I want to recreate this photo with watercolor, where/how do I start?
This comment was posted to reddit on Sep 19, 2015 at 11:29 am and was deleted within 2 minutes.
I want to recreate this photo with watercolor, where/how do I start?
Find your darks....by this point you should be pretty well on your way w a painting, the darks will just then be the icing on the cake....this can be the fun part of painting where the hard work is done and your just popping in all the little simple spots of dark ...just look for the simplest shapes....u probably will find that the edges of the areas blend in with the surrounding tones.....capture this will smooth transitions, soft edges.....
From the beginning really make the effort to capture the edges of the different tones and areas.....keep it simple but pay close attention......think of it metaphorically like only painting a few simple shapes but pay very close attention and care to the quality and look of those shapes......that's kind of an example idea behind it......you'll be surprised how little detail you need to capture a scene with great beauty. Looking at nature and anything for that matter ..with painting is a matter of simplifying ......look at something and find the big general shapes and tones of it....simply it down to its eassentials...what are the big areas? What are the big shadow shapes....how can I distill the scene down to only its essentials ....what makes it look real. Tones ....lightness or darkness of area , are more important than color in creating an image....color can be off if tone is right...but nail both and you should be in good shape. I'd recommend doing a black and white, maybe pencil , value study and simplification study while your at it....5 min max simple small thumbnail sketches of the composition you want...use one tone for each area, sky, desert (background ridge, main area) foreground dark shadow....and do big simple dumb shapes for each ...think like a geometrical drawing .....when u get the composition you want....u can use this little thumbnail as a guide to help u get the tone areas right in relation to each other and give u a guide on how to keep the picture simple. Simplifying can be actually very challenging ...The untrained eye just sees everything and can distill it down...but just think in terms of ....if I had one tone and color to fill an area what would it be? If that Mountain was two tones/colors what would they be..and what general shape would those areas be? Of crse some areas may be more than one or two ....and general as you pass through the 3 steps I mentioned they will get more numerous ......the first light big wash can be just the four areas...the next step you'll break those areas up into smaller fragments of shapes ....you'll find the big simple washes in the beginning cover a large amount of what needs to be done and does a lot of the work for you. Good luck...remember to keep the edge quality of everything form softness to hardness .