How to Approach Watercolor Painting as a Beginner

Lay out a sheet of construction paper on a table. Make a very simple drawing with LIGHT pencil strokes.A square or circle will also work great.

Place a pin of any color on the white palette.

Wet the brush slightly. If there is too much water in the brush, tap it on a rag or piece of paper to absorb the excess, or shake it lightly.

Drop a couple of drops of water - from the brush - onto the color you put on the palette. Don't use too much water - just enough to make the paint runny.

Dip the brush into the watery color on the palette, and thus capture a small amount of color in the brush. Then, distribute the color inside the shape you had drawn on the cardboard.If the color is not diluted enough, and you are therefore unable to distribute it, dip the brush once again in the water and add it directly onto the paper.Continue experimenting with different quantities of water and mixed colors to find out what ratio of quantity of water to color you like best.If you want to give the painting a "dry brush" look, you will have to use less water in the brush, while if you want a more liquid and flowing style, you will have to use more water than paint, etc...Fill the shape on the cardstock with color.

Let dry.

Take a sheet of watercolor paper, secure it tightly on a drawing board with tape on the corners. With a large brush or sponge, wet the entire surface of the sheet.Next try painting it with different colors.As the paper dries, notice how the color reacts to the amount of water you used.

You can use a wet-on-wet to get a light, smooth color as a background. The colors on the paper mix easily with each other, and some colors do this better than others.Try painting streaks of various blues, then a streak of yellow or gold next to it, then a streak of red after the gold when it's very wet.You will see the chromatic mixtures of the colors in a homogeneous gradation.

Try letting it dry until you can no longer see the shimmer of the water, but the paper is still damp. Now the brushstrokes will still be delicate but a little more defined.Once you've got the paint down, let it dry completely and then add the details with a wet on dry.

Adopt a very simple subject at the beginning, which has large areas of color. Mix in some baby blue.Sketch hills and trees in pencil.Color them initially approximately with a wet-on-wet paint.Then add some larger details, with a wet on wet.Finally add all the smaller details with a wet on dry, when the painting has completely dried.

You can tell the paper is completely dry when it no longer feels fresh. Place the back of your hand over the painting, without touching it.It takes a little practice to get a good feel for moisture this way, but if you touch the painting you might ruin it or leave traces of oil on it.Do not remove the tape from the corners until the paper is completely dry and flat.The adhesive tape is used to flatten the paper, which tends to bulge with water.

You can use a pad of watercolor paper that is gummed on all four sides instead of taping the paper to a drawing board. It is a slightly more expensive but much more practical solution for a beginner.

Try using a lot of water - and therefore a lot of light colors - in one area. Then put a little salt in it before it dries.You will get some very nice effects, which you can use to make falling snowflakes or lichens on rocks.

Try drawing on paper with a white colored pencil, wax crayon or candle. By passing the color over it, the lines of the drawing will appear.

Try cutting out shapes on masking tape, and using them as templates to get shapes on the painting. Any shape you cut out on the tape and apply to the paper will leave a clean, white imprint on the painting.

With watercolors, always paint the darkest areas first and skip the light ones. Cover all the parts of the painting that you want to leave white, or don't paint over them at all.Get used to "negative painting", and later you will be better able to outline objects this way than to actually draw them.Try drawing just the shape of the space exactly around the cup and the shape inside the handle, instead of drawing the whole cup, with shadows and details.You'll notice a big difference in accuracy!

Try to "beautify" the painting. Once the watercolor part is completely dry, dilute a small amount of another color and quickly pass it over the painting.You will notice that the color will change and if you do it carefully you will not ruin the details painted underneath.A little gold in sunlit areas in a landscape can make the sunlight appear brighter.