Watercolor drawings for beginners. How to learn to paint with watercolors from scratch? No more than ten of the most commonly used paints are selected for work: most often, these are blue, cadmium yellow, red and orange, ocher, umber, emerald green, neutral black

In this article you will find many interesting ideas on how to diversify painting classes with your child and make them interesting and informative.

Environmentally friendly paints for children

For children, there are 3 types of safe paints that parents prefer:

• finger
• gouache
• watercolor

It is better to start with finger paints, they are suitable for younger children. You can learn more about them from the article. Gouache and watercolors for older children.

The child is interested in exploring something new, but over time he may get tired of the monotonous procedure for painting a sheet with paint. To prevent this from happening, parents need to show the child how else to draw.

There are many ways to paint with the above paints. Various techniques will not let your child get bored and will show him a lot of new and interesting things that he has not seen before.

Finger drawing for kids

This is the most interesting activity for the little ones, because the paint must first be touched before learning to draw with it. Dip your index finger in the paint and place spots on the paper with them, draw a flower or a caterpillar with them. Draw lines with your finger, make rays of the sun. Show your child that you can draw this way and let him create himself, let him draw what he wants.

Painting with a brush for children

When the child is already able to hold a brush in handles, show him how to draw with it. Explain to your child to wash it before taking on a new color. Take paint on a brush and apply it to a sheet of paper. Try to paint with brushes of different sizes and shapes, see what kind of drawing you get.

You can paint with a brush in the following ways:

Spot painting for kids

Show how you can draw with dots, for this you can use a brush, a finger, and a cotton swab. Dip your tool in paint and quickly touch the paper with it. You can decorate simple pictures with this technique, kids really like this activity, and besides, it is very useful for the development of fine motor skills of the hands.

Drawing with stamps for children

Apply paint to the die and place it on the paper, press down. An imprint of the picture will remain on the paper. Show your toddler how to work with it. Stamps can be painted in different colors; instead of ready-made stamps, you can use homemade ones. For example, you can make circles with a straw, you can use figures from sorters, parts from a designer, and even cut vegetables and fruits.

A very interesting texture is obtained if, instead of a stamp, you use a regular napkin with pimples. Dip it in paint and, as if blotting, walk it over a sheet of paper.

Painting with foam rubber

Cut a piece of foam and dip it in the paint, then press it against the paper and remove. You can draw lines, paint over some shapes. Show your kid how they can draw. Also, the child will be interested if you make different geometric shapes out of foam rubber. You can attach them to a pencil or stick and use them as stamps. So, while playing, you can learn not only colors, but also shapes. Then complicate the task, try to draw ornaments, first from two shapes, then use more shapes.

Drawing on wet paper

Dampen a piece of drawing paper with water. Now paint on it. The contours of the lines blur, become fuzzy, smooth transitions and haze are excellent. Just do not overdo it with water, it will be better if you wipe it with a damp cotton swab. This technique is good for pictures with rain, fog, flowers behind a curtain.

Blotography

Teach your child to put blots, because then it is so interesting to guess what they look like.

Take a sheet of paper, fold it in half, unfold and put several blots on the fold, you can make them in the same color or different. Fold the sheet along the fold and drag your fingers from the center of the drawing to the edge. At the same time, you can say something like "sim-salabim".

Unfold the sheet and show the kid what happened to you. When the child grows up a little, you can ask him what he sees in the picture, what he reminds him of. When the drawing is dry, you can add small details with a felt-tip pen or draw a contour. It develops imagination and abstract thinking very well.

Nitkography

To do this, you will need a sheet of thick paper and a woolen thread. Bend the sheet in half and unfold, lower the thread into a jar of paint, then put it on paper and fold it. Wrap the thread while pressing the sheet with your palm. Expand and see what happens. You will see chaotic strokes of paint, examine them with your child, maybe you will see some familiar objects in them, circle them and add details, say what they are called. A combination of creativity, mental work and speech work will help your child develop intellectually.

Wax painting

This is a very common and interesting technique. Draw a picture on a piece of paper with crayon or a piece of wax candle, and then paint over this piece of paper with your child. Since the wax is greasy, its paint will not paint over and you will see your drawing. Using this method, you can still make secret notes or write congratulations.

