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Digital Watercolor?!

Author: Roger Elliot, Associate Editor

Now, I have used the smudge tool with the "Finger Painting" box activated to make both a light side and a dark side to the mountain. Notice that there are things happening in this mountain. Don't just settle for tossing some white on one side and pulling it down!

Here is a closer view of the mountain. Note that I have added some lighter blue into the dark side to allow for some reflected light. I also added some darker blue here and there. Also, look at the bump marked "Mistake". My mouse slipped off the mouse pad and it gave me this mistake. Be alert for these mistakes and analyze them before you jump right in to correction. In this case, it looks like a mountain in the distance. I MAY use it! Sometimes mistakes can be quite happy things, especially in landscapes.

On the side of the mountain facing the light source, I have used some white but have been careful to allow some of the dark to show through. There was a "natural hump" in the face of this mountain so I have accentuated it. Use all of your creative skills. I have now added another mountain. I want it to recede (go into the distance) so I make it smaller and less detailed.

Look over to the right again; Here is a little secret that artists are reluctant to tell you! (We hold nothing back here at Wetcanvas.) :-) Subtle as it may be you may notice that there is a small area of light between the two mountains. This "lightness" creates warmth and helps to separate and add the feeling of distance! Oh yes, and by the way, my little "mistake" looks quite nice setting back there, guess I'll keep it! I should add here that I have grabbed the dark of the first mountain with the smudge tool, and pulled it in front of the other one. I know that it is very subtle but if you look closely at the area just below the red line you will see that I have added just a touch of light blue to that little hump in the mountain. It is these little, subtle things that make out work look more acceptable!

I have added a third and fourth mountain. You may need to strain to see the distant one but as we say here in West Virginia; "There's one way through yonder"! :-) Again, I have put in some light between the mountains for warmth and distance! Not much detail at all in these mountains. We want to keep the feeling of distance!

Here I have laid in a field around the mountains. It may be difficult to see but I have used a very light yellow-green for the distance and allowed it to get darker as I come forward. Remember, we are working with the paintbrush tool with the "Wet Edge" box checked which means that just as with watercolor, we can apply several layers until we get the desired effect. Here is a special tip; If you get an area darker than you had intended you can use the "Dodge Tool" to lighten it up! You will find the dodge tool in your box of tools to the left of the program. Move it over an area you wish to lighten and click. There, you have it!

Here I have laid in the grass and started my "Road to Nowhere". Again, I keep the distant grass light and make it darker as I come forward. I am purposely keeping the grass quite light as I know that I can revisit it later. Better to change it to darker than the opposite! I have drawn the road into the mountains as I want to encourage the viewer to go for a ride down the road and have a look at my mountains!

Well!! Talk about spending way too much time on one aspect of a painting!! I decided to throw in a country church to add some composition to an otherwise bland offering. I made some startling discoveries! Drawing with the mouse is VERY difficult! Finally, I have arrived at this stage and while the church is less accurate than I would like, I have spent so much time attempting to get it correct that I feel the need to move on! Guess I will need more practice at "mouse drawing".

After "fooling" with this for a couple of hours I came to a point where I knew that it was one of those paintings that just wasn't going to do what I had intended!! The artist in me wanted to delete the whole thing and start over! However, the teacher in me wanted to let you know that no matter how long you do this sort of thing, there will always be times when things don't work for you the way you had wished! Besides, we did learn about the clouds and the mountains and hopefully, we had some fun along the way. Here I simply added the evergreen tree to the left and cropped the painting to stop right here! I fear that this is a poor example but I want those of you who may be new to painting to understand that any of us can let a painting get out of hand. Don't be discouraged! There are only two kinds of artists out there; those who often make mistakes and those who lie about it!  :-)

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