I know many of you wondering what tools I use, what paper and what watercolors.... well, this is definately not a secret :)

First of all my very old mechanical pencil and not the less old eraser :) yep, they both looks like from the museum but you probably getting so used to your tools that you dont want to change them. They are like those cozy full with holes home shoes LOL

For the "finish" lines and accents I mostly use different pigment liners of Staedtler or Artline - mostly from 0.05 till 0.7

Now about the paper....this is just two kinds that I had recently on my shelf. I use much more variations but I like my paper to be THICK! yep, 250-300gr. I dont like it too wavy or to texturised - and too thin paper mostly not very good. Cold pressed watercolor paper is mostly what I looking for.

Now brushes - and brushes ARE IMPORTANT for me. Its probably like a scissors for a barber, I dont mind so much about shampoo (watercolor) but I do care very much about my brushes. And they need to be good. I use mostly Talens, Van Gogh and Cirrus.

This is my thicker brushes that I use for the backgrounds, bigger paintings and so on.

And this is my favorite very thin brushes from 000 and up.

And this is finally my watercolors. Yes, the most simple watercolors of Talens - Transparent and Opaque. Once in awhile I will also use tubed watercolors from whatever company I have close by LOL.... you see, I am very simple - and once again - your painting will be good NOT BECAUSE you have a best brushes, paper, watercolor and so on.... but BECAUSE you was stubborn enough and was practicising EVERY day. Good luck! :)

And now is a wonderful example of background that can be used to create "underwater" feeling to your painting or anemon type of reaction. You will need 4 different watercolors, big salt, pincet and of course water.

We will start with covering our working area with light green, yellow and red.

We will let it completely dry and prepare dark brown color for the next step.

Now we will cover our dry area with dark brown and will keep our working area completely wet.

We will be placing wet pieces of salt with pincet on the working area. I know it can be a long and difficult work but believe me result really worth it.

Yes you simply take piece of salt, dip it in the water and place it over the working area. And here you can see my favorite old dirty water cup LOL

After we placed all the salt and covered all the area we will let it dry completely.

Now we brushing the salt off and we have a gorgeous "anemon" type background :)

I know I know...sometimes it can be so incredibly helpful when you can created nice background in watercolor. Especially if you have a main character in the middle and you dont want to add busy landscape and you breaking you head thinking what you can do around it.

So guys, today is an example of simpe salt backgrounds techniques for watercolor.

First of all I mostly use two different types of salt - simply because each of them will create different reaction and pattern.

Look - this is a normal small table salt.

And this is big salt - mostly used for cooking meat.

I am choosing two different variations of blue to create my pattern with. I will show you a reaction of big and small salt. It is important that your working area will be very wet - otherwise the effect will not work. If you have a big area to cover, do it part by part, paint part of it, put the salt and keep going further.

Now you put the salt over the area that you want to create pattern on.  First an example with small table salt.

And with big salt.

Dont forget to let it COMPLETELY dry and than wipe it out with big brush or just with your hand....now you can see the difference of the pattern with small salt...

And with big salt...

I hope you had fun with this simple tutorial :)

I know many of you was asking how my waterdrops on the watercolor paintings looks so real. I promised already some time ago that I will share this mystery :) - so here it is. I hope you will enjoy this tutorial.

First of all I am starting with a simple pencil sketch of the waterdrop. You already probably wondering why is there 3 of them. Well, if you already noticed waterdrops not always looks like a nice round balls - they shapes are different and it depends on how this drop is laying and from where you are looking at it. Drop number one is a drop that you are looking at from up, drop number two is a drop from the side view and drop number three is a drop that is ready to fall down :).

We will start with a three different color backgrounds - just to show you how it will work on each of them. So I will pick up green for the first, magenta for the second and blue for the third drop. I will take a little ammount of the watercolor and will cover ALL the area including the drop itself with it.

Now we will work with the same three colors on the shade under the drop. Please start from the darker and end it with ligther color - make a shade in half moon shape and try to make it as smooth as it possible.

