DIY Watercolor Family Portrait

Do you want to create custom artwork for your home without the years it takes to learn to paint? How does $20 and an hour of your time sound? I created the portrait below with zero watercolor experience and no paint brushes necessary.

When I was growing up, my parents always had a beautiful framed watercolor of our family standing in front of the ocean at the beach in our hometown.  After we moved to Florida, I became attached to it because it reminded me of my childhood home, an…

When I was growing up, my parents always had a beautiful framed watercolor of our family standing in front of the ocean at the beach in our hometown. After we moved to Florida, I became attached to it because it reminded me of my childhood home, and because it was painted by my grandmother. A few months back we got a new bed, and I searched high and low for a piece of art I could hang above it, but nothing felt right to me. My grandma was a very talented watercolorist and I found myself wishing I had one of her pieces to hang in our bedroom. I love to paint, but I’m nowhere near good enough to create what I had envisioned “the old fashioned way”.

Then I discovered the Waterlogue app, and the gears started turning. Waterlogue is an app that will turn any photograph into a watercolor, painting, sketch, etc. I also use Procreate frequently, and realized I could use the two apps to make my vision come to life without ever wetting a paint brush.

You will need:

  • iPad Pro & Pencil (You could also use any iPad and a stylus/finger)

  • Procreate

  • Waterlogue

  • Photographs

  • Frame

  • Mat (Optional)

The first thing I did was find my frame - this was important so I knew what dimensions I needed to make my art. I thrifted mine for around $5. Then I was ready to create my watercolor.

I imported the following images into Waterlogue and saved them to my photos on my iPad.

Once I had these, I pulled them into Procreate and placed us all on the beach. Would it have been easier to take a trip to the beach and just take a picture? Maybe, but I’ve got wiggly kids who do better getting photographed “in the moment”, so this was easier for me.

My panorama needed to be 38”W x 12”H, so that’s the canvas size I created in Procreate (5027px X 1588px).

I added some seagulls the same way, and when I was done I exported the image as a PNG and uploaded it to Target Photos. I found their panorama prices were the best, and I’ve been happy with the quality.

Bedroom head on.jpeg

When I got the print in the mail, I simply cut out a mat board and framed it. So there you have it! If you try this out for yourself, I’d love to see what you make!

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