A Cute Tree Frog Watercolour Painting

Hello everyone! Today I am going to share how I painted a cute little frog using watercolour. I came across an artwork tutorial by Lindsey (Thefrugalcrafter) on YouTube. I did not want to try it as she used markers as the medium and they are not my preference. However, I loved how cute the frog was and wanted to paint it. So, I did the painting with a different medium which is watercolour.

In case you are into markers and would like to see her painting tutorial, please click here to check it out. On the other hand, click here to check the reference picture out.

Tools and materials

• A standard sketchbook that can absorb water
• Buncho water colours
• A small round brush
• 2 containers of water (one to mix paint and one to clean brush)
• A palette to mix paint
• A HB pencil to draw
• A dust free eraser to correct mistakes in drawing
• Tissue to absorb excess paint/water
  
  

Method

This is the cute tree frog that I drew using a HB pencil. I also drew some light lines so I will know where to add shadows and highlights.

I like to start with the lightest colour so I began painting with yellow first. I just used a normal dry on dry painting technique where I did not wet my paper at all before painting. These yellow parts are actually the highlights of the frog. I prefer using yellow instead of white to maintain the vibrant colour range.

I added some light green on the frog to create the moist skin. I have not blended the colours yet. I will be doing them gradually.

I painted some orange as well for the eye areas and edges of limbs. It gives a warmer and shadowy look on those areas.

It was time to intensify the shadows, which is why I picked the colour brown to do it. I began with a golden brown first and then added a reddish brown on the edges. Apart from that, I added some red at the ends where I used the colour orange to create a deeper shadow.

I painted some blue by mixing both light and dark blue on the tree frog on the limbs.

I began blending the green and yellow to give the frog a shape. I also more golden brown and mixed a small amount of black to brown on the area of edges to make the shadow parts darker.

I added some dark green as well as more dark blue to make it look more 3 dimensional. Emphasizing on highlights and shadows can make a huge difference in our paintings.

I added the last bits of shadows on the frog skin by a dabbing motion to make it look more natural instead of looking like they were lined. Then, I painted the red leaf it is sitting on. I mixed some orange into the red to make it more vibrant and used the red as it was on certain parts to avoid it from looking like a flat surface.

It was time to move on to the final details which are the eyes and the little frog's shadows on the leaf. I used black for this but diluted it in some water so it will not look too dark. At this moment, my mom brought me a fruit and while taking a bite, a drop of juice dripped and fell on my paper. I quickly tried blotting it with a wet cloth.

Just when I thought I can call this painting 'done', I realized that I forgot the nose. So, I proceeded to draw little details for the nose and voila, it is complete. This little frog reminds me of a frog that once jumped on me out of nowhere when I was going to get lunch on a when I was working as an accountant. It startled me so I didn't even react and the frog jumped down back and went on its way.

I hope that you find my post helpful or at least entertaining with my little story. Thank you for dropping by and I wish that you have a great day ahead! ♥♥♥