Now we will work with again the same colors on the shade on the drop itself. This shade will be exactly on the opposite side and if you have a difficulty to make it smooth from one wash - do it in couple of layers.

And because this is a tutorial for WATER drops we will want them to looks like water right? :) Its why we will work again on the shade on the drop itself but we will use blue shades. I used blue on first two and tourquise on the last one.

Now with the same blue and tourquise darken the shade under the drop a little bit more....it is a reflection of this color....

And a little bit more with a dark brown - try to make a line under the drop pretty contrast.

Now is the fun part of the adding white on the drop :) I use first the white watercolor from the tube, simply because it is blending better and I will use white acrylic for a final touch. I am making part that is closer to the shade underneath the drop white and putting the small "splash" of the white on the drop on the darker part.

And now is a final touchdown with acrylic - I am making lines more contrast and on a little splash I put a white drop of acrylic....yep, doesnt they look like a waterdrops? :) You can also add a very light black line near the drop - just to give it more depth. I also put here all the colors that I have used for you to see.

And here is a finished result - please know that if you paint drops in a surrounding with many colors - they will be reflecting some of these colors as well - but please dont overdo with it! :)

I hope it was helfpul and if you would like to see more tutorials - please drop a note to info@elfies-world.com

I thought it was a long time ago I used my favorite color combination - so it was also a good excuse for a new tutorial :) If you noticed my most viewed image in the gallery is belly dancing fairy, so I thought to make her a new companion. Are you ready to start with me?

First af all I start with a pencil sketch on watercolor paper. I love when paper is thick enough (300-250 gr and not less) this way it keeps the painting sharp and nice to the eye and not "rolling" in horrible waves when you use water :)

First of all - I put aside the base colors that I will use - flesh color and lighter brown.

Than I take the "flesh" color of my all the time favorite Talens Transparent watercolors and start working on the shady areas of the body - if you have a reference please take a good look where shade is really falling - otherwise you will not get a real 3D feeling on the figure. Start with a little bit - you can always add more in the future.

Than with the SAME color I work more on the darker parts - just making them more contrast - it what helps to make your painting "real".

Than I am moving further to the light brown and working on the hair and the shades...yep, those shades again ;). Please notice that part of the hair behind the wings I try to keep lighter and more transparent - it will help to make the wings looks "see-through".

Than with the same lighter brown and more dark brown I am still working on the shades - I also add new shades for the hair. Notice - part of the hair that is closer to the head is always darker! I also use the same color on the lips.

Than Violet! I LOVE Violet! You can see it so much coming back in my paintings :) I start to work on the dress, headband and wings. Once again - start with a very light color - you can always use more contrast in a future. When you work with layers you prevent yourself from making mistakes. And in watercolor (not like in a acrylic) sadly they are mostly NOT fixable :)

And now when I see the general colors of the figure I finally can decide what color to use for the butterflies to"balance" it out. I use the light brown and in the same time I am again working on the shades here and there and also on the buttefly that is on the dress itself.

Now I add darker brown to all the painting again. I work on the wings of the butterflies, dress and headband.

It is almost done! I add some violet on the body shades - it is a perfect color for it! Also hair get a small violet "makeover" :) Painting is almost ready for the Ink.

And here to show you different sizes of the brushes that I mostly use on my paintings. Use big brush on the big areas as dress for example or wings, use smaller brush for the accents of the dress and other smoothing...and tiny brush for all the small details and the face.

NOW INK! :)

And here is she....Dancing with Butterflies......and she makes me wanna dance too :)

I woke up with a very "frog" mood today :) and I thought why not to use this special sketch for the tutorial....so prepare and lets see how it works for me....

First of all I always make a pencil sketch on a watercolor paper. I erase all the unessesary lines that is left but mostly I just do it as a I feel from the beginning and leave it like it is :)

Than I move further to the background.... I choose this time combination of light blue and light green.

