Hello magical friends! Today I'm sharing a behind the scenes peek at the making of the newest addition to the Magical Collection - Scary Harry Halloween! Sorry in advance for the watermarking. Gotta make sure no one gets too swipey! ;) 

The painting that started it all! Who would've thought a little pumpkin could spark a whole new set of planner things, but that's just how it works sometimes. A while back, while bored one evening, I thought to myself, "Dani, you haven't painted in a while. Why don't you do that?". So, of course, with fall (and Halloween!!!) being right around the corner, I thought I'd try my hand at a pumpkin. You can see the test pumpkin and the final one above it. I liked how it turned out, and at this point the inspiration of something spooky was starting to hit, so I decided to try painting a cauldron. It turned out well, too! 

Naturally, the next spooky thing to pop into my head was a witch's hat. And, you guys, this is where Scary Harry Halloween started to take off. My favorite witch is Professor McGonagall because she's so tough on the outside, but deep down, she just really loves everyone and wants to protect everyone. She's also very sassy and has the best comeback lines. She's the best. So what better witch's hat to paint than hers? Once I realized that I could actually probably paint a bunch more things for another Harry kit, I went for it. And you all love the Harry things, so why not indulge everyone? 

As I thought more about the films, the first Halloween the kids spend at Hogwarts really stood out to me as extra Halloween-y. Especially the TROLL! In the dungeon! But there was no way I could paint a troll, my skills just aren't good enough. But I loved the idea of all the candy and goodies on the tables in the great hall during that first Halloween feast, so I went with that instead. Besides, Halloween isn't Halloween without candy. And spider lollipops, apparently.

Of course, there are lots more paintings that went into this kit, but I think the dementor is among my favorites. I've never painted something like it, but I love how it turned out! Especially those creepy fingers! *shiver* I personally find the dementors the among the scariest things in the whole HP universe so I felt they should definitely be included in a Scary Harry Halloween set. 

You may have noticed that all my paintings seem rather large. That's because they are! I find that the bigger the image I'm working on, the more detail I can put into it, so that's what I like to do. Once the final images get moved over to the computer, it's easy to size them down while keeping the details intact. 

As for the actual painting process, I typically sketch out my design using Inktense Watercolor Pencils, then fill in and add details with the Sakura Koi Sketchbox watercolors. I like the saturation I can achieve using these two together. I use this waterbrush set I got off Amazon because they have a nice variety of brush heads, work well, and aren't messy. Also the water seems to last forever in them, so less filling up equals a happier and more productive me. :D 

I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at the Scary Harry Halloween set! Make sure to pick up the collection here to celebrate your holiday. And tag me @popfizzpaper on Instagram when you use them, I would LOVE to see!