Paint Ocean Waves in Watercolor: 7 Beginner-Friendly Projects.

1. Hello, Welcome !: What if you could improve your watercolor skills simply by painting calm ocean waves again and again without getting overwhelmed by complicated techniques and detailed compositions. Welcome to this class. Painting ocean waves in watercolor, seven beginner friendly projects. Hi, I'm Sakuta, watercolor artist and teacher. I've been painting with watercolors for so many years now, I think, more than ten years, and I gravitate more towards calming and simple landscapes. And one thing I do believe is that painting simple landscapes consistently will improve your watercolor skills much more than trying to chase complicated techniques. That is exactly what this class is about. This class will officially begin today and continue till June 14. Instead of uploading projects every single day, a new class project will be uploaded every alternate day, giving you enough time to relax, paint, practice, and catch up comfortably without feeling overwhelmed. Throughout this class, we will paint seven beginner friendly ocean waves landscapes inspired by calming sea textures, soft movement, flowing water, and beautiful blue tones. Now, before we begin, I want to mention something very important. All the projects in this series may look slightly similar, and that is completely intentional. This is not a class where every single day introduces a dramatically different composition or technique. Instead, this class is designed more like a guided watercolor practice session because honestly, repetition is one of the best ways to build confidence in watercolor. This class is perfect for absolute beginners, anyone who feels intimidated by watercolor, or any artist looking for a calm daily painting routine, or anyone who simply loves painting oceans and water textures. You do not need prior experience to join this class. I will guide you step by step through each project. By the end of this class, you will have seven completed ocean paintings with you and much better understanding on how watercolur behaves while painting water and waves. Most importantly, I hope this class helps you slow down, enjoy the process and fall in love with watercolur a little more. So gather your supplies, prepare your favorite shades of blue. Let's begin this peaceful ocean journey together. And 2. Art Supplies : Before we begin with our first class project, let's quickly go through all the art supplies you will need for this class. Let's start with the paper. For all the projects in this class, I'll be using 100% cotton, cold pressed watercolor paper from Fabriano. This is 300 JSM paper, which means it can handle multiple layers of water and paint without buckling too much. I usually purchase these papers in rolls and then cut them down to whatever size that I need for a particular project. Next, let's talk about paints. Before each class project, I will discuss the exact colors we will be using for that particular painting, so you don't have to worry about memorizing them right now. For this lesson, I simply wanted to show you the brands that I use more often. The watercolor brands you will see me using throughout this class include white knight, Sena, Aquaton, Windsor and Newton. These are all artist create watercolors, but feel free to use whatever paints you already have. The technique will work regardless of the brand. Now, let's move on to the brushes. I like to keep my brush selection very simple, and for most of my paintings, I use just four brushes. The first is a wash brush from Princeton, which I mainly use for applying larger washes of water and paint. The remaining three are silver back velvet round brushes in different sizes, size ten, six, and two. These brushes are incredibly versatile and allow me to paint everything from broad washes to fine details and texture. Next, you will need a board to tape your paper onto. The board I use is actually a simple vegetable cutting board that I purchased from Amazon. It's light weight, sturdy and works perfectly for watercolor painting. To secure the paper to the board, I will be using masking tape. This helps keeps the paper in place while painting and also gives nice clean edges if you are taping down on all four sides. But for this project, I will be just sticking my paper onto it onto the board instead of just applying it around the edges. Apart from that, you will need a ceramic palette, a jar of clean water, and a few paper towels or tissues for controlling excess water. And that's it. These are all the supplies you will need throughout this class. Don't worry if you don't have the exact same brands or materials. Use what you have and focus on enjoying the process. 3. Day 1 - Whispering Waves: Let's begin with our first class project, whispering waves. Before we start painting, let's quickly look at the colors we'll be using for today's project. The first color is cobalt Turquoise light from Windsor and Newton. If you don't have this exact shade, feel free to use any Turquoise or Turquoise green watercolor from your palette. The second color is indanthrine blue from Sennelier, and finally, we'll be using indigo from Windsor and Newton. These are the only three colors we'll need for today's painting. At the very end, I will also be using a little white cash to create some soft highlights later. But we're going to only swatch these colors these three colors before we begin. First, I will watch Cobalt Turquoise slight, next Inanta in blue, and finally Indigo. This is our color palette for today's project, and now we are ready to begin painting. I will start by wetting the entire paper using my Princeton wash brush. Make sure the water is applied evenly across the surface. Once the paper is wet, I will use a tissue to remove any excess water collecting around the edges. Now we can begin painting. The first layer should be very light and soft. I will create a mixture of cobalt turquoise light and anthrine blue and begin painting gentle horizontal strokes across the paper. And I'm using my silver black velvet number ten round brush for this. Although these are horizontal strokes, notice that they aren't perfectly straight. They have a slight wave like moment to them. Try to follow