Artistic Watercolor Techniques for Illustrating Birds

Artistic watercolor painting is synonymous with freedom and spontaneity. Some of the most interesting results are achieved by simply going with the flow of the paint and seeing where it takes you. Whether you are a complete beginner or a master of watercolor, there is always something new to discover with every illustration.

Sarah Stokes is a self-taught wildlife artist who translates her passions for creating art and being close to nature into expressive watercolor compositions. Her work can be found in UK galleries like Whitewall Galleries and Clarendon Fine Art, as well as others around the world.

In this course, Sarah guides you through her step-by-step watercolor process for creating an expressive wildlife composition using modern watercolor painting techniques. Start from the basics, explore artistic brushstrokes as you learn how to paint birds, and bring expressive wildlife compositions to life.

Get to know your teacher Sarah Stokes, who tells you how she became a full-time gallery artist and introduces you to the work of some artists and photographers that inspire her work. She also introduces the materials and covers the best paint for watercolor compositions.

Begin with some theory on tonal values and see why it’s so important to get them right. Do your first bird drawing in graphite, ensuring the dark, light, and mid-tones are correctly applied. Then, Sarah goes through some color theory, starting with how to mix and use watercolors effectively. Learn how warm and cold colors play their part in a composition, and create color palettes using both saturated and desaturated hues.

In the next unit, learn to master watercolor properties such as pigment control, timing, wetness, and more, to obtain the results you want. Practice a variety of expressive brushstrokes and mark-making techniques before painting your first watercolor bird using just one color.

Now it’s time to embark on a colorful journey of painting birds in watercolor. See where to get the ideal photo references and work on them digitally to get them “paint-ready”. Use practical aspects like branch shapes, negative space, and color to tell a story through your composition.

Finally, use gel pens to finish your composition and add paint splashes and drips to complete your piece. Sarah finishes the course by sharing some ideas for taking your concept further and developing a series.

Create a watercolor illustration of birds perched on a branch using modern techniques.

This course is for anyone interested in learning how to paint birds in watercolor or would like to expand their knowledge in watercolor techniques.

This course is great for anyone who is a beginner in watercolor painting since Sarah begins with the basics. However, this course is also suitable for experienced painters who want to expand their illustration abilities with watercolor techniques.

As for materials, you need good quality watercolor paper (preferably 635 gsm), watercolor paints, a range of brushes, graphic black pens, and a white gel pen, white gouache or acrylic, tracing paper, kitchen roll, water pots, scrap watercolor paper for testing, a hole punch for tonal value guide, photo paper and a printer, a ruler, a pencil, and an eraser.