How to Watercolor Leaves - My playful realistic leaf style

You may have noticed a shift in my watercolor style this year. It’s been a long process, but this was actually the first painting where I felt like I finally “got it”. Like, my brain and my brushes finally connected and created a mix between realistic and illustrative that I find both challenging and exciting. While a watercolor pear is generally outside of my work focus, it was fun to create something a little different and step away from the added pressure of making sense of a ton of petals!

The watercolor leaves in this piece is where I really had a chance to play and explore—and they are definitely my favorite part of the entire illustration! I love the color play and the way that I can show off watercolor techniques in their simple shapes.

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This style is actually similar to my colored pencil style. Before taking on watercolors, I was pretty exclusively a colored pencil artist and loved it! But it’s a little more time consuming and when I developed “mother’s thumb” after my son was born, I had to quit drawing all together for 6-12 months (hello, PPD trigger!). I leaned heavily on watercolor as a creative outlet, which was easier on my wrist, but I was never happy with the style. I should have known that mimicking my colored pencil style was the answer!
It’s definitely a different application process than colored pencil (almost the opposite! Which kind of hurts my brain) which has been tricky to figure out, but I’m excited for the journey!⠀

Watercolor Leaves Video Tutorial:

Supplies:*

Paper: Strathmore 300
Large Palette: https://amzn.to/2NMsJZD
Watercolor brushes: (round, size 4 & 6) https://amzn.to/2vU9gzF

Top: (right to left)

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Off Screen:

Ivory Black: https://amzn.to/39rOCEG
Hematite Genuine (warm black): https://amzn.to/2WNGKe2
Chinese White: https://amzn.to/3bwRt0B

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