Was it just me, or was watercolor YouTube absolutely popping off in 2017-2018? I remember being hooked on watercolor reviews and speed-paints. While I walked down memory lane, here are a few watercolor youtubers who were prominent on YouTube and what they are up to today.
Jacquelin De Leon
She’s the queen of the era! I remember frequently tuning in on her speed-paints – her Kintsugi painting had me at a chokehold for sure! She also posted art product reviews, which I really liked watching back then. Her most popular videos, the ones with hundreds of thousands of views, were all from 8-9 years ago (supporting my thesis that this was the watercolor YouTube renaissance.)
I checked back on her YouTube, and interestingly she was pretty consistent with her YouTube videos up until 6 months ago. She’s still popping off on Instagram though, posting at least once a week. It’s cool how her art is still very identifiable. Many of her artwork still feature a female protagonist with bold, inked lines, looking chic and effortlessly cool. But she’s also branched out into doing mural work with poppy colors and more simple line-work. In fact, her Instagram profile describes herself as a “muralist & comic illustrator” showing where she places herself in the niche. According to her Instagram, she’s frequently involved in the art community, displaying her art at galleries and art markets.
Teoh Yi Chie
In my opinion, he was (and still is) the king of art product reviews. The bulk of his popular videos were from his product reviews. And he did a LOT of them. If you check out his blog, you can see the long list of all the products he reviewed – ranging from digital art supplies to watercolor brushes. He mainly specialized in watercolor as an urban sketcher. I really liked watching his watercolor review videos – I distinctively remember watching his St Petersburg’s White Night’s watercolor review. Interestingly, the videos that got the most views were his reviews on digital art products, like the Wacom Intuos and various styluses. I still include him in this list because his main art media was watercolor.
His reviews were always relaxing and consistently high quality. His most popular videos, like Jacqueline De Leon, are from 5-9 years ago. I noticed that his recent YouTube videos lean toward more book reviews and travelogues. He also launched a Patreon and started urban sketching courses on Skillshare and Gumroad. He still posts videos at least once a week and posts blog reviews every few days. He’s been at it for a long time (like a decade) but he’s still going strong. His consistency allows him to have those most YouTube videos total out of all of the artists on this list – boasting at over 1,900 videos.
Sara Tepes
Last but not least! Her most popular video’s were from 7-9 years ago but she’s still going strong on YouTube and Instagram. Back in those days, and even now, the range of her media was not just limited to watercolor. She did a lot of digital art and even dabbled in oil paints. Her content focused more on sharing advice for artists. I remember finding her “How I Paint Skintones” video especially helpful back then. In one of her videos, she recommended a pack of brushes from Amazon which I still use to this day.
She doesn’t post YouTube videos nearly as often, now once maybe every few months. She posts regularly on Instagram and has turned her attention to hosting art retreats to different countries. She hosted one to Japan and is hosting retreat in Korea coming soon. That’s honestly a creative idea and I haven’t really heard of other artist influencers doing the same. She released a book called “Digital Painting made simple” which teaches beginner artists on how to get started using a digital toolkit. Looking at Sara’s evolution as an influencer and an artists, I see that she’s been receptive to artists trends and strategically utilizing that. She is still a successful artists thanks to her recognizable style and business acumen.
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Amazon Links:
Digital Painting Made Simple by Sara Tepes
Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend illustrated by Jaqueline de Leon
