In this tutorial I'll show you how to paint
a gorgeous galaxy with tons of texture, color
variation, and value changes.
So, let's start!
Make sure you're using a big enough brush,
like this is a size 10 round and start picking
up colors that you like and filling the page
in with them.
Notice how I let them blend together and I
even drop more water in to make blooms and
help with the blending.
My movements are super loose and random, but
if you have trouble with this, try thinking
of painting fluffy clouds and move your brush
accordingly.
We're playing with wet in wet right now, so
you can always just use water or less paint
and go back in and add a different or darker
colors anywhere in the painting that's still wet.
You can also add a splatter to make more color
variations.
Since it's still wet the dots won't stay,
but it will make the piece more interesting.
Also, be sure to add black in some parts of
the piece.
If you want a huge contrast I recommend you
use black ink.
Ink is completely fine to use with watercolor
and can make some gorgeous textures, but here
I'm just using black watercolors here.
I continue filling the page with the same
random brush strokes and different colors
and in this corner I make it fully black for
more contrast, also notice how diagonally,
from the top right corner to the bottom left,
I have left that area much lighter by using
less color and more water.
This is how you play with the contrast and
make cool effects that look like nebulas,
but if you're planning to do lettering in
white on top, it's better to make the whole
piece darker, so you don't have to leave this
light area.
While my first layer is still wet I add more
black in different parts of the composition.
Since it's a little dryer the paint spreads
less, which is good because I don't want the
black to overpower the colors.
I also add more colors, trying to balance
the piece and more splatter.
I'm keeping an eye on the overall composition
and balancing it, but I have to work quickly
and do all the changes while the first layer
is still wet.
Now I use a paper towel to lighten some areas
by gently dabbing it, especially the diagonal
nebula.
This also creates a beautiful misty texture.
I continue adding color, water, and using
the paper towel until I'm happy with it and
then I let it dry.
You can see how there are a lot of blooms
forming and beautiful textures, but once it's
more dry I add even more water to make more
blooms and then I use rubbing alcohol in a
dropper to add texture.
You can also add salt instead, or use cling
wrap, or any other fun technique.
I cover this and other basic techniques in
my anyone can watercolor class and I left
a free link below if you want to take it.
Notice how random my placements of the alcohol
drops are and I vary the sizes of the drops
by placing more or less alcohol down on the
page.
For the smallest dots I just touch the page
with the tip of the dropper.
Once I feel like it's done I use a hair dryer
to speed up the drying process and then I
use splatter to add more of a texture.
Since the previous layer is mostly dry, the
dots will stay where they are this time.
I dry the dots and now we can add the second
layer.
But before we do, I want you to notice all
the fun textures that were made with just
one layer.
Because we used so much water, the paint dried
in such a magical way.
This is the beauty of watercolors and can
only be achieved if you let go and let it
do it's own thing.
Adding a second layer is really important
to up the contrast, make more textures, and
more intense colors through glazing.
Also the alcohol drop are way too light on
their own so if you use this technique it's
definitely necessary to do a second layer.
For the second layer I do a similar thing
as the first one, but this time I don't cover
everything and I keep my edges loose and fluffy.
You can make random shapes anywhere in the
piece this time, since we already have the
first layer down, it'll just make a beautiful
textures.
I think the piece could have used more pink
and black so those are the colors I put down
the most and I don't paint inside the diagonal
nebula because I want it to stay light and
I'm just increasing it's contrast with the
background.
If you overdo an area, just dab it with a
paper towel.
Once I feel like it's done I use a hair dryer
to dry it and now we can add stars.
So actually, my camera stopped filming because
it was full at this point and I didn't even
notice until the piece was done.
Ugh I hate when that happens.
But don't worry I'll still explain the process.
So I used white ink for the initial tiny stars.
All you need to do is get an old toothbrush
and dip it in white ink or you can use white
gouache or acrylic and then flick the bristles.
If you flick them slowly they make very tiny
stars, and if you flick them faster it makes
more concentrated stars with more size variation.
So you can easily control the effect with
varying the pressure you flick the bristles at.
You can also just splatter with a normal brush
but the stars will be too big, the tiny ones
feel more real.
If you look at a reference, that's how stars
look like.
Here you can see the results from this technique
and it already feels like a galaxy.
You could just stop here, but I'm going to
add bigger stars for more details.
There are a lot of ways to do this like splatter
with a brush or just painting them in with
some white medium, but I really love using the
uniball signo broad point white gel pen for this.
It's very opaque and easy to add details and
make bigger and smaller dots and you can even
draw in diamond stars or just use crossing
lines.
Other ideas are lettering or constellations
or a silhouette of something in white ink.
You can really get creative with the galaxy
effect, but that's the gist of it.
Our painting is done, and I hope this mini lesson helped you and if
you make a galaxy of your own I'd love to
see it, so just tag me on instagram.
If you enjoyed this tutorial, do me a favor
and leave a comment or a like, this will help
other people to find it, and if you want to
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just subscribe.
And I'll leave you with something to think
about, there is nobody else in this entire
universe that is like you, nor will there
ever be.
You are one of a kind and deserve all the
best.
Think about that, you are one of a kind!
I'll see you guys in the next tutorial.
