Red Cardinal PDF

Description

Watercolour Pen and Wash Bird Painting – Detailed Cardinal

Northern Cardinals are also known as red cardinals a name which clearly comes from the male’s amazing plumage. They are mainly found in North America and have a distinctive crest on their head. They nest in dense shrubs and tangled vines, indeed there are many vines within this painting. The vivid colouration of the male makes the bird easily recognised and identified. They are frequently seen around feeders and backyards as they look for anything from seeds to insects.

This tutorial is different to my normal watercolours as I have included pen and ink work followed by watercolour wash. This technique can be called pen and wash, wash drawing or ink and wash. It’s something I have wanted to work on for some time and the finished result has that same realistic feel that I like. I hope that you will enjoy the process and I would really welcome any feedback. I need to decide whether to include more of these types of projects in the future and your feedback will obviously help me decide.

You have various options with this tutorial, you can simply paint it as you normally would purely in watercolours. However, I am only providing guidance on the washes, so you will be flying solo on adding detail. Alternatively you can use the tutorial to create a pen and ink drawing and leave things at that. Finally, you can follow through the whole process as I have and paint a lovely pen and wash of this stunning bird.

This is an instant PDF download, you could start painting this Red Cardinal in a matter of minutes. You don’t even need to wait for the post to arrive! You will receive a 26-page PDF document. Set out in the same way as the tutorials I write for magazines. However, you get lots more large photos of the different stages.

Downloadable lessons enable you to work at your own speed, you can dip in and out of the content, you can spend time studying the fine details and practise the various techniques as often as you like.

Have fun with this lesson, take your time and let me know how you get on. Try printing off the last few pages which have the larger versions of the step-by-step photos for additional help.