Painting Architecture in Watercolor: Complex to Simple

Hi, I'm Darren from Watercolour Mentor. In this class, you'll learn how to transform complex architectural reference photos into loose and simplified watercolour paintings. This class will challenge you to develop your drawing and painting skills together, and I will show you my two step process to paint any landscape.

There are 4 fully narrated demonstrations for you to paint along to. By the end of this course, you'll feel more confident in understanding how to paint complex landscapes with buildings, figures, trees, water and much more.

I'll be covering:

• How to paint complex architectural landscapes in watercolor from a photograph. I'll show you how to reduce a scene down to essentials and pick out elements and objects of focus.
• Layering - learn how you only need 2-3 layers in order to complete a watercolor painting.
• How to use colour effectively to create areas of interest to portray the mood of a scene.
• How to use tone, or light and dark areas to create depth and richness in your paintings.

Note: Scanned images of my final paintings, as well as the original (royalty free) reference photographs and drawing/tracing stencils are included under the 'Materials Required' section.

For the course project, follow along to the painting demonstrations. There are 4 unique landscapes with step-by-step narration. I've included the original reference photographs in this course as well as some simplified stencils for your convenience if you are looking to trace the scenes or would like a simplified reference picture to draw from. I recommend you try drawing each scene freehand, as this will build your drawing skills, and allow you to compose and alter elements to make unique to yourself.

If you have finished the 4 demonstrations featured in this course, pick a royalty free photograph or perhaps one of your own photograph of a landscape. Using the process and techniques described in this course, create your own unique painting.