Illustrating your imagination is one of the first arts you learn to express. Handling pencils, brushes, and paints is often also a form of entertainment. Every child, for example, loves to bring their dreams to life with paper and crayons. It is a great pastime that sharpens creativity and trains the brain.
But there are many techniques and many styles that, over time, you can discover and make your own. Color is, together with the light from which it is generated, the vital soul of our world. These act on the person, turning into energy, radiations that positively and negatively influence mood, feelings, and behavior. Colors have always been used, and there are various techniques to represent them. The watercolors are colors capable of recreating special pictorial effects.
By learning to use them to the fullest, you can create true works of art. But you can get the benefits of watercolors by using some “special” pastels. These are precisely the watercolor pastels, which can be opaque and transparent. Pastels consist of a part of powdered color mixed with a minimal binder. They are also unclear and shiny. So make sure you have everything you need and get started. In the following guide, I will explain how to use oil pastels with water.
How to use oil pastels with water
You will need:
- Watercolor pastels of various colors
- Water
- Brushes
- Drawing paper
- Pencil
- Rubber bread
Prepare the base
The first thing you need to do is to prepare the base. Ordinary watercolors are usually commercially available on palettes. Each color has its small compartment, similar to an eyeshadow case. Dilute the stains with water and a brush and then paint on paper. With watercolor pastels, on the other hand, you can color your drawing before diluting the color. Their use is identical to ordinary pastels, but you can give the work the classic watercolor style. The advantage lies in defining the color’s diffusion in advance without risking making mistakes in doses and mixtures. To begin, draw your chosen subject on paper with a pencil. A draft without precise details will suffice. For example, if you need to remove an apple or a vase with flowers, lightly trace the lines and shapes.
Coloring the drawing
At this point, you can proceed to color the drawing. Before using the crayons, take another sheet. Draw and fill a square with each color you intend to use. Dampen a brush in water and pass it on the sheet. In this way, you will check the performance of each tone. Now you know how the colors will look when we dilute them with water. You can overlap the shades to get other mixed shades and check their suitability. First of all, use either the base color on our drawing. If you intend to make a red apple, use an orange or a red that is not too intense. The base layer should be flat, free of shadows.
Complete the drawing
Finally, you can complete the drawing. Then intensify the first layer by adding a deeper note of red or orange. You can therefore create shady areas with darker tones. To achieve this effect, use lighter watercolor pastels for the brighter areas of the subject. A veil of black can intensify the most vital shadows. White and yellow pastels (again in the apple case) will be used for the light points. Once this is done, wet a brush and fluidize the drawing. Start with a bit of water and add only if necessary. By soaking the tip of the pastels, you can define the edges while maintaining the fluidized effect. Your watercolor pastel artwork is complete. These pastels are also suitable for making backgrounds and detailing profiles.
Eleena Timmons