This has to be the easiest watercolor tutorial I’ve done till date. Although it looks all dainty and ethereal, the process is super simple. All this requires is some knowledge in blending.Learn to create a beautiful watercolor moon in today’s tutorial.
I really should have done a video on these moons because it’s so beautiful to see how water makes the paint dance. I blame the lack of proper video equipment coupled with the shortage of time. Well hopefully by the end of this year, investing in one super amazing camera that has video capturing properties is on my wish-list!
If you’re unsure about blending techniques in watercolor, please refer to the link below and come back. The post has chock full of information of different wet on wet techniques. You’ll love it!
WATERCOLOR BLENDING TECHNIQUES
You may also want to check my “Learn watercolors” series if you’re a newbie or if you just love figuring out fun, new techniques in watercolor.
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Materials required for DIY watercolor moon:-
- Watercolor paints- I love my Sennelier watercolor pan set
- Watercolor brush- I’ve used the Neptune quill brush in no.4 here
- Watercolor paper
- Finetec pearl colors
1.Single color watercolor moon
The whole idea is to paint-dab, paint-dab and then keep repeating the process until you’re happy. Breaking it down, draw a circle first. Paint a really light wash in the color of your choice. I love Payne’s Grey and I think it’s a great color for moons. While the paint is still wet, dab more color at random places. Remember that watercolor usually dries light, so go strong on the pigment.
Continue adding more paints by dabbing until you’re happy with the way it looks. Don’t worry about paint pooling or blooms forming because all this becomes part of the illustration. I waited for the paint to dry so that I can add specks of gold later.
2.Two-tone watercolor moon
This follows the same principle as above, the only difference is the usage of two different colors. I used similar, warm shades of red and brown. For this watercolor moon, first lay down a wash of clear water.Dab a few spots of red and allow it to blend on it’s own.You’ll notice that it moves outwards which is what you’ll want.
Dab a few specks of brown and let it blend on its own as well. You’ll see that in this watercolor moon, the color is more concentrated on the centre and washed down on the outside. Similarly as above, I waited for the paint to dry so that I could add a few specks of silver.
I used Finetec pearl colors for the dots on the moons. Although not visible here, the sun makes it shine beautifully. You can skip this step and leave the moons without it. It looks great either way.
What do you think?
I hope this tutorial was super simple to follow and I hope you try this out. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below. For those of you who love sharing on Instagram, tag me with #makeinkstruck and I’d love to have a peek. thanks once again for stopping by! You rock! x
They turned out great! I love the idea of pearl colored dots to give it a shine and highlight. 🙂
Thanks so much. Sparkles make everything awesome don’t they?
Zakkiya, your moons are absolutely stunning and your tutorials are fantastic, even without video! I am so grateful that you take your precious time to teach those of us who love watercolor as well as your works!! Hope you are having a most beautiful day! Your moons made my day!!???
Thank you so much Deborah. What an absolutely wonderful comment. I’m extremely grateful that you find my posts interesting and more importantly learning from them. I can’t even begin to to say how much this comment means to me. Thanks once again
So pretty, thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much Ann! I hope you have painting moons too ?