This free worksheet is a fun little project for beginners to help get some basic principles of watercolor.
It features a happy little mouse who got the cheese from out of the mousetrap. It uses a limited selection of colors to help keep the project simple.Remember to set your printer to color.
A WORD ABOUT PRINTING THE WORKSHEET
A WORD ABOUT PRINTING THE WORKSHEET
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SET UP
Use 140 lb watercolor paper. It is heavy and absorbent. Trace the outline of our happy mouse on it just slightly lower than the center. If you have trouble tracking it try holding it against a window with the light shining through.
FIRST WASH
Use a big paintbrush. Use watery brown to give the mouse an even flat wash of brown.
While the mouse is starting to dry, give the wall a watery wash of blue and brown mixed together to make a light grey. We want just a hint of grey; if it is dark, use a paper towel and dab it up a little.
Use 140 lb watercolor paper. It is heavy and absorbent. Trace the outline of our happy mouse on it just slightly lower than the center. If you have trouble tracking it try holding it against a window with the light shining through.
FIRST WASH
Use a big paintbrush. Use watery brown to give the mouse an even flat wash of brown.
While the mouse is starting to dry, give the wall a watery wash of blue and brown mixed together to make a light grey. We want just a hint of grey; if it is dark, use a paper towel and dab it up a little.
Use some watery yellow or on the floor and watery brown on the side of the mousetrap.
Use some blue inside the mouse hole.
SECOND WASH- After the first has dried.
Use a small paintbrush.
Mix brown and blue and add the shadows to the mouse around the tummy, legs, arms, and under the chin.
Add a little violet or rose to the mouse hole to deepen the color next to the wall edge.
Use violet for shadow around the feet of the mouse and around the mousetrap.
Use yellow on the cheese.
DETAILS
Use a little watery red for the cheeks and inside the ears.
Mix blue and brown and put dark grey on the spring and trigger of the mousetrap.
Use yellow mixed with a little orange for the sides of the cheese.
Add a touch of dark blue to the shadow under the mouse, but just a little.
AFTER IT DRIES
If you have lost the detail of the whiskers, smile, or eyebrows, then use a pencil or sharpie to draw them back in.
(c) Adron D. 7/29/15