Watercolor Painting Tips for Beginners

How do you start watercolor for beginners?

Many people avoid watercolor painting because they fear it will be too difficult. Painting with watercolors can be tricky at first, but getting started is easy and inexpensive - all you need is paint, water, and a brush. Whether you choose to use watercolor as your primary art medium or as a study for an oil or acrylic painting, the rewards of this somewhat unpredictable medium are great. Become a competent watercolorist by learning the materials, techniques, and tips that even accomplished artists use.

Paints and brushes

Watercolor paint comes in three different forms: liquid, tube, and tray. You can start with any type, but pot paint sets are compact, portable, and offer a variety of colors. All the paints you need are packed in one set, so you won't have to buy your paint color by color.

Watercolor brushes typically have long, soft bristles that are specially designed to work with a watery medium. Brushes made from natural fibers, such as saber or squirrel, are the best, but they are rare and expensive. There are high-quality soft synthetic brushes that are much less expensive. Brushes come in many sizes and shapes, but you only need one or two large flat brushes to apply a wash and several different sized round brushes for details. For example, a round n. 12, a round No. 10, a round No. 6 and a few flat 1-inch brushes would suffice.

Before investing in expensive, high-quality brushes, try a less expensive student set to experiment with shape and size, and use a soft brush to paint the house and apply a wash. Some of the brush bristles may fall off and onto your painting, but if you're just experimenting, you might not care. If you want to try a variety of brushes and avoid buying them one by one, buy a set.

Watercolor paper

You will need to invest in watercolor paper. The heavier the paper, the thicker it is. For example, 300-pound paper is the thickest, it's like cardboard, and it can absorb a lot of water without warping. The most common paper weighs 140 pounds, but you may need to stretch it out before use. Avoid 90-pound paper, which is too thin for anything other than experimentation and practice. You can buy paper in individual sheets, in a pad, or in a pad, which provides a hard surface and keeps the paper taut until the paint is dry.

Paint mixing

Novice artists are often stingy with how much paint they mix - they use just a little bit at a time and then have to mix more. This can be frustrating, especially when trying to wash off the paint surface. Instead, mix more color than necessary to avoid having to repeatedly remix.

Mix only two colors at a time: Combining too many colors can result in a muddy brown mess. Understanding the color wheel and color mixing is also important. You can also layer colors on the paint surface like an enamel by layering washes (wet on dry) or adding another color to an already wet surface (wet on wet).

It's hard to tell the exact color of paint just by looking at it on your palette because it will dry more slightly on paper than it appears when wet. Have an extra sheet of paper handy to test your colors before applying to your painting so you know you have the color you want.

Bring water

Inexperienced painters often choose a small container of water to clean their brushes between colors. They quickly discover that the water turns dark and cloudy, blurring its colors and causing all the paint to turn brown. The best way to keep the colors pure is to keep the water clean, and the water stays clean longer if you use a large container. Some professional artists use two large containers, one for cleaning brushes and one for wet brushes before applying color.

Thoroughly clean your brushes under running water and a little soap every time you finish a painting session, and pat them dry with a paper towel or cloth. Change the shape of the tips with your fingers and store them upright on their handles so that the brushes do not become flared or damaged.

Plan your blanks

With watercolor, you paint from light to dark, leaving the white of the paper as your brightest lights. Therefore, you must have a prior idea of ​​the location of these areas in order to be able to paint around them. You can avoid them carefully or you can paint with masking fluid over these areas to protect them. The masking liquid dries into a rubbery material that you can easily clean with your finger. You can also use painter's or artist's tape to mask the areas you want to leave white.

Keep light

The beauty of watercolor is its transparency and luminosity. Applied correctly, watercolor shows the complexity of color by revealing layers of transparent color. Allows light to pass through layers of paint and reflect off the paper. So use a light touch. For more paint control but less transparency, use less water on your brush; for greater transparency, use more water. Try to find the right balance for you.

Accept your mistakes

Many believe that watercolor mistakes cannot be corrected. It's false. There are many ways to correct mistakes: you can erase the watercolor with a damp cloth, a sponge, a clean damp brush, or even a "magic" cleaning eraser. You can drastically change an area of ​​your paint by applying another wash, or you can wash the entire paint under running water and start over. Watercolor can be achieved even years after finishing your painting. So, feel free to experiment; you can always erase all errors.

Enjoy The Video Tutorial about Watercolor Painting Techniques Do's & Don'ts for Beginners!