Polaroid watercolour paintings
Polaroids have returned big time! They not only look stylish as photos, but also as watercolour paintings. The small motifs are quick and easy to paint, even for beginners. Hanging several of them on a string instantly brings a good mood to your four walls.
An article by Claudia
Instructions:
Use the 2H pencil and a ruler to transfer the dimensions of the polaroids to watercolour paper. Cut out the paper along the outside edge and create the inner frame with masking tape.
- External dimensions for the Polaroid: 10.5 x 15 cm
- Internal dimensions for the Polaroid: 0.7 cm (left, right and top edge), 4.4 cm bottom edge
Tip: If you want to draw lots of Polaroid watercolours, make a stencil. To do this, cut the cardboard to the right size. Use a cutter to cut out the inner frame. Now you can place the stencil on a piece of paper and quickly trace the inner and outer lines.
- Direct to:
- Beach
- Sea urchins
- Starfish
- Material overview
Draw the line of the horizon in the upper third. Draw a slightly diagonal double line for the white crests of the waves in the lower third. This line should have curves.
Above the spray, colour the water in a sand shade. Then change to light turquoise shades and deepen the colour of the water towards the horizon with shades of blue. Leave horizontal white spots that will later represent the crests of the waves.
Use the brush to paint from the beach (bottom) to the horizon (top). Try to paint around the white crests.
Create the beach with ochre and reddish brown. Draw around small stones. Paint the beach, applying light pressure on the water tank brush.
Put shadows in the spray with the light grey pencil and colour in the crests with white watercolour paint.
Then leave everything to dry thoroughly and carefully remove the strips of masking tape from the paper.
Tip: If you like, you can add lettering to the free space under the watercolour!
Print out the sea urchin motif. Shade the back of the template motif with the dark blue watercolour pencil (14610C-33).
Place the template (with the front facing up) precisely in the centre of the watercolour paper. Trace the outlines and lines with the watercolour pencil. This transfers the motif to the paper. Before removing the template, check to see that all the lines have been transferred.
Shade the area around the sea urchin in dark blue (-33). Use the watercolour brush to paint the background. Dab individual drops of water into the slightly damp colour if you like a vibrant background.
Now shade the sea urchin with a colour gradient. Leave the circles free. Start at the top with light turquoise (-302), then use medium blue (-37) in the middle and below that dark blue (-33) and apply strong pressure.
Draw a dark blue shadow under the circles and colour in the hole very dark. Then carefully remove the masking tape.
Your Polaroid is finished!
Print out the motif. Shade the back of the template motif with the dark blue watercolour pencil (14610C-33).
Place the template (with the front facing up) precisely in the centre of the watercolour paper. Trace the outlines and lines with the watercolour pencil. This transfers the motif to the paper. Before removing the template, check to see that all the lines have been transferred.
Shade the area around the sea urchin in dark blue (-33). Use the brush to watercolour the background. Dab individual drops of water into the slightly damp colour if you like a vibrant background.
Now use dark blue (-33) to gently colour in the starfish. Leave the circles free. In a second layer, you darken the body in places with more pressure on the pencil.
Deepen the darkest areas with violet (-6) and black (-9). Then remove the masking tape.
Your Polaroid is finished!
What you need
Additionally required:
Smooth watercolour paper (A4 and A3), Masking tape
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