Vintage DIY Christmas Card Set: Watercolor Tutorial

Hi everyone, this is Nya and it's almost December and I know a lot of you like to paint your own Christmas cards. Last year I did a vintage set that a lot of you seemed to enjoy so I made another set with different designs. I'm going to use the same colors for all of these so let me just go through them beforehand. Crimson Lake by Holbein, Vermilion by Holbein, Permanent Yellow Deep by Tierra Verde by Holbein, Paints Gray Bluish by Schmincke, and Buff Titanium by Daniel Smith. I'm also going to use some colored pencils to outline certain objects. I'm just using a cheap Faber-Castell Hobby Crate watercolor colored pencils and the colors are just these numbers, they don't really have names. I have a dark brown that's similar to a sepia and a yellow brown that's somewhat like yellow ochre. Let's get on to the first design. I'm going to make a couple of candles so I'm just drawing out simple cylindrical shapes. One is a little bit shorter and wider and the one at the back is going to be taller and a little bit more thin for the sake of composition. I'm just doing a classic candle because I like the traditional feel but you can also do different shaped candles if you can think of anything else or even add some wax dripping on the sides for extra character. Once I've drawn out the focal point which are the candles, super simple, I'm going to add the decorations around it. I'm going to have a thick bow, hollies, pine leaves and so on and I'm actually going to use these decorations again and use similar colors across the designs to keep the sets consistent with each other. This way it also makes it a bit easier for us to paint and draw because in a way we've done a little bit of practice with the first design beforehand. Now let's get to painting. For the candles I want the wax to look slightly warm but still fairly neutral so I started with buff titanium which I've activated on my palette. Then on the side I'm also going to mix some permanent yellow deep vermilion and crimson lake. I also added the tiniest bit of Payne's grey bluish to neutralize the color and then I use this mixture in a very light consistency to the buff titanium. So the majority of ratio is buff titanium. I want to start with a really light base color so we can build up the layers for the shadows. So I'm starting with a very watery consistency. For the top I want it to be a bit lighter so I took off some extra pigment with tissue. Then while the surface is still damp I pick up a darker version of the same color mixture to paint the sides and the edges. For the top edge I added a little bit more permanent yellow deep because I want it to reflect the warmth of the light later on. I'm going to let that dry and move on to the second candle. Starting with the base color I'm just using the exact same mixture. Then while the surface is still damp I'm going to pick up a darker version of the color so this has more of the warm mixture. I'm going to paint the sides and smooth out the edges. Since the wax is a bit uneven at the top I also added some shadows vertically but I want the shadows to be very subtle. I generally want the top part of the candle to be lighter so I'm going to darken the sides a bit more by layering the same colors and trying to create the same form that I've painted as the base which means I like to use darker values on the sides and edges to separate the side face and the top face. To add a bit more contrast I use the same mix with less buff titanium and a bit more paints gray bluish so the color is more muted. I'm just lining the edges here then softening the lines with a clean damp brush. This is to also separate those two candles. Here I'm using a less muted tone so it's a bit more yellow or orangey to add more warmth from the flames of the candle. Now let's paint the flames. I'm going to use a thin consistency of permanent yellow deep to just paint the whole area roughly. Then I'm going to use the warm orangey tone still in a fairly light consistency to paint the outer edges while the yellow is still damp. Then for the wick of the candle I use the dark brown mixture by adding a bit more paints gray bluish. After adding on the light from the flames I feel like I need to add more contrast so I'm going to darken the sides again. Now I'm going to go back to the flames again adding vermilion to the light warm mixture and I'm going to add this around the edges of the flames in a thin to medium consistency and after this I'm going to smudge the edges so it looks a bit hazy. I feel like I have enough definition for the candles for now so I'm going to move on to the decorations. I'm starting with a medium to thick consistency of vermilion to paint in the berries and I also left a white dot for each berries for the highlight. I'm also going to add some smaller berries on the right hand side and since they are smaller make sure to use a lighter brush load so the paint won't travel too fast out of your bristles. I'm going to let the berries dry and move on to the leaves. I've activated paints