Sunil Art Studio

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Sunil Art Studio Guiding beginners and artists on their journey.

🌟 What I Offer:
🖌️ Inspiring watercolor paintings & tutorials
📅 Engaging workshops for all skill levels

09/10/2026

Nine paintings. Half sheet each. All snowy mountains.

The artist this time is Jorge Carpuna — a Mexican watercolorist whose washes I find extraordinary. I do decent washes. But there is a subtlety in how he handles them that I wanted to understand better, and the only way to understand it is to try to do it yourself.

So I picked one of his subjects — mountains — and painted it nine times. Each one informed the next. What went wrong gets corrected. What worked gets pushed further. By the end of the series you are not copying anymore, you are learning.

This is the best hack I know for improving without a mentor. Find an artist whose work you admire, pick one subject they paint well, and repeat it until you understand why it works. You do not need to be in the same room as someone to learn from them. Their paintings teach you if you pay close enough attention.

I painted these listening to a podcast. Nine half-sheet paintings in a sitting. There is nothing better.

If you paint landscapes and want to go deeper — three mini courses launching in December: skies and clouds, trees, and water. The waiting list is open and you will get a discount when it launches. Link in bio.

Beginner cityscape course is live now. Link in bio.

New here — join the email list and get the FREE supplies list. Link in bio.

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05/10/2026

A peony looks complicated. It isn't, once you break it down.

Start with the petal. A peony petal is an oval — but it folds. When it faces you it looks one way, when it turns to the side it narrows. Spend a few minutes just drawing petals in different positions before you touch the flower.

Once you have the petal, the flower is just circles. Three concentric circles, small to large, touching at the top — that tilts the flower one way. Three circles touching at the bottom tilts it the other. Add more circles to make it denser, fewer to keep it open. The circles are just a guide for where each ring of petals sits. Inner rings get smaller petals, outer rings get larger ones. The oval you already learned does all the work.

For the painting, three tones of Winsor Red. Light wash first — and leave white gaps, deliberately. Those gaps are not mistakes, they are the light. Second wash slightly darker, still protecting some white. Third wash darkest, and soften the edges immediately with a damp brush so nothing goes hard. For the centre, a little yellow ochre and burnt sienna for the pollen. Finally, drop in a dark background. The peony needs something to push against.

That is the whole thing. Drawing logic first, then three tones, then background. It works every time.
Free supply list in the bio if you want to know exactly what I use. Mini landscape courses launching December, beginner cityscape course live now — all links in bio.

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04/10/2026

Six paintings done today. One still in progress.
The subject: Praful Sawanth work. He's an Indian watercolor artist — outstanding atmospheric washes, beautiful loose technique. I picked six of his paintings, matched his palette as closely as I could, sourced the same tools, and just copied.

This is not a new idea. Artists have been doing this for centuries. You pick a master, you copy their work, and you learn things you cannot learn any other way. Watching how someone handles a wet wash on half a sheet is one thing. Trying to replicate it yourself is completely different.

My copies are nowhere near his originals. That's not the point. The point is what happened between picking up the brush and putting it down — the decisions, the mistakes, the moments where I understood why he made a particular choice.

If you want to improve, pick a master. Copy their work. Do it seriously — same paper size, same palette, same tools if you can. You'll learn more in a day than in weeks of painting your own subjects.

This is going to become a series. I'll pick one artist at a time, do five to ten paintings after their work, and share what I learned. It's also a way for me to talk about the artists who have taught me an enormous amount — people I have never met, who have no idea I exist, but whose work has shaped how I paint.

is the first. If you ever come across this — thank you. The invite to the Wet on Wet podcast is open. There is so much I would love to ask you.

Happy weekend. Landscape mini courses launch in December, beginner cityscape course is live now — all links in bio.

02/10/2026

There are few things more satisfying than filling a new palette.

New Holbein 26 wells. Every colour in its place.

The palette itself is excellent. The one thing it is short on is mixing space so I am going to use a separate tray for that. But the colours have a proper home now and that matters more than people realise. A well organised palette is not fussiness — it is how you work faster and think less about the tools and more about the painting.

