How to Paint a Portrait in Watercolor 

"we'll see how the great watercolour god shines upon us" by far the greatest thing I've ever heard

I would say you are very gifted and many who are critical are simply jealous. You can use any paint, brush, pencil, pen you choose! :) Thank you for sharing your gift. I know I wilk learn a lot from you. God bless you.

I have had the same watercolor kit for over 30 years now. I have brushes that costv135.00 each. but I have always been petrified of doing water colors because I was afraid I would have no control or whatever. you have made me brave enough to go into my nightstand drawer (it's never been far away) and begin by getting those paints wet! thank you!

"don't ever give up on an opportunity to play with a wet area"

I love the video and the painting and the brushes and the dude.

I have painted in watercolor for decades but you taught me some new stuff today. Thank you!

Dear Mr. Sheldon! Thank you for your tutorial! A teacher once told me, that watercolors wasn't ment to do portraits with, but you prove him wrong. I have been paiting watercolors for the last ten years, and now I have maid my first portrait - thanks to you! :)

Wow people are so rude. Great vid, thank you

Nothing wrong with taking your favorite hobbies, and the tools for it seriously. I don't think it's snobby. Now I know what to look for in a nice watercolor brush. Sometimes, people get rude when they know that they couldn't just go to the kitchen or something to find what they need for a new hobby. Those people aren't serious anyway. And I don't know why they speak with the loudest voices. I would be embarrassed to imply that I can't even get a paintbrush. These aren't the most mindbogglingly expensive brushes I've seen. I mean, I just saw a brush that sold for $108. I looked these up, and depending on which, they are around 5-7$ each. That isn't snobby. He is trying to tell the serious painter what to look for in a nice brush, and how to find fairly priced sets. This is stuff that real painters want to know. Go move on if you don't like it. Stop trying to impress the world with your cheapness, and mean spirited quips!

"Now watch me shake it..." *shakes brush off camera*

I feel liked I have learned more in this 13 min preview than in all my art classes in school. The way you are talking and demonstrating the magic of watercolours is so poetic and honest - I simply can not thank you enough for sharing!

don't ever grow up. grown ups are boring... and snobby. you make me happy.

Loved it. Slowly watching the pools and puddles working. Good to see a glimpse of your background, your personal travel kit. It all helps build a deeper understanding of what’s going on at the tip of the brush. Thankyou

Great question! So Here we go Paint the water color shapes down, fun and loose. Then with a stiff oil brush scrub the paint and move it around. Work back and forth with new paint until your happy. Hope this helps Thanks Sheldon

Just love the tiny tiny touches that make such a difference!! Fascinating to watch. Wish I had such confidence.

this was informative for me, as I'm moving from drawing into watercolor. I was having a tough time figuring some stuff out and this has been such a great help Thank you so much.

Whereas Watercolor effect exists... that means u do actually watercolor painting ....fade,Nd simply sweet ... I love this vedio

The highlight on the eyes does wonders! Thankyou for sharing this! Always trying to improve my portrait paintings 💕

There is such thing as fast forwarding like if you don’t wanna hear him talk about the brushes it’s not the end of the world idk why people are being so rude this was a great video

I love this kind of stuff. Since Internet keeps helping people with this posts, talented draftsmen can become painters by learning all these techniques!!! Thank you.

you go shel, you do your thang

I love your voice and personality - casual, friendly, humorous and down-to-earth

I love how you did this w/ a limited palette your understanding of colr theory is impressive

Your tutorial was great , thank you so much for sharing , it’s true Watercolor is the only medium that paints itself xoxo

Sheldon: See how it flows together? That's watercolor. It's fun." Me: "Yes, I see how it flows together. That's watercolor. It's terrifying."

I'm a digital artist, and I've never given a shit about traditional painting but this video makes me have a second thought... it looks fun as hell

"Could you do everything like a robot and quickly and for free? And as the taker, I promise to use lots of hate-speech." Seriously I don't know why talented people bother with RU-vid anymore.

wow, she came to life....I can see how intense yet so meditative (?) painting can be....ty for the demo...best 15 minutes I've spent today.

your video has been so helpful to me. I love watercolor a lot and I always have. I have been out of school for awhile and long story short I haven't painted in a long time and I'm just now starting to get back into my groove. This was a very great reminder of how to get started and helped me sharpen my skills.

Thanks for sharing - not many videos are that relevant after 7 years online. Very good demo and usable advise for me!

This is definitely one of the better demos on painting watercolor or otherwise on the site. Thank you!

Thanks for the tips! Watercolor is a recent hobby for me, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the depth of color in the water. My brushes are still cheap, but this video really helped to see what I can improve from a professional's demonstration.

"will i ever grow up?" "i don't know...." this dude was ahead of his time ahaha

This was actually really helpful and super relaxing to watch. You are a good teacher and I appreciate you. I don’t have a whole lot of money, so I can’t buy great art supplies yet, but I’m hoping I can get to a point in life where I can call myself snobby with my fancy brushes and paints.

god this guy is crazy. not in a bad way what so ever. i love how exited he is with how pretty is the behavior of water color. it reminds me of me. i thought i was a weirdo because i had more fun watching the paint blend and move in the paper. ive notice people concentrate mostly in the end product when the fun and emotions are in the development of the paint. my compliments to him ;D

Scrubbing Watercolor: the use of a stiff (hog bristle or synthetic), damp brush to lighten or remove dried watercolor paint from the paper surface. Blot the loosened paint off with a dry tissue. Decent quality watercolor paper is recommended for this technique. There are some demonstration videos elsewhere on YT.

this was so enjoyable, thank you . trying to learn as much as i can, never realized the paint ran up and down. great work wish you would come to RIWS and give classes( rhode island)

you just learned me more than every watercoloring video on youtube , thnks

YOUR BRUSHES ARE OMG FOR LIFE!!!!!

