Beginners Guide to Watercolor Painting Techniques

1. Introduction: [MUSIC] Hello everyone. I'm your friend again, and I'm welcoming you all on my new Skillshare class. This class is all about watercolor techniques. First of all, let me tell you something about myself. Hello, I'm Ankit Jasmativa. I'm an artist based in India, and following my art passion for almost last 10-12 years and exploiting this amazing field of art and creativity. My aim is to spread the awareness of art and creativity globally. For that, I have a YouTube channel where I frequently upload our tutorials, and have a family of 390k plus subscribers. Now, let's begin this beautiful and amazing watercolor technique class and explore this medium in a much profound manner. Watercolor painting is a unique art form that allows for a wide range of techniques and styles. It is a medium that is having both [inaudible] and challenge, making it accessible to both beginners and the artist. Watercolors are made from pigments suspended in the water soluble binders [MUSIC] which allows for a great deal of transparency and luminosity in the finished piece of artwork. Because of the fluidity of the medium, watercolor painting can have a sense of spontaneity and the moment that is hard to achieve. In this class, we will explore some of the most popular watercolor techniques, [MUSIC] including wet on wet, flat washes, graded washes and many more. Whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced artist, you will find something of value in this techniques. If you do not have any kind of knowledge in watercolors, I'm completely sure that after watching this class, you will definitely get benefited. This is my seventh class on Skillshare. You can watch my other classes as well. I have provided the link in the description. I'm super excited to see you in this amazing journey of watercolors. [MUSIC] 2. Class Project & Materials: First of all, thank you so much for showing your interest in this class and took a step ahead to learn the new art techniques of watercolors. Our project for this class is to paint a beautiful flower. This includes the learning of watercolors. You can take a reference image that I have chosen, which is there in the project gallery section. You can also click your own image by exploring outside and get the image of your own choice of flower. You get paint it with the same technique. All you need to learn in this class is to observe the color, then how to create those colors using watercolors and how to mix them. Let me tell you a brief about the tools that we're going to use in this class. So first of all, we are going to understand and learn about the tools that we're going to use in this class. These are the tools that you are seeing her I'm going to use throughout in this class. The paper, first of all, this is the watercolor paper that we will talk later in detail about that. Then this watercolor tubes we will use in the due form, this is a very basic one. Then the watercolor tray that we will use for mixing the colors. These are the brushes, but it's lying there, and then the potable water. It's normal water, tap water, you can also use. Then the pencil for outline the things. There is eraser for making the corrections. We will discuss in detail in the coming class about these tools. 3. Various Types of Watercolor Paints : As I mentioned in the previous class, we are now going to explore the colors and options available for us in the watercolor section. This is the cake style of watercolors. I mean, the colors are in the form of cakes, or you can say in the form of pan. These are not the tubes, these are dried one. When you add water into that, it will create a watercolor lighting. On the other hand, this is the tubes in which the color is a little bit wet, and whenever you are going to use that, you will find the color is almost in the form of some paste. Let me zoom it to that so that you can see that. This is a very basic one. I know that everyone must have seen this. This is the set of 18 colors. These numbers are more than enough for this particular class. You can have more variant of that, somewhere around 32 shades or some are higher end as well. But here if you have 12 shades colors or 18 shades colors, it's perfectly fine because whatever you do is going to mix with those. Now, moving on to the other tool, that is the tray, which is very important in terms of the watercolor drawings, because more important to create more colors rather than to have the color, what you actually have in its natural form. Here you can see I'm using the brush and mixing it onto the tray while adding the water into that and then creating a new color. But remember that color has to be cleaned and it should not create a color which look like mud. It has to be clear and pure. I hope that I have explained about the colors, what we are going to use here. We will understand in detail in the later episodes of this class. Stay tuned. 