Van Gogh had it right—the airy and atmospheric qualities of watercolor set it apart from all other painting media. Made up of pigment suspended in a binder of gum arabic, watercolor is a fluid medium that requires quite a bit of practice to master. (And even once you’ve learned to control the moisture, be open for a bit of spontaneity!) However, if you devote enough time to this medium, you’ll understand why it is praised for its ability to quickly capture an essence, suggesting form and color with just a few brushstrokes.
Watercolor paints come in a few forms, so experiment to find the kind that suits you best. Collapsible metal tubes are the most common form, which release moist, goopy paint. Mix a small pea-sized amount of this with water to create a wash. Dry pans (small blocks of dry pigment) and semi-moist pots are other forms of watercolor. To use these, simply stroke over the pigment with a wet brush. Pans and pots are considered more convenient for painting on location because they are less watery and often come in closeable palettes.
Unlike other painting media, watercolor relies on the white of the paper to tint the layers of color above it. Because of this, artists lighten watercolor washes by adding water—not by adding white paint. To maintain the luminous quality of your watercolors, minimize the layers of paint you apply so the white of the paper isn’t dulled by too much pigment.
Here’s what you’ll need: set of watercolor paints, two jars of water, set of brushes, mixing palette (with wells), paper towels, watercolor paper, masking tape, drawing or painting board, and a sketching pencil.
There are many schools of thought that suggest using only limited color palettes and mixing all other colors, but it will save time if you already have the colors you need. It is always better to have really good quality paint, the best you can afford. The less expensive student brands are fine for beginners.
A plastic palette with at least a few wells will work, but heavier plastic will last longer and survive daily wear and tear. You’ll want enough smaller wells to hold the colors you are going to use the most. For paintings with large areas of color, your palette will also need mixing areas big enough to hold large amounts of paint. It’s even possible to use a white dinner plate for mixing colors.
To stretch watercolor paper the old-fashioned way, you’ll need a piece of plywood, a light duty staple gun, and a pair of beveled pliers. You may also want to use a lamp (not fluorescent) or hair dryer to speed the drying process.
Step 1 Begin by soaking the paper in tepid water in a large tray for about 10 minutes. To remove the paper, grab it by one corner and hold it up to let the excess water drain.
Step 2 Place the paper on the plywood and blot with paper towels. Gently pull the paper diagonally across the long sides and place two staples near the center on the outer edge of each short side.
Step 3 Grab one corner and pull diagonally. Hold the paper in place and put one staple on each side of the corner. Repeat for the other three corners.
Step 4 Continue stapling along the outer edges until you’ve placed about eight staples per 14” side.
Step 5 Gently blot more water out of the paper and place somewhere to dry for about 24 hours before painting. Once your finished painting is dry, gently remove the staples with your pliers. Trim off the stapled edges with a paper cutter.
Here are some ways you can apply and manipulate watercolor paint.
Flat Wash For this basic technique, cover your paper with horizontal bands of even color, starting at the top and working your way down.
Graduated Wash Load your brush and apply overlapping strokes, adding water with each consecutive stroke. The color will gradually thin out as you continue.
Soft and Hard Lines For a hard line, paint a dry stroke on dry paper. Any line can be softened by blending the edge with clear water before it dries. This is useful for areas where detail is not needed.
Spattering Hold a loaded brush over your paper and lightly tap the brush with your finger. This can also be done with clear water over a still-wet color. (Practice this technique before applying it to a painting.)
Negative Painting Negative painting involves painting around the desired shape rather than painting the shape itself. Instead of painting a leaf, paint the area around the leaf.
Salt Using salt with watercolor can create sparkly effects or a mottled texture. Simply sprinkle salt over a freshly wet wash. When dry, gently rub off the salt.
Masking Fluid Masking fluid is liquid latex that allows you to protect areas that you want to remain white in an otherwise dark picture. Paint the area you want with the masking and let it dry. To remove it, rub it off with your fingers. Since it can be difficult to remove from brushes, use an old brush or a rubber-tipped brush for thin lines.
