Children make a great subject for your watercolor paintings, and this little boy wearing his big brother’s coat is sure to warm your viewers’ hearts in this easy card for beginners.
Downloads for boy pulling sled
Suggested Paint Colors for Easy Card
Feel free to use any of your color for this easy card.
- Blue – Ultramarine and Cerulean Blue
- Burnt Sienna or Brown
- Any red or yellow or black
- Opaque white – Bleed Proof White by Daler Rowney
Easy Step by Step Painting Instructions
Step 1 – Draw or trace your outline onto your watercolor paper using graphite paper.
Step 2 – Paint the background light blue.
- Wet the area behind the boy and sled down to the snow line at the bottom.
- Mix a puddle of a pretty blue.
- Dab the blue on the wet paper and let it spread.
- Use a small brush to get the blue close to the edges of the boy and present.
- For a light, airy look, just a paper towel to dab up some of the color around the edges.
Step 3 – Paint the face of the boy with sled.
- Mix a face color – yellow + red and add brown if he looks too orange.
- Paint the face a well saturated color.
- Dry and add a hint of hair coming out from the back, bottom of the cap. (Several students add long hair and made the boy a girl.)
- If your face doesn’t show up well, you can outline the edges with a pencil or paint it darker.
Step 4 – Pick your paints for this easy card.
Feel free to paint these any colors you like.
I made the pants and cap black and used black to draw a line from the boy to the sled. I also used black to outline the edges of the sleeve and coat collar. (Or you could use a black pen to do this.)
I painted the jacket red, the sled blue.
Present – paint the present a light color and dry. Then paint darker dots on the light present. Paint the ribbon with gold or glitter.
Step 5 – Fixing and Finishing your watercolor card.
Opaque white can be used to clean up your snow or jacket. You can also spatter or dot on white for falling snow.
Make it a card – Cut out your miniature watercolor painting and use double stick tape around the back edges to apply it to a blank greeting card.