Love is always something to celebrate, but especially on Valentine’s Day! Do you want to send a nice card to your (secret) lover but don’t feel like going along with the whole commercialism around it? Then make a nice card yourself with this Valentine’s Day cards tutorial!
In this tutorial we are going to paint two Valentine’s Day cards and the tutorial will come with photo explanations.
Supplies
- Fabriano Postcard A6 watercolorpaper
- Round brush size 8 and 6.
- Fineliner size 03
- Pencil and eraser
- Watercolor
- Water
- Masking fluid (optional) + cotton swab
- Clean cloth to clean your brush
The paints I used to make this Valentine’s Day card tutorial:
- G244 (Indian yellow) • Van Gogh
- G331 (Kraplak dark) • Van Gogh
- G593 (Quinacridone Violet Blue) • Van Gogh
- G633 (Permanent gellow-green) • Van Gogh
- G645 (Hookersgreen) • Van Gogh
- G662 (Permanent green) • Van Gogh
Tips before you start
- Every time you use a new coat of paint, clean your brush with clean water. Pat it dry, and then pick up your paint with your brush.
- Rather work with a few more layers than too few. You can use wet-on-wet technique which allows the paint to easily run into each other, or wet-on-dry. Then you let the layer dry completely before painting the new layer.
- Always work from light to dark.
- There is no right or wrong! Have fun and if something goes a little differently than you wanted: embrace it with love! Everything is a learning process.
JYOUR REFERENCE PHOTOs FOR for the valentine’s day cards
Valentine’s day card 1
We’ll start with this simple but fun Valentine’s Day card. You don’t need much for it. First, write the letters L O V E with pencil. (As light as possible!)
Then, using your brush (size 8), run water along the edges. Be careful not to use too much water, otherwise you get pools and that makes it less beautiful.
Choose a color and dab (don’t smudge!) the color along the edges of the letters. As much as possible, let the color flow naturally. This gives the most beautiful effect.
Add various colors for a beautiful effect.
It’s quite normal if your paper becomes slightly bulging. Especially if, like me, you haven’t taped it to your desk. In that case, puddles may form along the edges. Clean and dry your brush. Then gently pat away the excess water, or guide it back to other parts of the paper so that it is nicely distributed.
When it is completely dry you can use a fineliner to accentuate the letters. This is optional by the way. You can also leave it as it is. I myself liked it better to draw a black line with a fineliner in size 03.
Finally, you can put some hearts in the letters for a sweet effect and then your first Valentine’s Day card is ready! Would you like to make more? Then use different colors.
Valentine’s Day card 2
This card is a little more difficult. But even if you have no experience with florals you can make this one. Of course I will explain it again step by step.
First, you write the letters. Then you fill them in with masking fluid. This is a liquid eraser that allows you to mask parts of your drawing where no paint should be. After drying for a few minutes you can apply the paint. The masking fluid can later be removed very easily and will not damage your paper.
This masking fluid from Winsor & Newton is colorless. There are also varieties from other brands that have a light color so you can better distinguish them from your paper. After removing it, you won’t see it. It’s up to you to use a masking fluid with or without color.
Now that the masking fluid has dried, you can start painting. For the flowers, I use two colors here. The purple and red, and I also mix these occasionally to make another shade of it.
It is important to make sure that you add as many flowers as possible around the letters, so that they stand out beautifully later on. As you can see, there are few details, very loose. It is not bad if here and there it runs into each other a little bit, as you can see around the letter V.
When you think you have enough big flowers and they are well distributed, you can paint leaves. Later you will paint some more small flowers. Make an alternation between light green and dark green. With dark green you will later fill the empty spaces between the flowers.
When the leaves are dry enough you can add details to the leaves. Alternate with green lines, petals, dots and subtle hearts here and there. For the details on the petals I use the same red and purple.
With yellow you fill the core of the flowers, and you can add some extra details. Always look from a distance to see if it forms a nice whole.
Now fill the white empty spaces between the letters and in the middle. You can do this with dark green.
When you feel you are done, let the paint dry completely. When everything is dry, you can safely remove the masking fluid by rubbing it with your fingers and then slowly pulling it off.
Finally, outline the letters with black fineliner in size 03 (optional, if you want you can leave it as it is) and possibly add details to the letters as you did in the first card.
This was the final step. Your Valentine’s Day cards are ready to be send! Who are you going to surprise with them?
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT?
I’m really curious to see how your Valentine’s Day cards turned out! Will you show it to me? Did you make one or paint more?
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