How to draw a lighthouse on the seashore. Seascape with a lighthouse: a detailed master class in pictures

Lesson number 26. Painting a landscape in watercolor: Australia, a white lighthouse on the shore.

We continue painting lessons for emerging artists... Today we will paint with watercolors a beautiful scenery: a white lighthouse that stands by the sea in Australia.

How do I draw white? Of course, just leave the unpainted paper, show a little how the shadow falls and draw small details with a thin brush.

I chose this photo for this tutorial.

The sea, clouds in the sky and a white staircase that leads to the lighthouse. In order to depict the details, we will first have to make an accurate sketch with a simple pencil, and then carefully draw with a thin brush, letting the picture dry well.

We look at the photo and draw a horizon line, a lighthouse, stair railings and bushes along the ruler. At this stage, we need to draw all the details: railings, fence posts and even steps and windows on the lighthouse.

We type blue paint on a thick brush and immediately draw clouds, trying to convey their shape.

Now you can paint the sky. Be sure to choose different colors: blue for the upper part of the sky and purple, we will paint them near the horizon.

We dilute the blue paint with water and paint the clouds so that they turn from white spots into cumulus clouds.

To do this, just put small brush strokes, making wavy lines. Draw very carefully near the lighthouse and take our time so as not to cross the pencil lines.

If we now start working on the sea, the colors will flow over and ruin our drawing. Therefore, we type brown paint on a brush and paint the ground in the foreground and near the bushes.

Until the paint is dry, add a yellow tint to the left, the sun is shining there, so the grass is not that green. On the steps of the stairs, paint in gray, which we dilute well with water.

The sky is dry, so you can paint the sea. We work carefully so that the horizon line remains flat and the lighthouse remains white. For water, choose a mixture of blue, blue, purple and green paints.

First, we try the resulting color on the palette, and then we apply it with wide strokes on the water.

We leave the picture so that the paints dry, but for now you can draw green bushes. We just try not to go beyond the line of the sea, so that the colors do not overflow.

We type herbal green paint on a thin brush and paint the brightest places, where the bushes are illuminated by the sun.

Paint green leaves by mixing green with brown paint.

Working on the bushes until they are completely painted. If there are white gaps, it's okay, we will paint over them a little later.

Now we can make the sea brighter, for this we apply another layer of paint, making different mixtures.

At the lighthouse, draw the windows and the door with black paint, at this stage of work we need a thin brush. Add color to the leaves on the right and left, painting over the white gaps.

We put dark spots on the green bushes below so that a shadow appears in the picture. Draw the same color between the leaves to convey the shape of the bushes.

Add green color to the ground, then the grass will appear on the picture, which grows on the shore.

We draw the grass that grows between the fence bars and along the stairs. You can add yellow and brown shades to the ground.

We definitely need to show which side the sun is shining from, so we draw a shadow near the bushes with a mixture of green and brown paints.

On the grass to the left, we see a shadow from the stairs, so we draw several long lines along the fence. Draw thin lines with gray paint on the steps, work with the very tip of the brush, drawing steps.

Grass also grows inside the stairs, for it we choose a dark green paint, because now the grass is in the shade.

There is not much left: add details that are still missing in the picture.

Make a very light gray color and paint the railing. But we do not paint over them completely, but draw thin lines along the inner side, so that in this place the railings acquire volume. In the same way we draw white columns: we outline each column on the left in gray, in this place they are darker, because they are in the shadow.

Add gray and blue paint to the lighthouse on the left, after diluting them with water. After that, you need to let the picture dry well. Then we draw a door at the top and a red grate.

We draw several horizontal lines to convey the shape of the lighthouse.

Our picture is ready.

Today I will tell you about the process of creating my painting "The Lighthouse". I will try not to go into too much detail, because it took three months to create this picture, because I had to work on it only in my free time. I will try to recreate the entire chain of creation of this painting, and I will do it in a way that makes it interesting for you!

INTRODUCTION

When creating this picture, I pursued one goal - to achieve a mood of loneliness and cold, but at the same time so that the focal point gave off warmth and comfort - creating protection from wind and cold. Initially, the picture was not meant to be gloomy and frightening, as it turned out in the end, I conceived a lighthouse on the coast, showered with sunlight, and in the background I would see the pier.

I wanted the tower to look like stone, because by that time I had a craving for creating old buildings and architectural structures. I also loved the detail of rocks and stones, so the rock is jagged and uneven, with many broken pieces and cracks. This has become my favorite part of painting ... and the crystals sticking out of the rock!
Speaking of crystals, they appeared in connection with the desire, when working with the highest point of the rock, to add something unusual that would attract the attention of the audience.
Well, enough of that, let's get to work!