4. Different Types of Brushes: [MUSIC] Hear we are going to talk about the brushes. The brushes are something which is the most important role to play in the watercolors. There are so many types of watercolors, what I'm actually showing you here, and their properties are different and their usage is also different. How to choose the best brush for your watercolor drawing or watercolor painting, I would say rather. It is a very key factor for any artist to actually choose in between them. You can see the shape of this brush is quite different from the another one. Also this similarity you can also find with the brushes and its shape. So this is the flat one, let's see, maybe named as zero or double zero brushes and it's basically used for the minute areas that we will discuss later. Then this one is the very thick brush with a mop style, or you can say this brush is a calligraphic brush or sometimes it may be referred to a Chinese calligraphic brush. So it is used for calligraphic thing, but it is also used for the watercolor thing. Why? Because it's having a very fine tip and you can see here when I'm adding the water it contains that tip which is very important for watercolor paintings. Also it uphold water for the longer duration. What I'm using here, you can see it's also maintaining the tip, but the best one is this one which is made up of natural, it's actually here, has been created by the natural things like a squirrel hairs. You can see here the tip is very fine and it won't break when you are using the brush. You can see here it's not going to distort and not going to blunt. It's a very fine tip and maintain it for the longer time, also hold the water for the longer period so you don't need to add water every time. You can see here. This mop brush actually is a single brush that can be used for the whole drawing and there are many artists who are doing this. Again, we are coming to the flat brush, we have seen that the usage of this brush, maybe you can use in the backgrounds and how we're going to use that we'll see in the coming episodes of this class. Then this brush is the fine brush and it's used for the minute details, some minor or micro details, we can actually capture that as well using this brush. Then the finest one, which is possible available here to me. Maybe use for some highlights or some tip details, very minute details. These are all kind of brush that we are going to use in this particular class and I'm not going to use every brush, but these are the possibility that can be explored if you are going to do the project of this class. So you don't need to have all these brushes, you only need to have one or two. Like you may have one mop brush and then the flat brush and one with a minute detail brush like zero number brush. This is all about the brushes and we're going to discuss about the paper and the other art materials that we're going to use in this class. 5. Papers Required for Watercolors: Which paper that you should use for watercolor and its significance. Let's understand about this. First of all, this is the paper that is recommended one from many artists. This is Canson [inaudible]. It is 300 GSM paper and is having a size of almost A3 size. It's a green paper, cold press paper. This is the first paper. Now let's talk about the texture of this paper. You can see I have zoomed into it and you can see the undulation of this paper. This is known as the texture or the grains of the paper. The grains are highly developed on this paper as it is a cold press paper. Texture are visible and pretty much suitable for the watercolors to actually absorb into it. There are two paper that we actually discussed. One is the cold press paper and the other one is the hot press paper. The basic difference between them is the cold press is more absorbent than the hot press paper as the paint sink into the little bumps and dimples on the surface. Hot press is made by pressing the whole sheet through hot metals rollers to eliminate the textured surface. Hot press is less textured and the cold press is way more textured paper. Therefore, watercolors paper is preferable for cold press rather than the other one. Let's see the other option for watercolor papers. This is the local brand, which is Sitaran watercolor pads. It's available in the local marketing where I live actually. These paper are having a warm color, not the texture, warm color of the paper. It comes in this pad, which is glued throughout the sides of the paper. Whenever you are going to draw, you will have a pad and the texture you can see on here, it is a very, very beautiful texture on this that actually help to prevent the colors and pigments. The paper made from 100 percent cotton, it's a cotton fiber and acid free ideal for watercolors over here you have seen, it has already written, it is 270 GSM. This paper is very much ideal for watercolor because it's a cotton made paper. It is an acid free paper, so acid free papers are something which don't change color by time. 6. Use of Various Brushes: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we're going to talk about the various brushes and the strokes that they actually generate and what are their specific use in the watercolor techniques. The first brush that we're going to use is the mop brush, which majorly used in this watercolor technique. The second one is the flat brush and the third one is the thin brush, which actually can be used in the form of 0, 1, 2. The last one is the calligraphic brush. These are the four brushes that may be used in this class. Comes first, that is mop brush. This is the mop brush and it has been made from the natural things like squirrel hair. I'm using this, it's not the artificial or synthetic brush. It's a natural brush that uphold the color and the water for the longer time. You can see the strokes generation. I'm adding water into that and the color and then I'm just creating a simple and single stroke. This is the stroke and you can see how the thickness can be varied by varying the pressure of the paper. You can