Winter is slowly (very slowly) turning into spring, so it is the highest time to show you my winter landscape painting. It looks like watercolors, right? But it is not!

I painted it by using a graphics software called Rebelle, which is my favorite program for digital watercolors because… it not only look like traditional paints but also behaves like it. You can read more about how to use this software in my past post.

Today I will shortly show you how I use it to paint a landscape scene. My key to making a digital painting in Rebelle look like traditional one is to copy my traditional painting process. 

Za oknem robi się niebezpiecznie wiosennie! Dlatego śpieszę się z publikacją procesu malowania zimowej, cyfrowej akwareli zanim zazielenią się trawniki i rozkwitną łąki. 

Ilustracja, którą widzisz w nagłówku posta nie powstała przy użyciu wody i farb, choć wiele osób, gdy zobaczyło ją na moim Instagramie, myślało, że to akwarela. Tymczasem, jakże przewrotnie, użyłam programu graficznego Rebelle i mojego iPada 🙂 Co nie było takie łatwe, gdyż ten program nigdy nie wprowadził mobilnej aplikacji ani na iPady, ani na inne mobilne urządzenia. Jeśli chcesz się dowiedzieć jak to zrobiłam – daj znać. Możliwe, że to dobry pomysł na kolejny post.

Jeśli nie wiesz, co to takiego to całe Rebelle, wyjaśniam w skrócie: to program graficzny symulujący malowanie tradycyjnymi technikami. Nie tylko wygląd, ale sam proces! Jego narzędzia omawiam szczegółowo w poście Rebelle 3 tutorial – proces malowania i omówienie narzędzi {video}

Dziś pokażę mój ulubiony pędzel akwarelowy w akcji. Zatem jedziemy, nim wiosna nas dopadnie i uczyni ten obrazek nieadekwatnym!

Digital watercolor in 8 steps

1. I set up the scene with a few strokes with a pastel brush. It allowed me to check if the most important elements of the scene will be on the right places (not too high/low, not too near to an edge of canvas).
2. It is time for a pencil sketch in Rebelle. I used here the ruler tool. I have never drawn a straight line in my whole life so a ruler is mandatory, especially when an architecture subject is present. The ruler tool in Rebelle is one of the best I have ever used. So quick, simple and intuitive!
My sketch is quite detailed. I want it to be visible under the paint. It is easier to draw details than paint them – no matter if we use digital or traditional media. It also makes the whole process quicker.
I set the blend mode of the layer on multiply.
3. I created another layer and filled it with water. Yes – in Rebelle water has a significant meaning – just like in the real watercolor process. Button responsible for filling the layer with water, drying it and so on is placed in layer panel under layers. When the layer is wet, the paint will spread on it more, than on a dry.
4. I used watercolor brush filled with water (you can slide water slider in brush panel). To control the direction of a paint I used Tilt (right, upper corner). I also made the edges of paint darker in Visual Setting window – available on the bottom of layer panel.
5. I paint large areas with light colors. I use a few hues of blue and cyan to paint the sky. I almost never use one color only, to fill an area. Colors in watercolors mix with each other so interesting. It is worth to take advantage of it. Besides, large areas of flat color look so dull!
6. I added more details on another layer with “Multiply” mode. It made new layers of color darker, even if I use bright colors- just as in the traditional process. I decreased the amount of water on the watercolor brush, decreased the Tilt, and also didn’t wet the layer to have more control over the strokes.
7. The ‘F’ shortcut is my best friend in this phase. It stops paint from spreading – freezes it. In the same time painted areas remain wet, so it works differently than drying a whole layer.
8. I created the last layer for details. I used the Pen tool to paint a bunch of tiny white twigs and branches. It gave a whole artwork winterly vibe. I used the pastel brush to simulate a bit of hoarfrost on the grass. The grainy structure of the pastel brush worked perfectly here.

And this is it!
I created this painting by using Rebelle on iPad, although there is no Rabelle app for iPad and any mobile device. If you want to know how I did that – let me know. Maybe it will be a theme for the next post!

If this post was helpful – let me know or share it!
So that’s it for now! Now I am fully ready for spring!

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