6 Essential Watercolor Techniques Every Beginner Should Know

A shorthand of the most important concepts when learning how to watercolor

Hi! Welcome back to this weeks post of my top 6 essential watercolor techniques.

This post came while I was teaching a private watercolor class and found myself repeating some of the foundational concepts in watercolor.

Not many things in life have hard and fast rules that can always be called upon when the next step is in question. Of course there are nuances to the below suggestions in watercolor too. But if I had to pick, these are the things I come back to over and over again.

Value is King

Many beginners find it easiest to paint in very light values and are scared to apply a lot of paint to the page to get those deep rich values. Or, they apply a ton of paint and hardly rely on water (I’m looking at you oil and acrylic painters :)

Using the full value range establishes heirarchy and interest to your work.

Small areas that have high contrast (a sharp distinction of light and dark) creates punctuation marks in any composition that pull the viewer in, and help define the subject.

This is a serene and happy landscape to practice contrast from start to finish.

Spring Challenge Day 5

Paint Light to Dark

Did you know that different watercolor paints have different staining levels. Some, like prussian blue or payne’s grey, attach onto the cotton paper.

Its really hard to “erase” watercolor. There are ways! But once a very dark value in a very staining color is on there, its on there.

Most teachers would suggest painting light to dark, and I would agree. Although, I am also impulsive and impatient so, although I always paint light to dark, sometimes I drop in pigment to my darkest areas when the first layer is still wet.

This is betta fish wet-on-wet watercolor tutorial is the perfect way to practice this technique while keeping a loose and flowy style.

Spring Watercolor Challenge: Day 3

Reserve the Whites

Gosh, is this the most important one? I feel like it is, but they’re all in my top.

Watercolorists don’t use white paint to achieve a lighter value. Most traditionalists dont use white paint at all… although for some reason it comes in almost every pre-mixed set. Recently I’ve been experimenting with white for fun. It is fun, but is more like mixing a different color ~ not a lighter value.

Watercolorists use the white of the page to achieve their lightest value. Leaving little bits of the white page peaking through in unexpected moments loosens up your style. It also completes the value gradient… see above.

This egret watercolor tutorial is a MUST for practicing reserving the whites.

Day 3 | Winter Watercolor Challenge

Paint General to Specific

Start with color blocking in large shapes and then step up the value over time to include more detail.

I like to think of my first layers of color like I’m looking at my subject without my glasses on. Everything is a little fuzzy, everything kinda blends together.

And then layer by layer you’re correcting your prescription. Until you get to the final layer where you just need a few magical detail marks that tie everything together.

Try this landscape if you’d like to practice this technique ~ perfect for beginners.

Paint a Sunlit Autumn Landscape With Jaime

Mix complimentary colors will create rich darks

My go to is red and green… Permanent Sap Green and Scarlet Lake for Winsor & Newton or in Case For Making i love French Vermilion with CFM Olive.

I’ve seen some friends use black. It’s not my favorite but to each their own. Try these combos

• Red and Green

• Blue and Orange

• Yellow and Purple (Violet)

Or this is for mixing tertiary colors

• Yellow-Orange and Blue-Purple

• Red-Orange and Blue-Green

• Red-Purple and Yellow-Green
  

It’s F✨cking Hard…

so give yourself grace and dont’t forget to PLAY!

Taking my paints out to make something abstract or based on an idea instead of a vision of a finished piece, is really hard for me. For that reason I try and play with an unstructured piece or journal page at least once a month.

If you need some inspiration ~ try this intuitive watercolor tutorial based on memory :)

Spring Watercolor Challenge: Day 4

That’s all for now! Let me know if i missed anything. And please share! Its an easy and impactful way to support this work. Talk soon!