Gouache Painting Tutorial: How to sketch and paint a landscape - Kindville

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Today you can get a little insight into my work as an illustrator. I already integrated my fictional village "Kindville" as a theme in my Bullet Journal in August. So this month Kindville is back and I created some cozy autumnal places. All spreads can be found on my instagram feed. If you haven't met Kindville yet: As inspiration I invented Kindville. The small village is located at the blue lake, in the middle of nature and offers a variety of different places. An old bookstore, a beautiful park, a cozy boathouse or a cute café offer space for a cozy life.

Today I would like to share my tips, considerations and impressions with you. So if you always wanted to paint with gouache or acrylic colors in your Journal, here is a little tutorial for you :) Basically I paint with a lot of water and create a pastel-look, so I paint the way I like it best and only pass on personal tips. For me there is no right or wrong in artistic work, everyone has different preferences and interprets art in different ways. So let's get started! :)

Imagination as key for your pencil sketch

I have already given you my tips on how to find inspiration in a previous blog post. If you are looking for inspiration for your Bujo or illustration art, check out my tips here.

Step 1: Prepare your sketch first. For this I use a good pencil, which does not smear and can be erased easily. For me an "H" pencil has proved to be a good choice. I usually start here in the front area. In principle the size ratio is to be considered. Objects in the front area are naturally larger than the small details in the background on the mountains.

Step 2: After the sketch is put on paper, I always start with the preparations. I think especially when you work with such colors and water you should have all the important things at hand. I always use two glasses with fresh water. Take one to water to dilute the colors and the other to wash out the brush. From the gouache or acrylic colors, I always make just a dab on my mixing palette. That way not everything dries out directly. To draw such a large illustration takes a little bit of time and you don't need all the colors at once. I have also a second pallet where I mix the colors individually as I like them.

Step 3: In the next step, I prime my illustration. For this I not only take a lot of water to stay as light as possible, but also use a color that reflects the season well. Here we have a transition to autumn, which means that the meadows are still a little green but here and there they already have a little yellow accent. For this part, it's always best for me to use a very thick brush.

After the first primer, comes the second - get darker in layers

Step 4: Before I apply the next layer of primer, I add a few colored details. I can see how dark I want to get with my primer. But everybody can design this individually. For this I have already painted a few trees in the colors I want to use.

Step 5: Then I applied the next primer and mixed in a little ochre yellow. Now it is important to consider the light source. The areas of the landscape that are in shadow are primed darker. My light source comes from the right.

It's all about the details - use a consistent color scheme

Step 6: Finally, it's all about the details. I always use a certain color palette, which I will use e.g. for all houses the same brown tones throughout. Too many different colors simply do not harmonize. I think its very important to define a color palette from the beginning. I usually make these details with brush sizes from 00 to 4.

Of course you can also use gouache with much less water. Then the illustration will be much stronger, which I like to use especially for large contrast pictures. But Kindville remains paste-colored, especially at night. I hope you enjoyed this little insight! Thank you for stopping by.

So grab a brush and have fun painting! :)