Under the hood :
Watercolors
My goal was to create a brush that truly captured the distinct features of watercolor inks while being really easy to use, similar to real watercolor, and allowing the user full control over the rendering.
My initial inspiration for the original brush came from a research paper on a non-photorealistic 3D renderer, which described techniques for mimicking watercolor effects in 3D rendering.
How it works
The final brush is the combination of layered textures, a drying process that adds an outline and a unique method of compositing the strokes. This technique allows us to modify the colors within the drawn shape without adding extra layers of paint, I called it the "wet" mode.
Like in real life, choose the best paper you can find.
Start with a base color with a subtile smooth variations to avoid a flat appearance.
Add a scan from a real watercolor rendering.
Add some texture using a paper scan. Each paper having its own.
Finally, calculate a darker outline typical of watercolor and voilà...
In addition to these steps, we allow the ink to stay wet. This enables the user to add more and different colors of ink where needed. You can also add water to dilute the color and tap to add textured spots of color, giving a very realistic feel to the entire drawing.
