Glowing Full Moon: Watercolor Tutorial

Hi everyone, this is Mia and today I'm going to be painting this glowing full moon. Honestly, this turned out to be better than I anticipated and I had so much fun with it, so let's get started. I'm going to start by masking off the edges of my paper like usual, and since I'm using masking tape and they're quite thick, I found this trick which is to cut the edges or the corners diagonally, which makes it much easier for me to fold without the masking tape sticking to each other. By the way, this is the reference image that I used. I love the composition and also how the branches move, but I'm going to change the color to make the moon glow more and also add some clouds for extra texture. The only thing I'm going to draw out here is the moon and since I'm really bad at drawing circles and things, I just found something circular next to me and I used it as a template. Now for the colors, I'm only going to use this limited palette. This is Permanent Yellow Deep by Holbein, Vermilion by Holbein, Indigo by Schmincke, Sepia by Holbein, and Bleedproof White by Dr. Ph. Martens. To start, I wanted to wet this whole page but I realized that my paintbrush is still a little bit dirty. Luckily, I didn't paint anything on the moon yet because I want the moon to have clean colors, so I just spread whatever's left around the paper since it's going to be dark anyway. Once my bristles are totally clean, then I wet the center of the moon and I use the mix of Permanent Yellow Deep and Vermilion. And with this color, I kind of just dotted in trying to create the texture of the moon very roughly. Because the surface is damp, the colors are still going to spread out really quickly and the blend is just going to soften on its own. Here, I've decided to switch to a smaller brush. I'm going to use the same mixture, this time with added Vermilion for a slightly darker value. And I'm going to paint a little bit more carefully now, trying to somewhat imagine the craters and certain areas of the moon, and trying to also follow the curvature to make it look like an orb instead of a flat circle. The trick is to make whatever is placed in the middle of the moon the actual shape, so if there are craters, it would be a perfect circle. Whereas around the sides, as it gets further to the side, these textures or craters will be more distorted and follow the curvature of the moon, so they become much more flat and thinner. Sometimes I like to even just add dotted lines in a randomized manner. By the way, I also want the colors to be a bit more moody and dark, so for some dark areas for the moon, I decided to add a bit of sepia into the orange mix. For the texture of the moon, I tried to just randomize the texture and also look at the reference image that I have, but I know that the texture is limited because the reference looked quite flat, so if you would like, you can also search for other references with more detailed pictures of the moon. After painting those two layers, the surface of my paper was quite damp, so I decided to dry it off with a hair dryer so I can add another layer with a bit more detail. In this layer, I'm going to add more sepia into the mixture. I want to add a bit more depth with this darker value, and it's very, very important for you to do this on the dry surface instead of the damp, because if the surface is the slightest bit damp, the paint will just travel on any of the connected damp surface, which might then contaminate the color of the brighter areas. With this dark tone, you might want to be careful with the consistency as well. I like to use a very thin consistency and adding layer by layer. This way, I have better control and I don't accidentally make the moon too dark. If, however, you accidentally used too thick of a consistency, you can use a clean damp brush to soften the edges or take off the excess paint. The moon is looking quite dark. This is because I haven't painted any of the sky or the surrounding area, so that's what I'm going to paint next. I'm going to start with the same color as the moon. This is from Permanent Yellow Deep, Vermilion, and that little bit of sepia. I'm using a really thin consistency here. I want the reddish color to be closer to the moon though, so as I dampen the rest of the area, I just use water. And since the top is quite damp and I'm going to keep adding wet paint, I just left the bottom dry. Now, moving on to the rest of the sky, I'm going to use a mixture of sepia and indigo, which will come to this black color. I'm going to use a really thick consistency along the edges because I want to create a slight vignette effect, but I'm just going to use water as I get closer to the moon because I want to leave it as light as possible, which will help create the glow. At the bottom, I'm just going to use whatever is left on my brush to help spread the color as well as dampen the surface. Just using a thin consistency here really quickly, then I'm going to introduce a dark blue, which is from the same mixture with added indigo in the ratio. With this indigo, I'm going to dot things around, imagining if there are clouds to help enhance the movement and the dynamic of this painting. I like to use a darker, thicker consistency closer to the edges, as I mentioned earlier, and I want the color of the clouds to fade as it gets closer to the moon. Because the surface is evenly dampened earlier, you can see that the colors will blur out, which will create a soft effect for the textured background. Don't be too scared coming closer to the moon. In fact, I like to outline it with a very thin consistency. This contrast will help the circular part of the moon to pop out, because as we build the value around the corners of the frame later, as long as the surrounding area of the moon is a little bit lighter but still muted, it will still look like it's glowing. Okay, I'm done with the first layer of the sky. I can see a really white part in the moon, so I just use a really thin consistency of permanent yellow deep. I can also see here that some parts of the moon looks a bit too textured for now, so I'm going to blur everything out by smudging it with a clean damp brush. Then, I'm going to dry everything off quickly, so I can work on a dry surface again. As it dries, you can see the color changing. The colors will fade and soften. Now that everything is completely dry, I'm going to work on the second layer of the sky and be a bit more bold with the color this time. Here, I'm just using clean water to create a barrier around the moon, so whatever I paint won't go past this water barrier. In this layer, I'm going to enhance the glow, so I'm just going to wet around the area of the moon first, and I'm going to use permanent yellow deep and vermilion by themselves to paint the surrounding area in a medium consistency. Now, as I get further, I'm going to start introducing the sky color from indigo and sepia, starting with a thin consistency again because I don't want the previous color to be too contaminated. Then, I'm just going to