Additional Resources domestika.
org
Ana Victoria Calderón Course
METALLIC
WATERCOLOR
TUTORIAL
Many students are interested in painting with golden, metallic, or
iridescent watercolors. I love it, too! You've surely noticed that it
doesn’t look the same when digitalizing it, because a texture that
needs light reflection to work doesn’t come out as well when
digitalized. I'll explain why in more detail in this attached document,
as well as an alternative.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
Hi! My name is Ana Victoria Calderón Many students are interested in When we see the effect of metallic
painting with golden, metallic, or brush strokes on paper, what we're
and I have a series of courses here
iridescent watercolors. I love it, too! In really seeing are shiny particles moving.
with Domestika. In my “Applied fact, I use these types of shiny details in There are even times when we have to
Techniques for Watercolor my personal work all the time...if and tilt the paper in order to get the light to
when it's for one-off pieces. What does hit it in the right place in order to
Illustration” course, I received the
that mean? Well, unfortunately a appreciate that amazing shiny effect.
same question in the forum and
texture that needs light reflection to When the scanner digitalizes your
through private messages. work doesn’t come out as well when image, it's throwing light onto your art
It’s an excellent question and I’ve digitalized. If part of your work involves in a uniform way. It basically cancels out
scanning and digitalizing your art, you the properties required to appreciate
decided to share the answer in a
can’t use this type of texture this way. I'll that effect.
broader way and with a visual explain why in more detail and offer an
example. alternative.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
Next, I'll share a short tutorial so you can include
metallic details in your watercolor using a digital
method as support:
1.
In this photo you can see an original illustration
I painted with watercolor. I used a metallic
watercolor from the HydraColour brand for the
golden sun. I love how this effect looks, and it
shines even more in person! I liked how the
illustration looked in general and decided to
scan it to send the piece to my art licensing
clients.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
2.
It was no surprise to see that the wonderful
golden effect from my original illustration
simply wasn’t visible in the scanned version.
Here you can see how the sun, which shined
so brightly in person, looks dimmed. Again,
this happens because the direct light of the
scanner cancels out the effects of the metallic
painting and ends up looking like this less
interesting color.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
3.
What I need now is a digital texture that
gives the appearance of a metallic effect that
I can add in Photoshop. This texture is
basically a .jpg that you can find on stock
image sites for graphic designers. I like to
buy packs of images with golden, metallic,
and glitter textures, etc., in places like
“Creative Market.” You can even search “gold
texture” on Google to familiarize yourself
with these textures. I personally like to
support designers that focus on creating
these textures, so I pay for these kinds of
images. But you can probably also find some
royalty-free ones on the Internet. I chose this
one to add to this illustration. I like it because
it looks like gold leaf and has an interesting
texture in addition to the shiny effect.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
4.
Now I'm going to add this image the outline of the figure directly on your This isn’t difficult to do in Photoshop, but
to a new layer on top of my illustration, which illustration, or in this case, I traced the figure you do need to have basic knowledge of the
I have open already in Photoshop. In my of the sun using the pen tool and then clicked software. I learned to make selections in
“Applied Techniques for Watercolor “Make selection.” Photoshop in college, but you don’t need to
Illustration” course, I teach you the basics to Next, I moved to the layer that has my study graphic design to be able to do this.
digitalize your watercolors and edit them in metallic texture and clicked “Inverse” to There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube that
Photoshop. delete the entire layer except for the selection show you a simple way of doing these types
You’ll need to create a selection of the figure with the figure of the sun. By doing this, I'm of processes. If you Google “shape selection
you want to replace with the metallic texture. trimming the figure of the sun, but in the in Photoshop” you'll find lots of tutorials if
There are different methods to making a layer with my texture, it’ll cover the old figure you need more help with this step.
selection in Photoshop. You can use the with the new layer with the golden texture in
magic wand to select the shape of the sun.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
5.
And it’s done! Here I’ll make the layer with the
illustration with the new metallic texture
selection visible again on top of the part where
the dimmed sun was. Obviously, it will never
be the same metallic effect on the screen as is
seen in person, but it's a huge improvement
over how it looked in the original scan.
If you want to print your illustrations in a series
while maintaining the metallic effect on
paper, that’s another story. You can speak
with a printer about how to make a selection
to print certain foil details or screen print in a
second printing. Another idea is to print copies
of your art and add metallic details on paper
directly, one by one, and thereby make a
series of prints with touches of hand-done
embellishments. These are just some ideas.
Additional Resources - Ana Victoria Calderón [Link]
6.
And that’s the final illustration! If you live in
Mexico City, these are for sale in Happening
stores. :)
I hope you learned something interesting in
this tutorial! It makes me really happy to see
all of the work you share in the forum for my
course. Thank you very much!
-Ana