Waxing and painting techniques

Place something under a piece of paper, such as a coin or other embossed object and rub the sheet with wax, paint over the top with paint and you will get an image of the object.

Salt drawings

Sprinkle salt on your finished design. When the paint dries, the salt will remain on the sheet and give an interesting texture to the drawing. Thus, you can make a three-dimensional drawing, for example, highlight stones or a path in the image. On blue paint, the salt will look like snowflakes, if you sprinkle the green leaves with salt, they will become like living, translucent.

Drawings with masking tape

Molar tape sticks well and peels off the paper, so it can be used in drawing and get interesting effects. For example, you can make a birch forest: cut out tree trunks from scotch tape, you can stick twigs and branches from the remains, stick scotch tape on a sheet of paper. On top, paint everything with paint, when it dries, remove the tape, white stripes will remain under it. it remains to add details and the forest is ready!

You can cut something more complicated, such as houses, and draw a whole city. Scotch tape is good because it can be used instead of a stencil, but paint drips are unlikely to fall under it, and there is no need to fix it additionally.

You can also use the tape as a frame for the picture, when you remove it, the edges of the picture will be clear and it will be neat.

Drawing pictures with cling film

Yes, with the help of cling film, you can also make amusing drawings. Lay it on a sheet of paper covered with wet paint and drag it around a little. When you remove it, you will see interesting abstractions that resemble crystals.

Blowing paint through straws

Dilute the paint with water to thin it. Take one or two colors. Place a drop of paint on a sheet and blow into the straw, directing it in different directions towards the paint. The drawing will resemble the interlacing of tree branches, or you can add a face and it will be hair - let the child dream up.

Painting pictures

Draw a little animal on a piece of paper and ask the child to hide it, just first show how: paint it completely with paint. At the same time, you can tell a fairy tale, for example, that there was a mouse, she went for delicious cheese, and a cat was waiting for her, which wanted to eat the mouse. And ask the kid how you can help the mouse? Of course, it must be hidden. And ask him to do it.

Drawing of a leaf

A very fun way to draw. For this you need leaves from trees. Apply paint to the leaves, you can paint with different colors, attach the leaf with paint to the paper and press down, then carefully remove. You can make such a beautiful forest.

If you include a little imagination, you will come up with a lot of new ideas with which drawing will not only be fun, but also cognitive, educational and useful.

Besides paints, there are also other drawing tools. Your kid will definitely like wax crayons, felt-tip pens, and crayons. More details about fine and other types of creativity are described in the article

VIDEO: Let's paint with paints! Drawing games

If you want to try something new in painting, pay attention to the technique of painting with acrylics. The canvases created by paints based on plastic have an interesting volumetric structure. Painting with acrylic is no more difficult than painting with watercolors. At the same time, the finished picture does not need to be processed with fixing compounds - the paints are highly resistant, do not fade and are not afraid of water.

What is acrylic for painting

Acrylic paints appeared in mass production relatively recently - only 50 years ago. Pigmented acrylic resin quickly gained widespread popularity - primarily due to its versatility and durability. It is used not only by painters on canvas, but also by interior artists who create paintings on the walls, builders and even masters of manicure.

Acrylic paints are different. So, for the decoration of walls or ceilings, it is better to choose a special acrylic paint of a dense consistency. Volumetric images in the interior look colorful, realistic and original. Less concentrated paints, usually sold in tubes, are suitable for creating paintings on canvas. The drawing process for beginners is fascinating, it allows you to reveal your artistic talent to the fullest.

How to prepare the foundation for a future painting

Before choosing an acrylic paint, take care of preparing the base. You can draw on wooden boards or plywood. You can use a stretcher or regular canvas. The easiest way is to paint with acrylic on paper, so a beginner should first of all master this canvas.

Choose paper with a dense, rough surface. For you to be able to paint correctly with acrylic, the base must be strong. If you choose textured paper, glue a wood backing onto it.

Remove the formed air bubbles with a book - the canvas is ready for painting. The acrylic canvas can be sanded further as the material adheres best to a smooth surface. Novice painters often wonder whether it is necessary to prime the canvas under acrylic?