gray bluish, terra verde and a little bit of permanent yellow deep and I'm using a medium to thick consistency to just paint the smaller leaves. Next I'm going to paint the holly leaves and I'm only going to use a mix of paints gray bluish and permanent yellow deep this time for the bottom of the holly leaves. I want to use a ratio which has a bit more paints gray bluish and for the top part closer to the candle I added more permanent yellow deep. While the surface of the leaves are still damp I'm going to add more paints gray bluish in the mix and just dot in this darker value closer to the berries so it looks like a slight shadow. Now moving on to the round leaves I'm using the same mixture this is from permanent yellow deep with a lot of paints green bluish in the ratio and this time I also added some buff titanium to make the color a bit more neutral and slightly more pastel. I want the pine leaves to be slightly warmer and lighter so I use more permanent yellow deep in the ratio. I've also switched to my smaller brush so it's much easier to paint those delicate lines. For a bit of color variation I decided to use a reddish brown to paint the stem then I'm going to go back in with a darker version of the same green to paint more leaves and this will just increase the density and add more volume to the pine leaves. Next I'm going to add some details to the holly leaves. I'm just layering on the same mixture but I'm trying to leave a little bit of the base color still showing. For some of the leaves I'm just going to darken them completely and for others I'm going to add the midrib and the fangs. I feel generally the colors here are fairly light so I'm going to use a very thick consistency of a dark green this has a lot of paints gray bluish to paint more leaves in order to give some variation of values. Next I'm going to add more roundness and form to the berries. I'm going to darken the bottom by using a mix of vermilion and crimson lake but if you want to exaggerate more and darken the red further you can also add a little bit of paints gray bluish. Here I'm adding some random circles and leaves in the background using a very watery consistency. You can choose any green for this. This is to add extra depth and to fill in some areas at the back smudging them slightly so the details doesn't become too distracting. For the bow I'm just going to use a deep red mixture like what I use for the berries. For the shadow areas I use the mixture of vermilion crimson lake and a bit of paints gray bluish and for the lighter areas I just added more vermilion and crimson lake. For the lightest area near the candle I decided to add more vermilion so it's a bit more orangey and bright. Then I'm going to follow this up with a richer red which has some crimson lake in the mixture for the bottom. Once I'm done with the base I am going to wait for it to dry and add extra details especially for the edges and the folds. Once I'm done with all the features I'm going to fill in some of the awkward spaces using a dark green. I'm just going to somewhat smudge the edges as well so there's a soft transition. This is just so there aren't any random holes in the painting and once I'm done I'm going to outline the main features using my dark brown colored pencil. I feel like the candles have enough definition so I'm not going to outline those instead I'm going to add details to some of the larger leaves and outline the light leaves really thinly. After looking at the candles again I'm going to add a thin layer of this orange mixture at the bottom so the bottom of the candles hidden behind some of the decorations are slightly darker. And that's it for the first design I'm just going to add the text but before that I like to roll the bottom first so my writing doesn't become all wonky. I've chosen to do a script font to suit the vintage feel. To make sure I have the placement correct I decided to write it with pencil first then I'm going to go over it with an ink pen. Once I'm done I want to make sure that the ink is completely dry before erasing the pencil marks. And this is the completed first design. Now let's move on to the next design. I'm going to paint mistletoes for this one. I'm going to start by drawing the bow holding the branches together but I'm going to make the ribbon thinner for this. For the guide I'm just going to roughly place down the branches making sure that I like the overall silhouette of the whole composition then I'm going to paint the leaves freehand. I feel like this is enough information for me to paint with so now I'm going to start by painting the bow. The mistletoes that I've seen have white berries I don't think they have red berries but for the sake of complementary colors I'm going to make the berries red for this design and because of that I'm going to make the ribbon white or this creamy color instead but if you want to paint the real mistletoe with white berries then I would suggest for you to paint the ribbon in red. Just like the candles I'm going to use buff titanium as the main color then on the side I