GOUACHE

STEPXSTEP

PAT R E O N . C O M / E L L I E V S B E A R
 CONCEPT // SKETC H
1

I start by sketching my drawing on the iPad with Procreate. 


I really like the app for sketching my thumbnails and rough
drawings before each painting.
 COLOR PALETTE
2
Still within
Procreate, I lay
down my colors on
the little sketch.



Knowing which
colors I will use
beforehand makes
it easier to mix
the paint.

I choose a limited
palette to keep
things simple
because I am still
a beginner with
gouache.
3 TRANSFERRING THE SKETC H ON PAPER

By turning the
luminosity to the
max, I use the iPad
as a lightbox to
directly transfer
my drawing to
watercolor paper.

I use an F pencil
to easily erase and
correct mistakes.

Then I ink the tiger

with a dip pen and
acrylic ink.
 INKING
4
The tiger will be
painted with
watercolors. 



I ink his outlines
with brown acrylic
ink - Liquitex. It
is important to
use waterproof ink
for it not to
smudge once we’ll
start painting.
 WATERCOLOR
4

I start with a light orange

layer and progressively add
darker orange layers.
 GOUAC HE
5
Time to use gouache! I first swatched my colors on a spare paper
to make sure the colors matched my digital proof.

Colors used for the painting:


Cyan, mid blue, yellow, black, white.
 GOUAC HE
5

I start by laying
down the main
color.

The background
color is pure cyan,
which keeps things
simple because no
mix was needed.
 GOUAC HE
5

Waiting for the paint to dry!

 GOUAC HE
5

For the plants I use the same blue but mixed with white to
contrast with the background.
 GOUAC HE
5
Adding the mid blue !
 GOUAC HE
5 Once the previous
layer of paint is dry
I add a darker shade
to create density and
depth to the foliage.

The darker blue is a

mix of the mid blue
and black.
 GOUAC HE
5

Progress so far!
 GOUAC HE
5
I want to add yellow
details on top of the blue
background.

The yellow paint won’t be

opaque enough to stay
bright atop the blue, so I
first lay down white paint
as a base layer.
 GOUAC HE
5

After adding white paint on all the future yellow areas.

 GOUAC HE
5 After making sure the
white paint has dried
I can start painting
yellow on top of it.
 GOUAC HE
5

The painting is almost complete!

 GOUAC HE
5
The last step is
adding a few darker
outlines and small
highlights.
 GOUAC HE
5

Final painting!
THE END