on their one side and add shadow with the red/blue mix on their other sides to give them the shape of roundness. With a little dot of White Gouache in the scrubbed area they get a shine.

Some White Gouache creates sparkles around the candle and a French Ultramarine/Burnt Sienna mix forms the shadows on the candle. For the cones I use Sepia and Burnt Umber to form the pattern. The robin is painted with thin washes of Sepia and the same mix of red as for the angel´s clothes mixed with a little Cadmium Orange. 

I decided I wanted to make her face not quite so round so I change it by first draw in some graphite lines to create the new shape. I also want more color in her face so I give it one more wash with the skin-mix used before. When it has dried I scrub and dry off paint on the same parts of her face as once before - chin, nose, brow and cheeks. I fill in some dark blue spots in her eyes and since the eyebrows almost disappeared after painting her face again I fill in the eyebrows once again. 

For the hair I begin with a thin wash of Naples Yellow. For the shadows I use the same yellow mixed with different amounts of Sepia in it to create the different values of the shading. I put in some White Gouche also, but the lightest parts of the hair are still where I leave the first wash of Naples Yellow untouched. For the halo I use Quinacridone Gold, Cadmium Yellow and Sepia.

The wings get a wash of clean water and then I use French Ultramarine and Quin. Magenta to paint the shapes and shadows of the wings.

Now I am almost done. I paint a decoration line on the skirt. For her stockings I use a very thin French Ultramarine/Burnt Sienna wash. To get that warm tone I use more of the Sienna than of the Blue. For the folds and shadows I use the same mix and simply change the values by using different amounts of water. 

The lace on the skirt I paint with White Gouache, and a French Ultramarine/ Quin. Magenta mix right below the red skirt line to give a little shadow.

The shoes are painted with a mix of Sepia and Burnt Umber, I scrub them a little to get a worn look and feel, and the shoelaces are painted in afterwards with the same colors mixed with a little White Gouache. 

I paint the cloud/snow with clean water and fills it with thin washes of Ultramarine Blue, Quin. Magenta and a little Cadmium Yellow infront of the angel to reflect the light of the candle she is holding.

I sign it and this is how the painting looks like when it is all finished.

It takes about four days in average to complete a painting from that the sketch is transferred onto the watercolor paper until it is dried and finished. I like details, one can say it´s somewhat of an obsession and I am thorough in my work, I don´t like to rush it more than necessary and loose quality. That´s my best tip actually, give the painting time and effort and it will turn out great.

unique visitors since August 2004

© 2004 Artful Colors by Jessica, Jessica Börjesson T&M