mix a bit of vermilion, permanent yellow deep, crimson lake, and a touch of Payne's gray bluish to create a brown and I'm going to mix this brown mixture to the buff titanium. This will just create a slightly darker version of buff titanium which I'm going to use to paint the base color then I'm going to use a bit more of that brown mixture added to the buff titanium which I'm going to use for the shadow color. For the green of the mistletoe I'm just going to use a mix of Payne's gray bluish and permanent yellow deep. I'm going to start by using a medium to thin consistency of a light yellow green for the base of the stem then I'm going to use a thick consistency of vermilion to paint and spread the berries before adding on the leaves. Just like how I've painted the berries in the previous design I'm going to leave a little white dot for the highlight and since these are small you can also switch to a brush to paint these berries. I feel like I have a decent amount here so I'm going to start painting the branches and the leaves. I'm starting with a darker green at the top then I'm going to lighten the color slightly as I get towards the bottom. The shapes of the leaves are fairly simple I just want the ends to be rounded and the other end where it's touching the branch to be really thin and pointy. You can see that as I'm reaching to the bottom I have more permanent yellow deep in the mix the green is a little bit warmer and lighter. After painting a few of the lighter leaves I'm going to take a bit of the darker green which has more Payne's gray bluish in the mix and I'm going to just dot the ends of the leaves where it's going to touch the branches. Once I've added the darker tones for some of the leaves I'm going to switch to my small brush and pick up the same dark green to paint the stems. I feel like everything still looks fairly light and faded so I'm going to add some darker leaves and I'm also using a slightly thicker consistency this time. I'm going to place it in between some of the leaves that I've already painted. I'm going to go back to the stems and add some darker greens in between the stems that I previously painted. Once I feel like there's a decent variation in values I'm going to move on to the berries and just like the previous berries I'm using this dark red from a mix of crimson lake and vermilion to paint the shadows. You can also add a touch of Payne's gray bluish to make it darker. You can see that by adding this darker red everything just comes together nicely and I'm just going to finish off by outlining the bow and of course writing the greetings. Once I'm done with the writing of course I'm just going to erase the pencil marks and that's it for the second design. This was such a simple one and yet I still feel like it has that elegant vintage feel. Now moving on to the last design and this is probably my favorite one because it looks the most fun. I'm going to start by drawing the candy cane which will be the main feature and I tried to make the candy cane look a little bit more plump so it's a bit thicker and I also want to round the ends. Once I'm done I'm going to add the decorations and to link this to the previous designs I'm going to start by adding a bow. By the way if you're not interested in drawing any of these out but you still want to paint it I will leave the outline in my Ko-fi shop for you to download. The link is usually in the description box of my videos but if it's not there that means I probably forgot about it like a lot of times I do forget so I would really appreciate it if someone could remind me in the comments. All of the outlines are uploaded I just forget to publish them sometimes. Anyway going back to the sketch for the designs I used similar elements to what I painted earlier for the candles so you can see some berries, poly leaves as well as pine leaves. I feel like there's quite a lot going on already and I want to make sure to not forget the swirl of the candy cane. And that's it for the outline now I'm going to start to paint. I'm going to first paint the white area of the candy cane just like the white bows or any white features of the previous designs. I'm going to use buff titanium as the main color but I feel like buff titanium is a little bit too light so I'm going to color it further with a little bit of permanent yellow deep vermilion and the slightest bit of pink I'm going to start with a very watery load and a light consistency to paint one side then I continued with a clean damp brush to spread it to the rest of the candy cane and for the extra paint I'm just going to take it off with tissue before adding a thicker consistency of the same mix on the damp surface. I want there to be a very soft gradient for the transition and I'm also going to apply the same thing for the bottom this is to create the illusion that the candy cane is rounded and cylindrical. Once I'm done with the white base I'm going to add the red stripes and I'm going to use a vermilion in a medium consistency to paint the base of the red over the white preferably on a dry surface