Week 4 of Beetles, Bees & Brushstrokes

🕷 Watercolor — Spiders

This week’s focus: practicing five watercolor techniques to help us paint spiders and spider webs with texture, depth, and fine detail.

1. Dry Brush for a Fuzzy Effect

• Begin by laying down a small circle of wet paint.

• Use a fluffy or dry brush to pull outward from the edge of the paint.

• This creates a soft, fuzzy texture—perfect for giving your spider’s body a natural, hairy look.

2. Stippling for Texture and Interest

• Lightly sketch your spider.

• Use small dabs or dots of paint to build up color and texture on the spider’s body.

• Try layering two colors, leaving bits of white or lighter areas between them for visual interest and variation.

3. Layered Dark Washes for Depth

• Start with a light wash (tea or milk consistency) to establish the shape of your spider.

• Once dry, layer a darker wash around the edges to define form.

  • To create a darker wash of color, mix your paint to a cream like paint consistency.

• Soften the darker edge with a clean, wet brush to blend inward and create a rounded effect.

4. Negative Painting for Spider Webs

• Lightly sketch a spider web in pencil.

• Paint around the web, filling in the background with color.

• When dry, erase the pencil lines to reveal a crisp, white web against the painted background.

5. Fine Line Work for Details

• Use a very fine, pointed brush to paint thin lines for spider legs and delicate web strands.

• Focus on control, even pressure, and clean brush tip maintenance.

Insect source images.pdf

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Insect sketches 5 x 7.pdf

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8 x 10 insect sketches.pdf

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