How to Paint People II is a followup blog post and video tutorial from one of my most popular posts. From November of 2013 is the original blog post called How to Paint People and you can read it by following this link: https://studio.pjcookartist.com/2013/11/how-to-paint-people.html. For most people (including myself) painting people is intimidating. I’ve told myself for years “I can’t paint people”. Eventually I wanted to add figures to my paintings and I started painting people.
Paint Supplies
Materials used in the video are basic brushes and paints. I do use a variety of colors from my palette but the basic colors are:
Paint Colors
- raw sienna
- permanent rose
- manganese blue
- cadmium red or winsor red
- ultramarine blue
Paint Brushes
- Round #8 sable
- Flat 1 inch
Watercolor Paper
I like a cold-press finish and I usually paint on Arches. This particular painting was a Lanaquarelle paper and like Arches is also from France.
Watch the video to see how I create gesture and movement in the figures. One important tip is to hold your brush lightly and closer to the end away from the bristles.
Here is another quick watercolor with 2 people walking together. Notice how their legs are showing a walking motion. This small 5×7 inch painting is on a rough finish paper and it has more texture.
Practice painting figures on the back of old paintings. There is less pressure to come up with a great watercolor if you are not using a more expensive, pristine piece of watercolor paper. Ask any questions you may have regarding this post or video and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for the latest news.
Simply great. Thanks!
Thanks for viewing my painting video on painting people.
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Happy painting!
PJ Cook
Hi
I live in the UK and love the way you paint and would like to buy one of your pictures of the beach. Do you sell to the UK? and how much would it cost in packaging if you do?
I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Deborah Bullock
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for the lovely comments! I do ship to the UK and the price would vary depending on the size. I will send an email with further purchase details.
Thanks, PJ
Enjoyed the video of painting people on the beach, Thank You.Very informative
I’m glad you found the painting video helpful and took the time to comment.
Thanks,
PJ Cook