If you have never filled a new palette you are missing one of the small genuine pleasures of being an artist.

What is in your palette right now? Drop it in the comments.

A reminder that three mini courses are launching this December. Skies and clouds, trees, and water. The waiting list is open now and there will be a discount for people on it when they launch. Link in bio.

If you are new here, join the email list — tutorials and updates every couple of weeks. Link in bio.

And my Watercolour Cityscapes for Beginners course is live now. Also in bio.

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29/09/2026

Twelve paintings of snow and trees. This is what preparation looks like.
I am a mechanical engineer who became a watercolour artist. That background changes how I paint and how I teach.

Before I build a course I paint. A lot. Different approaches, different light, different conditions. An engineer does not guess. You test, you analyse, you refine. I need to know every way a subject can go wrong before I can teach someone how to get it right.

And that is the thing. Being able to paint something and being able to teach a beginner to paint it are two completely different problems.
I have to work out how to strip it back. Fewer colours. Fewer variables. The simplest possible route to a result that still looks good. An engineer calls this reducing complexity without losing function. I have to find the version of the process that works for someone picking up a brush for the first time — not just the version that works for me.

That takes more preparation than the painting itself.
Then there is the iterative method. Pick one subject. Paint it as many times as you can.

Every painting here took between 15 and 30 minutes. But across a dozen paintings something happens. You correct the mistakes from the last one. You keep what worked. You push a little further each time. Engineers call this iteration. In watercolour it is the fastest way I know to get genuinely good at something.

You do not get it right the first time. You get it less wrong each time until it is right.
Same principle. Same paper.

These paintings are all part of getting ready for the mini landscape courses launching in December. Three courses — skies and clouds, trees, and water. There will be a Black Friday sale and people on the waiting list get first access and the best price.

Waiting list link in bio.

For people who are new — join the email list for tutorials and updates. Link in bio.
And my Watercolour Cityscapes for Beginners course is live now. Also in bio.

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Most people sit down and start painting. I do three things first.A value sketch. A colour sketch. Then the painting.By t...
28/09/2026

Most people sit down and start painting. I do three things first.

A value sketch. A colour sketch. Then the painting.

By the time I pick up a brush for the real thing every problem has already been solved. The horizon is set. The perspective is confirmed — one point, two point, three point, whichever the scene needs. The outer shapes are in. The details placed in the right order. The contrast and shadows tested in the colour sketch without committing to anything.
When I finally commit to the painting I am not figuring things out. I am just painting.

And when I paint, I always work in four steps. Drawing, first wash, second wash, highlights. Every painting. Every subject. Every size. No matter how complicated the scene looks, it fits into those four steps. They give me a way to check where I am and what comes next without ever losing the thread.

The two sketches are quick and rough — thinking tools, not finished work. But they save you from the most common mistake in watercolour which is trying to solve problems on the final painting where mistakes are expensive.

This is how I painted this morning at Cottenham Art Club. Every Monday. Same process, same order, every time.

It is an engineering method applied to painting. Resolve the problem before you build the thing. Works in a factory. Works on watercolour paper.
This entire method — value sketches, colour sketches, perspective, four steps — is at the heart of my Watercoloof Cityscapes for Beginners course. Even though it is a cityscape course the method works for any subject. Link in bio.

If you are new here, join the email list — link in bio.

And a new mini landscape course is coming in December. More details soon, also in bio.

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27/09/2026

Yesterday talked behind the scenes. Today is the painting.

Same subject, different angle. If you saw yesterday's behind the scenes reel you know how much work goes into two minutes of tutorial. Here is the two minutes.

The face breaks down into five elements. Nostrils, jaw, eyes, ears, and how they all sit together. I work through each one separately and then build them into a complete face — front on, three quarter, and side profile. Same elements, three completely different results depending on the angle.

For the painting the best method I have found for a cat is to wet the paper first and then drop the colour in. Burnt sienna to start, a little grey, then burnt umber to build the darker areas. You add slowly and let the water do the work. Rushing it is the only way to get it wrong.

