Hand-Painted Tiles Illustration Tutorial

If you follow TPK on Facebook or Instagram, I’m sure you saw this hand-painted tiles illustration tutorial coming from a mile away. You know how sometimes you just get into phases as far as a certain food you like to eat, a certain activity you like to do, or, in this case, a certain illustration you like to create? Well, I’m in a hand-painted tiles phase, for sure. It all started last week at The Rio, a local Mexican restaurant. I was sort of absently looking around when some ornate tiles caught my eye. Immediately, I thought, “Hey. That would make a really cool illustration.” That was the point of no return.

I will provide a list of suggested usages for these unique illustrations at the end of this blog post; but for now, I want to say that this project is a great follow-up to the Painting with Watercolors for Beginners post from last week. These tiles don’t require any complicated watercolor techniques, so they are wonderful for people who aren’t familiar with using watercolor. That said, they’re great for any skill level because they are so beautiful and unique. Generally when I create artwork for this blog, I send it out to other people, but I love these tiles so much, I have framed them and am keeping them for myself. {That’s right … the photo above is but a model photo, alas. That artwork is staying in this house!} That’s how cool they are.

To make a hand-painted tiles illustration, you’ll need a few supplies:

• Ruler
• Pencil
• Watercolor paper {card stock would also work, though not as well}
• Watercolors
• Dip pen and black ink {or a fine-tipped black marker}
• Optional: Art masking fluid
• Optional: MicroGlaze

Start by using your ruler and pencil to draw several same-sized squares on your piece of paper. My squares are 2″ {on a 4″x6″ piece of paper}. When I do these illustrations on 5″x7″ paper, I make 2.5″ tiles.

The lines you just drew represent the grout between tiles. Now, you’re going to draw in the tiles by free-handing squares inside the original squares you drew. Don’t use your ruler to do this; the edges of tiles are never perfect because of the grout, and you want that rustic effect!

If you’re using art masking fluid, use a small brush to haphazardly paint lines of it adjacent to the sides of your tile. You’ll want roughly 2 millimeters of space between the edges of your tile and your art masking fluid. The purpose of using the art masking fluid is to create the illusion of shine/tile dimension later. {If you don’t have art masking fluid, that’s okay. This step adds good visual interest to the project, but is not imperative.}

At this point, you have one of two choices: you can look up a tile design you like online and follow it to a T; or you can come up with your own tile design. I usually do a mix of both; I’ll look at tile designs for inspiration, then mix and match elements from my favorites. If you’d like, you can copy the design I’m creating here, which is a Mexican motif. {Mediterranean/Italian tiles are also beautiful!}

First, you’ll want to draw your design in a tile using your pencil.

Next, repeat drawing that design in all your tiles. Remember that the tiles don’t have to be identical to each other; they just have to look very similar. You are, after all, simulating hand-painted tiles, which have imperfections.

At this point, you’ll want to decide which color palette to use. If you’re going with a Mediterranean feel, you might want to paint with some blues, greens, and whites. Since I’m making a Mexican-inspired tile, I have chosen an earthy terra cotta along with vivid hues of yellow, blue, and red. If your palette doesn’t have the exact colors you want, you can always blend your own; visit the Painting with Watercolors for Beginners post for more information on blending!

Once you have chosen your colors, you can start painting. I like to paint tile by tile.

Don’t worry about keeping the ratio of water to paint consistent; it’s better to have variation. It provides the piece with personality and strengthens the illusion of the illustration not being an illustration, but a 3D glazed and painted tile. In short: paint your heart out, and don’t worry about technicals or technique. Just color in the lines, and you’re good.

When you’re finished painting, wait for all your watercolor to dry … it should only take a couple of minutes. Pull out your dip pen and ink or your black marker. I prefer to use a dip pen {fitted with a Blue Pumpkin or Nikko G nib} and sumi ink because it’s more vivid than a marker; but if you are uncomfortable using a dip pen, you will still get good results with a marker. Start going over all your pencil lines with your dip pen.

Be sure to outline the tiles. Even though tiles don’t have black outlines in “real life”, I find that doing this really ups the eye-catching ante.

Once you go over all the pencil lines with ink, you’ll want to erase the first lines you drew in between the tiles. You should also remove the art masking fluid as described in the Easy Watercolor Art Tutorial.

Now, since I can’t leave well enough alone, I like to go over the hand-painted tile illustration with MicroGlaze. I figured out by accident, really, that rubbing MicroGlaze over the piece gives you a sheen that actually mimics that of glazed ceramic tiles. This step is totally not necessary, especially if you’re planning on framing your tile illustration, but it’s just one of those things that adds a little bit of oomph to the finished product.

To use MicroGlaze, just dip your finger in it, then rub the MicroGlaze all over the piece. This site has some great tips about using it; namely, if you can see your fingerprints, you’ve put too much glaze on. As per the information on the site, you can wait an hour, then use a soft cloth to buff the piece for a gloss effect {which is great for this project}.

You may wonder what to do with these hand-painted tile illustrations. Have I ever let you down with suggestions before? Naturally, I have a lot of ideas about what to do with these.

You could …

Use individual tiles as gift tags. Cut them out, punch a hole in them, and write on the back using pretty calligraphy. {I used Kaitlin style here.}

Frame them and display them in your home, as I am planning on doing.

Use them to put together impressive snail mail. I love sending these in clear envelopes because I think it’s nice to give employees at the post office an opportunity to see them, too. As an added bonus, these illustrations can be framed once the recipient has them. They officially double as mail art and frameable art! Note, however, that if you go the clear envelope route, these do require extra postage — $0.21 extra in the US, and I know that the UK will charge extra as well. In my opinion, it’s worth it!

By the way, you can download that bluebird outline by clicking here, then you can print it on the card stock of your choice. I used Amy style calligraphy to write the name … I am in the middle of creating a Learn for a Latté Amy set, so hang tight!

There are lots of other cool things you could do with hand-painted tiles illustrations, including:

• Incorporate them into a Mexican/Italian/Greek menu design.
• Incorporate them into a destination wedding suite design. I’m thinking envelope liners, sashes, and perhaps printing the full illustration on the back of invitation suite materials.
• Upload your original tile design onto Society 6, as I have done here.
• Use them to create DIY bookmarks.
• If you’re a teacher: as an art project for a class of children, have each child create one tile. Then, arrange all the tiles on the wall for a very cool display. You could also tie this project in to cultural studies.
• If you are super duper in love with the tile design you came up with, you can have them printed on actual ceramic tiles via Zazzle. You can them use them as a backsplash for your kitchen, in your bathroom, or wherever! {If you plan on doing this, I’d skip the art masking fluid step.}

{This festive menu was written using a mix of Janet style calligraphy and the Sans Serif font style from Hand Lettering for a Latté.}

What I’m trying to communicate to you is this: the sky is the limit when it comes to applications for your hand-painted tiles illustration. If you have any other suggestions, please contribute them in the comments! I am sure I’m missing some great ideas.

Thanks very, very much for reading TPK! It’s always a real pleasure to have you here, and I hope you have a great weekend.

Warmly,

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