DIY Watercolor Family Portrait 2.0
You may remember when I blogged about my first paint-free watercolor family portrait. I’ve loved it so much I decided to make another for Joe’s parents! They just bought a condo near the beach as a vacation home in the hopes we can have family getaways together throughout the year. We lovingly call it “The Cabbage” because the kids couldn’t decide on whether to call it a cabin or cottage - so we combined them.
The previous owner was very into art and it showed. There were tons of pieces of art left on the wall after closing. Most went to Goodwill, but I snagged a few of the best ones and I’m using one of them for this DIY. My intention is to gift it to them for the condo. In fact, I think this DIY is a fantastic gift idea for anyone in your life!
Here is what the frame looked like before:
You will need:
iPad Pro & Pencil (You could also use any iPad and a stylus/finger)
Photographs
Frame
Sandpaper
White paint & Water
Paint Brush
My goal was to create a watercolor of the grandparents at the beach with all the grandkids. If you have an image that works as-is, you can skip Procreate altogether, but I didn’t have a picture of everyone together at the beach so I had to combine a few pictures.
First, I ran each image through the Waterlogue app (this is an app that converts photographs into watercolors) and saved them to my iPad. Here’s a before and after:
Once I had these, I pulled them into Procreate and placed us all on the beach. My art needed to be 36”W x 24”H, so that’s the canvas size I created in Procreate. The trick here is using pictures where you can see their full bodies. I also found that “action shots” looked the most realistic because it would have made sense for the kids to be running and playing on the beach. Be careful to ensure the scale is right based on where they’re positioned in the photo. Pay attention to shadows as well. Here’s how it came together in Procreate.
Once I had my completed watercolor, I exported it as a PNG and uploaded it to be printed at Office Depot. I chose to print it as a 24x36 poster and it cost $27 with a coupon. I’ve also seen people use the Engineer Print option, which runs around $5 for the same size, but it does not print as high quality, so keep that in mind.
Then it was time to turn my attention to the frame. I carefully cleaned it with a damp brush and sanded it down. I mixed 1 part water with 1 part white paint and white washed the frame.
Once the frame was dry, I simply put my print in the frame and VOILA, a low cost but very meaningful gift for the grandparents. I really think this DIY would make a great gift for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day… the possibilities are endless!