SKETCH

As always, I start by drawing lines on my album until I find the exact composition I like. Then I scan the drawing. At this stage, I realized one thing for myself that annoyed me - working with a sketch was always difficult until I started making it in Photoshop! I also realized that the best way to create a sketch is to decrease the saturation of the image as much as possible and increase the contrast until you get a black and white linear image. Then set the layer mode to Multiplication (Multiply) and done. I thought it would be a good idea to mention this, in case someone else had problems with this too!

FILLING WITH COLOR

Not forgetting how the drawing should have turned out - light and positive - when working with color, I ran into a number of problems, until in the end I did not understand what result I was going to.

The rock was initially presented to me as just an upward slope. But since in the process of drawing it more and more turned into a massive rocky mountain, I began to draw more directions of rocky stones, and experimented with colors. The result is a rocky gray shade of the rock.

I wanted the clouds to look very thick, ready to rain down, so I used a dark blue for the base, and where the sun's rays came through, I used light and bright blue.

I then went back to the cliff again and tweaked the details before removing the mountains in the background, following the new idea that the lighthouse would stand on a lonely cliff, not on the shore.

At this stage, I came up with a bright balloon, so I continued painting over the rock and crystals, intending to continue working on all the little things.

ROCK

As I said, this is my favorite part of the painting process, mainly due to all the trial and error I went through to get the desired result. To say that I used a lot of brushes to achieve something that I would like is to say nothing. I've tried every possible brush!

I ended up using a lot of grainy brushes and a few scattering pattern brushes that I created from photographs of moss and mushrooms. Cracks were drawn with black lines using a small round hard brush and the Blur tool. Then all these actions were repeated with the same small dark gray brush. This, I noticed, gave some of the edges a rounded edge, saving them from being too sharp.

I didn’t want the rock to look just like a gray lump, because it would be boring and not eye-catching, so I began to search and study photographs of colored graphite for inspiration. With fresh ideas, I started working on the rock again, adding some light pink and warm shades of gray, while tweaking the brush options and choosing the most appropriate.

LIGHT

Next, I started painting and processing the light and rays emanating from the lighthouse itself. He was the main focal point, so I paid maximum attention to him to bring everything to perfection. This stage was the most difficult, because I could not achieve the desired result - the one that I imagined in my head. In the end, I decided to create more than just a lighthouse on top of a cliff; I wanted to depict a shimmering light, bright and warm, shining through the darkness, because this light served as a reference point for the balloon, which I eventually decided to add.

MIST AND CRYSTALS

When I had just finished painting over the balloon, I changed my mind about the clouds, because the picture looked completely flat. I decided to fill the void that annoyed me with the second rock in the background. This created a vision of a mountain range.

I added fog between the two rocks so that you can better feel the depth and atmosphere of the area. I also added heavy fog to the foreground and blurred the rock in the background a little. Then I brightened the area around the tower slightly using a soft round brush and orange paint to show that the fog absorbs and reflects the light coming from the lighthouse.

Having finished with the balloon, I went back to the crystals, darkening them so that I could see that the light from the balloon was falling on it. I cut off the ends of the crystals and added transparency to them, while in front of me I always had a quartz crystal, looking at which, I could correctly complete this stage.

The appearance of the balloon, as such, is inspired by the Steampunk genre. I wanted to portray a massive structure, hand-built, as if it were someone's house or project. In connection with this, I drew the outboard ship in the form of an old boat, refurbished for new purposes. I also added two slopes and a copper tube that fills the balloon with hot air.

It is always very helpful to observe different materials, such as metal and stone, to see how they react to light and shadow. The balloon itself is also made taking into account the texture of the fabric and looks like a real balloon. And again, a point brush will help in this situation to achieve old-fashioned and scuffed, which, according to my idea, the ball itself lacked.

CONCLUSION

Click on the picture to see the image in full size and 100% quality.

And now, the final result!
I enjoyed creating this tutorial and I hope it helps you with some little things. There is one significant point that I have mastered in creating this painting, and which I would like to avoid, is how much your brain can overexert when working on one painting. Don't think too much about the painting, because you will end up dwelling on every little detail!

Thank you! And success in your work!

You will need the following materials:

Tinted paper;

Pastels in white, yellow, blue, green, light and dark red, brown, gray and black.

Important! I'll show you the first two steps of sketching again on white paper. Use tinted paper and white chalk to sketch!

Divide the tower into seven parts and draw a small triangle on top for the roof. Since the tower is round, the horizontal lines should be slightly curved!

Draw a beacon around the dashed line in the center.

Draw two small houses next to the lighthouse - the sketch is ready!

Paint blue sky, green meadow. Leave the paper blank where the houses and the tower should be.

Then paint the sky white. Then blend the strokes on the sky and the meadow.

Use light red and white for the lighthouse and houses, and black for the roof of the tower. Leave the narrow areas on the red surface of the lighthouse unpainted.

