Pen & Ink with Watercolor Wash LIVE Today @ 12:30pm ET

Hi friends!  I really think you are going to enjoys today’s free live tutorial! Here is the practise piece I worked up this morning:

All you need is a waterproof pen, watercolors and any watercolor paper that is not too rough. Since the pen drawing takes care of most of the detail we can simply splash on some paint using non aggressive techniques so cheap paper will be fine. You can watch the live broadcast or replay in the video player below but if you want to chat live be sure to tune in on the YouTube watch page at 12:30pm eastern time (New York time.) I recommend if you want to paint along that you download the pattern below and have it drawing in ink on your paper prior to the live stream. I spent an hour drawing the final sketch on my “good” watercolor paper last night so plan on taking that long to draw or about 20 minutes to trace before painting.

Supplies: *affiliate links used

• Watercolor paper: Sample done on Bee 6″x9″ 140# paper, Live demo done on 9″x12″ Arches #140 CP  *note: I did find this paper a bit rough for pen and ink so you might want to pick a smoother paper. There will not be a lot of scrubbing and layering so you can use a cheaper wood pulp paper and be fine.

• Paint: Sennelier (I used the professional grade) BUT their student grade is really great too at 1/5 the price!  Colors: Cinerous blue, ultramarine, opera, Aureolin (colbalt yellow), burnt sienna, naples yellow, olive-green *Feel free to substitute or use colors you don’t often try as the bones of the painting is the ink drawing so you can kinda go crazy with the paint!

• Brushes: I used the new Menta brushes from Royal & Langnickel, they are 100% animal free but brand new so they are hard to find. I got mine in store at AC Moore but Royal tells me they will be available in more places soon. I also used some small flat Zen all media synthetic brushes

• Pen choices I recommend: (disposable options) Micron pens,  Pitt Pens, (Permanent option and what I used) Jane Davenport Inkredible pen filled with Fountain Pen Safe Waterproof India ink 

• Traceable pattern of my ink drawing

• Reference photo by Sandie Bell on Paint my Photo

BTW my friend and fellow YouTuber Angela Fehr is hosting a 6 week course called Watercolor Mastery for intermediate to advanced painters and she is offering $50 off with coupon code FIRSTIN  *this is an affiliate link, if you purchase through this link I earn a commission at no additional cost to you:) Class runs 6 weeks and starts on April 16. The coupon code FIRSTIN is only good through 4/16/18 when class begins. The class runs 6 weeks but you will have lifetime access to the class materials. Angela is a wonderful teacher and a kind and encouraging person and I hope you check her out!

That’s all for right now! I hope to see you live at 12:30 for a fun watercolor lesson! Till then happy crafting!