We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

I know it’s a little early, but I thought now is the time to start preparing for Christmas! Today, I am going to start a series of Watercolor Christmas Card Tutorials. You will have a whole variety of Christmas Illustrations to choose from to make for your friends and family.

Today we are going to paint a loose watercolor Christmas truck. This is a perfect gender-neutral illustration that would be perfect for anyone.

Let’s dive in and see how it’s done!

You may also like, How to Paint a Watercolor Penguin.

Full Video Tutorial at the End of the Post!

What Supplies You’ll Need:

Watercolor Paper

Watercolor Paint

Water-proof ink pen

Pencil

Paint Brushes

Paper towel

Two glasses of water

If you would like to see all the art supplies I recommend, check out, “My Supply List” page. Click HERE to check it out!

Paint Colors Used:

Alizarin Crimson

Payne’s Gray

Cobalt Blue

Sage Green

Yellow Ochre

All of these colors can be found in this perfect beginner set of watercolor paints. This is the exact set I am using in the video above to create this painting. I highly recommend this product to you if you are looking for a beginner set of paints.

Step 1:

We are going to begin this painting by sketching out our Christmas truck.

I recommend sketching it out onto a seperate sheet of paper, then using transfer paper or a dark lead over the back of the picture to transfer the picture over to watercolor paper.

This tip will help preserve your watercolor paper. Too much erasing can ruin your watercolor paper.

Once your sketch is on the watercolor paper using a waterproof ink pen to little trace over your pencil sketch.

Step 2:

We are going to start painting by filling in the entire truck with Alizarin Crimson paint, leaving the windows and tires white.

Start with a light wash of red, and later on, we will come back with a second layer.

Step 3:

Grab your round brush and dip it into your Payne’s Gray paint. We are going to use this color on the windows on the tires.

Use a light wash of Payne’s Gray on the windows and the center of the tire and a thick dark wash on the outer section of the tires.

Step 4:

We are going to do two different things under this step.

First, dip your small round brush into Yellow Ochre and fill in the headlights on the car. Let this layer dry before moving on. I recommend using a heat gun to cut down on wait time.

Secondly, for this step, add a second coat of red to the base of the truck. Use a clean brush to pull away paint above the tires and the top of the truck, trunk. Pulling paint away will give a nice and natural shine to the truck.

Step 5:

Let’s add our Christmas tree to the back of our Christmas truck!

Start by dipping your small round brush into your sage green paint mixture and begin painting in zig-zag lines to create the shape of the tree.

The tree should be thicker toward the back of the trunk and it should become close to a point as the tree hangs over the end of the trunk.

Step 6:

Make sure every area of your painting is dry before beginning this step.

Apply a clean layer of water all around the truck without touching the truck or tree.

Begin to apply a light wash of paint of Payne’s gray underneath the truck with a deeper tone right underneath the tires.

Then add a light wash of cobalt blue to the sky.

This will create a light background to give our truck depth but keep the truck as the main focus.

Step 7:

Last but not least let’s add a tie to our Christmas tree.

I decided to use my water-proof ink pen to add the tie rather than using paint.

Start by drawing a circle with two small bunny ears come out of it. Then draw a curved line down to where the tree and truck meet. Add a second curved line behind the first to make it look really tied in there. And you’re done!