For the eyes I used turquoise — but any colour works. If you want to go deeper on the eye alone I did a separate reel on exactly that. Worth watching before you tackle the full face.

Build the elements. Then build the face. That is how you get there with any animal.

If you are new here — three links in bio worth knowing about.

New mini landscape courses launching in December. Skies and clouds, trees, and water. Waiting list is open now and there is a discount for people who sign up early.

Free to join email list — tutorials and what is going on in the studio every couple of weeks.

And Watercolour Cityscapes for Beginners is live now if you want the full course.
All links in bio.

beginnerwatercolour watercolouranimals howtopaint watercolourpainting artistprocess

26/09/2026

What you see in a two minute tutorial took half a day to make ( I'll upload the tutorial in the morning)

Before I film anything I have to figure out how to teach it. Knowing how to draw a cat is one thing. Breaking it down so that anyone can follow it — that is a completely different problem.

So I practice. Over and over. I break the subject into individual elements — nostrils, jaw, eyes, ears — and I work out the simplest possible way to draw each one. The dozen sheets of sketches you see in this reel are just what was left on the table after several hours of working it out.

Then once I know how to draw it clearly I practice the painting. Multiple attempts before I commit to filming the final version.

Then there is the camera setup. Then the filming. Then cutting hours of footage down to two minutes without losing the logic of it( and that editing takes forever).

I am not complaining — I love doing it. But I wanted to show what goes on behind the two minutes you watch. The tutorials that people swipe through in seconds are the ones that took the longest to make.
I would genuinely be curious what other artists do. Drop it in the comments.

A few things coming up.
Three mini courses launching in December — skies and clouds, trees, and water. There is a Black Friday discount coming for people on the waiting list, plus a bundle option if you want all three. Sign up now and you will be first in line.
My Watercolour Cityscapes for Beginners course is also live. All links in bio.

learnwatercolour beginnerwatercolour watercolourpainting catpainting artistlife

24/09/2026

Most tutorials jump straight to drawing the eye. This one starts with where it actually goes.

A simple circle divided into sections shows you the nose, the nose bridge, and exactly where the eye sits on a cat's face. Get the placement wrong and nothing else you do will fix it. Get it right and the rest follows.

Then I zoom in and draw the eye at a larger scale so you can see every part clearly. The upper eyelid, where the highlight sits, the shadow that runs just under the top lid, and the subtle reflection along the lower eyelid. These are the details that make an eye look alive rather than flat.

For the painting I used green but the colour is yours to choose — blue, turquoise, amber, whatever suits the cat you are painting. Two tones. Light across the whole eye first, then the shadow pushed in under the top eyelid. Add the iris pattern, beef up both eyelids, and then the highlights last. I finished mine with a white marker to make sure the highlights are clean and clear.

That is the whole process. Give it a try on any animal eye — the same approach works.

A few things coming up worth knowing about.
I am launching three mini courses at the end of December — skies and clouds, trees, and water. There is a Black Friday sale coming so keep an eye out for that. If you want early access and a discount, the waiting list is open now. Link in bio.

And if you are new here, join the email list — link also in bio.

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Skies are one of the most overlooked parts of a watercolour painting.Get the sky right and everything below it falls int...
23/09/2026

Skies are one of the most overlooked parts of a watercolour painting.
Get the sky right and everything below it falls into place. Get it wrong and even a strong foreground cannot save it. These eight paintings are all about that — sunrise, sunset, the full range of what watercolour can do with light and atmosphere.

Which one is your favourite? Drop a number in the comments.
I have been working on something new and the waiting list is now open.
Three mini courses. Skies and clouds. Trees and vegetation. Water. Each one short, focused, and built around one subject so you can go deep without committing to a full course. You will be able to buy them individually or as a bundle.

Launching end of December or early January. People on the waiting list get a discount when it opens.
If any of those three subjects is something you want to work on, the link is in the bio.

And if you are new here — two more links worth knowing about:
My newsletter goes out every couple of weeks. Tutorials, tips, and what is going on in the studio. Free to join, link in bio.
My Watercolour Cityscapes for Beginners course is live now if you want the full structured programme. Also in bio.

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