SUPPLIES
- Tube or cake watercolor paint
- Watercolor paintbrushes, small and medium
- Watercolor paper
- Sponge
- Gummed paper tape
Overview
Watercolor paints are convenient and relatively economical. Watercolors, particularly pan watercolors, travel and clean up easily and need only a small container of water. Practice using them and realize their surprising versatility. Try different types of watercolor paints, watercolor papers and techniques in order to find what best suits your style and needs.
Step 1
Decide which type of watercolor paints to use. Pan watercolors are an inexpensive and convenient option. Use them for small areas, because they dry out quickly and have limited blending capabilities. Choose tube watercolors for larger paintings and when blending many colors. Tube watercolors also allow more work time, because they dry out less quickly.
Step 2
Select watercolor paper by deciding on the weight of paper you need. Select either the higher-cost, heavier paper that holds up better and needs no stretching or the lighter-weight, less-expensive paper. Stretch the lighter-weight paper before use so that warping does not occur. Do this by soaking the paper in water for five minutes. Remove it from the water and flatten it with a clean sponge to remove some of the water. Tape the edges to a board with gummed tape so that it dries without warping.
Step 3
Begin to use watercolor paints by creating a background wash. Though not required, a wash supplies a simple method for creating background colors and other large areas of color. Create a wash on wet or dry paper with one or more colors. Work quickly with a very wet brush, and paint a continuous stroke from one side of the paper to the other. Quickly repeat this process, overlapping the strokes slightly and covering the entire area.
Step 4
Paint with a wet brush on dry paper for detailed areas. The wet-on-dry technique provides sharp edges to your brush strokes. Use a small, pointed brush.
Step 5
Use a wet brush on wet paper for areas needing little detail. In addition, use this wet-on-wet technique as a tool for mixing colors. Painting wet layer upon wet layer is one technique for achieving color mixing with watercolors. Use wet-on-wet for diffused edges that suggest movement in a composition.
Step 6
Correct mistakes in watercolor paintings quickly because of fast drying times. Fix a wet error by simply lifting the mistake off with a paper towel. If some remains, wet the area with a brush or sponge and try lifting again. Fix dry mistakes by attempting to wet them with a brush or sponge, and then lift with paper towel. Some colors leave a stain, but lt may be light enough to paint over.