I like the gentle strokes

I like how you let the water do all the work. My watercolor class was nothing like how you were more detail on how to lay the watercolor. Please post more, but your detail on applying it light subtle way. My color had to much hard edges or the blending or bleeding was a disaster.

Man, you realy love watercolor. What a passion. Keep the good work. I also love watercolor but, beside you I'm a shadow. Regards

Sheldon you are so gifted, great tutorial thank you

I don't think you're a snob... I think you're a gorgeous painter!

I was under the wrong impression for most of my life that watercolors were some kind of useless children's toy. Thank you for opening my eyes to the beauty.

I would pay to take classes with this guy just for the comedy value

I love using watercolor. Very versatile in my opinion

Flesh tones are usually made from mixing crimson and yellow ochre, with white to balance contrast.

very nice, im more of a sketch and pencil man but i want to make a conversion to paint to broaden my skills. thank you for your vid,it gave me a new view on how to approach the canvas, i feel like painting now. OH YEA.

i'm learning watercolour next semester so i'm doing some researches and i found this and i think i love you! :)

This is amazingly helpful. I am trying to get better at painting and you are more helpful than my two formal classes that I have taken.

This is just so amazing 😍 thank you so much for the video sir

best watercolour video ever

By far the most informative tutorial I've seen on RU-vid so far! Thank you!

What palette do you have? Loved the video!

While I was watching you play around the eye, I'd think, 'yes, ... yes,... ah huh...nice...ah huh...' Then after a while I thought, 'OK. That's enough now. Stop....Stop.....STOP....!' LOL. But you kept pulling it off. Jeez. Now I need a nap from all the stress! Hahahahaha. Nice work. Hello from Erika in Ottawa, Canada :)

watercolor, watercolor, watercolor, watercolor's so awesome, really gotta start use my set of watercolor

Best w/c video out there. I subscribed. As for the brushes, the more expensive they are, probably the longer they last.

Great demonstration Sheldon!!!!!!!!!

88% of the comment box is filled with artists. while the rest are commoners who were just "passing" by .

Thanks for the useful tips - i've been stuck on which brushes to use and how to use water on paper prior to adding paint.

Sheldon, Great watercolor portrait. I couldn't resist this. The Joke's on you... Holbein is not a company from Holland but from Japan... :)))

Holbein isn't a Dutch company. "Holbein is a family owned Japanese Company with head offices in Osaka Japan. The company was formed just before the turn of the last century, and took the name of the much revered European artist Hans Holbein in the 1930's." -from their website.

i just skipped the brushes part lol

amazing and wonderful.. l am learning more things from this. this is my beginning of the portrait paiting.. so Thank you very much.. ❤️

"Welcome to water color" You are cracking me up

It has been 10 years since this video has been uploaded

se siente la emoción de crear y dar vida a una estructura sobre un soporte limpio

that was the most beautiful, sensitive, understated description of an eye I have seen! Not sure what happened to the rest of the face, which looks to me a lot more overdone and commercial, but amazing eye!!!

this was very informational for how shortened it was. thank you very much.

I learned s much from your post. Thank you. Please keep posting You are so creative, funny, and also such majestic and steady hands.

you have an almost exact opposite colouring style as me. I never use wet on wet for faces

I have tried to consolidate as much as possible into our IT books and videos Give them a try and then let us know if you have any questions. Talk soon Sheldon

Beautiful...loved the effects

that travel kit... *turned on* i never wanted anything this much in my life

"don't ever give up the opportunity to play with a wet area" hahahhaah

"And just touch that edge, and it softens. Welcome to watercolor."

That brush is exactly as old as I am. Lovely painting! I would have liked to see a still shot of the finished picture, though.

thanks for the tutorial. it really helps to see demonstrations done.

Holbein is a Japanese company, based in Osaka. It produces high quality artist's materials.

you are soo funny i was laughing at your jokes and your voice over little monologue the entire time you are very entertaining im definitely subscribing

i love the way you demostrate this ... cooooooooool

I really appreciate this wonderful tutorial sir!

Very well done. I wish you were in Washington so I could take a lesson.

Not being one of the ME, ME, ME - WANT, WANT, WANT - generation I am grateful for your video.

I love your brushes.

Thanks so much for sharing. You are very talented and I learned a lot from watching this.

I love art supplies.

Love this

Holbein is a company based in Osaka, Japan.

Great video.Nothing wrong with talking about brushes.

Yep I felt the same way. Then I saw a Sargent show. He used lots of white I use very little and try to not to use any at all. I like to make a water mask. When unnecessary. I use gouache. Take care Sheldon

You've taught me more about water coloring than my high school art teacher ever did! Haha.

Your painting skills are quite excellent. But I do recommend that if you intend to sell a video, you should probably edit it with something other than what appears to be Windows Movie Maker.

This is some beautiful work. Keep it up.

Great video! You have an awesome video voice.

So the fucking tutorial starts at 4:50

thank you! im a artist at a young age and i have never used water colors for real. but i am because im giving my fiance a drawing of him as a elf!

This is a very beautiful tutorial....thankyou.

Just for the record, Holbein is a Japanese brand. Excellent, too.