Watercolor Tutorials

The Botanical Letter Tutorial Reboot!

October 31, 2019 by Lindsey Bugbee 12 Comments
Sketchbook· Watercolor Tutorials

In 2015, I wrote the original Botanical Letter Tutorial. When I redo tutorials, I normally completely replace the old tutorial with the new one. In this case, however, I think that it’s important to keep the original tutorial on the site! That way, you can see how I approached making two different letters: a “J” (in the original tutorial) and a “B” (in this tutorial). In this tutorial, we’re going to get much more detailed and — hopefully — you’ll gain better insight into how to make your own gorgeous letter! Read on to learn how to get started.
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Cozy Autumn Teacup Illustration Tutorial

September 26, 2019 by Ana Isabel Corral 15 Comments
Tutorials· Watercolor· Watercolor Tutorials

Happy fall, you wonderful readers! It’s me, Ana, and I am back with a fun seasonal tutorial for you all. Fall is the season of “cozy”. So, to commemorate the season of lovely, crunchy leaves, I am going to teach you how to making an illustrated teacup full of tea, cider, coffee, or whatever warms both your heart and your hands! Let’s dive right in, my fellow fall fans!

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Simple Southwestern Envelope Art Tutorial

September 24, 2019 by Lindsey Bugbee 16 Comments
Mail Art· Watercolor Tutorials

This simple Southwestern envelope art proves that sometimes less can be more! I love its limited color palette, perfect balance of lines and curves, and interplay between block lettering and calligraphy. In today’s tutorial, I’m going to show you how to make an envelope just like this one!
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How to Combine Calligraphy and Watercolors

September 19, 2019 by Lindsey Bugbee 30 Comments
Calligraphy· Watercolor· Watercolor Tutorials

The same question mills through my email inbox every month or so: “How can I write calligraphy on a watercolor background?” The answer: it can be done, but you’ll have to do it in a way that may not seem intuitive! In this article, I’m going to teach you how to combine calligraphy and watercolors in a manner that results in smooth, crisp calligraphy strokes that don’t bleed.
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Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial

April 2, 2019 by Lindsey Bugbee 52 Comments
Sketchbook· Tutorials· Watercolor· Watercolor Tutorials

This Watercolor Henna Cat Illustration Tutorial is actually a bit of a throwback! I took the photos for it five years ago as part of a guest post for Inkstruck Studio. However, I recently noticed that the guest post pictures no longer show up on the Inkstruck site! It really is a neat tutorial, perfect for any artistic cat lover, so I decided to rewrite the post here on TPK. You may notice that today’s photos are a bit different from those that you normally see on the blog because I took them so long ago!
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“Safari” Watercolor Mail Art Tutorial

March 12, 2019 by Lindsey Bugbee 20 Comments
Mail Art· Tutorials· Watercolor Tutorials

A friend recently gave me Last Chance to See, which is a book written by Douglas Adams. The novel details Adams’ adventures as he travels to various remote locations to find endangered species. I initially prepared myself for a dry, educational read. Instead, I’ve found adventure and comedy! In short, lush and exotic locations have been on my mind; and when I came across this motif by illustrator Viktoria on Pinterest, I was inspired to create some watercolor mail art! Today, I’ll show you how to whip up an envelope like this one. Of course, you can modify the concept to use it on bullet journals, sketchbooks, invitations, or whatever else you feel like making!
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