Today I’m pulling out my sketchbook and let’s paint a lemon with watercolors together!
I love painting relaxing watercolor pages, and if you do too, check out these previous tutorials as well – How to Paint Beautiful Tulips in Watercolor, Watercolor Organic Patterns and Watercolor Salt Technique: Easy Interesting Texture!
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SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED:
- Watercolors or Watercolor Markers: I am using Tombow Dual brush pens, just the 10 colors that come in the Tombow Citrus pack. The exact colors you will need are 055, 133, 173, 245, 725, 885, 925, 933, 947, 977.
- Watercolor sketchbook: I’m using Canson Mixed Media sketchbook today.
- Paintbrushes: A round no 6 paintbrush
- Water
How to Paint a Lemon Background VIDEO:
Enjoy the Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwEDJSdncxW/
HOW TO PAINT a LEMON TUTORIAL:
Step 1: Start with a rough pencil sketch. My pencil sketch is drawn with a mechanical pencil. This is totally optional but very helpful. You can easily erase and reposition elements.
Step 2: Add the Brush pen color directly onto the paper and then quickly paint over it with a wet paintbrush. These pens are water-based and blend nicely to create a soft watercolor look. But you want to make sure to use the right paper- this is a Canson Mixed-Media sketchbook. You will also want to work in small areas. Like one small flower at a time or a few leaves at a time to avoid the marker drying on the paper.
ALSO READ: 20+ Incredible Ways How to Use Watercolor Markers
When you paint a lemon- always use a yellow and a darker tone like an orange or ochre.
Step 3: Repeat the same two steps over and over again- add the marker color onto the paper then use your wet paintbrush to drag that color out to form a loose petal shape or leaf. Once you get the hang of it, this technique is so much fun! You will want to paint more and more.
Step 4: Once your sketch has COMPLETELY dried, you can go in and erase the pencil marks remaining on the paper with a MONO eraser of choice.
How to paint a lemon TIPS:
- If you are not using the Tombow Citrus pack, try limiting yourself to just a handful of colors. I find that by limiting my color choices I push my creativity.
- Start your painting session by creating a quick color swatch of the markers you plan to use. This a great way to learn how your colors will mix. You might find this previous post of mine useful: Tombow Dual brush pen color chart with all 108 colors
- To create a loose and messy watercolor look, hold your paintbrush loosely between your fingers while painting. Do not grip it tightly like a marker or pen.
- To prevent color bleeds, leave a tiny white gap between your elements- like the lemon, flower, leaves, etc
More Painting Tutorials to Try:
- How to Paint Beautiful Tulips in Watercolor
- How to Paint Galaxy Watercolor Bookmarks
- Tape resist painting: 3 easy examples with VIDEO
Hi I’m Smitha! I live in Minnesota with my husband and two daughters. You’ll always find me painting florals in my sketchbook. And I love the sheer joy of making something with just my hands! But my bigger love is capturing it all on camera Read more.
Thanks for stopping by today! If you learnt something from this tutorial, do share this post with a friend or on social media! Tag me @smithakatti #smithakatti I’d love to see what you create!