ooo thank you for asking, Ransom !! The first thing I did for this was to apply a light wash to the illo board, then use a big ol brush to apply watercolor (looks like it was yellow, orange and poppy red), then immediately (or at least before the water dried..I know I didn't wait very long!) sprinkle some salt on the wet paint! :D That's where the lil "bursts" are on the picture. They look kind of like sparkles? And I like their texture a lot sometimes!