Watercolor Basics
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1. Keep two water reservoirs for cleaning your brushes. One for warm colors and one for cool. (This prevents muddiness in your palette).
2. Knowing when to let the layers on your paper dry before further progress is vital.
3. Carry pigment from the bricks to your palette, don't mix pigments in the bricks.
On technique:
1. Experiment adding water to a pigment on your palette (More water == thinner with less Saturation and vice-versa).
2. Experiment with how wet pigments interact with other wet pigments on the paper. (More water == better flow).
3. Experiment with the paper tilt direction (water flows under the force of gravity and this can be used to create a desired affect).
4. Know how to layer (i.e., 1st layer low saturation, broad areas with high water/flow, final layer is fine detail lines with low flow/higher saturation).
5. You must understand the color wheel and how pigments may mix.
I have beef with this guidance:
> let your palette and paint bricks get dirty
Keep your bricks clean: Let your palette get dirty (if you so choose).
On color : I recently realised (or read somewhere) about the simplest color wheel- if you divide a circle into 6 segments and paint the primaries : {R, Y, B} in non-neighbouring segments, then the ones in between are the secondaries: {R+Y=O, R+B=P, Y+B=G}. Then if you combine primaries and the 'opposite' secondary, you get brown/grey like colors.
Also, I get quite good combinations (palettes) by using a mixture of the same colors, like a red and a green and then a mix of the two to make a grey.
I've thinking about using https://github.com/scrtwpns/pigment-mixing to go from a desired RGB output to the {RGB1, RGB2, percentage) inputs somehow. Would have to be quite rough estimate though, as mixing real paints in exact proportions seems hard.
The fancy color theory word for this relationship is "complementary".
> a red and a green and then a mix of the two to make a grey.
If you need a black (though you seldom do) it's a good trick to mix one from the colors you're already using.
I always wondered why when we mixed blue and yellow it made for a really muddy green.
I've had trouble remembering what the ab coordinates mean, but if I just imagine them on the colour wheel it's obvious that a goes from torquoise-ish to its complement magenta and b goes orthogonal to that, from purple-blue to its complement yellow.
Thanks for linking!
1a: Keep your water reservoirs well away from your drinking water. This prevents drinking paint.
:)
The paper getting sobby and uneven often quickly brings a painting session to an end :)
And yet in tutorial videos I often see people paint a whole background section in one go (even as much as half the page) without any issues. Do they glue the sheet down to a board?
2) alternately use watercolor paper blocks (which have adhesive on all sides of the sheet, which minimizes curling)
3) get heavier paper (thicker), use less water, and don't let water pool anywhere.
Like these (although I don't know the exact brand of mine):
https://www.eclipsemagnetics.com/products/magnetic-tools-and...
I used to do a cup of designated dirty water and a cup of clean water but I can't think on that level when I'm painting. I'm close enough to a sink that I just change it out as needed. Any cup near me when I'm painting is going to get all manner of brushes dunked in it. Yes, I've dunked a paint-loaded brush in my coffee before.
> Knowing when to let the layers on your paper dry before further progress is vital.
Only slightly less vital: knowing when not to let the layers on your paper dry before progressing. But yeah, that one first.
I'm not a watercolor painter but have heard this before — since watercolors are transparent, not opaque like gouache/oil/acrylic.
BTW here's a favorite little project.
Go to your local craft store and buy some tube watercolors in the hues you like.
Get an altoids tin and a lego flat base that fits inside of it. Flip the base upside down and put it inside.
Get some lego bricks, turn them upside down, use needlenose pliers to extract the circle part so there's room to squeeze in your paints. Use a twist-pull motion and it's easy to get those plastic bits out.
Squeeze in the paint, let each color form a mound at the top of the brick (this'll shrink), and put them outside to dry.
As you get new watercolor hues you like, add/subtract to the palette lego set.
With any extra room in the tin, fold up some paper towel or cut a sponge to fit.
(BTW if you plan to sketch outside, be careful about doing so in front of cars, or if you're sketching cars, use a large pad and not a small one. I've had a person go off on me for "writing tickets" in free parking zones when I was sketching a lovely coupe...)
You reminded me of one time when I was out walking with the idea of capturing some aircraft, so I had a superzoom with me. While walking into the hills I saw a house that was for sale, and I happened to be looking for a house, so I snapped a photo.