actually draw the thinnest line and then you can draw the thickest one as well using this single brush because the tip is very refined and it is actually able to hold the color and the water for the longer time. You can see the third stroke as well. It is filled up with lots of color and then the water. This is the first experiment that we are actually doing with the mop brush. Later on, we will do the more experiments with this particular brush because it's a very helpful brush in terms of painting. Now, here comes the second brush that is flat brush, which you predominantly used in the acrylic painting or the oil painting, but here you can use the flat brush in various places. I will show you in the coming classes, but here you can see the variety of the strokes. You can see, I have tried to actually taken the color into the brush, but it didn't hold that much as compared to the mop brush because it's a synthetic one and didn't not hold the color as much as the mop brush, but when it hold, it actually create a very beautiful flat strokes. You can see the sides and then the thickest portion as well. Likewise, it is having its own usage in terms of watercolor painting. How to use it, how to actually utilize that, that we will see in the coming lessons. We can also use it for the graded wash. This is another type of watercolor technique where we can use these flat brushes somewhere in the background also. Now, let's talk about another one which is known as the thin brush. It's a rounded one and it's a very thin brush. How to actually use it? I think it's a majority of the detailed work has been done by using this particular brush. This brush actually help you to create thin lines and my new details, you can add up more and more detail. If you want to create a masterpiece, these brushes are truly helpful for you. Also, you can use the side of the tape or the brush and you can create a thick stroke as well by this. This is the use of this particular brush, which is very useful in terms of creating the detail. Then the last one, which is known as the calligraphic brush, or the Chinese brush, or we can say it is majorly used for calligraphic work, but here in watercolor technique, basically in portrait technique, we basically use this single brush to create a masterpieces, to create a beautiful portraits as well, but it's a skill. It is not that easy, the brush only will help you to basically do that. You need to work on to that technique. Here you can see how I'm doing the strokes and the sides of the tape. Then I'm using the tip portion as well for creating the thin lines. You can see because it's a calligraphic brush, it is meant for writing the names like this. The original purpose of this brush is to write the calligraphic thing, but here we actually can use it in an another watercolor techniques and many of the artists are basically doing that. You can see the quality of this brush as well. All these brushes you can see or hear is what we are going to use in this particular class. I think now I have covered the materials and now we are moving towards the another lesson. 7. Types of Watercolor Techniques: [MUSIC] Now we're going to talk about the watercolor styles and what are the techniques that we're going to use. One can use these techniques in watercolor painting. First of all, the style that can be used that is known as flat wash. This is the technique that you can play with the water. The flat wash is something you put water into your brush and then you add color onto that. Like this what I'm showing you here. You can see here that the brush is slightly wet and this is something that you need to understand. I'm adding on to that. I'm not going to add again further any water and the paper is also very dry. When I'm going to do that by using the dark pigment of that color onto that paper directly with a little bit amount of water into that. That is something which is known as the flat wash, which we use in many of the area in watercolors. Now, the second type of this technique is graded wash. Graded wash is something that you can use with a flat brush as well. I just create a one-line with a flat brush and then I'm adding water, and then I'm just trying to basically get those colors down using the water itself. This is the way, I'm not going to add further any color onto that brush. Rather, I'm just using the same color that is there in the line and just trying to create the grid this time to reduce the intensity of the color from darker to the lightest. This is the way we can do the graded wash. The third is very important, that is known as wet on wet technique. This is the most important technique. First here wet on wet, it's something we have to add water, we have to create the surface wet. As the name suggest, it is wet on wet. The paper has to be wet and our brush also need to be wet. I'm just trying to wet the paper like this and just add a few water into the brush, a lot of water itself and then I lay down the first layer of this using the water itself. Then I'm adding the color onto that brush. As you know, there's already a lot of water into that brush and just trying to put that pigment of that color into that paper. You can see the colors are getting spread by its own self by just flowing onto the paper. This is again, a very super dramatic technique and it is something which create a surrealistic result onto that painting itself. This is the technique, something which is very important for any artist to understand in terms of