Hi everyone, what bird would you like to see me paint? Or do you have any other topics or questions you would like me to cover in the Watercolour Bites series? Please leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!!:)
@@lindsaypm oo great choice!! I tried one once, total failure...been needing a little kick to try again! Thank you :)....got a few more requests on the list to tackle first, but keep an eye our early in the New Year!!:) thanks for your support :) T
Thank you, Tom I love your quick birds - they're just so fun and full a life and a great way to learn to paint them, while also learning other techniques of how to use colors and brushes strokes to highlight what you want in the painting. Great teaching for me!!! Some birds I'd like to see you paint are : kingfisher, red robin, and yellow or orange canary
Totally agree with Kerry B.. You explain very well. Very instructive and helpful what you said about "why two colors for a black bird" and the drawing of the bird. I also like your watercolor style and of course I love birds! Big Thank You!
Thank you for this tutorial on the Raven. I have painted it and I am pleased with it. You advice on paint consistency is very valuable. I am looking forward to the next bird.
@@tomshepherdartist maybe just zoom out to the right a bit, including a lil bit of the pallet. I struggle with drenching my paper and the ratio of pigment so to see what you do will help (i hope) lol i will have also another go at drawing.
Lovely brush strokes and loose style. Thank you for doing these tutorials in real time with explanation. Very helpful. Definitely will try the approach myself. Thank you.
This is the beauty of watercolor right here, and its so hard for me to achieve because I struggle to let the paint and brush do their thing! Lovely work, thank you 💗
I really appreciate that you included specific info about how the amount of water changes the effects of the paint's flow and its appearance. I think I may finally understand why so many of my attempts end up in the trash! I use too much water, in addition to overworking the painting, and am rarely happy with the result. Glad I found your channel and your loose approach to painting. Thanks so much!
Hi Joanna. Thanks so much for the comment. Glad it helps. I’m releasing another video in the next two weeks looking much closer at the amount of water and pigment...it’s probably the most important element of watercolour. If you can get a feel for it it goes a really long way :) T
I feel like you have helped me understand watercolors and the properties and i have learned not to be so literal with my paintings and be come more looser, it almost looks professional
Thanks Scott! So glad it;s helped. Yeah, not being so literal is so much fun. Takes a little shift in mindset but it always amazes me how we really don;t need to paint things exactly as they are. At least on some areas. T
Wow! Wow! I simply love painting birds. Huge thanks for this series and little bit to some AI algorithms gods as well! I'm going to binge watch your channel now!
Thank you for your time. Will be doing this ! Love watching and doing the expressive brush strokes! Using and mixing colors. Question in one of your videos addressing colors and washes. You mentioned Phthalo blue. Green shade or red shade.
WOW - ok so at first I was super sceptical. I did however have to not think and just do whilst shelving perfectionism. However, I am in love with what I have created out of this tutorial. It is freeing to paint this way. Thank you so much for these tutorials. I adore the mini blackbird but you don't seem to have it on a tutorial just as a thumb - it would be so sweet to see how you did that one. Thank you for being a patient, thorough, guide to this process.... Thank you thank you thank you
Thank you for this tutorial, I have been fascinated with both corvids and watercolor and wished there's a tutorial to paint them. I will try to paint along with your video here.
It was amazing watching you paint the Raven. I just found you accidentally, but subscribed immediately. I don’t know if you have shown one yet, but I would love to see you paint a Dove. I’m going to start searching. Thank you so much for a really fabulous lesson! 🙋
I'm trying to paint a cormorant in their typical wings-spread-to-dry pose, and this is really helpful to that end, thank you! Do you have any vids on cormorant painting, while I'm at it?
Hi Tom, brilliant, you have got me painting in water colour again. However just copying your work only works up to a point. Is it possible for you could add a copy of your reference photo as well as the line drawing, this would help considerably in understanding your thought process. Explaining why you do things as well as how to paint a subject is your strong point.
Sam Clarke thanks Sam! That’s great to hear. I usually create a drawing using 2 or 3 different photos, however I’m very happy to post up reference photo / photos as well...great idea!! King fisher coming next week and I shall do do with that....thanks for the comment and kind words! Appreciate the support :)
I would love to learn how to paint sparrows, if you have not done a video on it. I did a few recently but all looked a bit illustration-like. I love how you paint, loose but structured at the same time!
Thank you Tom for your generous sharing! Love your tutorial! I try to dry a big brush stroke like you however I can't make the white gap like you do on your work. What can I do in order to make those beautiful little white gaps in the brush strokes?