Some weeks later I greeted an acquaintance-neighbor on the street and they looked kind of conflicted while we spoke. After I crossed the street, post-greeting, they called out, "HEY, WHY ARE YOU TAKING PICTURES OF PEOPLES' HOUSES?" and I had no idea what to make of that...only to realize hours later that they lived across the street from the house that was for sale. Geez. I'll bet they absolutely hated the fact that the mysterious house photog greeted them like a normal person would!
My wife is an artist, and by the law of association, I have I many artist friends. I would say that starting out, the good advice that matches the bell curve is great for getting started. Learn the basics before you break the rules. That way you know you are breaking the rules and why.
Use Daniel Smith tubes, or M. Graham tubes. Twelve small tubes might cost you ~$100-120, but they'll last for about a year if you paint every week. These brands give you *very* rich colors.
Learning to draw, paint, and mix colors is time consuming. It's best to get started with medium quality brushes and paper, and then move on to expensive brushes and paper after a year or two, by then you should be able to appreciate the relative difference between serviceable and high quality materials.
Folks to follow on social media: Shari Blaukopf: https://shariblaukopf.com/ Marc Taro Holmes: https://citizensketcher.com/
I have some recommended products here: https://connor-johnson.com/2017/06/07/getting-started-with-w...
Last thing: watercolor is one of the hardest technique you can try. You need to be able to work fast, be precise and not overwork it.
It isn't that brush quality always matters: I'm not as concerned with brush quality when I use acrylics. Watercolor, however, it matters. Upgrading my brushes to Kolinsky sable brushes seriously improved my watercolors. It doesn't need to be sable: Folks have good success with others too. They do need some quality, though.
My recommendations...
Student Paints: Cotman as mentioned, or Van Gogh
Pro Paints: Daniel Smith Essential set (6 tubes)
Brush: Size 10 Escoda Perla. That's it!
Paper: Hahnemühle Watercolour Sketch Book
Here are my own recommendations regarding tools (I won't give advice how to paint, unlike the OP): you will need 5 tools only:
- colours: get a Lukas (preferred) or Schmincke set, a box with 12 half-bricks of colours will last for a long time and provide plenty of choice, 50-70 €;
- 2-3 brushes: only natural horse hair, one medium, one thinker and if you can afford three a thinner one, 30 €;
- paper: thick watercolour paper A5 to A3, well-glued, 15-25 €;
- 1 soft thin pencil to pre-sketch, e.g. Faber-Castell, 2-3 €;
- a glass (e.g. ordinary drinking glass or former pickles container) 200-400 ml, 0 €;
So 120-150 € give you a fantastic equipment, which may not be cheap but the cost of a good table-tennis bat is in the same range; the paper will be a costly repeat purchase if you stick to it, but the other tools can last for a long time (depending on how prolific a painter you are, of course).
(In my opinion, the quality of the brush and the quality of the paper matter the most.)
Edit: This selection has a strong German bias based on where I grew up but also because Germany, Japan and a few other countries also have a long-standing reputation for high quality stationary.
Beside it’s cheap compare to most hobby, even with quality stuffs.
Also some of the advice is just plain wrong. Paper should be the number one thing you shouldn't skimp on and yet you recommend buying cheap/on sale.
And while good paper will absolutely make it easier to learn, it doesn't need to be the best paper. Just understand that the cheapest paper is usually worthless and that the next step up will cause a few struggles. I'd rather have cheap paper than bad brushes, though. (I learned on thin paper, some of it cheap)
For paints, look at reputable brands and start with their student grade. It's often the same quality but with fewer pigments. It means that you'll have to fight with your paint more to get darker values. Watercolor is a relatively inexpensive medium, you can graduate to better paints later. You don't need more than 12 colors at first.
To start, find a style you like and search content on youtube. There is a ton of great artists sharing their knowledge out there with a wide variety of processes.
My most important advice would be :
- Learn the color wheel and how to mix paint (rarely use paint straight off the tube, it's often too saturated)
- Value is by far the most important thing to nail. It's the bones of your painting.
- Watercolor is one of the most difficult medium to master. It can be hard to grasp the technique while learning about light, edges, composition, and other painting standards. I learned my fundamentals in digital painting, which is much more forgiving, and would recommend it to anyone (you can find cheap tablets like Huion for 50$ and it works just as well as a 150$ Wacom). For digital, I can't recommend the course from Craig Mullins on Schoolism enough. He's not only one of the greatest digital painter out there, but a great teacher too.