If you work on boards, an acrylic primer, available from art stores, will come in handy. It is a special emulsion with titanium dioxide, which gives whiteness. A primer is applied to the prepared board in several layers and dried within 24 hours.

How to learn to paint with acrylic from scratch

Make sure the paint is not dry first. When applying the first strokes, be sure to moisten the acrylic palette with water - you will need a spray bottle to do this. It is not necessary to pour out a lot of acrylic paint at one time. Use absorbent paper, you can put it under the palette.

Observe the transparency of the paint: the more water you add, the more transparent the strokes will be. Paint with large brushes first, start with large areas. Then smoothly move on to the main details. The technique of painting with acrylics on paper or a wooden board requires the utmost accuracy and precision. From time to time, look at the drawing in the mirror - this will help you understand if its proportions are correct.

Many beginners find it difficult to mix acrylic paints with each other. You can use a thinner - it increases the "open" time of the paints, making them easier to compose. It is necessary to distribute the material only with the edge of the brush, and to obtain clear contours of the sketch, you can use ordinary adhesive tape, which is sold in any hardware store.

Try lightening and darkening shades by adding white or black tones to them. To clean the palette of acrylic paints, use any plastic-dissolving agent - ordinary household solvent will do.

Painting with acrylics on paper or wood is a creative process that is a lot of fun. To make it even more enjoyable, follow the guidelines:

When dry, the paints darken significantly. Consider this when choosing shades for the future canvas. Choose non-toxic materials for work, even if they are more expensive. Wear an apron while working to avoid staining your clothes.

In addition to professional brushes with long handles, paints and canvas bases, stock up on glue for decoupage, as well as a convenient spray bottle filled with water.

It is better to use a plastic palette - it is practical and easy to clean. Don't forget to use clean water for rinsing your brushes.

Having mastered the technique of painting with acrylics, you can create real masterpieces. A little patience, diligence and the right materials for work are the key to impressive results.

Drawing classes help to relax, calm down and get away from everyday, everyday problems into the world of dreams and fantasies. You can start drawing with anything: pencils, gouache, charcoal, oil paints, watercolors. But only a box of watercolors familiar from childhood can give a ticket to childhood, the world of fantasy and adventure. What can be painted with watercolors?

Where to begin

They can easily help you create a variety of images, landscapes, still lifes, whatever your heart desires.

To begin with, you should arm yourself with desire, patience, various brushes, paints, a palette and water containers. Sometimes it is helpful to have sponges, paper napkins, and pencils and sponges on hand. So what can you paint with watercolors? How to make drawings of the highest quality and most professional?

Watercolors - for battle

Watercolors are loved by both experienced artists and beginners, including the smallest. It contains natural, harmless pigments. The adhesives in these paints are also created by nature. Mainly used are such as gum arabic, casein, honey, dextrin, phenol. The brush is moistened with clean water, then the paint is collected, then the conceived images begin to appear on the surface of the paper.

What can be painted with watercolors? Due to the transparency of the pigments, they are able to convey weightlessness, lightness, freshness. So, for example, to paint something light, weightless with oil paints, you have to apply several opaque shades one on top of the other until the desired effect is obtained. Watercolor is a versatile medium, because thanks to the unique structure of colors, it becomes possible to reproduce all genres, unique and unpredictable effects. Pigments on paper seem to melt, spread, their mixtures can create various combinations of colors and shades. What can be painted with watercolors for beginners? What the artist's soul desires.

The question arises: what about gouache? What is the difference from gouache? Transparency is what separates watercolor from gouache, where pigments are mixed with whitewash.

There are many interesting ways to paint with this paint. The main ones are described below.

Painting with a flat brush

What can be painted with watercolors beautifully? Let's figure it out. You can paint anything beautifully with watercolors. But there are also unusual ways to do this. There is an interesting flat brush painting method designed for paints on a wide variety of bases, both water-based and oil-based, acrylic. Its principle is as follows: two different colors of paint are typed on the edges of a flat brush.

The work is done on a dry sheet of paper. First, the outline of a square or triangle is drawn to determine the beginning and end of the layer. Next, colors are selected, and a line is drawn along the upper left corner to the right corner (left-handers start drawing from right to left). You can get masterpieces with this technique! So, plants are often drawn:

• flowers;
• petals;
• floral ornaments;
• snow-covered fir trees.

