Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Do you love browsing online nature photography? I do. One day, a colorful, red-eyed frog peeped up between leaves and branches. The colors on this little creature make my fingers itch. It makes me want to play with watercolor blends. I invite you to go way beyond my tree frog watercolor. Be creative and leapfrog your current watercolor skills. Splash out!
Let’s cut to the chase.
Step 1: Drawing the frog
You can see my quick sketch of the frog below.
For a clear outline of the frog, I traced my drawing. I then transferred it to watercolor paper. If you don’t feel like drawing the frog, you can download mine for free in One Treee Art Club. (Members: Check your newsletter for access details).
Step 2: Go green
Yes, go watercolor green. Apple-green and grass-green.
Before painting, I used our color palette generator for artists. It helps pinpoint the colors in the reference photo.
During the painting session, I ended up using more colors. You can see those in the image below.
Step 3: Blending watercolors
Start with indigo blue and let it blend with the green. Some turquoise won’t hurt either, and some pink on the chest. The chest is a kind of dirty pink. Not the prettiest part of the frog.
Make sure your brush is moderately wet. Too dry, and there is no blending. Too wet, and the colors run wild.
For the legs, aquamarine, purple, and turquoise will do. Take some soft tissue paper, wet it slightly, and roll it into a fine tip. Use this to soak up colors to make gradients. I added some grey shadow under the face as well.
Paint the branch.
Step 4: Watercolor hands, feet, and eyes
Now it’s time for the bright orange and red.
Step 5: Clean up the outline
Redraw the outline with a dark brown colored pencil. Make sure it is sharp so that the line remains subtle. With white gouache, paint over any stray colors outside the outline.
Step 6: Paint highlights with white gouache
Now it is time to lighten things up. Paint highlights on the watercolor tree frog with white gouache. Use water to make it more or less opaque.
Step 7: Brush up the watercolor tree frog with colored pencils
Assemble your colored pencils and let loose. You can add colors, strengthen colors, and draw shadows. For this step, you need your imagination. Enhance what is already there, painted with watercolor.
And that’s it. Have fun with this colorful little creature!
If you want to know what kind of art material you need for this tutorial, visit my Guide to Art Supplies.
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