So I really admire your art and have always wanted to work more with water colors, any tips? (Not too expensive, beginner.) but brands of materials, types of supplies, tips for using them, ect? I love love love your work! Xx
I’m sorry it’s taken so long to reply to your message: I hope I’ll be able to help a little!
There are two grades of watercolour, student and artist. The watercolours that I started off using were Cotman by Winsor and Newton, which are student grade. They are great for figuring out whether you enjoy the medium before moving onto the artist grade. I thought they were great! However, if you can afford a little more, I definitely recommend the St Petersburg White Nights - they are considered artist quality. These are what I used for all of my YouTube watercolours up until very recently. They are full pans as well, meaning you get a lot more paint than most other sets! I also use the White Nights for some of my calligraphy.You don’t have to go crazy with getting lots and lots of colours when you’re starting off either. Getting a basic 12 colour set can be perfect!
This is just a little comparison between student quality Cotman and artist quality White Nights and Schmincke Horadam, so you can see how they behave with water:
In terms of paper, I definitely would spend a little more money to get proper watercolour paper. It will totally change how you enjoy using the paint. There are three types of watercolour paper - hot press (which is smooth and the paint dries quickly), cold press (which has a bit more texture and is the one I use the most) and rough (which has even more texture than cold press). I’ve only tried the Daler Rowney Langton cold press paper because the brand is available locally, but I’ve heard a lot about Arches too. For practising (and for some of my paintings) I use the Daler Rowney mixed media paper, which is more affordable and works very well.
I’m not very particular about my brushes - it’s quite nice buying a set and experimenting with that. I use round brushes (for details) and flat brushes (for washes) the most often. I love size 4 sable blend brush from Rosemary and Co - I use it for most of my paintings, as well as my 1” flat brush. Other than that, it’s a bit of mishmash!
Additional handy things to have:• H pencil - I use this lighter pencil to plan out my paintings rather than a normal HB pencil, which can smudge into the paint• Cheap spray bottle for water - I often spray the paper before painting: you get some really nice effects when you add the watercolour• Masking tape - helpful for taping the edges of the paper down if you use lots of water in your painting, stopping it from warping• Finetec metallic palette - totally a personal preference as I love adding metallic embellishments to pieces! These can be used as both paint and calligraphy inks.
(This work in progress is from a piece on my other art blog, artofthewoods)
I’ve started with an H pencil, sketching out my design. I don’t do anything in terms of shading. (Leave that until painting!)
I’ve just used the spray bottle to lightly cover the paper in water before adding my base colours. I normally let the paint do what it wants at this point - you can get some really lovely effects. I always start with light colours before building up to dark. I let this dry completely before continuing.
I’ve started to add some darker shading on the petals and at the centre of the roses. These ‘pink’ roses also have purples and oranges in them too! By adding different colours, you make the painting more interesting!
I kept adding darker tones and details on the flowers. (I made sure the paint had dried at every step before adding to it.) I changed my mind about the swirls I had sketched in around the flowers and opted for something more simple.
Calligraphy with the White Nights watercolours and a Leonardt EF Principal nib.
Honestly, I’ve seen amazing artworks made with very inexpensive watercolours, like Crayola - practice makes such a difference. Don’t be put off!All the best with your art, I really hope you enjoy painting! xx