Learn watercolor painting for beginners: the ultimate online course (2024)

Watercolor paper

Unlike traditional paper such as printer paper, watercolor paper has a different paper thickness and surface texture. You can usually buy the paper in the form of a watercolor block. The thicker the painting surface you choose, the better it can absorb water and consequently does not curl. For beginners, cold-pressed paper with a thickness of at least 300g/m² is best. This information can be found on the cover sheet of the watercolor block.

Watercolors

You can also buy watercolor paints in sets. These usually contain the most important basic colors, which are well suited for beginners. The colors are available either in small tubes, boxes, or as liquid form.

Watercolor pencils

They look like conventional coloring pencils, but these special watercolor pencils are also water colorable. The drawn sketches can be easily painted with a wet brush, which creates beautiful effects.

Watercolor brush pens

You can use these brush pens like normal felt pens or for hand lettering. The special feature of this product is that they are also water colorable and are therefore ideal for painting or drawing watercolor pictures.

Watercolor graphite pencils

These graphite pencils are designed especially for watercolor painting. They are ideal for sketching watercolor pictures because the color can be easily overpainted with water afterwards. Shadows in watercolor paintings can also be created with the help of these pencils, for example.

Paint brushes and water brushes

Paint palette

Paint palettes are needed to mix the different paint colors. You can mix the paint as like in the individual predefined areas. After you are done, you wash out the palette and can then reuse it as often as you like.

All-in-One sets for beginners

The All-in-One watercolor sets are the perfect starting equipment for beginners. They contain not only the watercolor pencils or brush pens in assorted colors, but also drawing pencils, water brushes and erasers.

Mistake #1: Wrong paper

Many beginners use the wrong paper when they start watercolor painting. The most common mistake that is made: not using a special watercolor paper. Watercolor paper has a very high component of cotton for a reason. It makes it very absorbent, not only for water but also the mixed colors. Conventional printer paper, for example, curls a lot when it gets wet. So not only do the colors melt, but the picture ends up looking distorted when the paper dries.

Mistake #2: Wrong paint brush

There are round and flat watercolor brushes for watercolor painting. Beginners often use paint brushes that are too small because they lack the necessary confidence. However, if you use a brush that is too small, you will need more brushstrokes for your painting and the work will quickly look overworked. A size 8 paint brush is best for beginners: you can use it to paint many different shapes, as well as finer and coarser strokes. A flat brush is best for painting backgrounds. For the smallest details you ideally use a round brush in size 2.

Mistake #3: Dirty water

You will quickly notice the first time you try and paint with watercolors: the water discolors relatively quickly. If you also use many colors in succession, it will soon look very similar to a muddy puddle. Therefore, make sure to change the water regularly so that the color pigments on the watercolor paper continue to show to their advantage.

Mistake #4: Too much water

It often happens that beginners use too much water when painting in watercolor. If the brush is too wet and the mixing ratio of water to color is not right, the paper will curl very strongly. This leads to unwanted water edgesand outlines around the color area.

Mistake #5: Too little water

On the other hand, you can also make the mistake of painting with too little water: there is the so-called "dry brush effect" that you can use specifically. To paint beautiful transitions and color gradients, however, you should use the right amount of water. If you make a mistake and the color is too dry or dark, you can easily fix it bydipping the brush in water and squeezing it out in the brush cloth. Now you can simply soak up the excess paint on the paper with the brush.

Mistake #6: Color bleeding

A mistake that happens often with impatient artists: the first layer of paint is not yet dry, and you continue painting with another color. The result: the colors mix and run into each other. In so-called "color bleeding" you then have no clear edges on your painting. Layering the colours always works better once the paint is dry.

Mistake #7: Unwanted paint splashes

If you accidentally drop the brush onto the painting and unwanted splashes appear, you can remove them quickly and easily: by washing the brush in clean water and letting a drop of the clean water drip onto the watercolor paper. The paint will dissolve, and you can remove the splashes with a kitchen towel. However, it is important to let the paper dry completely before you continue drawing!

Mistake #8: Too dark underdrawings

Sometimes it happens that you have drawn your sketch with the pencil too dark. If you want to erase it afterwards, you unfortunately also remove the watercolor. You can avoid this mistake by making the preliminary sketches with a water colorable colored pencil in light grey. This preliminary drawing is blended in combination with water and can hardly be seen afterwards.

Mistake #9: Perfectionism

The picture is finished, but you are still not satisfied? Sometimes beginners make the mistake of always wanting to change something to improve the artwork. Unfortunately, it then happens that it does not become more beautiful but appears overworked.

In the end, look at your painting favorably, even if you are not 100% satisfied. Trial and error are part of the process - if you made mistakes in this painting, they won't happen again in the next one.