Current mood:	lazy
Entry tags:	acorn fairy, digital art, tutorial, watercolor

Acorn Fairy Tutorial
Not that I should be writing any tutorials by now, since I'm still new to all of this, but I wanted to show you my artwork in the creative process so here you go!



First, I chose this image from my sketch book. One of the best places I get my ideas on a smaller scale.


Then I make the rough sketch, bringing in other details like the tree, changing the wings, on 4 x 6 watercolor paper using a 3H pencil.


First, I masked out the fairy and the tree preparing to work on the background. I alternated painting Viridian Hue (green) and Mauve, letting the colors bleed into each other. With each color section, I sprinkled on salt before it dried.


I alternate burnt sienna and burnt umber for the tree and acorns. I use viridian hue for the pants, and sap green with a little yellow for her shirt/shoes. I mixed chinese white into the burnt sienna/umber mix to create skin color (not shown) and darkened that mixture up to use on the bag. The wings were outlined with the same colors of the background, making sure I used a tinted green/brown mixture to show the tree behind her wings. After the tree was finished, I began outlining it with a waterproof sepia ink pen. (poor lighting for this photo)


The painting is complete once I finished outlining the fairy with sepia ink and added the details. However, some of the paint did not blend as well as I had hoped, along with some jagged outlining that I wasn't happy with. Her wings also needed a glowy touch. I decided to upload her into my digital art program and give her those final touches.


Using my digital art program, I added glowing highlights to the acorns and her wings using an airbrush technique. I also blended her pants and skin using the airbrush. I was able to right click using the color selection tool to automatically get the exact color match for anywhere on the painting! I used an embossing tool for the wavy pattern in her wings and a special effect sparkling trail.

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial!