HomePosts Tagged "watercolor" (Page 8)

watercolor Tag

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted a watercolor tutorial! If you’ve been here for some time, you know we can’t have that 😉 This week I want to share how to create a custom watercolor photoshop brush! Having a watercolor photoshop brush in your brush library is super handy for two reasons: #1 you don’t have to file > place large textures or search for them on your computer, and #2 it keeps file sizes smaller. These are really quick to create and can be huge time savers. See the full tutorial below!

Somehow, it’s already the last Thursday in December, which means it’s time for your free January 2017 desktop wallpapers! This month’s wallpaper was created with FineTec watercolors using a small Pentel waterbrush on Astrobrights (Eclipse Black) cardstock. It was then photographed with a DSLR by Spence and brought into Photoshop where he adjusted color + vibrancies. After that, I resized the artwork and added dates within Photoshop, making it ready for use. So, this little guy is a labor of true wallpaper love 🙂  The download includes the wallpapers in two common resolutions: 1280x1024px and 1920x1080px, with and without dates. I’ve left the year off of the ‘no-dates’ versions, so you can use it for any January in the future, too!

One of my favorite parts about this year was experimenting with more art supplies than I ever have before. I definitely didn’t love everything I tried, but I do have a list of favorite art supplies from 2016. I thought it would be nice to compile them this week into one nice, review-like list. If you’re looking to try some new ones in 2017, I hope this will help with the decision making. Reading actual (unbiased) user reviews is always so helpful for me, so that’s exactly what I wanted to offer. See the full list below!

Since Procreate’s latest update is less than a month old, it’s time for a new iPad lettering tutorial! If you checked out my iPad Lettering class from a couple versions earlier, you saw how fun it is to work with Procreate textures. One texture works wonderfully, but things can get a little trickier when you want to get other textures involved. In this week’s tutorial, I’m sharing one quick trick that makes introducing other textures super simple. In this tutorial, we’ll use a foil and watercolor texture, plus add a little holiday flair for good measure 🙂 Read on to see how!

Happy almost Thanksgiving! (here in the states, anyway 🙂 ) Since we’re hitting the end of November, it’s time for your free December 2016 desktop wallpapers! This month’s wallpaper pattern design was originally created with concentrated watercolors and a no.1 round brush on Canson 140# cold press watercolor paper. It was then scanned into the computer where final touches, recoloring and dates were added in Photoshop. The download includes the wallpapers in two common resoutions: 1280x1024px and 1920x1080px, with and without dates. I’ve left the year off of the ‘no-dates’ versions, so you can use it for any December in the future, too!

With the launch week of Brush Lettering with Watercolor coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to tie colorful letters into a quick tip design tutorial. And what better way to talk about type anatomy than getting colorful with it? 🙂 This is actually kind of perfect for hand letterers and graphic designers alike. For hand letterers, an intimate understanding of letterforms is essential, keeping qualities consistent for balanced, harmonious styles. For graphic designers, understanding style pairings and their character traits creates more strategic, thoughtful designs.

Over my (almost) 10 year career as a graphic designer, there’s definitely a short list of type characteristics that serve as an excellent base if you’re just starting. In this week’s video, I walk you through those base type anatomy qualities, with full descriptions throughout the video. Download the free cheat sheet below to reference later!

In Tuesday’s post when I introduced my newest course, Brush Lettering with Watercolor, I mentioned that when I started brush lettering with watercolor, it was the first time I had ever used watercolor. This is actually kind of awesome for two reasons:

#1 Since I had no idea what kind or brand of watercolor was best for lettering, I experimented with everything.
#2 If you want to brush letter with watercolor and you’ve never used watercolors before, I’m an example that is 100% ok!

Throughout all of my experimentation, I learned what the 3 best watercolor types are for brush lettering. These are watercolors that blend nicely together, are flexible for being creative and all behave in different ways compared to one another. Yay, options! Read on for examples, my favorite brands, plus links and reviews!

Today is one of the biggest days to date on Every-Tuesday. Our very first long-form, self hosted course (only available on every-tuesday) is officially open today, titled Brush Lettering with Watercolor!

Two years ago, I decided to go all-in with my brush lettering. I tried (what felt like) every supply out there, watched demos, looked at inspiration, read books, you name it. My lettering was improving very slowly, and I experienced a lot of frustration. A lot of overwhelm. A lot of second guessing. It felt like I was doing everything right, but my outcomes just didn’t feel like they were quite there. I started implementing a few new techniques and that’s when things really took a turn for me. I remember the night it finally came together so well, like I had cracked a special code.

On Tuesday, we created extra unique watercolor textures using 3 simple and creative tricks. There’s something about the way colors blend together with water that’s kind of magical. One of my favorite indulgences is searching out abstract, beautifully colored textures and seeing how I can put my own spin on them. To keep those eye candy textures better organized, I’ve even started this pinterest board, too. In a follow up to Tuesday’s tutorial, I wanted to share 8 inspiring watercolor textures to light that extra spark if you needed a creative boost today 😉 I know there’s never a bad day to feast my eyes on these!

If you’ve been here for any length of time, then you know I  have a slight obsession with watercolor. Part of it is mixing beautiful color combinations together, and another is creating abstract and unique textures. Creating unique textures allows you to then use them in designs, producing an outcome no other person is capable of replicating – ever. And that makes everything even more special. As you might imagine, I’ve spent many hours experimenting with watercolors and this week I want to let you in on 3 simple tricks to create unique watercolor textures of your own. It doesn’t matter which kind of watercolors you have on hand, either – these tricks will work with em all 😉

Today’s the last Thursday in September, so it’s time for your free October 2016 desktop wallpapers! This month’s wallpaper was hand lettered with the super-fun-to-play-with FineTec metallic watercolors. The paper is Neenah Astrobrights Eclipse Black, which actually holds up perfectly with the metallics. FineTecs are naturally on the thicker side, so they sit right on top of cardstock like they were meant to be together 🙂 . This download includes the wallpapers in two common resolutions: 1280x1024px and 1920x1080px, with and without dates. I’ve left ‘2016’ off of the ‘no-dates’ jpgs, so you can use this for any October in the future, too!

If you’re an Every-Tuesday subscriber, then you already received this brush lettering with watercolor supply list in your inboxes yesterday 🙂 It’s too useful of a resource not to share, so I wanted to also bring it into the blog this week. Having the right supplies can be a serious road block when you’re just getting started, and a costly one at that. After going through my fair share of supply testing (and cash), I’ve compiled a list of my absolute favorites. For those on a budget, or if you’re not sure if this is for you, I’ve also included a separate list of comparable, lower priced items 😉 My newest master course, Brush Lettering with Watercolor is now open if you’d like to put these supplies to use!

GDPR Icon

Your Privacy Matters

We use cookies to customize and create content that’s most important to you. We’ll never share the info we collect.

View Privacy Policy