The best way to see how this works is to practice like this:
How to Paint With Watercolor: A Beginner’s Guide to Watercolor Basics
If you’ve been wondering how to paint with watercolor because you’re an absolute beginner, this guide will help you start using watercolor and set the grounds for you to learn wonderful things you can do with this medium.
I know how watercolor can seem terrifying and that’s why I’m sharing all the watercolor basics you need to start using it today.
I mostly use my art journals to paint with watercolor, but the supplies and techniques you’ll find in this post can serve you in any other case (provided that you use good paper, but more about that later in the post).
Disclaimer: Some links in this post may be affiliate links. This means that if you purchase something through that link, I get a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
This post covers
What is watercolor?
Watercolor paint is an amazing translucent medium used with water, and in some cases, a lot of water.
It’s an art medium with pigment in it and it’s water-soluble. This means that when you add water to this pigment, you can spread the pigment with a brush.
As opposed to acrylic paint, watercolors are lighter, translucent, and I would say, more gentle than acrylics. And so soft-looking!
However, they can be intimidating. This mostly happens if you paint with watercolors and don’t add enough water, or you don’t spread the pigment enough with your brush, or you add too much water and then you can’t control it.
Remember, watercolors are not supposed to look like acrylics, which are opaque and not transparent. On the contrary, watercolor paints should have the effect of translucency and softness.
Another thing that’s different from acrylic paint is that watercolors react with water even after they’re dry.
Don’t worry, you can still paint in layers, but keep in mind that if you use too many strokes over one area, you’ll lift the paint from the previous layer.
This comes in handy when you intentionally want to lift paint from certain areas, but more about his technique later in the post.
ROCK YOUR ART JOURNAL PAGES EVEN IF
THE BLANK PAGE TERRIFIES YOU
Hit the orange button to join my free Art Journal Starter Course and start making art without staring at the blank page and without the fear of ruining everything. (Spoiler alert: you can’t ruin anything in art journaling).
What kind of paper do you need for watercolor?
If you’ve been disappointed with your watercolor paintings, no matter how hard you try to make them lovely, the odds are you’re not using the right paper.
Here’s the thing. Watercolor just looks bad on printer paper or any other plain thin paper. But when you use watercolor paper, everything changes. And I mean, everything!
It took me quite some time until I realized that the only reason my paintings were awful was because of the paper. Since then, I’ve rarely painted with watercolor on thin paper. The joy of seeing how watercolor behaves on watercolor paper is just worth it.
So, before you venture further with watercolor, get some watercolor paper and you’ll see how things will change for you.
I’m Jenna Rainey.
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5/19/2021
Looking for a complete, step-by-step watercolor video course for beginners? You’ve come to the right place. I used to teach popular in-person watercolor workshops for over 8 years. And now, I’m taking you through one of those classes in this free video! You’ll learn everything from supplies to color theory, basic shapes and strokes, brush techniques, and compound strokes. Then, the grand finale will be a full composition floral wreath to tie it all together. For the full YouTube playlist of all the chapters broken down into individual videos, go here. Let’s dive in!
Music license acquired from Artlist
Beginner Guide to Watercolor Contents
00:00 – What this video covers and an FYI
SUPPLIES
00:50 – Let’s talk supplies!
01:39 – Explaining my palette (extra colors than what’s listed?)
02:38 – Colors I use, how I organize them, pro vs. student levels
10:11 – Brushes I use: brand, sizes, quality.
11:21 – How these brushes are made (HIGH quality!)
13:36 – What I use different brushes for.
14:37 – Talking paper.
14:49 – Cold press or hot press?
16:24 – Cotton? GSM? Block vs. Pad?
18:38 – Paper brands: Legion vs. Arches vs. Fabriano
19:25 – Other necessary supplies…
COLOR THEORY
20:08 – Now for color theory.
21:48 – Important lesson from my piano teacher.
23:04 – What to learn from color wheel.
25:14 – Color relationships and why this matters.
29:17 – Analogous colors.
31:58 – Warm colors and cool colors.
34:17 – Get your brushes out as we talk VALUE scales!
37:42 – Practicing and chatting HUE scales.
TECHNIQUES
40:05 – Two techniques to must know: WOW and WOD
41:29 – Three ways to use Wet-on-Wet
48:26 – Using Wet-on-Dry
49:23 – Brush technique practice with circle painting.
51:02 – How you hold your brush changes outcome.
52:23 – Circle painting begins!
55:24 – Tip for shaky hands!
01:00:02 – Find the hold that feels right!
01:01:34 – Focusing on painting quickly.
COMPOUND STROKES: LEAVES
01:02:22 – COMPOUND strokes.
01:03:24 – Painting leaves with compound strokes.
01:08:41 – If you’re struggling, try longer leaves…
01:10:06 – Putting leaves on a branch.
01:13:38 – What to do with puddles at ends of leaves.
01:15:44 – Muscle memory and wonky stems.
FLOWERS
01:18:47 – Painting side-facing basic flower.
01:20:56 – Adding stem to the flower.
01:22:50 – THIS makes it look like a flower.
01:23:37 – Basic open flower.
01:26:06 – Biggest mistake when people paint flowers.
FLORAL WREATH COMPOSITION
01:27:46 – Putting everything together: full floral wreath
01:29:47 – Composition lesson: balance.
01:31:45 – Sketch before?
01:38:19 – Step back and look…
01:39:28 – Take note as you paint.
01:42:43 – These are easy and help with balance…
01:45:32 – How I am able to paint quickly…
01:46:57 – Final (important!) encouragements.
01:49:01 – Final details to the wreath.
01:49:53 – Further resources to continue learning.
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