How to Paint With Watercolors for Beginners: Your First Lesson

Steps

1. 1. Set Out Your Watercolor Paints, Brushes and Sketchbook

   Lay everything out before you wet a brush. Allison uses a pan set, a size 8 round brush, a student watercolor sketchbook, two jars of water and a paper towel she reuses until it falls apart.

   Tip: Put the paint on the side of your painting hand so you never reach across wet paper.

   

2. 2. Wet the First Watercolor Pan With Clean Water

   Dip your round brush in the clean jar and touch it to the first pan of paint. Swirl a little to soften the top.

   Tip: Drip a drop of water onto every pan before you start. They will all be soft by the time you get to them.

   

3. 3. Paint a Small Square of Watercolor on the Page

   Lay the loaded brush on the paper and make a small square of strong color at the left end of where your swatch will go. This is the darkest end.

   Tip: Write the color name under each swatch in pencil so you can find it again.

   

4. 4. Pull the Watercolor Swatch Into a Light Gradient

   Rinse the brush in the dirty jar, blot it on the towel, then dip it in the clean water. You do not have to clean it completely.

   Tip: If the gradient stops short, add a little more clean water to the brush and keep pulling.

   

5. 5. Swatch Every Watercolor in Your Paint Set

   Clean the brush completely, then repeat the square and gradient with the next pan. Work through the whole set in rows.

   Tip: Keep this swatch page. It is the best guide to your own paints you will ever own.

   

6. 6. Let the Watercolor Swatch Chart Dry Before Adding Layers

   When the chart is finished, stop and look. Darker swatches used less water.

   Tip: Tilt the page toward a window. If it still looks shiny anywhere, it is not dry yet.

   

7. 7. Practice Watercolor Brush Pressure: Touch, Press, Lift

   Pick one brush and one favorite color. Touch only the tip to the paper, press down so the belly of the brush spreads, then lift back up.

   Tip: Hold the brush further back on the handle for looser, freer marks.

   

8. 8. Paint Watercolor Leaf Shapes and Drop In a Second Color

   Use the same touch, press and lift to make leaf shapes with a round brush. Round brushes are the best shape for leaves.

   Tip: Drop the second color in while the first is still shiny. Once it goes matte, it will not blend.

   

9. 9. Lay a Watercolor Wash With a Flat Brush

   A flat brush covers big areas fast. Wet a patch of paper with clean water, then touch in some color and pull it across in wide strokes.

   Tip: Load more water than you think. A flat brush runs dry quickly over a wide area.

   

10. 10. Add Fine Watercolor Details With a Size 0 Brush

    Finish with your smallest brush. A size 0 round is for details: dots, thin lines, tiny curls and eyelashes.

    Tip: Keep this practice page too, next to the swatches. It is your brush cheat sheet.