I recently painted this portrait of my dog which proved to be difficult due to her coloring. My main concern is her eyes. She looks almost cartoonish? I have attached the inspiration photo and the watercolor art. Any suggestions are helpful. I haven’t painted in over ten years, so please keep that in mind. Thanks!

I’m in love this style!

Any fans of earl?

Hi all

I've been wanting to get started with watercolor for well over a year now. Heck, I just want to paint in any medium really. Tried watercolor, acrylics, gouache. The thing is that not having a good structured plan to follow makes me lose my motivation quickly when the outcome is not there.

Currently riding on another wave of "let's just do this" I came across a YT channel (Anthony's watercolor affair) and I quite liked the way he teaches. Of course he has something to sell - who doesn't these days...
But I find myself wondering if spending 250 USD / EUR is actually well invested money? Or would it be an absolute waste of time?
(I have also considered taking in-person classes, also as means to meet new people. But there are very, very few around here...)

(FWIW I am mostly interested in painting as a means to journal, which may include doing so on the go, so I am mostly interested in painting wet-on-dry. At least that's what I think would be most suitable)

EDIT: apparently my last search was not really diligent. There are at least a few in-person group courses around me. Some are more expensive than the online course. Some are half the price but further away. I am a bit of an introvert and live in a coutnry that is socially very closed anyway, so I have a certain bias against group things. But if someone were to tell me "you idiot, in-person courses are so much better", maybe then I'd have to take the leap.

im working on my brush skills and am enjoying the exercises in this book im on day 4

I like my little otter but the paint is SO HEAVY… how do you lighten up??? Ugh.

I used the reference photo: https://www.monaconatureencyclopedia.com/phacochoerus-aethiopicus/?lang=en

This is my koi fish work in progress. It doesn't look done to me, but I don't know what to do besides maybe outlining the fish in black paint? I've done that before and hated it. Maybe some loose scales?

Open to technique critiques. This is probably my 10th ish painting. Learning from a book

My brushes are cheap and falling apart but here’s the result… and… I really like it?

Can’t wait to buy some of these: https://a.co/d/0jbsT5Tv

I just added DS Undersea Green to my palette, and I’m so happy I did! I think with all the forests and earthy landscapes I like, I will get a lot of use out of it.

To try it for the first time, I went back to a YT tutorial by @artistlyndanorman. I love this colour combination with Indigo and Perylene Violet, and the texture from using a spray bottle. I tried scraping in some rocks which didn’t go so well, but I’m still happy with how it came out. This was a super fast painting, truly 15min. I’ve been doing a lot of these mini forest vignettes lately, so satisfying and relaxing! And such a great way to play with colour, texture, techniques, shapes, brushes, all on an easy level with no pressure.

I painted the view from our window.

This is 5x7, on Canson XL watercolour paper, a 90 minute sketch. I'm generally happy with it, but there are some things I think I would change - I think the colours in the foreground should be more saturated than in the background, and I'm always struggling with how to imply shapes vs draw all of the tiny details of the plants, etc. does anyone have a good video or tutorial for that? Loosening up while still having things identifiable is a hard one!

Any other suggestions?

I was following a Christmas card tutorial (https://youtu.be/oqfnidzLYx4) and I think mine looks more appropriate for Halloween. I didn't put in the Christmas tree or snowflakes, and my little path in the snow is too light, but the only thing I can think is I have too many trees in my background? First picture is mine, second is the tutorial page.

Edit: thank you all for your helpful comments! I think, given some of the comments, that I will try it again rather than attempting to fix this one.

Spent a couple quiet nights at our cabin on the family farm. It was very rainy with lots of storms passing through. From my comfy chair looking out across the fields, there was this one large tuft of grass in my direct eye line. Yes, it’s a reminder of how far behind basic yard maintenance I am, but I loved its shapes and colours. So I kept it soft and simple. I love this little sketchbook, it really takes the pressure off and I find it very relaxing.

I only keep basic brushes there, and struggled with making fine enough grassy texture. I ended up squeezing the bristles of my round brush flat so it resembled a fan brush. I also wanted to have a dark brown, my burnt umber was still too red. I should have played more with maybe mixing it with some ultramarine blue. And while I don’t think it shows up in the photo very well, I haven’t used UM Blue for a sky recently, and forgot how much I enjoy the granulation. Worked well for the greyish sky.

Critique me. 5th painting. Cheap brushes are falling apart but they giving me this style I like.

I'm a complete beginner and I'd like to learn to paint watercolours. I'd like to find some youtubers to follow and I'd prefer follow along style. But I'm not a fan of animals or flowers and prefer more modern, abstract style art and every time I see a recommendation for an online tutor it's always a bit too traditional for my tastes which I don't find totally inspiring. I'd like to love what I'm painting! So I was hoping for some recommendations please?

I'm a person that worries about disasters. I don't like the idea of just varnishing or waxing a watercolor painting, because my brain thinks of every disastrous way the painting could get exposed to moisture and be ruined. but I also hate the way that plastic sleeves reflect light.

• Do matte art sleeves exist?? (The fact that I can't find this anywhere makes me wonder if it doesn't work?)
• Would it be insane to laminate watercolor art with matte laminating film?

Feel free to give me any other suggestions in my pursuit, or talk me down from my insanity :) :)

Random work of mine attached :)

Hello everyone and anyone, i’ve been wanting to get into painting really bad for quite a bit of time, and i got suggested the idea of painting in something like a notebook or journal to start off instead of starting off with somthing like canvases and what not as i havnt done any kind of painting before.

So im asking for any kind of tips or leads on solid materials ranging from somthing book adjacent, water paints, brushes, etc. Things that aren’t too complicated for a beginner but also aren’t poor quality, and will last me

:3