wet-on-wet technique, particular style. Now the last technique, what we're going to talk about is the very important technique once again, which is known as wet on dry technique. Here you can understand the wet portion is something which is the itself the color. You can see here, I'm just having a brush and I'm not going to lay down the water itself, rather I'm just having a wet brush which is filled with a lot of water into that. Then I'm adding the color pigment. After adding that, I'm just trying to get the pigment onto the paper. Just a few strokes like this. How it is different from the flat part isn't something that you can actually have in your mind while doing this. You can see here the color and the pigment is very light, whereas in the flat bar, the color are very dark. This is something which is the one difference that you can actually find this is thick color. You can see here it is thick, dry colors onto the paper. On the other side, wet on dry technique is something with the colors are wet colors and it is having a less amount of the saturation into that. It's a very light effect that tint of that color. It's a very light tint. I hope you understand the whole process. 8. Outline Drawing of Flower: Now here we are going to understand to draw our reference image. This is the image that is what we have taken as a reference from the Internet. You can have your own, what I have already told you in the previous class that how to explore the flowers and the plants in the nursery. Here I am just taking this example to let you understand how to draw that. I'm going to draw the two lines. You can use this technique as well. Otherwise you can use so many other techniques for drawing the outline. This is the simplest one, otherwise you can use the grid method technique or the tracing as well, whatever that suits you. Because here the purpose is just to draw the outlines in a simpler manner so that you can actually overlay the colors onto that. Here, just draw the two lines and then I'm measuring from the center of this flower that what is the distance from the outer periphery petals of the flower? I'm using the simple pencil measurement technique, which help me to actually draw the outline of this flower. The reason behind choosing the particular flower image it is just that it is very beautiful in its own way and it's a simpler one. I'm just going to draw the petals of that flower and the internal portions as well on the particular plant, which may refers to as pollens. The drawing that we actually need to do has to be very light. It should not be that dark because we're going to do with that is just to take as it as a reference for our watercolors to actually fill into that boundaries. You have to do it in a very lighter manner. You can use HB pencil or simple 2B pencil or B pencil for that, for getting the outline, you need not to be perfectly correct outlines rather, just to have an idea because it a flower, so you don't need to copy the exact image rather than just to have a proportionate one. Here, the aim is very simple. I just draw a simple flower onto the paper and now I'm going to fill it by using the colors. I hope that you understand the process of drawing the outline and how actually you can do that as well. It is a very simple one. You don't need to actually copy the real image just to get the outlines in a simpler manner. I am going to see you in the next lesson of this class. I'm just lightening it out because it's maybe a little darker. I'm just using the eraser and trying to lighten it up. See you in the next part. 9. First Layer of Watercolor Paint: Sometimes we need to touch the flour to feel the layers what it actually have, for understanding of tint saturation and texture. Now here I'm going to do the first impression with watercolors. Here, as I have already drawn the outlines, I'm trying to make the primary color that is having a light pink effect, as you can see in the original reference image as well. I'm using the mop brush and this is basically wet on dry technique. I mean the brush is little bit wet. The paper is dry completely. You can see that the first thing is very light. Always you must have keep in mind whenever you are using the watercolors, the initial tint has to be very light. It should not be filled with **** of a color or a flat wash rather than to have a very light tint, so that you can add layers on it. As the paper is of good quality, we can actually maintain at least 3-5 layers on it. This is the first layer, I am adding some water into that and then creating that pigment that is required. Then filling the area without thinking much of the strokes effect because this is the initial layer. We will surely add more dark tones on to that. But the first layer has to be even and it has to have a light tint, as you can see here. When it is going to get dry, you can see the color changes, the intensity, the tint will always reduce. That you also have to keep in mind. I just want to get it dry and then after that, I start adding the colors as well. Or you can add the colors here also. I mean, you don't need to wait or you don't want to wait for that time to get it right, you start adding the dark colors like this. You see in the reference image, we can see that the center point is much, much dark colors as compared to the end of the petals. I'm adding the colors and the brush is wet. Now, the paper is also wet, so we can say that now we are using the wet on wet technique. So you can see the color actually dispersed or it is spread when I'm adding the color onto the paper, when I put in that brush onto the paper, can see it basically spread beautifully. So it automatically generates stroke. You can see I'm just trying to support that effect. It automatically generates that flow and it makes our drying easier. This is something that you have to keep in mind, in watercolors you can play around, so many things with colors and as well as the water and then the tendency of that property of that water. This is the second layer, what we have opted at the center and the color here, what we have used it is a flat dark color. 