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SandrinePelissier

Fun techniques you can try to make watercolor and mixed mediapostcards

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When you want to learn new techniques, it can be a good idea to try them on postcard sized watercolor paper.

It is quickly painted and makes a nice gift.

Here are a few techniques you can try to make watercolor and mixed mediapostcards.

Salt textures

Paint a wash on the paper and sprinkle salt when the wash is still wet but just before the point where it will startloosing its shine.

Once the wash had time to dry, brush off the salt, you should see the flower like texture made by the salt.

Draw with black markers, add designs on top of the background.

Start with a simple design and slowly add more to it.

Leave a bit of the background without marks.

Paint a darker wash in the same tones on the background and on some places of the design if you want to.

The finished postcard.

Sponge textures

Using a natural sponge dipped in a watercolor wash, paint textures in the background.

Using a regular marker or an acrylic marker like here, start adding textures to the background.

Keep building up on your design to add complexity

The finished postcard.

Wax resist

Drawing with wax crayons is a simple way to add resist ( areas that won’t be painted) on a card.

Here I am using a white wax crayon on white paper so it is easier to see when the paper is hold flat against the light ofa window.

Once you are done with the design you can start painting a watercolor wash on top.

The paint won’t go on the paper in the places where you did use the wax, although tiny drops can still dry on the wax.

The finish postcard, I like the tile-like appearance.

Wrap paper

Wrap paper will make the paint form geometric textures, this technique works on regular watercolor paper as well ason yupo paper. Here on regular paper, I am painting an irregular wash mixing tones of blue and yellow.

While the wash is still wet, place some wrap paper on top. It will stick to the paper in some places and make folds inother places.

Once the wash has dried, take off the plastic wash and start adding designs with a marker.

Here again, once you ar done drawing you can add more contrast by painting the background a bit darker.

The finished postcard.

You can proceed the same way on yupo paper. Start by painting a wash with a few colors mixing wet into wet.

Plastic wrap will also adhere to yupo in some places, forming geometric textures.

Remove the plastic wrap once the wash has dried, which will take longer on yupo paper because the paper iswaterproof.

Then start adding designs with a marker, you can use tissue paper under your hand not to disrupt the watercolorbackground.

Here I did draw Flower overlapping each other.

The finished design.

Feel free to share picture of your postcards in the comments!

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