Color Glazing Rather than mixing each color, it’s possible to layer transparent colors to create a new color. This technique, called “glazing,” adds a distinct glow and depth to your painting because the color is mixed optically on the paper (B) rather than in the palette (A). Let each layer dry before adding another color. Also, it’s important not to use a brush that’s too wet, or you may disturb the previous layers. In addition to color mixing, you can darken areas that stand out too much by glazing over them. Any complementary color glazed over another (C) will make the color darker. You can do the same using a cool color (blues, greens, and purples) over a warm color (reds, oranges, and yellows) or vice versa.
Painting with transparent watercolors is a unique and enjoyable experience because of the way the colors can be mixed. Other types of paint (especially oil) are usually mixed on a separate palette and then applied to the canvas. They are also mixed additively; in other words, white pigment is added to lighten the colors. In contrast, transparent watercolor relies on the white of the paper and the translucency of the pigment to communicate light and brightness. A well-painted watercolor seems to glow with an inner illumination that no other medium can capture.
The best way to make your paintings vibrant and full of energy is to mix most of your colors on the paper while you are painting the picture. Allowing the colors to mix together on the paper, with the help of gravity, can create dynamic results. It is accidental to a certain degree, but if your values and composition are under control, these unexpected color areas will be very exciting and successful.
This method involves applying different washes of color on dry watercolor paper and allowing the colors to intermingle, creating interesting edges and blends.
Mixing in the Palette vs. Mixing Wet on Dry To experience the difference between mixing in the palette and mixing on the paper, create two purple shadow samples. Mix ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson in your palette until you get a rich purple; then paint a swatch on dry watercolor paper (near right). Next paint a swatch of ultramarine blue on dry watercolor paper. While this is still wet, add alizarin crimson to the lower part of the blue wash, and watch the colors connect and blend (far right). Compare the two swatches. The second one (far right) is more exciting. It uses the same paints but has the added energy of the colors mixing and moving on the paper. Use this mix to create dynamic shadows.
Mixing a Tree Color Next create a tree color. First mix green in your palette using phthalo blue and new gamboge, and paint a swatch on your paper (near right). Now create a second swatch using a wash of phthalo blue; then quickly add burnt sienna to the bottom of this swatch. While this is still wet, add new gamboge to the top of the swatch. Watch these three colors combine to make a beautiful tree color that is full of depth (far right).
A variegated wash differs from the wet-on-dry technique in that wet washes of color are applied to wet paper instead of dry paper. The results are similar, but using wet paper creates a smoother blend of color. Using clear water, stroke over the area you want to paint and let it begin to dry. When it is just damp, add washes of color and watch them mix, tilting your paper slightly to encourage the process.
Applying a Variegated Wash After applying clear water to your paper, stroke on a wash of ultramarine blue (left). Immediately add some alizarin crimson to the wash (center), and then tilt to blend the colors further (right). Compare this with your wet-on-dry purple shadow to see the subtle differences caused by the initial wash of water on the paper.
This technique is like the variegated wash, but the paper must be thoroughly soaked with water before you apply any color. The saturated paper allows the color to spread quickly, easily, and softly across the paper. The delicate, feathery blends created by this technique are perfect for painting skies. Begin by generously stroking clear water over the area you want to paint, and wait for it to soak in. When the surface takes on a matte sheen, apply another layer of water. When the paper again takes on a matte sheen, apply washes of color and watch the colors spread.
Painting Skies Wet into Wet Loosely wet the area you want to paint. After the water soaks in, follow up with another layer of water and wait again for the matte sheen. Then apply ultramarine blue to your paper, both to the wet and dry areas of the paper. Now add a different blue, such as cobalt or cerulean, and leave some paper areas white (left). Now add some raw sienna (center) and a touch of alizarin crimson (right). The wet areas of the paper will yield smooth, blended, light washes, while the dry areas will allow for a darker, hard-edged expression of paint.
Creating a Glaze To create a glazed wash, paint a layer of ultramarine blue on your paper (far left). Your paper can either be wet or dry. After this wash dries, apply a wash of alizarin crimson over it (near left). The subtly mottled purple that results is made up of individual glazes of transparent color.