though mine was still a little bit damp so the red was traveling and blooming towards the white area. If this happened don't panic just quickly take it off with tissue and you should be fine. Once I've painted the base of the red the color looks kind of faded so I'm going to work on a slightly darker value by adding some crimson lake into the vermilion I'm going to still work on the damp surface and paint the sides using this darker value and of course I tried to soften the blend so it looks like the center is slightly popping out compared to the sides and this will create the effect of the three-dimensional cylindrical form after this I'm going to dry it off completely with a hair dryer and after this I'm going to layer on more of the darker red this has a bit more crimson lake in the mix and this time I'm only going to paint one side then I'm going to follow this up using a clean damp brush to again soften the edges. For the other side I'm going to chase it with a thicker consistency of the previous mixture but this has more vermilion so the color is a little bit more bright and richer and again I'm going to soften the edges using a clean damp brush as well I'm trying to not pull the color too much towards the center though because I still want the center to be the lightest areas. While I still have the red I'm just going to paint the berries I'm going to paint it the same way as how I've painted them before so I'm starting with vermilion making sure I leave out a little bit of white dot and then I use a mix of crimson lake and vermilion to add the shadow underneath. Next let's move on to paint the leaves I'm just going to use a mix of Payne's Grey Bluish and Permanent Yellow Deep and I'm just going to spread this mixture for the base color. For the pine leaves I'm going to use a mix of Payne's Grey Bluish Permanent Yellow Deep and Buff Titanium and I'm using a medium to thick consistency to paint the leaves. Once I've painted some of the pine leaves I'm going to paint over them again using a thicker consistency and a darker value so here I just added more Payne's Grey Bluish and I'm just going to paint more leaves on top of the previous one this will again create a little bit of depth so it looks like some leaves are in front and there are some at the back. I'm going to limit the amount of the darker values because I still want the lighter base to show through. Next I'm going to go back to the holly leaves since it's completely dry now you can see the color has faded. I'm using the previous mix from Permanent Yellow Deep and Payne's Grey Bluish and I'm going to place a slightly darker value at the bottom closer to the other decorations and at the top I'm going to smooth it out or take off the excess with tissue then paint the detail on the damp surface like the midrib and the veins. Now moving on to the bow since there's a lot of green and red already I'm going to use Buff Titanium as the base then just like the previous designs I'm going to add on the shadow color which is a darker version of the Buff Titanium so I've added some Permanent Yellow Deep, Crimson Lake, Vermilion and a little bit of Payne's Grey Bluish. Since the base color is already completely dry I'm just going to place the shadow color in the correct areas like the folds and the creases then I'm going to manually soften the edges using a clean damp brush. Once I'm fairly happy with the elements now I want to redefine the candy cane and bow using my colored pencil because the candy cane has some white areas and it's fairly big I just want to use this yellow ochre colored pencil to clean out the edges. After looking at the decorations again though I feel like it's a little bit messy especially around the bow and I want to stand out a bit more so I'm just darkening the surrounding area using the green mixture and the dark brown I've already pre-made on my palette. Since the bow is also light colored I'm going to use the same yellow ochre colored pencil to outline it then for the darker areas of the bow I'm going to re-outline it using the dark brown. I'm also going to use this dark brown to line the berries as well as the larger holly leaves. I feel like I can still make the berries look more three-dimensional so I used the red mixture from vermilion and crimson lake and I added some of the dark brown mixture on my palette. I'm also going to darken the surrounding area and that's it for the last one I'm going to finish it off with the script writing. This last one is probably my favorite I love that the white of the candy cane looks a bit warm and worn out. I'm curious to know which design is your favorite please leave it in the comments for me to read. And here is the third and final design. And that's it for this tutorial I hope you enjoyed this one as much as last year's version. Like usual the list of tools as well as my social media links will be in the description box. Please remind me of the outline if it's not yet published and thank you so much for watching till the end I hope to see you again next week with more Christmas card designs.