Q&A for How to Paint With Watercolors

Consider glazing your paper to add a subtle hue to your painting. Take a light, transparent color and dilute it with clean water, then paint over the area and let the glaze dry fully. You can do this either underneath your painting or on top of it. If you use a color like gamboge yellow under your painting, for instance, it will give the piece a soft glow, but you can also glaze over your shadows with a color like cobalt to help tone them down.

Try splattering the paint to add movement. Dip a toothbrush in your water and paint, then hold it near the paper and run your thumb over the toothbrush. You can't necessarily paint every rock or blade of grass, so this technique can give your artwork some needed texture and movement.

If you want to add texture to your painting, like for foliage, take a brush that hardly has any water on it. Then, brush over the top of your paint to leave rough, uneven texture marks. It's called dry brushing, and it's great for creating texture.

You will have to mix the watercolor paint with the rightful amount of water (not too much but not too little as well). To get the paint mix, squeeze out some paints from the tube if you are using watercolor tubes and put it on a palette or any mixing tray, then take some water from your water container with your brush and dab a small amount of water on the paint. Squeeze, and if you are using watercolor pans, just dab some water right away to the watercolor pans and scrub off the watercolor to the palette.

Shadows are fairly easy to do for watercolor, compared to acrylic and oil paint (because of its water based consistency). Just draw the wall first, and wait until it dries. After it dries, you can use a darker hue to shade. Watercolor is especially good for this, because you can still see the texture of the wall through the shade. For the reflections, try to use the same colors to make the reflection and paint the reflection on first, than the water (don't overlap too much for the water body).

Because it's so thin, it will often bubble or crease when it dries, so it's not recommended. It is okay if you are just starting out and don't want to invest in watercolor paper or canvases yet.

The brand used here is Reeves. They are a good starter brand. But you can use any brand.

While the paint is still a little wet, add a small drop of water to the place you want the colors to meet and blend it together with a clean brush or your finger.

Get one of those erasers that you can mold and erase the pencil to make it lighter.

Do a layer of water first. Paint the area you want to work on first out with water. Watercolor will only fill that space. Gravity and too much water will play into how it goes.

Yes, you can. There are even canvases available that are specially made for watercolors.

Yes, but only use it as a beginner. If you feel like you've mastered the basic skills, then you can move on to professional paints.

It depends on if the sheet is grainy or not. If it feels grainy, it is safe for watercolors, if it is smooth, it is not suitable for watercolors.

If you want to make the painting more noticeable, then use more pigment/brighter colors. If you want to progress faster at painting, watch YouTube videos. Lots of practice, and patience, will help you improve your painting as well.

You can, but they will bleed through and the paper will become wrinkled.

A waterbrush is ideal for use with watercolor paints and eliminates the need for a separate container of water. This makes it really useful for plein air painting or sketching on location.

You probably need thicker paper - look for 300 gsm watercolor paper. Also, make sure you have dabbed excess water off your brush before you soak up paint from your pale watercolor solution. Your brush should not be dripping. It's a delicate art to getting it watery but not too watery. You'll develop a feel for it.