Now we will work on the light and shadow: paint the red areas at the edges with dark red, and the stripes that remain unpainted, paint over with white. The roofs of the houses are shaded to brown. In the meadow, due to the yellow color, light areas will appear. Then blend the strokes.

STEP IV

Add some cobalt blue to paint the area under the clouds. And then a darker blue to create a haze on the horizon - for this, mix ultramarine with kraplak and Payne's gray.

Continue to trace the softness of the silhouette of the clouds using a damp brush and paper towel. Then mix ultramarine with kraplak and Payne's gray and paint shadows on the clouds to give them the illusion of volume.

Dry the work well before moving on to the next step.

STEP V

Define the tone of the buildings and the lighthouse and blend the shade using ultramarine with kraplak and Payne's gray. It is similar to dark areas of the sky as shadows always reflect surrounding objects.

Use thin round brushes to paint buildings.

Since the lighthouse is round, when painting its shadow, give it a soft border on the edge of the light. You can also add warm shades of orange for the reflections in the shadows to avoid the monochrome color.

Finally, do not forget to write the falling shadow of the lighthouse.

STEP VI

Leave the shadows to dry and continue painting the details of the lighthouse and buildings.

Mix Payne's gray with blue and kraplak, paint the lighthouse balcony, roof and windows. Make sure the shadow is dry before painting the windows. To do this, check the moisture content of the paper by touching it with the back of your hand - if the paper is still cold to the touch, then the layer is not yet dry enough. But for now, you can add details on other buildings.

STEP VII

While you wait for the buildings and the lighthouse to dry, start painting the ocean.

Mix a large amount of paint to cover a large area. You will need: Ultramarine, Ceruleum, Peacock Blue with Cobalt Blue and a little Hooker's and Sap Green and a bit of Payne's gray. This mixture should resemble the color of the sky, as the water always reflects its surroundings.

Using a large brush, moisten the horizon line with clean water. Add some Gray Payne and Hooker's Green to the ocean color mix and start painting the water from the horizon downwards. Try to merge the border of the sky with the border of the ocean.

STEP VIII

As you go down, as you get closer to the close-up, work around rocks and areas of foam, adding darker colors (more blue or green) where necessary.

You can add burnt sienna and some kraplak to tone down the color.

Try to paint the movement of the water and leave the foam areas unpainted. For areas where water turns into foam, soften the edges with a # 0 brush and clean water until the edges are dry. Continue alternating between filling the ocean surface and softening the edges until you are done.

STEP IX

While the ocean dries, draw the roofs of the buildings.

Mix ocher yellow with cadmium orange and cover the roofs. Since the watercolor paint is transparent, you can even apply it over the eyeshadow if desired. This will add harmony and depth to the picture.

Add cadmium red dark, more cadmium orange and some burnt sienna for shingles and rusted areas.

To paint the roof color in shadow, you can add kraplak and ultramarine for a dark purple. Use this color to paint the bottom of the roofs (i.e. the roof shadow).

Mix the blue with a bit of Payne's gray to paint the rest of the building, such as the windows. Don't overload them. Use a paper towel to wipe off excess paint. Keep a reference picture and sketch handy to stick to the tones and shades you want.

STEP X

Clean your palette with a slightly damp piece of paper towel, then define the tone and local color of the rocks nearby.

Mix ocher, cadmium red and some purple, adding enough water to lighten the color.

Start filling the rocks with this color, leaving the foam and splatter white. Soften the edges between rocks and water with a damp brush.

Use the local rock color as the base layer, as even shadows and highlights contain this color. In several places, you can mix more cadmium yellow-orange or cadmium red to make the stones in the foreground more interesting and give more depth to your painting.

STEP XI

When the base rocks are relatively dry, add more burnt sienna and blues to the original orange to paint the middle tone of the rocks in the middle of your painting. You can add some cracks and other texture details, but don't overdo it as it is important that the stones frame your lighthouse and not be the main subject of the painting.

For darker rock areas (where they are darker because they are wet from the waves), add Burnt Umber, Ultramarine, Purple and Payne's Gray to your rock color blend and use the # 1 brush to paint them. Again, avoid foam and surf as they should remain white.

STEP XII

To paint splashes of water where the waves hit the rocks, dampen a brush with clean water and remove some paint from the base of the rock where the splash should appear. The resulting soft spot should look like a cloud. If it's still too dark, you can use a paper towel to remove more paint.

Keep adding splashes here and there as you paint along the base of the rocks, but don't repeat this too often or it will look too monotonous.

Add more burnt umber and sienna where it is necessary to combine the rock with its shadow, and use the same color to paint cracks or other texture details on the rocks.

Be selective - the details should be sharper in the foreground, so don't add them to rocks that aren't the main focus.

