How to Paint a Yellow Frog

Yellow poison dart frogs are adorable! This instructable has some intermediate techniques to learn for watercoloring.

Step 1: Materials!

For materials you'll need:

A pen

Watercolors

Liquid masking fluid

Bleed proof white

A paint brush

A pencil

An erasure

Paper

Some water (for dipping your brush)

A reference image. I did a google search for "yellow poison dart frog" and came up with lots of photos.

Step 2: Sketch Your Frog

Sketch out an outline of your frog with pencil. You can always trace it if you are not good at sketching.

Step 3: Outline in Pen and Then Erase the Pencil

Take your pen and go over the pencil lines that you like best. Let the ink dry completely and then erase the pencil

Step 4: Add Liquid Masking Fluid

This is an intermediate technique but it's very easy to do!

With your brush, paint in the inside area of the frog with masking fluid. Make sure you cover the entire area where the frog is. While it's drying make sure you thoroughly wash your brush. The masking fluid can wear your brush out fast. Some people may prefer to use a separate cheaper brush. Let the masking fluid dry thoroughly.

Step 5: Paint the Background

This is one of my favorite parts. Once the masking fluid is dry, wet the paper around the frog and load your paintbrush with dark paint and fill in the background. The masking fluid will protect the paper under where you painted so don't worry about going over that area. Using darker paint will help the yellow pop later.

Step 6: Remove the Masking Fluid

This part is also pretty fun. when the background is thoroughly dry use an eraser to remove the masking fluid. You'll be left with white paper where you applied it.

You may have a few areas you missed with the masking fluid that are now dark spots. Just go over those areas with the bleed proof white and let it dry completely. You can paint over it once it's dry though you may need to reapply and re-paint as you go depending on the type of paper, paints and how much water you use.

Step 7: Paint a Base Layer

Go ahead, make it as yellow as you want.

Step 8: Add Shading

If you are feeling like experimenting, try some shading. Once you have the base yellow layer, you can use plain water to make areas lighter or use black and green paint to add some depth and shadow.

Step 9:

Step 10: Fill in the Eye and Add Highlights

Fill in the eye and ear with the black pen. I usually draw ovals where I want the eye highlights to be and then I color around them. You can also use the bleed proof white for the eye sparkles. I also use the bleed proof white to add some shine to the frog's skin.

You are done! See how easy that was?