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Watercolor Illustration
Exercises for Beginners
Watercolor allows you to paint atmospheres and bring a
personal approach to any scene. Illustrator Julie Mellan
uses it to create captivating illustrations for children’s
books. She explores color, light, and shadow to paint
images full of personality that have been published by the
likes of Penguin Random House, Clavis, and Fleurus. COURSE DOCUMENT DOWNLOAD:
In this resource, Julie shares three useful resources to help
you get started and hone your technique, including easy
Animal Characters in Watercolor for
exercises for watercolor as well as tips for sketching out Children’s Books
animal anatomy and practicing facial expressions.
A course by Julie Mellan, Illustrator
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DOCUMENT TITLE
WATERCOLOR EXERCISES
Course by Teacher’s name
Course by Julie
Supplemental Mellan
Resources
Animal watercolor illustration for children’s books
SECTION TITLE
Subtitle
PAINT A SOLID COLOR :
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labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Enough Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco
paint
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voluptate velit esse cillum dolore
First, be sureeu
youfugiat nullaenough
prepare pariatur. Excepteur
paint for yoursint occaecat
surface cupidatat
: having too much
non proident, sunt in isculpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."
better that missing in the middle of your paint, because you have to be
quick. You don’t want your surface dries as you’re mixing your colors again
Subtitle because you were run out of paint.
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laudantium, totam rem Fillaperiam,
the lineseaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto
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aut odit aut fugit, sedStart
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the left uppermagni
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of youreos
area,qui ratione
and spread voluptatem sequi
the paint to the right,
nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur,
refill the brush if needed. As your board is tilted, your brush stroke should
adipisci velit, sed quiacreate
non numquam eius modi
a kind of drop in the tempora
down side.incidunt ut labore et dolore
magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.
Go back to the left upper corner, and with your refilled brush, touch this
drop and continue, just below, to the left. And so on, you will paint your
SECTION TITLE area just like you would fill lines of a notebook. When you created your last
« line », and the drop remains, simply absorb this exceed with an emptied
Subtitle brush. And voilà ! here’s a flawless solid color.
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea
commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate
PAINT A SMOOTH GRADIENT :
velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat
cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id
Uselaborum."
est clear water
Subtitle
To paint a smooth gradient, you will blur your color with clear water. Apply
"Sed ut perspiciatis
the color unde omnis
(not too much iste natus
: you don’t neederror sit voluptatem
the drop we’ve seenaccusan-
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with a clean brush, just nexttotam rem
to the aperiam,
next eaquetouching
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it, you
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will put the water and spread it where you want the pigments to merge. sunt explicabo.
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touch the colorquiaand
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stroke with your clean brush and the pigments will run in a smooth voluptatem
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gradient.
sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi
tempora incidunt
You can also ut same
do the laboreprocess
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two different quaerat
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be sure
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your brush is perfectly clean when you make the two zones touch ullameach
corporis
other. suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur?
Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam
nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo volup-
tas nulla pariatur?"
DOMESTIKA.ORG
SupplementalResources
Supplemental Resources- -Teacher’s
Julie Mellan
Name DOMESTIKA.ORG
MEDIUM
ANIMAL
TITLE
ANATOMY
Loremyou
When ipsum dolor
draw an sit amet,
animal character,
consectetur even elit,
adipiscing
ifsed
youdochoose a stylized,
eiusmod tempor
anthropomorphic
incididunt ut laboredesign,
et dolore
you should learn the actual,
magna aliqua. Ut enim ad
realistic anatomy first.
minim veniam, quis nostrud
exercitation ullamco laboris
Learn how to walk before
nisi ut aliquip ex ea
dancing ! Here are the
01. Rigid/dynamic
01. Subtitle 02. 1Subtitle
02. spine, 3 parts
commodo consequat. Duis Think about
Lorem the dolor
ipsum legs, and
sit vary
amet, their Here’s
Lorem anipsum
useful tip:
dolorsketch the spine
sit amet,
basics of animal anatomy. positions. Look how static and first, It will help you to define the
aute irure dolor in consectetur adipiscing elit,how
sed consectetur adipiscing elit, sed
unatural this first fox looks and move, the action (even the mood
reprehenderit in voluptate do eiusmod
a little asymetrytempor incididunt
brings life, instantly. dothe
of eiusmod tempor
character). incididunt
Then divide the
velit esse cillum dolore eu animals in three parts. This way,
ut labore et dolore magna ut labore et dolore magna
it will be easier to find the right
fugiat nulla pariatur. aliqua. aliqua.
proportions and settle, twist the legs
around the shoulders and the hips.
SupplementalResources
Supplemental Resources- -Teacher’s
Julie Mellan
Name DOMESTIKA.ORG
01. All the same
MEDIUM
Actually, all the quadrupeds have
the same bone structure, only
proportions change. Refer to
photographies and compare them.
TITLE
Once you understood how it works,
you can sketch everything, in every
posture.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor
incididunt ut labore et dolore
magna aliqua. Ut enim ad
minim veniam, quis nostrud
01.
exercitation ullamco laboris
nisi ut aliquip ex ea Think volume 01. Subtitle 02.
01. Play
Subtitle
!
commodo consequat.
Sometimes,Duis sketching a kind Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, Likewise, once you know
Lorem ipsumthedolor
bone sit amet,
of box
aute irure dolor in like this can be helpful struture of the real ones, you can
to apprehend your character in
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play with anthropomorphic animals.
reprehenderitvolume,
in voluptate
in the perspective of your do eiusmod tempor incididunt do eiusmod tempor incididunt
velit esse cillum dolore eu
scene. ut labore et dolore magna ut labore et dolore magna
fugiat nulla pariatur. aliqua. aliqua.
SupplementalResources
Supplemental Resources- -Teacher’s
Julie Mellan
Name DOMESTIKA.ORG
LARGE
FACIAL Lorem
labore
ipsum
If you want
characters
to dolor
feelings,
et dolore
sitsomething
express amet, consectetur
so you
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aliqua. toenim
makead
adipiscingyou
in your illustration,
them
elit,will
playveniam,
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their part
do eiusmod
in the
quis
needtempor
to showincididunt
the
mostexercitation
nostrud accurate way,
ut
and so,
ullamco
EXPRESSIONS
TITLE
having nisi
laboris the ut
right facialex
aliquip expression.
ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in
You can use this model sheet as a reference, and practice by sketching several portraits of a
voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
same character, with different expressions: joyful, angry, surprised. Try to define and show a little
bit of its personality with the expressions you will choose.