10. Layer by Layer Process: [MUSIC] Let's have a look to the beautiful flow of the water. Here we're going to talk about this only. I'm adding more colors and I'm using different variation of the color and the hues also. Here I'm using the blue tone because you can see the center point of this flower is a little bit amount of brown and the black because the intensity of the color is very dark inside there and the color shows like this. But in watercolors, we can have the option of exploring different colors so you can choose your color with your own intention of drawing. So here I'm using the blue tones as well. You can also use the green tones or let say, some more colors, the colors or different other colors options are ready and you can also use the violet color as well. For instance, what I'm also doing here, I'm using the thin brush here and trying to add the maroon inside that. So the blue and the maroon mixing into each other and creating beautiful magenta, high and purple color or violet color sometimes. So here, this is the way that I'm approaching it like this and I'm using this thin brush just to understand and to create some lines which will help us to create the realism as well into the flower. So as you see here I am blending few of the layers and blending few of the lines and then again try to regain those lines. So this is just an experiment thing. You can also do that. Otherwise, you can also create in a more generic manner. But as much as you experiment with watercolor, the better will be the result. So always try to create more experiment, more fun with watercolors. That will definitely help you to creating more dramatic piece of art works. So here, I'm just waiting to let these layers settled down and let it be dry a little bit. Then I am again adding few dark tones of that particular magenta color to actually create a shape to basically get that exact thing. Whatever we want from that. Using of this thin brush help us to create my new details as well. Otherwise, we can use that single mop brush as well, but the thin brush help us to create the thin hair lines in a much easier manner. So it is advisable to use these thin brush as well. And always try to take some time between the layers. Do not keep on adding layers one on the another at the same time. So always, you should have some time to let the things let it dry and then adding few layers onto them. Specifically in the minute details section, what I'm actually doing it some details that actually required in terms of its completeness and finishing. I will see you in the next lesson of this class. 11. Adding Dark Values of Watercolor: [MUSIC] Now here we're going to talk about the third layer. As far as the finishing are concerned, we are moving towards the finishing part, but with a very slight changes in our painting. Now we are working on that darker area. Earlier we started with the lighter colors, but now we have to move towards the darker one as well. For that, I'm using the thin brush, which help us to create thin line of the petals of a flower, which generate realistic texture of the particular flower. We're using a brush just creating some rough strokes, not that clear strokes, but the rough strokes which we can actually work on. Here you can see I'm using the white. There are so many artists who may say that you should not use white, but you can use it in a very wise manner. For detailing, for finishing touch, you can use the white color as well. Again, you will have to see the consequences of that and what are the benefits of that. This is all about the third layer. Now, in the last layer, we're going to talk about the finishing of the whole painting as well. 12. Finishing of Flower & Background Painting: [MUSIC] This is the finishing touch. For finishing touch, we have to create a background of that. For creating a background, I'm using a wet on wet technique because this is something which will help you to understand all the aspects of watercoloring techniques what we may use in a painting. So that is why I'm here using the wet-on-wet technique. I'm actually wetting the surface around the flower. You can see I'm using the brush and having a water in it. Then I just make it wet to the paper. Then I wait for a minute or two. Then I'm adding some dark green color with lightest tone of it. So the tint has to be very light. I'm trying to add the first layer of the leaves, which is all around to the flower. [MUSIC] You can see I am just creating some random strokes. I'm not following the real image. Just observing few dark areas in the image and getting that pattern. Since we have make it already wet, we may not be able to create the exact shape of the leaf, but we have to create illusion and creating an illusion of flower or we may define it like it has been a blurred background, which can help flower to have a more understanding or more accomplishment of