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A reflection can make a simple winter figure feel like a scene from a storybook. It can also make the whole painting look wrong in about two seconds if it sits in the wrong place.
Here’s my take: the reflection is the easiest part of this painting once you know it follows two rules: it sits directly below the figure, and it’s always softer than the real thing. Get those right, and even a loosely painted figure looks calm and believable.
This 9-step tutorial walks you through a figure standing on snowy ice under a pale sky, her reflection shimmering below. It’s a lovely October project, and smaller versions make thoughtful handmade holiday cards and gifts.
If you only do one thing: draw a light vertical pencil line from the figure’s feet straight down before you paint the reflection. Everything in the reflection lines up on that line, at the same width as the figure.
What You’ll Need
- Paper: 140 lb (300 gsm) cold-press cotton paper, like Arches cotton watercolor paper. Cotton handles masking fluid and repeated layers far better than student paper.
- Paint: cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a neutral gray. Any artist-grade watercolors with these colors will do.
- Brushes: rounds in sizes 2, 6 and 10 (a quality round brush for the figure) and a 1-inch flat wash brush for the sky and snow.
- Masking: masking fluid and a rubber cement eraser to lift it. Use an old brush or a silicone tool to apply it.
- Extras: white gouache, coarse salt, painter’s tape, a ceramic or plastic palette, an HB pencil and a kneadable eraser to lighten pencil lines.
Map the Painting in Four Zones
Before you sketch, think of the page as four horizontal bands. Each one gets a different treatment, and knowing that ahead of time keeps you from overworking any of them.
The figure is the only zone with sharp edges and fine detail. The sky and reflection are soft supporting players. The horizon is a thin, quiet line that separates the real world from the mirrored one.
Skin Tone Mixes
You only need burnt sienna, a blue and water for believable winter skin. Start pale and build up. Adjust with the nearest colors in your set if you use different brands.
| Area | Mix | Water |
|---|---|---|
| Light skin | Burnt sienna | Lots, a pale tea |
| Midtone | Burnt sienna + touch of cobalt | Medium, like milk |
| Warm shadow | Burnt sienna, stronger | Less, like cream |
| Cool shadow | Burnt sienna + touch of ultramarine | Less, like cream |
| Cheeks and nose | Light mix + a hint of red | Medium |
Winter light is cool, so a touch of blue in the shadow side of the face and hands reads as natural. Rosy cheeks and a pink nose tip sell the cold.
The 9 Steps
Plan on about 2 hours total, including drying time. The mask and the salt both need fully dry paper, so don’t rush those.
Step 1: Set Up Your Workspace
Tape your paper on all four sides to a board. Set out your palette with a clean puddle of each color and two jars of water (one for rinsing, one clean). Keep paper towels close for blotting.
Step 2: Sketch the Figure, Horizon and Reflection
Lightly sketch a standing figure in a winter coat, about one third of the way across the page so she isn’t dead center. Draw the horizon line at her knees or feet, depending on how much ice you want to show.
Now draw that vertical guide line from her feet straight down. Sketch the reflection upside down along it, the same width as the figure. On ice, the reflection usually looks a bit shorter or breaks up before it ends, so keep it loose. If you’d like help with the figure itself, my portrait drawing tips cover proportions.
Step 3: Mask the Highlights
Use masking fluid to protect small whites: the light catching her hat and shoulders, snowflakes on her coat and a few bright streaks on the ice. Let it dry completely, about 15 to 20 minutes, until it’s no longer tacky.
Step 4: Paint the Sky and Snow
Wet the sky with clean water. Drop in pale cobalt at the top and let it fade toward the horizon. Work quickly so the color blends without hard lines.
For the snowy ground and ice, use a very pale mix of ultramarine and gray, leaving plenty of white paper. Let everything dry, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 5: Paint the Figure
Start with the lightest skin mix on the face and hands. While it’s still damp, drop a little cheek color in. Once dry, add the cool shadow mix to the side of the face away from the light.
