July 20 is National Lollipop Day so let’s paint a watercolor lollipop to celebrate! The best part of this tutorial is that you can really make it your own! Feel free to use your own colors, add fun textures, or paint multiple lollipops. I’d love to see what you do with it!
Supplies:
- Paint: LUKAS Aquarell 1862 Watercolor
- Brush(es): Creative Mark’s Mimik Synthetic, round size 3
- Paper: Canson XL Watercolor Paper (4″x4″)
- White gel pen
- Jars of water
- Pencil and eraser
- Paper towel or cotton rag
- All of my favorite supplies here
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Sketch your lollipop
Sketch a circle and two thin vertical lines below it for the stick. As you sketch the curves, make sure that they’re mostly the same width and parallel to the circle’s curves. You can have just a few curved sections, or a lot like I do. Make it your own!
Choose your colors
Plan out your color scheme before painting. Look for inspiration online. There are rainbow lollipops. You can choose a monochromatic scheme. I chose an analogous color scheme – three colors next to each other on the color wheel.
As you paint each curved section, skip sections that are right next to each other to avoid paint bleeding. Or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.
After you paint the first layer, if the painting feels flat, then paint a second layer especially in the corners. Anytime you add a second layer, make sure that your paint and brush aren’t too wet so that you don’t disturb the underlayer.
I also painted the first layer of the lollipop stick with one side of the stick a little darker than the other.
Add highlights and shadows
During the painting process, I lifted some areas in order to preserve some highlights. But if you feel like you need to add highlights, then that’s when the white gel pen will come in handy. You can also use white gouache or acrylic. Any opaque white medium will work.
The lollipop stick needed a second layer, so I chose a bluish gray color and lightly laid some paint on one edge. You can fade it out with a damp brush if you need to.
Have fun with splatter
After I painted the lollipop, I felt like something was missing. So I added some flair with splatter! I chose the colors pink and light blue to reflect the colors in the lollipop.
My favorite tip for a great splatter is to load your wet brush with the paint, then dip it in water, then tap your brush over the painting. The extra water on your brush will automatically create a variety of values in your splatter.
Watercolor Lollipop Tutorial – Full video
Thanks so much for painting with me! I’d love to see your watercolor lollipop!
If you use this tutorial, please tag me on social media @AudreyRaDesign and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.
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