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Watercolor Basics With Erica Gilliam

Class Description:

Learning the basics of watercolor can be a beautiful (and surprisingly intuitive) process. Join me as I share the things I have learned over the last 5 years by using watercolor paints!

In this course, we’ll explore how to intuitively paint with watercolor, adjust your mindset to create a magical experience, and how to plan a painting. My goal for the end of this course is for you to feel confident in your painting.

Let’s experience the whimsy of our world together!

What You Will Learn:

  • How to use watercolor paints in an intuitive way
  • How to empower yourself to explore new and creative methods of painting
  • How to take your ideas and turn them into reality with intentional planning and execution of your paintings

Supplies You'll Need:

  • Journal
  • Watercolor brushes
  • Watercolor paints
  • Brush pen (optional)
  • Fine liner pen (optional)
  • White gel pen (optional)
  • Felt tip pen (optional)
  • Masking fluid (optional)
  • Imitation gold leaf (optional)
  • Gilding adhesive (optional)
  • Salt (optional)
  • Rubbing alcohol (optional)
  • Bubble wrap (optional)
  • Crayons (optional)
  • Pressed flowers (optional)

Explore Class Projects:

In this class, you'll learn to create these amazing class projects, but more importantly, you'll learn how to create your own pieces in the future.

About Instructor

thesleepypine

Erica Gilliam is the artist at The Sleepy Pine Studio, a whimsical stationery company. She is a published illustrator that loves to toe the line between nature and magic. Erica loves sharing the enchantment of exploring creativity with her students. You can find her in her home studio in an old Victorian home with her husband, daughter, 2 black cats, and hundreds of houseplants.

1 Class

+412 enrolled

Class Details:

  • 📊Level: Beginner
  • ⏰Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes

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Access Everything Foxsy Has To Offer

Be Part of the Foxsy Revolution

Join a thriving community of over 2,300 students, all united by a shared love for creativity. Together, let's paint a brighter, more creative future.

  • Access 299 classes with 250+ hours of content.
  • Work through over 400 lessons and 70+ projects.
  • Access the Watercolor Academy, Drawing Bootcamp, & Modern Lettering Academies.
  • Join weekly live classes.
  • Get personalized feedback on all projects.
  • Get real answers to your questions with Creative Support.
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Join a thriving community of over 24,000 students, all united by a shared love for creativity. Together, let’s paint a brighter, more creative future.

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  • Access to The Watercolor Academy, The Modern Lettering Academy & Drawing Bootcamp
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  • Project feedback from Foxsy Pros
  • Unlimited creative support

Yearly Membership

$164 / year
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All Foxsy Memberships include:

  • Access to the full 250+ class library
  • Access to The Watercolor Academy, The Modern Lettering Academy & Drawing Bootcamp
  • Access to exclusive weekly live classes
  • Fox Den Community Access
  • Project feedback from Foxsy Pros
  • Unlimited creative support

Lifetime Membership

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Get Lifetime Access

All Foxsy Memberships include:

  • Access to the full 250+ class library
  • Access to The Watercolor Academy, The Modern Lettering Academy & Drawing Bootcamp
  • Access to exclusive weekly live classes
  • Fox Den Community Access
  • Project feedback from Foxsy Pros
  • Unlimited creative support

Monthly Membership

$29 / month
Go Monthly

All Foxsy Memberships include:

  • Access to the full 250+ class library
  • Access to The Watercolor Academy, The Modern Lettering Academy & Drawing Bootcamp
  • Access to exclusive weekly live classes
  • Fox Den Community Access
  • Project feedback from Foxsy Pros
  • Unlimited creative support

Yearly Membership

$164 / year
Go Yearly

All Foxsy Memberships include:

  • Access to the full 250+ class library
  • Access to The Watercolor Academy, The Modern Lettering Academy & Drawing Bootcamp
  • Access to exclusive weekly live classes
  • Fox Den Community Access
  • Project feedback from Foxsy Pros
  • Unlimited creative support

Lifetime Membership

$599 Never pay a subscription fee again.
Get Lifetime Access

All Foxsy Memberships include:

  • Access to the full 250+ class library
  • Access to The Watercolor Academy, The Modern Lettering Academy & Drawing Bootcamp
  • Access to exclusive weekly live classes
  • Fox Den Community Access
  • Project feedback from Foxsy Pros
  • Unlimited creative support
All plans come with a 30-day Money Back Guarantee.
Cancel anytime in your dashboard.
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Ratings and Reviews

4.6
Avg. Rating
25 Ratings
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What's your experience? We'd love to know!
adriennelovesletters
Posted 10 months ago
Great Introduction to Watercolor

I liked the easy, comfortable tone and attitude! The concepts were easy to understand, and easy to follow along. My only criticism was there was no painting, only a talking head, after the “Light and Shadow” video. In talking about planning a piece, or how to fix mistakes, I would have loved to have seen her give examples in real time - from thumbnail to finished piece, or fixing a mistake.

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Danette Toledo
Posted 1 year ago
The colorful moon

I love this technique, it’s so much fun ,sadly I don’t have a gold foil , so instead I use a watercolor gold like color ,and it work ,nothing but a fun imagination . Thank you so much am looking forward for the next watercolor assignment. On this class

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jisuki
Posted 1 year ago
Great information and encouragement to keep painting!

My favorite parts of this class were where it showed in the video the color mixing parts and a lots of great information about how to stay encouraged to keep learning. There were certain parts of the class where I wanted a little more of a visual of how to do certain things since I'm more of a visual learner, but overall, Erica did a wonderful job of communicating and she's very relatable!

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toothie100
Posted 2 years ago
Useful Overview

A nicely paced easy to follow and understand introduction.

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charlynnebryan_94
Posted 2 years ago
Great walk through the basics

I loved this course, even as someone who doesn’t consider herself a beginner anymore, I found a lot of value in the information being provided. The way everything was clear and concise made it easy to follow and digestible. I would definitely recommend this course to someone just starting out in art as well as someone who has been doing it for years!

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jjmonfries1
Posted 2 years ago
Such a great teacher

I liked how Erica took me step by step, with her calming voice, and I learnt a lot of useful technical information. I would have enjoyed doing more actual painting, but I still say Thank you Erica for such an enjoyable course

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kiyowara
Posted 2 years ago
So far so great!

I just finished the materials section and it was very well presented!

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becky-parker-maynard
Posted 2 years ago
Loving the whimsy!

Erica did a beautiful job of bringing the magic of watercolor to life for me. I was a little overwhelmed because it is all so new to me. Like, how do I get my paint wet enough to use but not too wet. And I don’t know what a “wash” is. We’re talking beginner like never held a paintbrush for decades! But I slowly but surely made my way through the getting-to-know-my-paints lessons. And it was great!

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linda-f
Posted 2 years ago
Definitely Do this Course!!

Having read all the other reviews so far so I can only add: I enjoyed it, I was inspired by it and I learned something new and/or aware of something I was not beforehand in every lesson. The one thing I would have liked was to see more of Erica's artwork, both as in inspiration and maybe as a step-by-step or counterpoint to the focus of the particular lesson. She's super talented!

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mcquigg
Posted 3 years ago
Decent bits of information

I found the jumps in the video to be a bit distracting, unfortunately. Other than that, the material was presented in a clear and logical fashion, and I was able to gather up some decent bits of information that I'll be using in my watercolor journey.

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