How I Painted the Cherry Blossoms

This custom watercolor painting was inspired by the movie Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary), where a young boy rides a bicycle taking a little girl to what he thinks is the most beautiful place.

I first sketched a draft and noticed quite a few issues: I painted too much sky through the bushes, and the sky color between the flowers was too dark, making the cherry blossoms appear sparse. The figures were drawn too large, which distorted the scale of the road, and their poses weren't captured well either. The tree shadows had my old problem—the brushstrokes were too fragmented from going over them too many times.

When I started the final piece, I patiently changed brushes according to the scene's needs. I used a large brush for broad washes, a nylon brush for the branches, and a smaller brush to detail the figures. For the tree shadows, I mixed enough pigment to ensure they connected smoothly. Finally, I decided to add a bit more blue to the shadowed areas of the trees to make the pink of the cherry blossoms stand out more.

Please enjoy the final artwork below.