I have some general advice that could be useful.Use as few layers of paint as possible when learning how to use watercolors. I know watercolors has transparency as one of it’s signature qualities but it’s often led inexperienced painters to make muddy illustrations without meaning to because they keep overlaying different colors on top of each other. Remember color theory and how layers of colors work over each other. Keep it simple in the beginning and once you get the hang of it, you can start getting complex and crazy.Try to be tactical about where your putting the brush and what color you’re using. It’s not a forgiving medium, so you have to learn to be extra careful. Take it slow and be patient, you won’t get better overnight.Kind of redundant, but have a pencil drawing underneath to make sure you know what you’re painting.Try to mix your colors rather than taking it straight from the tube/cakes. This kind of depends on what your working on, if your painting is more realistic, mix colors to give them a natural feel. Using colors straight from the tube is great for saturated points of light or focus. Regardless, I would encourage you all to mix colors because it’s helps you understand how color works. Get good white gouache, for the highlights and lighting and stuff.Work from lightest to darkest, less mistakes that way.Keep your palette dirty, the leftover colors can be revitalized with water and can give you great neutrals to work with. After a couple of paintings, clean it completely so you have a fresh plate to have a different palette of colors.Take care of your brushes. Always clean them after you finish your work, it’ll make them last longer and keep the tip nice and pristine. I almost forgot to mention this but for goodness sake, use a larger brush for painting large areas. It’s criminal to put so much pressure on a tiny brush to fill a large space. Basic math, if the area is more than 3-5 times the width of the brush, use a bigger one.Make sure your cup of water is kept clear as often as possible. Using dirty water has often led to murky colors and unwanted greyness in paintings, so keep that on check. If your painting looks a little browner than you wanted, its probably because of your cup. Clean it out.Keep you work station clear and organized. This helps with cleaning up and also keeps motions fluid and uninhibited.Look at other watercolor artists, Ilya Ibryaev, Rex Brandt, G D Paulraj, G D Arulraj, and G D Thyagaraj, as some examples. Even Miyazaki’s watercolors are phenomenal. Dropping Kazuo Oga’s name too, even though he doesn’t use watercolors, because he’s the bomb diggity and his work is amazing. Here is video of one of his paintings, watch it, it’s good shit. Don’t be limited by what you see, do make the effort to look up as much references and inspirations as you can to help guide you to where you want the result to go. Be patient, and practice, practice, practice.If you like the watercolor effect, but have trouble with analogue execution, I would highly recommend getting Kyle Webster’s Watercolor Brushset, which can give convincing results if you learn how to use them properly.
There is more stuff to learn about watercolor than just the tips here. Experiment, learn, research, educate yourself, and have fun!
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