Watercolor Hamburger

Burgers are great year-round, but there's something about summer that makes them taste even better. They're also a really fun subject to paint. Affiliate links below. 

Watercolor Hamburger

Materials:

• watercolor / mixed media paper
• Koi travel watercolors
• Faber-Castell World Colors

Steps:

Note that, as usual, I've used a pen for the step-out photos so that you can see them easily. On the actual painting, I used a pencil to sketch as lightly as possible. 

I've found that the easiest way to draw a burger is from top to bottom. If you want to do the opposite, just reverse my directions. 

Start by drawing the arc of the top bun in the middle of your paper. Rather than drawing a straight line across to make a half-circle, use a very wiggly line to draw lettuce on the left side and a smoother line to make an onion on the right side. Then draw in a layer of tomato slices. 

Beneath the tomatoes, add the corners of some cheese slices. Draw the curved ends of a nice, thick burger patty, then draw a wiggly line to make more lettuce. Finally, draw the bottom bun.   

Now it's time to paint the burger. With watercolor, you want to make sure one section is dry before adding color to an adjacent part so that the color doesn't run. I do this by skipping around. Instead of painting the bun and then the lettuce, I do the bun and then the meat, because those sections don't touch. 

Start with a golden color for the bun, adding shadowing along the top and bottom. Use the same golden color to add dots of color to the meat. Choose a medium brown and add more dots of color to the meat. Continue adding dots of color to the patty until it resembles perfectly-cooked hamburger. Paint the onion a pale purple and the tomato red. Paint the lettuce using a similar technique as with the meat, adding dots of paint in different shades of light green. Paint the cheese yellow. 

Paint a horizon line behind the bottom bun, then color beneath that line with whatever shade you've chosen to represent your plate / countertop / serving tray. Allow that to dry, then add the color of the wall / sky / backsplash above the horizon line. 

This is what my burger looked like when I put away my paints. 

 

You can stop here, but I wanted a cleaner look. I went in with my colored pencils to add definition. This is most evident on the cheese, onion, and lettuce. I also added the hint of sesame seeds to the top bun. 

It looks almost good enough to eat!

How to Draw a Chicago Dog

Our family went camping recently, a quick one-night jaunt to check out the nearby state park where Trevor's Scout troop will be doing summer camp. Because it was such a short trip, we brought the bare minimum and kept meals extremely simple. We had hot dogs for dinner, but I didn't bother packing the variety of toppings I'd normally set out for hot dogs. Instead, I just grabbed a few ketchup packets. As we were eating, Steve commented that we'd be lucky if we weren't banned from Chicago for our blasphemy. The only thing we did right was use all-beef franks. 

A proper Chicago Dog is is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, neon green pickle relish, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. To atone for my ketchup-on-hotdog sin, I'm sharing this tutorial to teach you how to draw a hot dog that would make Chicagoans proud. 

How to Draw a Chicago Dog

Materials:

• drawing paper
• colored pencils

Steps:

Begin by drawing the basic outline of the hot dog and bun. Sketch very lightly; I've used pen on these step-out photos to make them easier to see. Add the pepper (shaped like a leaf) and half a tomato. 

Add a second tomato to the foreground, then draw a wiggly line of mustard the length of the dog. 

Draw small bits of onions and relish along the mustard. Add a slightly smaller half-circle to each tomato slice. Add an oval plate beneath the hot dog.

Now it's time to color. I used the World Colors set, which gave me a good variety of browns and creams that came in handy. Don't forget to add poppyseeds to the bun!

If the Chicago dog is not your cup of tea, you may enjoy this Ultimate Hot Dog Style Guide, with varieties from across the world. I would like to try a Sonora Dog, stat! There are quite a few others I wouldn't turn down. Which ones catch your eye?

World Peace in Clay

The World Colors line by Faber-Castell includes more than the fabulous color pencils with blendable skin tones I shared at the beginning of the week. They also sent me their World Colors Modeling Clay. (Affiliate link here and throughout the post.) This fun set has fifteen colors of clay, including six skin tones, seven rainbow colors, and black and white. The package also includes three double-ended tools. 

I played with the clay during a two-hour long meeting (one of the best things about meeting via Zoom is the opportunity for crafty multitasking) and eventually made this:

 

I say 'eventually' because I did a lot of experimental blending and mixing first. The actual project took around 15 minutes. The first thing I did was to create a bunch of different skin tones, which you can see on the bottom right of my work tray. (Which, in a previous life, held something edible from Costco.) Then I did some marbling with the other colors and started what resembles a patchwork quilt. It was so much fun to just play with the colors. It's been a long time since I've used modeling clay.