Than I start part by part - keeping it pretty wet because otherwise you will not get any reaction from the salt that you will use - so I just do a part, put the salt and move further smoothing the borders in between...than let it dry and carefully brush all the salt from the painting.

When background base is ready I use the same light blue to make around the figures more dark and carefully smooth it to the rest of the painting.

Than its a turn of the darker green and light orange to make an underpaint. I just fill all the parts and move further...

Than daker green to start with a shades and reflections.

And a dark brown to stronger the shades and to work on the spots of the frogs and around their eyes...dont be affraid to do it in couple of steps - if you see it is not strong enough - just paint over it again and again - as much as its necessary.

Now my favorite violet used on the shades - to create a depth in the painting.

And now strong lemon yellow - to give them some "sunlights" and more 3D feeling....it goes on their bodys, bellys and also on their eyes.

And now more shades on the frogs with lighter blue - like a reflection of the background.

I paint the forget-me-nots with tourquise that I will also use here and there for the shades and use some light orange for their centers.

Now the favorite part - starting with a body and the shades. I mostly start to work on the most dark places and slowly smooth it further. Dont forget from where the light is coming - otherwise it will not looks real :)

Now because I want her to be a frog-girl I use a light green for the shades too :) - it will give her a more surreal faery feeling.

And some darker green and light orange for the shades - as you already noticed on the frogs - light yellow gives it a nice 3D feeling.

Now a tourquise for the flowers and a light shades on the body. I also use it for her lip color.

And now the light orange for the hair - real summer frog girl :)

And now the dark brown and darker orange for the hair shades.

And now the most special part that brings all these pieces of puzzle together - using a VERY thin brush (you can use 0 or even 000 for it) to put a finish lines in black. Some of you will prefer using a dark brown for it also.

And yep - here it is - a finished result! I hope you like it and this tutorial was helpful for you.

Okay guys, I promised to reveal the mystery....or simply to show you how it works with acrylics......or lets say better how it crazy works with acrylics LOL

So, here is a finished comissioned portrait :)

And here is the mystery of it creation :) - ACRYLIC TUTORIAL

As you know I mostly start all of my paintings from the pencil sketch....just because I like when I know what I would like to see there from the beginning....

Than I start mostly with a skin color - the darkest variation of it.....please notice that in the beginning I am not trying to be very "clean" or "exact"...it will be all fixed later in the process....

Than I work on the sky....mixing together darker and lighter blue, grey and a bit yellow....I smooth it with my finger....

Than a little bit of the grey with green to make a more far away trees.....just like they are dissapearing on the horisont...

And the fields with a brighter green and yellow....

And than the darker green to put some accents on the trees.... also a little bit on the front as a background for the future bushes...

And now I am picking up colors for the clothes, I mostly like to do it after I see a surrounding colors - this way I can match it easier :)

And a little bit more....

And now the lighter tones of the skin color - applying to the necessary places and smooth it with my finger.....please notice again - it is not really exact...it will be fixed later....

Now the shadow skin colors....dont use it too dark in the beginning - better to use a little bit and than to add it if necessary...

And a little bit darker colors just to make it more alive....also on the lips if you noticed...

You can use a light shades of the violet and magenta in shades on the skin too - it will be more real...

And of course the hair - from the darker shades to the lighter ones....and small accents with white...just to let it sparkle...

And some darker shades on the hands and the wooden stick.....

And now I am working the same on the second face....

Notice that beard also contains many colors - it is not ONLY brown...it has grey, white, yellow, brown and even some blue inside...

Now I am working on the clothes....adding different patterns on the texture can be really fun :)

And light and shade accents with white and black...

And now the "magical" sparkles around wooden stick....

And now clothes of the second character....

And small details as arrows....

Now I add leaves and smaller details in trees and bushes with olive dark green...

And lighter accents with yellow and light green....

And the last touch with field itself with different shades of green, yellow, grey and white :)......

I hope this tutorial was somehow helpful for you :)