STEP XIII

Then blend the meadow color using Sap Green and Cadmium Yellow Dark to paint the sunlit area.

Apply to the surface of the rocky island under the buildings and lighthouse. Pay close attention to the shape formed by the grass at the top of the cliff and how it clings to the surface.

When you're done, add some burnt sienna to paint the shadow and the bottom of the grass, this will add some volume to the grass.

STEP XIV

Add shadows to these stones using the same color as for the other stones and paint a rocky effect with uneven brush strokes. Keep checking the tone and using your sketch for reference.

You can also add cracks to the foreground, but again, creating the right shadow shape is more important than adding too much detail.

Add ceruleum to the mixture at the base of the rocky island where it meets the sea. For the darkest areas, where the rocks are always wet, mix burnt umber and purple, especially as you get closer to the front of the painting.

This is the best way to add aerial perspective to your painting - objects closer to you will be darker in color than objects in the distance. Also, avoid using black at all costs, as this will reduce the brightness and longevity of your painting.

STEP XV

Sometimes you can add some dark red cadmium to the shadow. And don't forget to soften the base where the stone meets the water. Use the same paint stripping technique mentioned earlier to create a splash of water that crashes against the stone.

As you paint in the darkest areas, add even more purple, burnt umber and sepia, and paint in more cracks and details.

To reproduce the rough texture of the rock, you can use the dry brush method, which is where you remove most of the paint from your brush before you apply it to the paper. The roughness of the paper should absorb some of the paint in some places, resulting in a rough, rocky texture. You can test this on a piece of watercolor paper before adding this effect to the stones in the foreground.

STEP XVI

Finally, add finishing touches to your painting, such as more waves, splashes, etc. Try not to overload your painting, as this can drown out the hallmarks of your unique art style and the painting's own personality.

However, if you've planned your work well ahead of time, you don't need to spend too much time adding finishing touches or fixing mistakes.

As a final step, wait until the painting is completely dry and then use the eraser to remove the pencil lines that are staining white or light areas. They should be easy to remove if there are not too many layers of paint on the surface.

And when you're done, feel free to sign the painting, give it a title, and frame it for everyone to see!

Translation: Marina Trushnikova

Necessary accessories ^

Brushes:
# 8 Columns
# 5 Columns
# 0 Winsor & Newton Series 7 red sable

Paints
Herbaceous dark green, sap green, ultramarine blue, ceruleum blue, alizarin crimson, permanent pink, Indian yellow, raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt umber.

Paper:
Pre-cut sheets (5.5 "x 7.5") Whatman # 200 cold pressed.

Other
Simple pencil # 2
Eraser-nag
Grafix Incredible White Mask
Palettes by Robert E. Wood & Eldajon.
Water tank
Hair dryer (optional)

Raw material:
Digital photography, sketching and imagination.

Step 1

To begin with, determine what you will draw and draw the necessary contours on which the drawing will be based. Examine visually in advance all the elements that you embody in the picture. I took a photo of Lorraine Lighthouse on Lake Erie as a source, and also made a cardboard template to size so that you can move it around and play with the composition. Once it is decided where to draw the lighthouse, you need to outline the areas of sky and sea, and then cover the area of ​​the lighthouse with a liquid mask.
While the mask was drying, I sketched a few boats on the horizon.

Step 2

With a # 8 brush, I mixed in Ceruleum blue and, wetting some areas of the sky with clean water, I applied this paint, varying the intensity and shape of the edge of the clouds.
While this wash was still wet, I added a bit of black (ivory) to the blue to get a silvery gray for the bottom of the clouds.
Then I re-moistened the lower horizon and applied a light wash of Indian yellow, glazing with the underlying blue layer.
After that, I intensified the color of the sky with a rich blue while the sky was still wet.

Step 3

Suddenly I realized that the paper I had taken for the drawing was damaged by mildew as I kept it in the basement. The mold was not visible until I applied the paint. The moldy areas soaked up the paint like blotting paper. Here is such an unexpected texture. With the same wash of ceruleum blue, I applied the first layer of water, trying to create a reflection effect. Then he let the painting dry.
Then, mixing two greens and burnt umber, I made several variations of the green shade for the lake water. I wet some parts of the water before starting to work on the dynamic wave lines in the foreground. I paid a little attention to the reflection of the lighthouse in the water, sketching out the red roof with a mixture of alizarin and permanent pink.

Step 4

For some reason, I didn't like the foreground, so I armed myself with a # 5 brush to paint some rocks near the shore using grassy green, ceruleum blue and burnt umber.
While the stones were drying, I mixed in a blue-gray shade for small strips of earth on both sides of the bay and painted them approximately.
Having collected a little of the remaining ceruleum, I spread it with a drop of water and drew the near sails of the boat to give direction to its movement.
Then I went back to the stones and painted them with gray-green paint residues from previous water washes.