I put some thought into how to make use of the skin tones I'd created and came up with the idea of the connected hearts encircling the globe, which I'm calling World Peace in Clay. Note that modeling clay does not harden and is intended to be used again and again, which is perfect for kids. If you want to make something permanent, use an oven-bake clay like Sculpey. 

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World Peace in Clay

Materials:

• World Colors Modeling Clay
• clay rolling pin
• tiny heart cutter
• nonstick mat (I used a sheet of plastic, but a mat would have been better)

Steps:

Mix white and blue clay to make the perfect shade for your globe. Roll it out, then find something round that's the size you want the globe to be, and press it into the clay to mark the circle (I used a tupperware bowl). Use the provided tool to cut away the excess clay. 

 

Roll out green clay, then use the tools to shape pieces to look like the continents. No need to be precise - just the approximate shapes. Layer them on the blue circle. 

Roll out each of the skin tones and press the heart cutter into them, one at a time. Then place the hearts onto the globe where the Equator is. 

I love how this turned out. Thank you to Faber-Castell, both for letting me play with this clay and for making the product in the first place. What a wonderful thing that we can now so easily depict all skin tones in our crafts. 

All Colors are Beautiful

The folks at Faber-Castell sent me their World Colors EcoPencil Colored Pencil Set to try (affiliate link here and throughout the post) and I'm happy to report that this set is fabulous! I love how rich and vibrant the colors are. There are 24 single-color pencils in a rainbow of gorgeous shades, but what makes this set particularly great are the 3 double-ended pencils. Each has 2 different skin tones, which can be used as is or blended to make even more shades. There's a handy graphic on the back of the box to show you some of the skin tones you can make by blending. 

I used the World Colors Pencils to make this: 

I love the "class picture" look of this project. It reminds me of the many students that I had the pleasure to teach back in the day. My inspiration for making it came from the packaging itself:

Read on to find out how I made my project.  

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"All Colors are Beautiful"

Materials:

• cardstock (white and black)
• paper trimmer
• Faber-Castell World Colors EcoPencils
• extra-fine Sharpie
• adhesive

Steps:

Cut nine squares of white cardstock. Mine are small (1.5") but you can make them larger if you want. Use the World Colors EcoPencils to draw faces on eight of the squares. Vary the skin tone, eye color, and hair color and style. You can model them on real people or use your imagination. 

When you've completed the eight faces, arrange them in a grid. Use the color pencils to add different background colors to each. 

On the ninth square, use the Sharpie to write "All Colors are Beautiful." Make a rainbow of colors over the title. Place it in the center of the grid of faces. 

Transfer the faces to a piece of black cardstock, leaving a small (1/8-1/4") border between each and around the outside edge. Glue each square to the black cardstock, then trim away any extra cardstock. 

Faber-Castell Watercolor Paint-by-Number Kits

One of the many new products I saw at Creativation that piqued my interest: watercolor paint-by-number kits from Faber-Castell. (Affiliate link here and throughout the post.) Their kit is completely different (read: better) than any other paint-by-number kit I've seen. Before I explain how, let me show you my completed painting:

The painting is 12" x 12" and that is a stretched canvas that is ready to hang.  

I've never seen paint-by-numbers with anything other than the conjoined strip of low-quality opaque paint, applied to a canvas with the numbers painted directly on each spot. This is completely different. Because it is watercolor, the paints are in a palette. Also because it is watercolor, the paint is translucent. Therefore, the numbers are not printed directly on the canvas where they would show through. Instead, the numbers are printed on a separate, full-size page (folded in the photo below). The kit also includes a brush. The handle is triangular, which means it doesn't roll when you set it down. Nice!

There is one weird flaw about this kit that I want to point out. The paints are not arranged in numerical order. As it turns out, it wouldn't have been an issue with this design because it's obvious that the sky (#5 on the chart) wouldn't be purple (in position 5 on the palette), for example. But on other designs it might be an issue. I used Sharpies to properly number my paints so I wouldn't mess up. 

A handy feature of the kit is that the palette lid functions as a place to mix colors. You can see that I've mixed up a pale orange and a pale pink on the lid. 

Overall, I found the kit easy and enjoyable to use, and I'm happy with the finished painting. It comes with everything you need and is beginner-friendly. While it is marketed to adults, preteens and teens will love it too. 

There are six different designs to choose from. 

These watercolor paint-by-number kits have a good price point for what you get, making them an excellent choice to give as gifts or to buy for a group paint night. Overall, two thumbs up!