Illustrated Portrait in Watercolor (Spanish, Multisub)

Learn to combine traditional techniques and digital retouching with Photoshop
In this course, illustrator and artist Ana Santos will teach you the technique she uses to create her wonderful illustrated watercolor portraits, step by step. Ana enjoys the immediacy of watercolors, the spontaneity of results, and how easy it is to mix it with other materials or for mixed techniques.

In this course, discover her methodology, both analog and digital, which she usually combines in her compositions. Using a photograph as the starting point, she will teach you to immortalize expressive looks, melancholic gestures, and how to add organic or imaginative motifs to enrich your design and give it an original look.

This course is complementary to Experimental Watercolor Techniques for Beginners, also by Ana Santos, in which you can learn to paint with watercolors from scratch and that mistakes can sometimes be the perfect ally.

What will you learn in this online course?
Start by getting to know Ana Santos’ work and her commercial projects, but above all, her personal work. Plus, she’ll tell you how she got into the world of illustration and show you some of her influences.

Then you’ll learn to create a mood board, which will help you to collect the visual inspiration for your projects. She’ll also tell you about the materials you need to immerse yourself in the world of watercolor illustration.

Ana will teach and guide you through exercises related to the concepts of scale and proportion when drawing. Learn basic watercolor techniques like wet on wet, dry on dry, gouache, and more.
To make your illustrated watercolor portrait, you’ll use a photograph as your starting point. Trace and draw to start applying the first layers of watercolor and continue applying new layers of paint to add volume.

Once the watercolor is dry, you’ll use dry techniques like colored pencils, graphite, markers, and more. Ana will give you some tips and tricks to highlight the important details with a hint of light.

You’ll learn to use watercolors to create textures and create organic motifs that will add a special touch and enrich your illustrations. Ana also suggests choosing a co-star for your illustrated portrait and explains how to integrate it into your design.

Finally, you’ll import all the elements to Photoshop, where you’ll make the final composition and add the finishing touches.

What is this course’s project?
Create an illustrated portrait combining an analog watercolor process with digital methods to add the finishing touches.

Who is this online course for?
Artists, illustrators, designers, and art lovers in general looking for new ways to create illustrated portraits combining mixed techniques.

Requirements and materials
You’ll need basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and knowledge of drawing will also be helpful, although not essential, as you’ll use a photograph to create your illustrated portrait in this project.

Regarding materials, for the analog part of the course, you’ll need watercolor paper of different grades, brushes of various sizes, watercolors, white paint, graphite, colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, and an eraser. For the digital process, you’ll use a computer, a scanner, and work with a graphics tablet ideally.