Thanks Brenda. So glad you enjoyed it!! Ah yes, love those broken brushstrokes. It does take a bit of practice - a rougher texture paper makes it far easier. Play around with paint consistency, less water generally makes it easier, but there’s a balance with tone and getting paint to flow of course....I e found some brushes almost do it naturally whilst others you have to be more purposeful.....when a brush needs to be more purposeful I tend to work with the brush slightly on its side and skim over the page, often quite quickly...basically have an experiment with holding the brush at different angles, playing around with different pressures, and different speeds :) hope that helps...
Hi Tom. Just starting out with my watercolour journey and so pleased i found you and your channel. Really inspires me. Could i ask what paper you are using so i know what to buy. Thankyou so much. Casey.
Hi Casey, so glad you’re getting something from the videos. This particular paper is called Jackson’s Eco Paper. It’s quite an unusual paper, very soft and stays wet along time ...it doesn’t really behave like most other papers (which has pros and cons)....ordinarily I use Canson Moulin Du Roy, Winsor and Newton Classic is a great and affordable paper, their professional paper is great too but very expensive, I also use Stonehenge Aqua - I tend to favour coldpress/not/rough texture and use gummed blocks as generally you don’t have to stretch paper or anything but it doesn’t buckle much, they’re just easy and neat :) There’s loads of great papers out there and everyone likes different things, but hopefully that gives you start point. Feel free to ask further questions if needed :) T
Such fantastic work! Thanks for much for sharing with these tutorials. How about painting a Pine Warbler? I have one that visits me every day. They are terribly hard to photograph since they are so speedy.
Great video but I was distracted by the fantastic granulation. How did you achieve that. Even with colors that should granulate like ultramarine I only get a hint.
Hi Tom, excellent, brilliant. Your style is inspiring me to paint. If I could ask a question, do you leave your drawing lines in or do you rub them out?
Thanks so much, Lisa. I usually leave the lines in. I quite like seeing them. Every so often I rub out any that are a bit heavy or detract from areas, so i ind og gauge it on an individual basis :)
I’m in love with your channel! Just found it. I am new at this and I really appreciate your clear instruction, Bites and the birds ❤️ I just did the first tutorial of the raven and turned out pretty ok. I don’t think I can drop a pic of it here?
Haha would agree with that 99.9% based on own experience and teaching many other artists!! I started very, very tight...very exact, lots of hard edges and everything render to equal levels of detail. I still love a little realism in places but very much a painterly approach as much as possible. And always looking to try and get looser and more painterly. I don't know what it is about this approach but it seems to be attractive to so many artists!!:). For me it was seeing the work of Sorolla & Zorn that made me fall in love with looser approach (this is back when I was an oil painter)
@@tomshepherdartist you know I’ve just started painting and I work with watercolor and pastels. But I just love loose style of painting and don’t really like to work on too much details. Do you think I can still be good at it or it’s better to learn realism first?
I am not sure if it is this video or the next one but I don't know what type of yellow to use because in one of these videos you don't include yellow until you are using it.
Thank you so much :) so this one I painted flat, which I tended to do a lot. More recently I’ve been painting on a gentle tilt which I’m really enjoying. Do you prefer one of the other?? T
@@tomshepherdartist Mostly I've used an angle, but I started with acrylics, so I've been working my way towards flat. I love the subtlety and nuance of watercolour. I'm a happy beginner (and a bird lover) Looking forward to doing all your birds.
@@trishking4423 ah ok, great!!:) I tend to play around with both these days...and vary the angle. Certainly no right or wrong. Glad to have you onboard!!!:) T
It maybe down to the paper. Cotton paper, especially rougher textures tends to stay wet longer. Not using enough water and pigment can be an issue, as can a dry and / or hot room. Wetting or damping the paper first can help. Pre mixing colours means working quicker. Using a spray bottle to give a light spray every so often helps keep washes “alive” to work wet in wet ... Hope that helps T
This paper is Jackson’s eco gummed block. It is quite soft and stays wet for sometime. Cotton rag.....I also use Windsor and Newton professional often. T
Ok, so basically straight out of the tube, all though some colours and brands that am be too stiff, so may also have a tiny touch of water in the brush....you may hear it called butter or marmite too. Basically lots of pigment, very little, if any water.....I have a whole video in paint consistency. That might really help you out :) T
Hi there. So much of watercolour is about paint consistency and the pressure of the brush. As a very general start point - Drier paint and/or quicker lighter touches will give more broken strokes.....more water and/or slower strokes and marks will create more smoothness. T