Item List

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This time we will take up, perhaps, the most beautiful subject for fine art - a ballerina. And as usual, we will decompose this very difficult project into simple steps. Moreover, we will limit ourselves to only four colors.What is even more interesting - the jury included artists who rightfully occupy leading positions in the world of figure paitning.

A complex, slightly autumnal still life. We need to organize our sheet correctly and choose the right colors to convey the sunny atmosphere of this still life.

The workshop took place on June, 26th 2021.
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Here is a video recording, overall, the workshop was 4 hours long.
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You can also see the reference photo and my finished watercolor below.
Subject: A Rocky Shore of New Zealand
Language: English

From this lesson begins the basic watercolor course of Michael Solovyev. You will learn the first two of the basic watercolor techniques: Wash and Lifting (or washout) on dry paper.
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In addition to simple washing, you will learn what multilayer wash is. But most importantly, you will learn the first Watercolor Golden Rules.
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Of course, throughout the lesson, Michael will share his personal tips - namely, personal experience and secrets that make his lessons and masterclasses so popular.

In the second lesson of the course we continue to study the basic techniques of watercolor. In this lesson, you will get acquainted with the soul of watercolor - wet on wet. Without a doubt, this is the most important technique. Michael will return to it several more times in other video tutorials, telling about its tricks and features. Lifting on the wet paper is another technique that will bring a lot of light to your watercolors, allowing you to gently remove pigments.
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The third part of the lesson is devoted to the Dry Brush technique - the very technique that gives so much vividness and spontaneity to watercolor paintings. And, as always, you can count on a lot of tips and secrets of the master.

In this lesson we will talk about colors. We will go through basic principles of color matching and rules for working with light and shadow.

We will analyze:
- the simplest color mix for sketching
- what colors are good for painting black skin and features of color mixtures
- selection of paints for painting white skin of children

And of course, it will all come with personal advice from the master.

I recommend that you start learning about watercolor portraits with this tutorial. Here we will talk about the ground rules that we almost always use.

Where to start when building a head in space? What is the logic to follow when choosing colors and what stages should you split the project into? Michael will, of course, share his own experience and tips - after all, this is what makes his courses so popular.

We will learn the fundamentals of the constructive head drawing. We are going to figure out which tools to use to capture complex head angles. I will demonstrate simple ways to express a complex shape in space and show what to look for in order to make a competent construction.
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It is a step-by-step project. Where to start? How to structure the work correctly?
Together, incrementally, we will make a complex detailed portrait project.

When there is only one subject on our paper (in this case a portrait) we need to find the best way to create the right background for our subject. What are the rules to follow? What tasks does a well-constructed background help to solve? How to add an emotional component to our project? In this course, we will take a closer look at the options for building a background. And, of course, we will practice hourly painting portraits in different combinations to test our theory in practice.

One of the most important decisions you need to make before starting work is how to build your palette in relation to a specific project. What base mixes to use, and how to create a harmonious set of colors. A well-chosen palette helps to add emotionality and balance to our watercolor. Using the example of the cityscape, we will analyze the methodology for approaching the project and... of course, we will paint the completed artwork step by step. And even... two.

Dry brush is one of the most important techniques for me. But I don't use it in the usual way... In this course, I will not only share the rules and work with a dry brush, but I will also make a finished artwork using only this technique. We will go to Girona, Spain.