How to paint a Bee
in Watercolour

A lively bee painting using soft washes, layered colour and an expressive cocktail stick!. Perfect for practising texture, colour blending and creating fluffy detail

Bumble Bee watercolour flatlay LR.jpeg.jpg

Materials

Watercolour paper, 300lb, Not pressed / Cold Pressed.
Brushes: medium and small detail round brush brush
Cocktail Stick x 2
Kitchen towel
Water pot

Colours

Cad Yellow (or deep cad yellow)
Burnt Sienna
Raw Umber (or burnt umber)
Ultra Marine blue
Crimson

Tip: Raw/Burnt Umber + Ultra Marine Blue = almost black

Burnt Sienna + Ultra Marine Blue + water = grey

Ultra Marine Blue + crimson + yellow = desaturated purple

These instructions are for a black and yellow bee. If you're replacing the black with purple - then use purple with a little yellow to tone it down

Adding a colour's compliment desaturates a colour (tones down the intensity of a colour). E.g. adding a tiny amount of yellow to purple

Have your colour mixes ready and swatch them out

Step 1 – Draw/Trace and Eyes

Draw or trace your bee very lightly on the paper. Minimal detail - just outlines

Mix up a grey light grey and lightly fill in the eyes, leaving a white highlight

Step 2 – Yellow and grey body bits

Reserving some white paper centrally (for highlights), wet the first yellow section lightly with clean water
Drop in warm yellows and allow them to spread naturally
Add burnt sienna at the top and bottom edges
Use a cocktail stick to lightly flick out some fine hairs all around the yellow section
Repeat for the remaining yellow section and the grey part at the bottom
Let this area dry before tackling the dark segments with the same method. Remember to leave a little white gap (1mm) between yellow and black for now.

Step 3 – Wings

Keep the wings light and transparent
Add a little creamy burnt sienna where the wings join the body. Use a clean brush to lay down water ahead of this paint. Push the water back into the burnt sienna to encourage it to gently bleed outward
Use a very diluted warm grey or yellow wash to fill in the top wings - leave some clear areas as wings are translucent
Add a few delicate vein lines using the cocktail stick or any handy pointy thing

DRY
Repeat for the bottom wings but alter the colour slightly so it leans in a purple direction

DRY
Once bottom wings are dry, add a cast shadow beneath the top wing, if needed

Step 4 – Legs & Antennae

Use quick, confident, thin to thick brush marks for the leg segments
I like to pick up a light grey on my brush then dip the end in raw sienna. This give me some interesting colour mixes on the legs
Keep legs slightly broken and expressive rather than heavily detailed. I find the hairy ones a bit scary ha ha - but if you want to keep it authentic, flick out some hairs with the cocktail stick
Drop some additional colour in here and there if you need, but remember to keep some light areas too
Add the antennae with the tip of a fine brush

Step 5 - Details

Deepen the darkest areas around the body with creamier paint. Remember to blend this out slightly by pushing water into the edges
Add a few splatters for energy and movement. I used Schminke Aqua Bronze powder but you can also use white gouache mixed with yellow, watercolour pencil and sandpaper for pollen.
Optional: use tiny touches of white gouache for highlights if you lost yours and a fine liner for quick sketchy marks if needed

Watercolour Tips

✔ Work from light to dark
✔ Let colours mingle naturally on the paper
✔ Keep some light areas
✔ Keep the wings soft, translucent and delicate
✔ Don’t overwork — freshness creates life and movement

I would love to see how you do, tag me on instagram or facebook @kerryslackart