Watercolor Pencil Leaves: Preclass

Before we start…a little housekeeping

I retain the copyright to the content you are learning in class. That means…

1. Do not sell or give away the concepts from my classes – you may not re-teach my instruction contained or created within these lessons.
2. Do not post a video tutorial or step by step photo tutorial of your own redraw of class content.
3. Do not repost any handouts you receive in class.

However…I love to see students making strides and taking this teaching and personalizing it with your own skills.

1. DO make your own designs and develop your own style! I love that!
2. DO gift your creations made with these techniques, of course!

At the bottom of each lesson you’ll see some ways to share your homework and ask questions, so that’ll be handy for you.

There’s a few things to get yourself ready, so let’s get rolling:

Collect leaves

Head outside, whether you’ve got colored leaves around or not…you can definitely use year-round greens to create the art we’ll make. But if you’re out, take a friend with you to pick out the BESTEST leaves, as my pal did here.

You can press them in books if you like; flatter they work a little better, but as long as the leaves aren’t super curly they may still work! If you don’t have old fashioned phone books like back when I was a child, put them in between newsprint and lay a stack of books on top.

Supplies

Paper: You can use fancy watercolor paper or something cheaper, with these techniques, you just want paper that won’t curl a lot. A mixed media paper is okay as long as it says you can use water media on it. Here’s some I recommend and a few places to order it.

1.  Canson XL – be sure it’s their watercolor paper, not the lightweight mixed media kind that has the same cover
   1. BLICK
   2. AMZ
   3. JACKSONS – this is spiral but should be the same paper
2. Arches Cold press 9×12 pad (natural white)
   1. BLICK
   2. AMZ
   3. JACKSONS

Watercolor Pencils:  Most any brand should work, but note that if you use a really inexpensive child’s brand you may need to use more color – or it might just give weaker results overall. Higher quality pencils will put out more pigment.

My favorite brands:

1. Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Pencils
   1. BLICK 
   2. AMZ 
   3. JACKSONS 
2. Caran d’Ache Supracolor Watercolor pencils
   1. BLICK 
   2. AMZ 
   3. JACKSONS 
3. Derwent Inktense pencils (technically ink; they dry permanent)
   1. BLICK 
   2. AMZ 
   3. JACKSONS 

Brushes: use your favorites whatever the brand! Here are some inexpensive recommendations:

1. Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8
   1. BLICK
   2. AMZ
   3. JACKSONS
2. Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #4
   1. BLICK
   2. AMZ
   3. JACKSONS

Powder-maker! We’ll be making watercolor powder from pencils, and you can do that from a tiny tea strainer, any grate that has a VERY tiny mesh, sandpaper (try different grits to see which gives the best result) 0r my favorite – nail files!