Do you want to become fearless with your art? A Fearless leopard resting on a big letter F might just propel you in that direction. It did for me. I became a little bolder and dabbed the gold paint with my fingers. It was fun. Join me in this watercolor tutorial and experiment!
Drawing an illustrated letter
To draw an illustrated letter, play around with the shape. Use curling lines to form a new shape. Extend the shapes of the letter with twists and twirls to create something that works. I use an eraser frequently until the shape is satisfactory.
If you Google "leopard animal tree", you will see many photos of the big cat napping. It is easy to integrate a leopard sleeping on a letter F, because the tree branch is like the upper arm of F.
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Step 1: Watercolor the letter F
After tracing the sketch, I redrew the lines with a waterproof fineliner. Then, I mounted the paper on a wooden board.
Before painting the letter, decide on the color scheme. Mix the colors in advance, as in the chart below.
To get paint flowing freely, I painted with water first. Stay within the boundaries of the drawing.
Let the purples and greens bleed into each other. It makes the painting more interesting.
Except for the berries. They should stay a clean red.
Step 2: Watercolor the leopard
When everything is dry, paint the leopard. Highlight muscles and shadows with the darker color.
Paint the dots on the dry leopard. Don´t try to be exact. Get the general drift of how the dots are configured, and paint away.
Paint the eyes green.
When the leopard is dry, add more color. The darker color means a better contrast with gold. The added color also reduces the sharp edges of some of the spots.
Step 3: Experiment with gold watercolor
I have a tutorial on how to make gold watercolor.
Paint with gold in selected places on the letter F, the foliage, and the berries.
Paint golden dots on the leopard´s body. Wherever you think the golden dots look good. Be creative. Notice that the dark spots are mostly four together, but the gold is just a dot here and there.
Dab your finger in the gold paint paste, and dab the paint lightly onto the leopard.
And you are done!
More illustrated/ illuminated letter tutorials:
Illuminated Letter B Watercolor Tutorial With Gold Paint
Illuminated Letter A Watercolor Tutorial
Illuminated Letter D Watercolor Tutorial
How to Paint an Illuminated Letter E With Watercolor Gold
Happy painting!
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