Glazing is a traditional watercolor technique that involves two or more washes of color applied in layers to create a luminous, atmospheric effect. Glazing unifies the painting by providing an overall underpainting (or background wash) of consistent color.
This technique involves adding pure, intense color to a more diluted wash that has just been applied. The moisture in the wash will grab the new color and pull it in, creating irregular edges and shapes of blended color. This is one of the most fun and exciting techniques to watch—anything can happen!
Creating a Charged-in Tree Color First apply a wash of phthalo blue (left); then load your brush with pure burnt sienna and apply it to the bottom of the swatch (center). Follow up with pure new gamboge on the opposite side, and watch the pigments react on the paper (right). Remember that pigments interact differently, so test this out using several color combinations.
Watercolor pencil is very versatile, allowing you to create everything from soft, even blends to rough textures and intricate patterns. There are four basic approaches to using watercolor pencil. The first is to apply it as you would regular colored pencil and then blend the colors with a paintbrush and water. Another method is to create a “palette” by applying the pigment to a piece of scratch paper and then scrubbing a wet brush over it to pick up the color. You can also break off the tip of a sharp pencil and place it in a small amount of water to create a pool of color. Or you can dip a pencil in water until the pigment softens, rub it over the bristles of a brush, and apply the color to the support. Below are a number of ways to make the most out of your watercolor pencils.
When you choose a subject to render in watercolor pencil, you’ll also need to determine the weight, direction, and intensity of the strokes you’ll use to make the most accurate representation. Try making strokes in different directions, varying the pressure, and alternately using the point and side of your pencil. Then go a step further by blending the pigment with a damp brush—your strokes will still be apparent but softened and more diffuse.
Left Diagonal Stroke You can fill in large areas with left-slanting diagonal strokes. Here they were blended in the middle with a wet flat brush.
Right Diagonal Stroke This is the same example as at left but with right-leaning strokes. You’ll get better coverage with this stroke if you’re right-handed.
Vertical Stroke This stroke can give you more even coverage, but it can be tedious. Be sure not to slant your strokes —your hand may get tired!
Overlapping Strokes You can mix colors by overlapping two hues and blending them with water. Here right diagonal strokes of green were layered over vertical strokes of blue.
Circular Strokes Straight lines aren’t the only way to fill in color. On the left above, color was applied in tiny, overlapping circles. On the right, larger circles created more texture.
Bundling To create interesting texture or patterns, “bundle” small groups of linear strokes together. Note that the closer together the lines are, the more intense the resulting color.
Hatching Hatches are parallel lines used to suggest texture, create form, and build up color. Overlapped lines in opposite directions are crosshatches.
Pointillism You can also apply color with small dots made with the pencil point (called “pointillism”). The tighter the dots are, the deeper the hue.
Stippling Although stippling is often thought of as a brush technique, you can also stipple with a pencil;. use small dots and dashes to color small areas.
The amount of pressure you use on the pencil determines the intensity of color you produce. The more pressure you apply, the more intense the color will be. Please note that very firm pressure is not generally recommended for water-soluble pencils, as the pigment tends to clump if applied too heavily.
Using pressure Here you can see the difference between light, medium, and heavy pressure, as well as a gradated example—varying the pressure from left to right. The bottom half of each example has been brushed with water.
Working with watercolor pencil gives you a unique opportunity to mix and blend colored pencil pigments—you don’t need to restrict yourself to overlapping layers and layers of color, as water can mix the hues. Adding water also allows you to smooth your strokes or create special effects that wouldn’t be possible with regular colored pencil. Below are just some of the ways you can blend and manipulate both dry and wet watercolor pencil pigments.
Hand Blending Here dry watercolor pencil was applied with varying amounts of pressure from left to right; then the bottom was blended by hand. Make sure your hands are warm, and then use your fingers and a circular motion to blend or smudge small areas.
Tool Blending In addition to using your fingers, you can utilize tools to blend the pigment. The red lines above were blended slightly with a cotton swab (on the left) and with a paper blending stump (on the right). Both tools create smoother smudges than you’d get by hand.
