A 20-minute watercolor portrait painting series #2
Watercolor portrait painting demonstration

To start this quick watercolor portrait painting, I used a pencil to do a rough drawing to outline the layout and define the main elements in the painting. I used a 1.5 inch flat brush to start the first wash. I started from the background wash with yellow, and used burnt umber for the face. Then I mixed a blue gray color for the dress. As I washed from the top down, I added red color into the mix.

Then I used a #14 round brush to do the second layer. This time I started from the hair from the top of the head, then I use the same brown color for the shades and shadow areas on the face. This would push the balance to the deeper level.

Next I added the cast-shadow to the left side in the background.

After I had the tones and color balance settled, now I further defined the shapes and darker area of the eyes, nose, mouth and others. With a another fine-toning touch and adjustment to the color temperatures, this quick water color portrait painting finished in about 20 minutes.

Like to view this watercolor portrait painting demonstration step-by-step? Click here.