Watercolor Greens - how to mix natural looking greens, by Café Watercolor - Eric Yi Lin on YouTube. 38 min 32 s.
- Video length
- 38 min 32 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Stop using green straight from the tube. Mix your own green from a yellow and a blue so you can control its temperature and strength.
Look at the green in front of you objectively. Ask whether it is warm or cool, light or dark, and bright or muted before you pick paints.
Make a row of swatches to find your range. Start with more yellow for warm spring greens, then add more blue for cool, deep greens.
Study a reference photo and note the different greens. Separate sunlit leaves, shaded foliage and distant trees by value and temperature.
Mix a base green on your palette. Add yellow to blue a little at a time and stir until the hue matches the middle green in your reference.
Mute a green that looks too bright. Add a tiny amount of red, purple or an earth color such as burnt sienna and test it on scrap paper.
Paint a simple tree with several greens. Use warmer, lighter green on lit areas and cooler, darker green in shadow.
Do a quick value study first. Paint the main shapes in one green or gray so you can judge the light and dark pattern.
Build the painting in thin washes. Start light, let each wash dry, then add darker greens for the second and third layers.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep the number of pigments small at first; two yellows and two blues give you many greens without muddy mixes.
Rinse your brush before changing colors, and do not let a dirty water jar turn every green gray.
Test every mix on scrap paper, because watercolor looks lighter and duller when it dries.
If a green turns muddy, add fresh water or a little yellow rather than more dark paint.
Questions
Why do my mixed greens look dull?
Too many pigments or a dirty brush can mute the mix. Rinse the brush, use clean water and try a simple yellow-blue mix first.
Which yellow and blue should I start with?
A warm yellow such as yellow ochre or cadmium yellow and a cool blue such as ultramarine or phthalo blue are a versatile pair. Add other yellows and blues later to widen your range.
How do I make dark green for shadows?
Use more blue and less yellow, or add a small amount of purple or burnt sienna. Keep the mix thin and build darkness in layers.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