use clean water to dampen the rest of the sky. Now, I can start enhancing the color further. This has more vermilion in the mix, and I'm just getting very close to the moon, and just like before, I'm going to start adding the darker colors around the corners. I think it looks quite dark, and I know that it will fade when I dry everything off, but firstly, I want to make sure the edges of the moon are as clean as I can get them. I've cut the drawing process so you can see how much the color fades. It does look quite faded and light, but as we add the darker values for the silhouettes of the trees later on, the colors will slowly balance out. Before we do that though, I want to add details to the moon and also clean the edges as best as I can. Here, I'm using a medium consistency of bleed proof white. I'm outlining the messy areas, then I'm going to use a clean damp brush to soften and blur the edges. Next, I'm going to paint the craters or the texture of the moon using this light color to break up the dark areas of the moon. I don't want to use pure bleed proof white though, because there will be too much contrast. Instead, I've added some permanent yellow deep into the bleed proof white to make it a really light yellow tint. For some of the craters, I like to play with the size. Some of them I just paint as dots, whereas others I paint as circles, again following the curvature of the orb shape. And around these craters, if they're large enough, I like to add lines placed radially all around the circle or the dot. This will help enhance the shape of the crater, giving it a bit more depth and definition. Now that I've painted the sky, I feel a bit more comfortable painting the details and the darker values of the moon, which is what I'm going to do here. I've also switched to my size zero brush so I can get the really fine details in. I'm still painting with light consistencies here though, building it slowly layer by layer, so I don't accidentally make a certain area too dark. Once I'm done adding the darker values, sometimes it can look a little bit too heavy, so I'm going to break it up again with some textured dots using bleed proof white with a mix of permanent yellow deep. Once I'm happy with the details, I want to start adding the stars. I'm going to use a toothbrush to make sure the stars are nice and fine, and I don't want it to go over the moon, so I covered it with my template earlier. For the color, I just used a thick consistency of bleed proof white, but I did add some water into it to make it a bit easier to splatter. I love using this toothbrush because it makes the stars look really nice and fine. However, once I'm done, I'm going to add larger ones manually with my brush. I'm going to add more closer to the moon, especially in the areas where it's glowing. I'm also placing them somewhat diagonally to create a bit of movement and dynamic, even though it's very subtle. Sometimes I like to also create a slight glow to some of the larger stars, and to do this, you can either smudge some of the larger stars that you've already painted, then use a very thick consistency to paint really tiny dots at the center of the blurred stars, or another way is to start with a very thin consistency of bleed proof white to paint larger stars. Then, while the surface is still damp, I use a very thick consistency of bleed proof white at the center, letting the paint burst out on the slightly damp surface. After that, I'm going to dry it off completely before going back in with a tinier dot at the center with a very thick consistency of bleed proof white. After adding a few of the larger ones, I'm fairly happy with the amount of stars and the background in general, so now I'm ready to paint the tree in the foreground. For the tree, I'm using the same color mixture as the sky to create a black this time because I'm using a thick consistency, and I've also switched to my Chinese calligraphy brush. This is from an unnamed brand that I was gifted years ago, so I don't actually know how to get this again. At first, I didn't like it because the bristles are super floppy and hard to control, but if you go slow enough, this flop actually helps to create really organic lines because of the weight difference. Of course, you can manually do this with a normal synthetic brush as well. Here, I'm just trying to roughly follow the branch from the reference image because I like the shape. I find that it helps with the diagonal composition as well as it directs our eyes towards the moon. I'm going to fill the left side with some leaves, so I'm going to paint some loose branches as well for the base. Since there are some areas where the leaves are going to be quite dense, I don't need too many branches since the leaves are going to cover them anyway, so I feel like this is enough. To help with the glowy feel, I want the leaves at the edges closest to the moon to have a reddish tone, so I'm using the mixture of indigo and sepia just like the branches, but this time I've added a bit of vermilion into it as well. I'm using a thick consistency here and I'm just painting groups of leaves first closer to the moon and switching to just the black mixture. For the darker leaves, I'm going to place them closer to the edges. If I paint using the reddish brown along the left side, this is because I'm going to still pile it on with the black later on. Using a slightly thinner consistency or a slightly lighter value with the vermilion, it kind of helps build more depth because this way you're able to see the layers of leaves. As for the branch at the bottom, because I like the shape, I'm not going to add too many leaves here just like the reference image. I'm also going to add some on the bottom right corner just to balance out the composition slightly. However, I'm going to use a lighter consistency compared to the left because I don't want this part to take away from the main movement of the composition, which is from the bottom left corner to the top right where the moon is. Also, using a lighter consistency just means that this tree might be a bit further back. I'm just going to add a few fine branches here and some tiny leaves to get closer to the moon. You can finish off here, but personally, I really love the additional birds in the reference image because I feel like it really helps with the dynamic and the mood of this painting. I'm just going to add a few silhouettes, especially over the light parts of this painting. And that's it! Once I'm done, I'm going to unmask and reveal the painting. I'm actually quite happy with how the glowing effect looks and how the colors came together. At first, I was quite nervous using vermilion and indigo, but it actually worked out in the end with a nice complementary tone. Let me know what you think in the comments and if you enjoyed this tutorial, please consider subscribing if you haven't already. Like usual, the list of tools as well as my social media links will be in the description box. Thank you so much for watching till the end and I'll see you guys at the next one. Bye!