Let's Paint - Flame Robin

Step by step watercolour painting technique with a colouring-in sheet.

This afternoon I had the most marvellous time painting a Flame Robin for an upcoming children’s book (watch this space). Armed with a large cup of tea next to the open window, I was truly in my happy place. The whole painting process only took an hour and by the end I didn’t want to stop!

Why not print out the included colouring page (preferably onto watercolour paper with a laser printer) and follow along? Paid subscribers can download the colouring page at the bottom of this tutorial.

The original drawing and a very large cup of tea, steaming in the sunshine.

First of all I had to mix my paints to get the right base colour. The Flame Robin is a deep orange, but I started my painting with the lighter tones and built up the darker tones as I went. To blend, I used water and didn’t let it dry out.

I let my original orange layer dry before starting on the black of the other parts of the Robin. This is important as otherwise the black will bleed into the orange, making it appear murky.

If you find that you have used too much water and have a puddle, you can always soak it up by drying off your brush on a paper towel and gently lifting up the unwanted moisture.

My final step was to paint some extra orange touches onto the body. As the original orange layer was dry underneath, I was able to get some nice sharp edges on my patterns.

See a full video of me painting this Robyn on Instagram here.

ziniaking

A post shared by @ziniaking

Need more tips and tricks? See my class notes here:

You might also like to come to one of my in person classes (with tea or wine)! See the list of upcoming classes here.

How did you go? I’d love to see your artworks in the comments or via a message.

Download the colouring page below. If you’re not currently a paid subscriber, why not consider signing up? For just $5 AUD a month (or $50 a year) you will receive:

• Two art classes per month.

• Lots of ‘colouring-in’ sheets and how-to-draw sheets.

• 15% off in my online shop.

• Go in the monthly draw to win a little gift in the real mail.

Printable art prints and more!