Paint the coat in one confident color (a deep blue, plum or red looks gorgeous against snow). Leave a thin edge of white paper where light hits the shoulders. Keep the figure’s edges crisp; she’s the star.
Step 6: Paint the Reflection
Use the same colors you used on the figure, but thinned with more water. Paint the reflection directly below her along your guide line. While it’s still damp, soften the edges with a clean, damp brush.
Then add a few horizontal strokes of light gray across the reflection to suggest the surface of the ice. These breaks make it read as ice instead of a mirror.
Step 7: Add Salt Texture
While the snow areas are still damp (a satin sheen, not glossy), sprinkle a little coarse salt. It pulls pigment into tiny starbursts that look like frost and drifting snow. Brush it off once the paper is bone dry.
Step 8: Refine the Details
Look at the whole painting from a few feet away. Darken the folds of the coat, the shadow under the hat brim and the point where her boots meet the ice. Add a thin line of distant trees along the horizon in pale gray-blue.
Resist adding detail to the reflection. Detail belongs to the figure.
Step 9: Remove the Mask and Add Snowfall
When everything is completely dry, rub the masking fluid off gently with the rubber cement eraser. Soften any too-harsh white edges with a damp brush.
Finish with falling snow: dots of white gouache with the tip of a small brush, plus a light flick from an old toothbrush if you like. Peel the tape slowly at a low angle.
Reflection Rules: Do This, Not That
- place it directly below
- keep the same width
- use thinner paint
- soften edges
- add horizontal breaks
- angle it sideways
- make it brighter
- copy every detail
- use hard outlines
- paint it before the figure
On ice, the reflection is usually a little darker and duller than the figure, and it’s broken up by the texture of the surface. On still water it would be clearer, but winter ice is never a perfect mirror.
Common Mistakes and Fixes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Reflection looks off | Not lined up below the feet | Use a vertical guide line |
| Face looks muddy | Too many layers mixed wet | Let each layer dry first |
| Masking fluid tore paper | Removed while damp, or student paper | Wait until fully dry, use cotton |
| Figure looks flat | No cool shadow side | Add the cool shadow mix |
| Snow looks gray | Overworked the white areas | Leave more bare paper |
Make It Yours
- Couple on the ice: two figures side by side, each with their own reflection.
- Skater: add a scarf in motion and a long, curved scratch line across the ice.
- Golden hour: warm peach sky, lavender snow shadows and a glowing rim of light on the figure.
- Card size: paint a 5 by 7 inch version with a single small figure and lots of white space.
- Add a friend: a dog walking beside her, reflection and all.
Investment Pieces Worth It
This painting rewards good paper and clean pigments more than any other upgrade. If winter scenes become your thing, these are worth a look.
Hand-poured professional pans. The Daniel Smith 24 hand-poured half pans (around $128) include clean blues and earth tones that mix lovely skin and shadow colors without going muddy. Over two years of weekly paintings, that’s about $1.25 a session. Worth it once you’re painting regularly. Skip it if you’ve only tried watercolor a few times.
A premium set for glowing color. The Schmincke Horadam 24 half-pan metal box (around $157) is known for intense, luminous pigments. Worth it if you love layered, jewel-like color. Skip it if you prefer a softer, loose style, where a good student set does fine.
True-color lighting. Skin tones are the first thing to go wrong under yellow lamps. The Daylight Artist Studio Lamp (around $275) has a 95+ CRI and up to 6,000 lux, so your mixes look the same in daylight as on the wall. Worth it if you paint after dark. Skip it if you paint by a bright window during the day.
Want a simpler winter scene first? My snowy landscape watercolor tutorial covers the same blue shadows and salt texture without a figure.
The Takeaway
A winter reflective portrait comes together when the figure is crisp, the reflection is soft and directly below her, and the snow stays mostly white paper. Mask early, let each layer dry, and save your detail for the figure.
Who’s standing on your ice: a skater, a couple or someone with her dog? Tell me in the comments. And save this to your winter painting board for holiday card season.
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