Painting Glass
Let's spend some time learning about how to paint glass. It's a subject that you'll bump up against many times as an artist. Studying the glass and trying to paint what you see is actually the best way to get glass-like results. Colors and subtle shifts are very important to notice and paint. You'll have to remember to glaze on the paint in subtle layers, darkening the dark areas that you see as you go and allowing for dry time.
The main steps taken to paint glass using watercolors
* Click on the videos to see them enlarged
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The first step is to mask off the areas that are going to be your hard white highlights.
After your draw your scene, notice where the lightest lights are. You may want to draw in the light highlights ahead of time with your pencil. Next use the mask to cover up those lightest lights. Let it dry completely. |
The next step is to wet the entire paper with clean, clear water. Then add in some colorful reflections on the background and foreground from the glass that you see. It may help to put your glass object on white paper to see the shadows and reflected light more clearly. Be sure to paint some of the background behind and underneath your glass since the glass is semi-transparent.
Let this layer completely dry. You can then go in with some shadows underneath and around your objects and glass, or you can put on an early layer of your glass color. Don't over work this stage, but let the colors intermingle on the paper.
Let this layer completely dry. You can then go in with some shadows underneath and around your objects and glass, or you can put on an early layer of your glass color. Don't over work this stage, but let the colors intermingle on the paper.
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Remember to keep your mid-tones in the 5 to 6 range on our value scales. These mid-tones can go along the outer edges of your cylinder to help it look realistic and curved. In other words, when painting a cylinder, keep the center lighter and the outer edges darker.
Let it dry and gradually build up the darks by glazing on additional layers. Don't be afraid to be bold with those darker areas! You can darken your original glass color gently by adding in neutral tint or payne's gray to your mix or by using the complementary color. Next, ad in the paint of surrounding colors. In the case of our example, I added in the lemons. |
I started adding in the ferns once the jar and lemons were completely dry. I left the mask on the jar so as not to cover up those precious white highlights.
Notice how the ferns inside the jar are less distinct in their edges and the colors are slightly more muted.
The objects inside of your glass jar can be treated with a little more detail outside of the jar and a bit softer edges within your glass object. This is because the glass distorts the images within it.
The light that hits the glass and the water and refracts the objects inside. For this reason, you'll continue on with an object slightly moved over from when it goes into the water. Catch and notice these bends and don't be afraid to paint them as you see them happening.
Once all of the paint is completely dry, you can rub off the liquid mask. It's fine to use your finger or a rubber cement pick up tool.
The light that hits the glass and the water and refracts the objects inside. For this reason, you'll continue on with an object slightly moved over from when it goes into the water. Catch and notice these bends and don't be afraid to paint them as you see them happening.
Once all of the paint is completely dry, you can rub off the liquid mask. It's fine to use your finger or a rubber cement pick up tool.
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Once you remove the mask
Once you remove the liquid mask, you'll find that you have some hard edges to contend with. Using a wet brush, you can go over and slightly soften those edges if need be. Just use caution not to cover up all of your brightest whites. You can also use this time to help define any edges you may have that need softening. Make little corrections to messy typography with the mid-tones of your glass color. In the video on the right, I show how to do that. |
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Final Stages
In this last part, prop up your painting and board on an easel, against a wall or on chair. Anywhere that you can walk up to it and see it from a distance. This will help you notice any minor corrections that need to be made. Taking a picture of your painting can also tip you off to some funny oddities that may be happening. It's not uncommon for me to notice little slight adjustments here and there at this point. I try to take an evening at the end of a day of painting to notice these things. I write them down and then address them in the morning when I'm fresh. Now walk away. I mean it... release the painting and call it finished. The hardest part of watercolors is knowing when to stop! |
Some additional tips for painting glass:
- Think less about painting the glass, and more about the glass painting itself. This comes together as you darken the darks and protect the lights.
- The funky highlights, darks and bends in the objects will give the glass its realism so let them happen and don't over blend them... this is the very challenging part for me!
- Remember that glass itself has a color. It is often a purple-y, rose green-ish or blue tint. In the example that I provide, we are using a blu-ish tinted Ball jar.
- The glass itself has depth. Most glass has about an 1/8" that you should account for. In the case of crystal or a thick bowl, it could be more like 1/4". There are two main times that you'll need to address this:
1. The liquid or contents of your bottle or jar will be set in from the outer edge by this amount. See the example on the right for how the nutmeg is apart from the outer edge of its container.
2. You'll also need to account for the depth of your glass when drawing any openings of jars, bottles or bowls.
For Your Homework
Draw something glass in your home using the methods in the previous perspective lesson on an 8X10 or 9X12" paper. Include some color or texture in the background.
Feel free to post process pics along the way.
Looking forward to seeing the exploration. Keep in mind that learning and process are more important then the results. Compare your art to your own work and see how much you are improving! Don't get discouraged but do take lots of hot tea or wine and cheese breaks to let your layers dry in between.
Remember that if you are not on our Facebook Group Forum, you can e-mail your work to me and or to the class for feedback.
Feel free to post process pics along the way.
Looking forward to seeing the exploration. Keep in mind that learning and process are more important then the results. Compare your art to your own work and see how much you are improving! Don't get discouraged but do take lots of hot tea or wine and cheese breaks to let your layers dry in between.
Remember that if you are not on our Facebook Group Forum, you can e-mail your work to me and or to the class for feedback.
