DIY Watercolor Christmas Card – How to Paint a Little Red Vintage Car
Hello my Dearest Artists,
This post is all about how to create a DIY Watercolor Christmas Card.
In today’s tutorial, we will be painting a little red vintage car with a Christmas tree on the blank watercolor card. These cards are 3-1/2″ by 4-7/8″ watercolor stock, and they come with white envelopes. You can purchase them in many art stores or Amazon. Or, you can always make your own cards out of any watercolor paper.
Supplies
Strathmore Watercolor Cards (140 lb. cold press 3-1/2″ by 4-7/8″)
Watercolors (St Petersburg Professional) and brushes
Drawing Pencils
White Water-based Sharpie
Process
1. Sketch the car on plain paper.
To begin making the card, start with a sketch on a plain sketch paper. I used a ruler to draw out the dimensions of the card on the plain sketch paper. Draw out the car and the tree on top of the car.
2. Shade the back of the paper with a pencil.
Cut out the sketch and shade the back of it with a pencil. This will allow you to transfer the drawing to the card.
3. Transfer the drawing to the watercolor card.
Place the drawing over the blank card and using a pen to draw over sketch you created previously. I usually use a pen instead of pencil when drawing over the sketch because it’s easier to see where I’m outlining and transferring the drawing.
4. Paint the car red while avoiding the non-red areas: windows, chrome, and tires.
In this painting, I’m using crimson red (straight out of the pan) to paint the car while using just a little bit of water. We are using wet-on-dry technique here. In other words, don’t wet the paper before painting.
When painting the car, we don’t want to use too much water because it will dilute the pigment and the car’s color won’t come out as bright. I’m using professional watercolors, which are more pigmented than the student grade watercolors. If you have student grade watercolors, don’t worry. Just add multiple layers of paint to build up the pigment.
One the car is painted, take a darker red and add a wash at the bottom of the car to give it some dimension. And add a light red wash (water with a little bit of red pigment) over the top of the tires.
5. Paint the tree with green: add variation to the tree with different shades of green and brown.
Pick a green and add a first wash over the tree. Once you have the first layer, pick a darker green or mix green with dark blue to get a darker green, and add the pigment in the middle of the tree to give it depth and dimension. Continue adding darker green throughout the tree where you think fit. Take a brown pigment and pain the the trunk. Let the brown bleed into the green of the tree.
6. Paint the tires with grey color (mix blue with brown).
Mix blue with brown to create a grey color. Wait until the red color of the car is starting to dry (not fully dry) and paint the tires. Add darker grey at the bottom of the tires.
7. Add any other details and outline the red part of the car with a darker red/brown.
I decided to add a light blue was around the car to make it more interesting, but you can add any details you like!
8. Wait until the car is dry and use a white sharpie to add any lost reflections on the car.
Wait until the painting is fully dry and then use a white pen or sharpie to create reflections on the car. If you don’t have a white sharpie, you can use white gouache or acrylic paint.
9. Final steps
Sign your name. Write a funny greeting, put it into the envelope and send it to your friend. Oh, don’t forget to seal the envelope 🙂
Thank you for LIKING and SUBSCRIBING! Stay tuned for more holiday-themed videos.
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