If you find yourself enamored by watercolor art and want to give a try to watercolor painting yourself, then this article is just for you!
Contents of Discussion
This is a beginners guide to watercolor painting. We’ll go through all the questions a beginner has when they want to get started with watercolors painting. From what watercolor is to its supplies and some tips to help you. Let’s dive into it then!
What are Watercolors?
Watercolors are a translucent paint medium. They are a colored pigment in a water-soluble binder, that can be thinned using water instead of oil making it have a translucent color upon drying. They come in varying prices depending on their quality, and don’t require many supplies to get started with. The distinctive feature of watercolor paints that set it apart from other art mediums are :
- They are generally cheaper than other paints
- They can be reactivated with water
- They are easier to blend and mix even after drying
- They dry quicker by default as the water gets soaked by the paper
- They are painted in layers due to their transparency but that adds depth to the painting making it all the more dazzling
- They are very fluid paints as they require water to be thinned, their fluidness gives a mesmerizing effect to the finished piece. But on the other hand their fluidness also makes it harder to control them.
- Watercolor is an unpredictable paint that may dry to become a lighter shade than what you initially anticipated. But this can be dealt with by adding layers of the same color on the same areas again to add more pigment and vibrance to the painting.
Watercolors are well known for being hard to control, they are paints that go with the flow so having a smooth hand when making strokes is better than being stiff and nervous.
Essential Supplies to Start Painting with
1. Surface
Watercolors are a unique medium that require a lot of water in the painting process. So the surface you choose has to be able to handle the load of water without tearing or being soggy. Many beginners tend to start watercolor painting on paper, which is a great choice. Paper is a great choice for beginners to start out with. Paper is paper, but not when it comes to watercolor painting. Using watercolors paints on normal paper ends up making the paper soaked and ruins it's whole look. So there is special watercolor paper that is thicker and has more durability with water.
Watercolor paper is different from normal paper in several ways. They come in different weights. The more the weight, the better the paper for watercolor paintings. The standard weight is 140lbs or 300g. Watercolor papers are also different from traditional papers due to their materials. Traditional paper is made up of recycled wood shavings alone or a little bit of cotton mixed up. Watercolor paper needs to be more absorbent so it uses cotton intertwined in its fibers. The more percentage of cotton in a paper, the better it is for watercolor painting. Lastly when choosing watercolor paper, keep the texture of the paper in mind. Different papers come in different textures. Watercolor papers also come in a smooth texture (Hot Pressed) and rough texture (Cold Pressed). You may or may not have heard the terms Hot Pressed and Cool Pressed, but they refer to the texture or the 'tooth' of the paper. Depending on your preference you can choose whichever texture you like, however watercolors dry slower on hot pressed paper as there is no texture and the paint is lying flat on the surface. Hot pressed papers also allow for more fluidity of the watercolors which can be a huge gamble at times.
Some people prefer to paint watercolor on canvas which is also possible but requires the canvas to be made of cotton as well and also requires you to do a few strokes of just water over the canvas to prep it for the watercolors uniqueness.
2. Paint
Watercolor paints come in various forms and prices. You can find them in pans and tubes. Pans are dried watercolor paint that can be activated with water and used just like that. Pans come in pre-made designs with varying colors, or you can get an empty pan set and fill them with watercolor paint through tubes to have your preferred colors in that form. You can also use watercolor tubes only with a palette to create your paintings. I personally prefer pre-made pans, as achieving a certain color isn't hard since watercolors blend and mix easily. So I just work with whatever colors I have to make whatever colors I don't. One advice I'd give you is to focus on quality over quantity when getting paints, because watercolor paints come in many fancy sets of 50 colors or 90 colors, but those are pretty overwhelming and mostly useless. Having a limited color palette allows you to create your own colors and doesn't take much time, not to mention many watercolor sets out there are very expensive as well. And since you're starting out, having limited colors just to try your hand at the medium would be a better idea.
One fun way to get yourself familiar with the colors in watercolor paint is to create a color chart, like the one above.
Brushes are relatively important to choose in watercolor painting. The brush you work with should be able to hold up enough water, be able to create both large washes of color and thin strokes. A simple round brush can take you quite far with watercolor, so I would suggest getting a couple sizes of round brushes just to get started. There are also some watercolor brushes for travelling that come with a tube of water fixed in the brush. They allow the brush to get wet without having a container of water. It can be very useful in travelling however if you're painting at home, I would suggest using the traditional wooden brush.
4. Palette
Paint Palettes are a necessary for watercolors because you need a platform to mix and dilute your paint. Many watercolor paint that come in pans have a metal cover that can be used as a palette, but if you want a more proper palette, getting a ceramic/ porcelain palette or just using an old white plate is good enough. I suggest ceramic or metal for watercolors because they allow the fluid medium to mix and blend well. The paint starts to bead up in plastic palettes and gets soaked by wooden ones. For more information on Paint Palettes you can check out my blog on Paint Palettes.
5. Water
As the name already states, watercolors cannot be painted without water, making it an essential supply. Having two jars of water, one for rinsing excess paint and one for soaking your brush are an ideal way to begin.
Extra Supplies to Have
Masking tape
Having masking tape helps you put up boundaries to make sure your paint stays in a certain area, it allows you to have crisp edges and lines. Having a masking tape for watercolor painting is a life-saving tool. I would recommend getting it as it's also cheap.
Towels/ Tissues
When working with a medium that requires a ton of water, having a towel or tissue nearby is a good idea. You can use it to control how much water your brush soaks up and to soak up excess water from your painting incase it gets too wet.
Pencils and/or Waterproof Pens
If you're the type that likes to sketch an outline before painting, having some pencils or waterproof pens are great. In case of using pencils, be careful not to make too dark lines, because the watercolors sometimes get muddy due to the pencilwork underneath. Using a waterproof pen works well though.
After Painting
The clean up process for watercolor painting is very easy. As the paint uses water, any and everything that has paint on it can be cleaned by a wet cloth. Washing your hands can easily rid them of any paint. To clean your brushes, water can do the trick but to go a step ahead you can use an all-natural soap to gently clean your brushes. However using too much soap can damage them so use it in moderation.
Conclusion
Watercolor painting has a beauty that cannot be replicated by oils, acrylic, gouache or any other medium. They have a texture and sense of fluidity that cannot be seen in any other medium. These paints are also easily portable and can be used in traveling. They can be a bit hard to control and that leads to the frustration of many artists, but their wild nature is also a main part of their beauty.
I hope that your journey with Watercolors doesn't end too soon and that you embrace the challenges of watercolors with a smile.
When you try to control everything, you enjoy nothing.
Thank you for Reading !
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