5
Transfer the dragons to illustration board
Using a red Col-Erase pencil (so I can see where
I’ve drawn), I tape the print on to the board and draw
over the sketch. This transfers the graphite to the board.
I remove any excess powder with an eraser.
8
Paint in over the pencil lines
At this point I don’t want to lose the lines from the transferred drawing. So
using a fine brush (size 3) I go over the whole painting with a dark red. I will paint
over this later on in the process.6
Mix your paints and start initial wash
Because the yellow won’t interact in a negative
way with my dragons I start with this colour first. I wet the
board and then start to roughly dab down the gold.
There’s no need to be too careful at this point; however,
I did still avoid painting over the dragons.7
Blocking out each area individually
Because red watercolour pigment is so fickle (the
kind that I use tends not to stay fixed to the board and
will re-wet easily), I carefully block in a watered-down red,
starting from the top dragon and working down.
ARTIST INSIGHT
USE REFERENCE!
Dragons may be
imaginary creatures,
but to make them feel
more believable, do lots
of research into bat
wings, lizards, birds...
anything that might
help make your dragon
feel like it could be a
living creature.PAPER
TIP
COLD OR HOT
PRESS PAPER?
For any image which will
have a lot of detail,
choose hot press
(smooth) surfaces
to paint on.In depth Embrace watercolours