Color Mixing This example shows two wet methods for blending and mixing color: with water, as shown on the left, or with alcohol, as shown on the right. As you can see, the alcohol doesn’t thoroughly dissolve all the pigment, so it produces a coarser-looking blend.
Dry Pencil In the top section, dry watercolor pencil was applied to dry paper; it looks the same as regular colored pencil. In the bottom half, the paper was wet first, and then the dry pencil applied. Notice that the lines over the wet paper appear blurry.
Wet Pencil In this example, the tip of the water-soluble pencil was dipped in water before being applied to the dry paper; then clear water was brushed down the stripe just off-center. Notice how much more intense the pigment is when wet.
Shavings This mottled texture was created by dropping pencil shavings onto the wet paper. Then, on the left side of the example, the pigment was rubbed into the paper by hand. The right side was spritzed with water to let the pigment dissolve naturally.
Because watercolorists generally use the white of the paper for the lightest areas of their paintings (rather than using white paint), it’s important to “save” these areas from color. There are several methods you can use either to protect your white areas from color or to lighten areas where color has been applied.
One way to save the white and light areas of your paper is to simply paint around those areas of your subject. It helps to wet the paper where you want to paint, keeping dry the area you’re painting around. The dry area stops the bleed and flow of the wet paint, protecting the white and light areas from receiving paint.
Painting around whites Here you can see the progression of a painting where the artist employed the technique of painting around whites. At an earlier stage in her painting (shown at left), the artist decided that the white picket fence and the right side of the lighthouse should receive the lightest values, so she simply painted around those areas. The example at right shows the final result.
Gouache is similar to watercolor (it is water-based), but it contains an ingredient that makes it more opaque. Some artists use white gouache to create or restore white areas in their watercolor paintings, as it can give light areas a more vibrant look. Gouache is also great for adding small highlights, such as in the pupil of an eye, or fine details, such as animal whiskers. Use a brush to paint white elements of your painting or to cover small mistakes.
Softening Details To create soft white details such as these water ripples, dampen a brush and dip it into slightly diluted white gouache; then paint over an area of already dry paint. The white gouache will sink softly into the underlying color, creating a slightly blurred effect.
The white of the paper is very valuable to water-colorists. Below are some other ways to “save” and “retrieve” whites on paper.
Masking Fluid This rubbery substance can mask whites. Apply the mask, paint over it, and then rub off the mask when the paint is dry.
Lifting Color with Masking Protect the surrounding color with artist’s tape, then lightly scrub with a damp sponge to remove color.
Scraping with a Razor For small areas, you can apply a razor to already-dried paint to gently scrape off lines of surface color.
Lifting Color without Masking Using a stiff brush loaded with clean water, gently scrub the paper to remove color.
Scraping with a Knife When damp paper has just lost its shine, you can use a palette knife to scrape off color.
The most interesting paintings have varied edges. A painting done completely wet into wet will have all soft edges, resulting in a mushy look without any focus. And a painting with only hard edges will be busy and sharp, making it difficult to look at. Combining different kinds of edges gives depth, focus, and interest to the subject matter. Varying edges also produces a finished piece that is both more realistic and more interesting.
Distinguishing Edge Types Varied edges aren’t limited to painting—they’re a part of life. In this photo, you can pick out hard edges, soft edges, and even lost edges (where an edge merges with an adjacent edge).
Hard Hard edges suggest structural, angular, and mechanical subjects. To make a hard edge, apply wet paint to dry paper.
Textured Broken edges define rough objects and can be used anywhere. Create them by dragging a lot of paint and minimal water across the paper with a brush.
Soft Soft edges produce rounded, diffused areas. For soft edges, paint wet into wet, soften a freshly painted edge with clean water, or lift out color.
Varied Edges This subject looks lively because the painting includes a combination of hard edges, soft edges, and lost edges. Find the edges yourself. (They’ve changed a bit from the photo! Remember, the eye sees differently than the camera does.)
Edges Revealed How did you do? The white tube of paint is on a white surface, which allows for many lost edges. The pear is a little more difficult because you don’t see the lost edges right away. When you have two areas that are close in value, squint and you’ll see that the edge disappears. Once you can identify various types of edges, it will be easier for you to create them.