the general direction of my brush strokes, but don't worry about making your painting look exactly like mine. A similar flow and structure is more than enough. The first layer is in place. I will quickly change my brush. This is silver black velvet number six, smaller round brush before we were using number ten brush. I will begin darkening the mixture by adding a little indigo. Using this daka value, I will start building the deeper wave shapes, especially towards the foreground. The upper portion of the painting will remain relatively light while the foreground gradually becomes darker to create depth. I think I'm going to darken the foreground waves a little bit because they are looking quite similar to the ones that are about the horizontal wavy shapes. Like I said before, the foreground should be a bit darker. The middle part is quite empty. So I'm going to just fill out a few waves over there as well, using the same color. A few light strokes at the top, as well. We don't want to create two dark waves over there on the top. Just the foreground should be darker, like I've mentioned before. Now, a little darker at the foreground, you have to just follow your intuition at this point. And now while the paper is still damp, I will lift out a few areas using a clean brush. This helps create subtle highlights and illusion of light catching the surface of the water. So you're happy with the first layer. Allow the painting to dry completely. Now that the paper is dried, I will switch to my silver black velvet size six round brush and take some indigo. This is the same brush that we have used before, so I will just take the same brush. I'm sorry, I meant switch. I meant the same brush. This step is where we will add a few shadow details and darker accents. Be careful here because it is very easy to over this painting at this point. Less is definitely more. I will only add a few marks where necessary to enhance the movement and depth of the water. Finally, I will splatter a little whiteqh to create tiny reflections and glimmers of light across the surface. And that is it. Our first project, Whispering Waves is now complete. If you are enjoying the class so far, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review. It helps the class reach more students and support my work as a teacher. Since today is June 1, the next project will be released on June 3. Remember, we will be painting together every alternate day throughout this series. Thank you so much for joining me today. I truly appreciate you spending your time painting with me. I will see you guys in the next class project until then, happy painting and take care. 4. Day 2 - Rolling Waters: Let's begin with our second class project. It's called Rolling Waters. As always, we will start by selecting the colors first. Today's project, I'll be using Azure blue, Turquoise blue and indigo, all from the brand white knights. I already have Azure blue on my palette, so I'll just activate it with a little water. Next, I'll take Turquoise blue, followed by indigo. Let's quickly swatch these colors so you have a better idea of the palette that we'll be working with today. First is Azure blue. Next is Turquoise blue, and finally, indigo. This simple three color palette is all we'll need for today's painting. Now, let's begin by thoroughly wetting the paper. I'll be using my Princeton washbush to apply an even layer of clean water across the entire surface. Once the paper is evenly wet, I will switch to my silver black velvet size ten round brush. We will now begin with a gradient wash using a mixture of azure blue and talcuaise blue. Starting from the top of the paper, I will gently bring the wash down toward the bottom, creating a smooth transition of the color. The paper is still wet, I will use the same color mixture to begin painting soft wave shapes. Remember that waves are rarely stripe. Instead of painting rigid horizontal lines, try moving your brush in gentle semicircular motions to create a natural wave pattern. These days, keep everything very light and subtle. Think of this as foundation layer. We will be adding more waves in the next layer. Now I will switch to my silver black velvet number six round brush a little smaller than the one we had before. By adding a little indigo to the azure blue and turquoise blue mixture, I will create a darker value and begin building another layer of the waves. Work your way from bottom toward the top, adding wave shapes wherever you feel they are needed. There is no strict reference image for this project, so feel free to place the waves naturally and intuitively. Just make sure your paper is wet while you are adding the waves. Once the wave structure is established, I will selectively darken a few areas to create more depth and variation throughout the painting. Yeah. After that, I will remove any excess water or paint collecting around the edges of the paper using a paper towel. As you can see, the edges have so much of paint, I mean, around the paper. So we have to clean it to avoid any backgrounds or blooms, since we did not, you know, tape down our paper. If you tape down your paper, it's still my advice to, you know, clean the edges. Oh, we will allow the painting to dry completely. Okay. My paper is dry now. I will take indigo and my silver back velvet, size six brush and begin adding a few subtle reflection and darker accents. This step should be approached with a light hand. It's very easy to overdo these details, so focus only on adding a few carefully placed marks to enhance the movement of the water. As you can see, my background remains quite light while the darker ascents help create the contrast and depth in the foreground. If any area becomes darker than interdent, you can easily lighten it while the paper is still damp by gently dabbing it with a clean tissue paper. As you can see, that's what I'm doing here. I think the indigo was a little too strong for the background, so I'll just dab a little paint off a little. This only works while the paint is wet. And that is it. Our second project, Rolling Waters is now complete. Hope you enjoyed painting this calming ocean study with me. Thank you so much for joining me today, and I will see you in the next class project.