that. Again, I'm adding more green into that and creating the second layer. So on the second layer you can see here I'm just rewriting the previous layer and defining the leaves in a two tones like light tone and then the dark tone. Then I'm using the same brush. You can see also that the next layer we are going to introduce here, let's say yellow tone. So you can add more tones into that. It will create a vibrant, it can enhance the beauty of the flower when you create the background and adding different colors. Because the paper is wet paper as of now on what we're doing. It will create a beautiful surrounding of the flower. This is the whole purpose of that. Then I'm going to create a stem which is showing in the real image. You can see there. The same I am doing in the drawing as well, or the painting as well. You can see I'm using the same brush. I haven't changed its thickness. There's some random strokes, not the foam lines. It adds a random stroke. In watercolor, the more random strokes, the more it will attract the viewer. So just create random strokes. Don't be firm and don't copy the elements. Try to create your own strokes. Generate your own strokes and your own way of understanding them. The real image, the whole processes as to create a dream, like painting. What you see in your dreams. This is something that you need to understand. Now I'm adding more dark tones because you can see the background has become dark, our flower has become dull because it has been dried. After the thing dried, it may be light or dark. Many things can be possible. So I am just creating some darkness onto the center of the flower. Now I'm adding some two tones of the stem or the leaves as well. Trying to defining them using the same brush, but suddenly enhance intensity of the color, tone of the color. [MUSIC] So again, as I have already told that I'm going to add more dark tones in the flower eaten. So on the petals, I am again adding some hair lines which actually created more realistic. These addition, you may avoid also, you may not liking that. You can do that as well. You just let it in the flower be like the previous one. But if you want to have a finished one, you can add more and more layers because the paper is so good and it allows us to add more layers. We can go with that. If your paper is not allowing that you are basically using, you may leave it to the previous looking flower as well. It's basically depending upon the paper that you are using and the requirement or the result that you are expecting from your drawing. I want to make it more and more detailed one or a more realistic one. So I'm just adding some more detail on to that, adding some more colors as well. So you can see here I'm using the same brush. Basically in watercolors, if you have a good quality mop brush like this, you don't need much of brushes and try to practice the same brush that will definitely help you to enhance your understanding and hence your grip or the watercolor brushes and subsequently it is going to help you in a longer run. Again, I'm working on the backgrounds. I'm adding some light lemon color as well, and then mixing it with some light green. I'm just trying to finishing few more things which add more and more depth into that painting. Again, it's up videos. Few of the artist actually need a very detailed painting, but few actually wanted to have a blurred one, which doesn't have that much of detail. It basically depending upon you and your requirement and your expectation from the particular painting. I hope that this result satisfies you as it is basically satisfying me. I think that I have done justice with the watercolor painting, what we have done. At the end, we can again and use that white tone, what we have previously used, and I've told you that there are some consequences. So here you can see that consequences after a time it becomes dull or blur after drying of the pending. You may feel that the white that you have used that is of no use. Sometimes it is also possible. But when you are adding more and more tonal values, when you are adding more tint of white into that, it retained for a longer time. I'm using the same principle phenomena and I'm just adding the white tone, it becomes dull after a time. So I hope that these results really help you out to understand this watercolor phenomena. I'm adding more petals and trying to, using it with the brush strokes. I'm trying to creating it with the brush strokes. I hope that results really satisfies you, and you have learned a lot of thing. I'm going to see you in the conclusion part of this class. 13. Conclusion: You made it. Congratulations for completing this class. I'm so happy that you have completed this class as it will lay down the foundation of watercolor technique. This will definitely help you to achieve whatever the height you want to accumulate in watercolor painting because the basic is always the same. My request is to first to draw that flower by using the pencil and then paint it using watercolor layer by layer. Then upload it in the project section so that your fellow artists can also see that and I also see that and provide you a review and a feedback. I hope that you enjoyed this class. If you did, please make sure to leave a review. If you are interested in learning further, you can watch my other Skillshare class, their link has been provided in the description. Goodbye, my friends and I hope to see you in my upcoming Skillshare class. Please do take care of yourself. [MUSIC]