Creativebug has always been a favorite of mine since I first found out the library had access to it. Creativebug has thousands of award-winning art and craft video classes taught by recognized design experts and artists. You can find projects for every occasion, nurture your creative soul by learning new skills and practice your craft every day. I had seen it advertised at Michaels and Joann Fabrics, but I didn’t have it in me to purchase another subscription service.
Creativebug is such a unique digital resource, and it does more than giving us new ideas. It has the power to teach us new skills. I felt like it was the perfect time to help my brain move past the stress of the unknown. A variety of articles and health care professionals have commented about the benefits of learning a new skill, specifically on its impact on mental health and professional development. As someone with a laundry list of things I have wanted to do, the Illinois stay-at-home order has allowed me to do so.
One of those things on my list was learning to paint with watercolors. I have some educational background on color theory, and it has helped a lot to learn the basics. In particular, the Beginning Watercolor presented by Yao Cheng on Creativebug has filled a lot of the void. The course covers materials, swatching, mixing colors, basic watercolor techniques and some exercises. Although painting has a lot to do with color theory, this particular course did not cover this topic. Color theory can be difficult for those that have no idea where to start. I would highly recommend some YouTube videos from Witty Gritty Studio. She covers the basics of color theory very well, and she briefly covers blending techniques.
The Beginning Watercolor course has two parts: “Supplies & Basic Techniques” and “Mark-Making & Expressive Brush Strokes.” Each part is then split further into a couple of chapters. These are usually about twenty minutes. For this particular instance, it took me about three days to complete the first part, but I was not able to get to the second part because of the complexity. I had a lot of fun with this course! The skillset that you learn in this course is the foundation and can be built upon using other courses available in Creativebug from other artists, including more tutorials by Yao Cheng.
It’s also important to note that other digital resources, such as hoopla, have titles on watercolor painting. I’ve been using these to help me find my own painting style:
If you try out this course or any others available in Creativebug, please share with us on Instagram!