Are you struggling to get started or can’t get the expected output from your paintings? It is OKAY! We all get stuck somewhere when we start doing or learning something new. And we are doing watercolor painting.
Watercolor paintings are really easy and fun to make if you learn the right technique and use right tools. So here are the basic watercolor supplies and techniques to know before starting.
Right Supplies make your work easy
If you are learning to watercolor painting by yourself, you can make your learning to progress a lot easier if you have the right supplies. Lot of us don’t know about watercolor supplies if we have never been in a class, at least I didn’t know. I used to paint on normal A4 size print paper and sketchbook paper when I was a kid and the more water I used the more the paper got torn because that paper is not right for to watercolor painting. So what should you use instead?
Watercolor Paper
Watercolor paper are specially designed for watercolor paintings. They can absorb much more water than the usual paper.
Watercolor paper comes as per their weight which measured as gram per square meter(gsm) or pound per ream(lb). The bigger the gsm is, the better the quality of paper will be. As a beginner and only for learning, I would recommend you to start from lesser gsm watercolor papers since you don’t ruin the expensive artist standard paper only for practicing.
Watercolor Paints
Watercolor paints are transparent and have more pigment than the other type of colors. Choose a good quality watercolor paint set even if you are just learning. There are many student pocket friendly watercolor paints in the market so you can easily get one for you to start with.
Watercolor Brush
Watercolor brush are different from other painting brushes. Using the right watercolor brushes will make your work easy.
There are various types of brushes used in watercolor paintings but let’s just start with some basic ones.
- Round brush: Round brushes are the main type of brushes which are used in watercolor paintings. They have medium to long size bristles depending on the size of the brush, round but super sharp tip and can contain log of water in their bristles. As I said they come in different sizes, you can have 2-3 size from small to medium to start with.
- Mop Brush: Mop brushes are larger which is used to spread water on large areas of the paper. They have long and wide bristles. You can have 1 mop brush will be more than enough to start with.
As I said their are a lot more brushes in market for different techniques in watercolor paintings but as a beginner and to not burn out your pocket, these two types will be sufficient.
- Other Types of Brushes: Flat brush, Angled flat brush, dagger/sword brush, liner brush.
Basic Techniques You Must Know
So I won’t wast your time here. Let’s start with the techniques
The More Water the Better
The very basic thing you should know in to watercolor painting is make sure your color is as thin as possible. Add water and make it thinner to create more natural and flawless look with your paints. Start from lighter shades and keep adding more colors and layer it.
Wet-on-Wet Technique
Wet-on-Wet technique is very useful if you are trying to create a flawless and texture free look in your painting.
So basically here what you do is, wet the area of the paper with clean water you want to give that look to. Remember, the watercolor pigments will automatically spread all over the wet surface and it creates that flawless look, so be careful where you want your color to be spread over. Be fast in put all your color on the wet surface before it dries. If the paper dries before you finish putting all the desired colors, wait for it to completely dry and do the rest after wetting the area with clean water again. Don’t be too harsh while wetting the paper as it can damage the paper.
Wet-on-Dry Technique
As the name suggest, Wet-on-dry technique is used you want to create textured look and edges. It is basically you paint with wet color over a dry area of paper. It is good for getting edges around the area you are painting.
Edges and Layers
You can use Wet-on-Wet technique to get fine edges and layering different colors on top of the other. The trick here is to wet the area you want to create the very fine edges around only, not outside that. The watercolor pigments only spread until the area which is wet so it won’t spread outside that line.
Do the same thing for different shapes and sizes on top of the last layer of paint to create multiple layers effect. But before that, make sure the last layer of paint is completely dry.
Conclusion
So those were the basic watercolor supplies and techniques to start your to watercolor painting journey with. I hope you found it helpful. You can give your feedback or suggest for more content in comment section below. THANKYOU!
