Hello,My name is David Walker,I am a professional artist living and working in North Wales in the UK. I have been painting in watercolors for over 30 years specializing in portraiture. This course will show you how I make my portraits for my clients.

In this course I will show you right from the beginning,taking no shortcuts,how to draw and paint this cute French bulldog puppy (see course pic).

When I started painting I would have loved a course like this,there are no edits or sped up parts,I leave the camera running and you have the choice to watch every second of the process or speed it up in parts if you wish.

I will show you a technique which professional artists use called tracedown. This technique enables the artist who may not have the drawing skills to produce their own accurate sketches and which also, over time,improves their drawing ability.

Once your image is transferred onto the paper I then draw the full image as a finished pencil drawing showing you how I shade and blend the pencil to make a realistic drawing. Many people love a nice pencil portrait of their pet.

I then paint the finished portrait using the drawing we made, again no edits,you see every part in detail.We use just 4 colors and just 2 brushes to make this stunning watercolor portrait.

As you see in the course picture I have used the pencil drawing and the painted portrait to build a superb,unique picture which any dog owner would love to have of their pet.

If you really want to paint your own beautiful pet portraits,come on in and join me,you have the course for life when you enroll so you can watch it as many time as you like and also you can ask me any questions if you have problems in the Q and A section.

see you soon,David

Art is such a beautiful way to express yourself and as a watercolor artist for over 30 years I can not urge you enough to give painting in watercolors a try,I never get bored with the effects of the colors on my paper,I still learn new techniques in my work every time I paint something,it is such a free and easy medium and it is well worth the time and effort you may invest.

To paint a watercolor picture is to escape into your own little world where nothing else matters and all your problems and worries can be forgotten, at least for a little while.

To give your own watercolor painting as a gift could not be more rewarding,I never get bored with the expression on the face of a friend or family member when I present them with an original watercolor painting which I have painted specially for them.

The medium of watercolor, for me, is the ultimate medium because even as a complete beginner you can achieve many effects using techniques which sometimes you are taught and sometimes you learn by complete accident which we call "happy accidents",such as when one color runs into another color and creates water marks or bleached paper,this is why sometimes I sit and watch the painting paint itself in front of my very eyes.

Of course now and then it does not work out as I wanted it to but all I have lost is a little bit of paint pigment,a piece of watercolor paper and a little time so I put that piece of paper to one side and start again!

Too many people have a go at painting with watercolors and think that they have to produce a perfect painting every time and they overwork the piece,desperate to get a finished painting to hang on their wall and of course they end up with a mess,get dispirited and give up announcing that they will never be an artist and so never paint again.

I would like to show these people the hundreds of watercolor paintings that didn't work out for me because without making mistakes you can't improve.I keep all my paintings good and bad and I look at the failures quite often,in these failed paintings there is quite often a part of the painting that I really like and I try to remember which technique,which colors I used,which brush made a particular mark on the paper so I can use these same techniques in my future watercolor paintings.

If I was stranded on a desert island,my watercolor kit would be the first thing I would wish for.