How to Paint Shadows in Watercolor
- 1). Sketch your subject first. Include shadows in your sketch as well as areas highlighted by direct light. Note the light's direction, the shape of the shadow and any colors in the shadow, which will help you accurately depict the shadow.
- 2). Lightly transfer your sketch onto watercolor paper. Paint your subject's basic shape with a light wash of the appropriate color and any background objects or setting elements with a similarly light wash.
- 3). Fill in the subject's shadowy contoured areas, also known as form shadows, with darker tones of the same hues. Add more of your subject's base color to your palette to create a stronger, darker version of the same hue. Paint wet in wet, which means paint these shadows before your subject's paint dries.
- 4). Paint soft cast shadows while the subject's base paint also is still wet and allow the shadow and the subject to blend slightly. Load your paintbrush with plenty of paint and try to take a single pass at the shadow for the best results.
- 5). Paint a hard edge for cast shadows after the paint on the subject has dried. You'll want to darken your color by 40 percent darker at least to create a cast shadow. Notice whether the shadow is "cool," meaning it has bluish tones, or warm, meaning it has reddish tones, and add a bit of blue or red as necessary. As the shadow lengthens, soften the shadow's edge and increase the translucency of the color by adding more water to your brush. Make sure that when you are painting your cast shadows that you do not obscure the colors beneath the shadow, which should still be visible beneath the shadow.