February 09, 2021

How To: Watercolour & Pen Relaxing Art

Grab your pen and start doodling!

I've put together a 10 minutes mini course on how to create super relaxing artworks.

The first rule of line work is that there is no rule when it comes to line work.
:)

Seriously, you decide the shapes, you decide the thickness, you decide what materials to use. You decide to use a coloured background or not.
You decide the direction and the density of the lines.
Whether you want to fill the paper or have tons of negative (white) space.

However, if you want to feel more comfortable in drawing some amazing lines, I have few suggestions for you...

Practice your lines

One of the best art advice I ever got was: learn how to draw lines.
I know this might sound silly, because if you can hold a pencil, you can also draw a line, and everybody can do that.
However, if you want to draw perfectly straight lines, you'll have to learn how to hold your pencil, how to move your hand, how to move your arm and shoulder.

If you want to draw circles, you'll have to practice how to draw them.

Move your shoulder

Doesn't matter how you hold your pencil if your arm and shoulder are fixed in stone. A great line is the consequence of a fluid movement that start from your arm, into your elbow, your wrist and your hand.
Sit comfortably and practice fluid movements.

If you are tired - my hand goes numb-ish after an hour of line work but sometimes I'm too in the zone to realise it... - learn how to stop and let the pen go.
You'll come back tomorrow to finish it up. No rush.

When you notice your lines are a bit sloppy, it's time to stop.

Embrace errors

Oh they will happen. Even if you practice a billion of lines. Even if you move your shoulder and your whole arm is in harmony with nature, while planets, the moon and stars are aligned. So, embrace errors and move on.

If you are working with a medium that allows you to delete the line, act fast and delete that bad boy.
If you are working with fast drying mediums... just smile, breath and move on.
And find a way back into your flow.

No judgment, no rush.

Colour combinations

As you'll see in the video, I have selected few colours and created circles with them. It's completely up to you to decide if you want to use circles or any other shape. And again, it's up to you to pick colours.

If you decide to have black lines, I personally suggest to pick colours that will create a bit of contrast, however nothing stops you from creating an all black/dark artwork - who am I to tell you what colours you should pick :)

Great contrast with the black lines are: yellow, pink, orange, light blue and light green. The lighter the colour, the stronger the contrast.

Here below you can also find the list of all the materials I'm using in the video.

PS: My watercolours aren't anything special. Just a random palette I got a long time ago.
If you never painted with watercolours, I suggest for you to get something practical and not too expensive.

Enjoy the mini course!