Now to find a tutorial on how to art. Perhaps there is a book on it, like "How to Art with Watercolor" or "Teach yourself to Watercolor in 24 hours".
If you don't set too high expectations, it's great to just experiment on cheap paper to see what can be done, and get a feel for it before trying to actually make a scene or paint something 'serious' that you might want to show others.
YMMV, perhaps some people get more out of it using a course or from a guide.
> ## History
* history is cool but optional * watercolor originates from africa / the middle east * where gum arabic comes from traditionally * it was used to produce ancient artworks / maybe prehistoric * it reached europe in the middle ages * used for spooky illuminated manuscripts * gum arabic is the traditional binder in watercolor * fun fact you can eat gum arabic and they use it in desserts * it smells delicious * dont eat your watercolors * all paint is primarily pigment + binder * oil paint uses oil as its binder * acrylic uses acrylic * watercolor uses gum arabic or synthetic replacements * its special property is its water solubility * it remains semi-soluble even after drying * but it resists increasingly as it ages * thats why you use water with it * also why you can layer etc * good to know maybe
> zoom WAY in on subjects
> force shapes / objects to fall off edge / zoom in
> no un-broken edges
> don't let yourself think about objects / people / things> force shapes / objects to fall off edge / zoom in
This is a composition hack. The extreme alternative is to paint an entire thing sitting smack in the middle of the page all by itself. That's probably not going to look as interesting. Mind that the author prefaced these tips with some context: "For expressive observational painting more than rigid illustration"
> don't let yourself think about objects / people / things
Paint what you see, not what you think you see. In drawing this usually manifests as the fact that you'll be more accurate if you focus on say, drawing a precise contour where a nose ought to go than focusing on drawing a nose.
Paints section
bricks not tubes is not a rule I'd ever follow, and many nice paints are only available as tubes. You can make bricks out of tubes as well.
More money up to $30 for what? One paint tube? A paint set?
Check pigments - what does that mean to a beginner? Nothing.
Brush section
list of rules, including a rule about no rules, is a little ridiculous.
natural vs synthetic does matter - different brushes can hold differing amount of water which affects how you paint, especially in watercolor where you don't want dry edges if you want to blend sections together. They also hold shape differently, even different natural fibers hold shape differently.
a medium round might be "all you need" without considering frustration or different techniques, but you might get a lot less frustrated having different brush shapes, and open yourself up to using different brush techniques the round won't work with.
Paper Section
Definitely don't buy paper just because its cheap.
Open it up feel the paper - for what? Until a beginner knows what they like, what area they feeling for? It's advice that doesn't help anyone do anything.
Medium heavy...relative to what? Depends on how much water you plan on using too.
paper size...depends on what you want to make. "postcard to printer paper sizes" might be ok for some things, but its small for something hanging on a wall.
trust your gut, trial and error - those are opposite recommendations. "make mistakes until you get it right" is not really advice.
I do recommend watercolor blocks, especially if they hold all edges of the watercolor paper so you have to worry less about stretching.
>old school / fun / unecessary -> this is not advice, it doesn't even mentioned what its talking about.
100% cotton paper is not "unnecessary/unnoticeable". It is definitely noticeable in how well the paper holds up to water and repeated washes, correcting mistakes, etc.
>paper weight is in lbs or gsm usually - is that advice?
>if it feels thick enough it is -> again depends on what you're intending
Other materials
Needs to recommend a hair dryer (if working at home) to speed up wash drying
The whole painting advice section is sort of...not a good way to learn any graphic discipline - graphic disciplines should be shown/demo'd graphically.
For example, on brushes: "a medium round (the pointy but wide-ish one) is all you need"
This depends entirely on technique and what you want to do. Trying to do consistent, smooth lines using a round brush? Good luck.
It just takes practice. As long as it is the proper size for the line you are making and it holds a decent point, though, it isn't so much of an issue. Rigger brushes are long-bristled, thin, and round and used for lines, after all.
The first rule for choosing a brush should be to choose the correct one for the job. Sure, an experienced artist will have better brush control, but this guide is for beginners.
> natural vs. synthetic hair doesn't matter