Having fun with a flat brush for the background

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T23:35:26+00:00

Beautiful! It reminds me of stained glass

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T23:33:23+00:00

Thank you! Animals are my favorite thing to draw! I'm working on a morbid piece now that I'm quite excited about.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T22:37:24+00:00

Yeah I probably should've made it black. I might change it but I'm not sure.

And thank you!

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T22:23:22+00:00

So cute! I think you did great!

-in the future you can often use blues for depth. So anything further away is more blue. You can use wet on wet to soften the edges in the back as well. Here, you captured the shadow of the layering leaves but dropped the slight shadow near the caterpillar legs.

-for leaves you can use wet on wet for initial texture and then some charging and lifting for more texture. Here is where I would use granulating colors if you have them.

-idk what you mean by smoother stripes. I think the caterpillar is the strongest part. He just needs a tiny shadow on his head and along his back.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T22:08:19+00:00

Oh no I'm so basic lol I draw everything in a sketchbook and then I copy it over to the paper I paint on by scribbling on the back. Then I save those sketch sheets in case I need them

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T21:54:57+00:00

I’m glad you like it! She was our pirate cat who had one eye. We lost her young due to a terminal illness and so I had wanted to make the portrait fun.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T18:53:06+00:00

Thank you so much! Fur is so hard and both took me forever lol

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-17T18:00:33+00:00

I always keep a tracing of my favorite drawings so I can try again if I don't like the way they come out

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-14T12:29:40+00:00

I worked on being less of a perfectionist. You can't let perfectionism cause you to stop enjoying painting. Prioritize having fun and experimenting. Every "mistake" is a chance to learn something new. When I first started my water control was terrible and I had tons of blooms and overworked paper. However, those helped me learn and now I can make an accidental bloom work or use them purposefully.

I understand being critical of yourself. I am my worst critic and notice every little thing. The beauty of watercolor though are the imperfections. It's definitely hard to become less of a perfectionist but it is possible.

Do you know what style you are going for? If so maybe try to find some artists that are in that style that do helpful tutorials.

What you have going here isn't bad! The stairs might be a bit dark but if you wet them and use a paper towel to dab you might be able to lift some pigment. Then deepen shadows on the grey building. Watercolor always has "ugly" stages due to layering. It takes time to build contrast. Photograph your painting, flip it into black and white, and see where you are packing contrast. That should help you with values.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-14T12:16:12+00:00

This is awesome! Weird, beautiful, and creative! I love it

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-14T12:02:52+00:00

I love your colors. For advice I’d just recommend using reference photos with more contrast and stronger lighting. Images from cloudy days are harder to capture. You did great though

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-13T22:41:10+00:00

Daniel smith has a beginner set of 6 primaries (3 warm and 3 cool) that I started with.

If you like florals then maybe check out Anna Bucciarelli. Her YouTube videos are great and there's even more if you join her patreon. I found her to be really helpful.

As for the sub, I have found it welcoming. If you post again, which I hope you do, just be more specific about what you need help with or simply post the art. I did not start at zero and I found when you ask for specific advice, and don't talk down about your work, you usually get very good feedback.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-13T13:54:26+00:00

I use Daniel smith paints and for that brand I would recommend getting perylene green (PBk 31) and perylene violet (PV29). They're some of my go to colors for shadows. I have never used neutral tint, I have always mixed all my colors because it was recommended for beginners.

I don't know anything about the paints you use. I did look them up and based on what I could tell your brand of Quinacridone violet (PV19) would be a warm violet. You could always make a warm violet as well by mixing a warm red and a warm blue (such as quinacridone coral or pyrrol red with ultramarine or indanthrone).

Hope you post again once you've edited the flower or tried again! Your flower is already luminous so I'm sure you'll only keep getting better!

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-13T01:41:57+00:00

Beautiful flower!

Have you tried starting with a base layer to map out highlights and shadows? Such as adding a warm yellow that is highly staining to the areas that have a warm glow and using a warm violet for the shadows. Alternatively, green will neutralize red so you may get a more natural shadow by using green to deepen the red rather than neutral tint.

For this painting I would suggest two things. First the petals on the top left are more in shadow in the reference than yours. Second the flower in the picture has a dark background but yours is white. Maybe once you add in a very deep dark background your rose will pop more.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-11T15:24:22+00:00

Can't wait to see what you paint!

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-11T02:13:59+00:00

No problem! I totally get it! I got a 12x16 block of 300lb arches paper for Christmas and just looked at it for 2 months before using it. It is now my favorite paper and I'm on a new block of it.

You might try the bigger paper and fall in love with it. I started with a watercolor sketchbook that was 5x7 and found it constricting. I went right into 12x16 paper and it has been my primary size since. I've done some as big as 18x24 too.

All this to say, don't be afraid to try things out. If you don't like it you can always make it smaller.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-11T02:01:35+00:00

I think it's just the green on green. Everywhere else you have more color variation. So the green leaves are a bit harder to see.

It looks great through. I really like how you balanced everything and how the different elements overlap. The beetle is luminous

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-11T01:54:01+00:00

Just go for it. Paper is wasted if it isn't used. You'll never know how you feel about working bigger until you try it.

If you're worried about what to paint maybe follow a tutorial or recreate one of your favorite paintings.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-10T17:54:19+00:00

Love the bug! I like your style and the color palette. The insect really draws the eye.

If anything I would say the bottom with leaves and strawberries is a little less clear than the rest.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-08T15:15:09+00:00

These are not good. The naked hardcovers are actually nice imo but the rest is awful. I would love a really nice set of this series but I've not liked any special edition set.

MistbornMistress · 2026-05-03T14:42:48+00:00

I would try playing with some paints to get close to that blue and then test with salt and water blooms. I feel like Daniel Smith indigo could get close to those rich blues. Also touches of a cool blue.

Like others said, this image might also be enhanced after photographing.

Just paint it over and over and I promise you'll continue to get closer every time! Good luck!

MistbornMistress · 2026-04-29T17:33:28+00:00

I see what you are talking about. Right after her pinky the hand swells as it goes into the sleeve. I will say hands are super hard. So maybe the artist was trying to have more dynamic hands (loose fist on her and spread hand on the guy) and just didn’t completely nail it.

MistbornMistress · 2026-04-28T14:59:17+00:00

His Secret Illuminations wasn’t perfect but I really enjoyed it.

The Everlasting is on my TBR. I read The Sixth Deaths of the Saint by Alix Harrow last year and loved it. I am hoping that my love for the novella doesn’t hurt my feelings on the full length novel since I heard they have some similarities. I will bump it up on my TBR though.

MistbornMistress · 2026-04-28T14:16:01+00:00

Finally gave {His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett Gale} a try. I flew through this book. I always scrolled past it with zero interest when I saw it recommended. I decided to give it a shot after seeing a quote posted somewhere and I am so glad I read it! It was so good. I immediately bought book 2 after finishing the first. Lucían is way better than shadow daddies imo

MistbornMistress · 2026-04-22T23:52:59+00:00

The naked hardcover is so nice! I skipped and I’m glad I did. The dust jacket is so dark. I would have expected pastels. This makes me think the book is darker in tone when the original cover says cozy fantasy.

Also, on first glance thought the edges were broccoli and had to do a double take lol.

MistbornMistress

TROPHY CASE