Month 12 - Mossy Forest

Sarah Burns Studio X Craftamo
Gouache Subscription Box 12

Thank you for joining me on this 12-month gouache course! I hope by now you have a good idea of how to approach a reference photo and steps you can take to improve as you go. It takes time to get used to gouache, so don’t rush it. I’ve been using it for over 6 years now and I’m still learning new things each time!

Part 1: Unboxing, Color Mixes, Sketches

Supplies

Materials in Box #12:

Paper
2 brushes

Fan Brush
#12 Filbert

3 colors

Carmine
Shadow Green Pale
Primary White

Color Mixes

Reference

As I often do, I’ve combined a few photos together to create the composition I want. One of the images (top right) was an old oil painting of mine!

The result is a bit odd, but it gets the point across! And it gives me a feeling to strive towards:

However, I do plan on using a different color palette, to make it a little more fantasy-like.

To start, I’ll do a quick sketch to block in the basics.

I start to explore the colors I want to use. After I did the color study, I thought I want to use more purples, and make the forest floor more reddish.

Demo Part 1

Line Drawing:

It’s helpful to block in the majority of the colors before doing detail. I probably could have filled in the whole page with a base layer, but I got a little carried away with doing details in the background. But the white of the paper can be very distracting, especially in a scene that will end up being a lot darker. So I recommend blocking in your colors first before doing detail.

Demo Part 2

Once you have a base layer, it is a lot easier to see your values and to build up the textures and details. Most of the second and third layer is dry-brush technique in order to create the variety I need. Remember in the shadows of the tree, keep your greens cool (more green) and in the highlights, add more yellows.

Bonus Demo

As a special THANK YOU for your 12 month subscription I’m offering one of my full length demos of a similar theme. This is an autumn forest scene, so you can explore different color combinations and practice your forest skills.

This one of my Patreon demos, so if you enjoy it, consider joining my Patreon to continue your journey with me! I have tons of demos in gouache, watercolor, and drawing.

Lastly, here is a cheat sheet for how I paint mossy branches (or other things covered in moss):

Brush Care

Never leave your brushes in water for too long. After rinsing, dry the hairs as best you can with a towel then let them dry on a flat surface. Leaving them in water for too long can cause the wood of the handle to swell, which can crack the handle coating. If that happens, the brush is still usable, just not as pretty!

I usually clean mine with brush soap every few uses. You can find brush soap on the Craftamo website or any art store.

Community

Don’t forget to join my Discord chat server! You can share images of your sketches/painting and enjoy a sense of community. Or if you’d like to share your work with me on Instagram, use the hashtag #sarahburnstutor so I can find you.

Additional helpful resources:

Brand new to gouache? As you discover questions about gouache, I hope to answer as many as I can. For now, you can start with this blog post which goes very in-depth about what gouache is.

If you want even more instruction, I often post free tutorials on YouTube. Otherwise my Patreon is a great resource to learn even more.

Additional suggested materials:

I use lots of different gouaches, papers, sketchbooks, and palettes for different purposes. You don’t need anything extra right now, except maybe paper as you will probably run out of that first.

Craftamo sells extra paper (same as what is in the boxes) and it’s very affordable.

Otherwise, I have lots of recommendations. I keep an updated list of all my favorite art supplies here.

How I use my different brushes: video

This video shows all the brush types you will receive over the course of the 12 month subscription. At the end of the video I show how to care for your brushes.