Girl Under Willow - Beginner Watercolour Tutorial

I’ve seen Deepak’s Art & Craft videos come up on my Facebook feed for a while now. Deepak usually works with pastels though, something I don’t have any recall being very messy when I did it in art class. I love the look of the silhouette pieces Deepak does though and wondered if it could be replicated in watercolour given that both mediums revolve around the blending of colours.

I thought I’d try Girl Under Willow. Here is Deepak’s original:

Girl Under Willow, by Deepak's Art & Craft

Straight away I knew I’d avoid the white stars. I don’t have the right tool (need a white gel pen) to get them vibrant enough. I also decided against using black at the top to give it a brighter look.
And here is my version of it:

My copy of Girl Under Willow

You can watch the step-by-step video tutorial for how to do it in pastels, and below is how I did it in watercolour.

Girl Under Willow Watercolour Tutorial

1. Put down a light wet on wet gradient of dark blue at the top and light blue at the bottom. Let dry.
2. Block out the circle for the moon (I used a mason jar lid) and repeat the previous step, avoiding the moon area. You might need to do a few layers to get that dark blue. I also mixed a bit of black with my dark blue for the very top to darken it up. Let dry.
3. Sketch in the basic outline of the rock base and tree (don’t worry about the willow leaves).
4. Fill in with black, using very little water to get a dark silhouette.
5. Add in the willow leaves, thinking about the direction they should fall, to the end of each branch. Let dry.
6. Once the black is dry, use a white with a little water to make it thin to create the shape of the rocks and the texture of the tree. Pick one side of the tree (I did the right hand side). Let dry.
7. With a thin brush, go back over the white on both the rocks and the tree with black, creating more texture. The majority of the white should still show.
8. Sketch the outline of the girl (Deepak’s tutorial shows how to do this). Fill her in with black. Use a thin brush for the hair.