Differentiated (in certain areas of the picture) blur

This method is the main one for professional artists. It is done as follows:

What can be painted in watercolor this way? This method is used by artists to depict the sky, large meadows, meadows, water, various surfaces where transparency, lightness and immensity are required. It becomes possible to convey in the picture all the shades of natural beauty, natural overflows. Differentiated blur helps show the richness and magic of natural beauty.

Glazing

What can be painted with watercolors in stages? A method similar to blur, but in this case the pigment should be applied to a dry sheet of paper. Glazing allows you to adjust the color and tone of the picture, clearly work out the transitions of shades. When working with glazing, dry each color separately in stages. This is how the background of the picture is created, if the artist wishes, the sky, the sea, any vast surfaces are drawn.

"Wet on wet"

What can be easily painted with watercolors? There is a method developed by European artists that allows you to miraculously paint landscapes and natural phenomena. The secret of the method is that the paint is applied to a wet sheet. The entire canvas is evenly wetted with clean water. It is most convenient to do this with a sponge, but a large, soft brush will do. Next, the necessary strokes are applied with a brush, creating unique shapes, shades, color transitions in the work.

"Dry brush"

This method requires certain skills and dexterity of the artist. An almost dry hard brush is used here. The paper must also remain dry. A large amount of paint is collected on the brush and the elaboration of images begins. On bumpy surfaces, it is possible to create clear, highlighted traces, to create effects similar to pencil drawings.

In this way, both independent works are created, and individual elements are worked out, which are lost in a dim background. What drawings can be painted with dry brush watercolors? Very often this method is used to create portraits, landscapes, still lifes. In a word - wherever a detailed elaboration of images is required. A "dry brush" is able to bring clarity and clarity to a drawing, like a pencil - to show the necessary lines and curves, one might say - to write a whole work about what the artist painted.

Flushing

What can be painted with watercolor paints? There is another unusual way of using watercolors, used by professional artists. In this case, it is required to wash off the pigment after it is completely dry. The part of the work that requires correction is wetted with water. Next, you should blot this area with a soft absorbent cloth. Excess paint, along with water, will remain on the fabric. This technique creates unusual shapes, bends, lines, gives volume to figures, depth of color.

Painting with water on paint

A layer of watercolor is applied to a sheet of paper. When the paint is dry, a clean brush is taken, moistened with water and drops of water drip onto the desired areas. This allows you to create layering, volume, the illusion of cracking, rounded shapes.

Glaze

Light-colored watercolors are applied one on top of the other in a specific order: lighter shades are lower, darker ones are higher. The pigment is transferred to a sheet of paper with the finest brush strokes only after the previous layer has dried.

As a result, three-dimensional figures will appear, in which all colors will complement each other, without mixing, allowing you to see the boundaries of multi-layer paint application.

Scratching

A method that allows you to remove individual areas of paint on a dry surface. In some cases, in this way, within the limits of one tone, its enlightenments are made.

Disguise

What can be easily painted with watercolors for kids? In principle - whatever, but in this method - there is an element of mystery and mystery that can attract the attention of any child. On a sheet of paper, before applying a layer of watercolor, with the help of wax or paraffin, areas that should remain unpainted are closed. Further - the work is done with paints. As soon as all the paint is dry, the wax can be rolled up by hand, with a brush, or left on the canvas.

Adding

A different color is added to the wet areas of the future work, which in a unique way creates illusions, bizarre overflows. With this method, you can create a variety of color solutions that are not possible with the usual mixing of paints on the palette.

A bit of history about watercolor painting

Even primitive people discovered and began to use natural watercolor pigments. They mixed them with water, applied them to the rocks with their fingers, and also with simple tools (sticks, bones).

In ancient Egypt, water-soluble dyes were used to create amazing, original murals on the walls of the palaces of the pharaohs, tombs, religious buildings; during excavations, intricate watercolor drawings depicted on papyrus were found.

Watercolors were known to masters from Japan and China.

The works were carried out on silk as well as on hand-crafted rice paper. The artists of the Far East painted contemplative landscapes in the traditions of their schools, filling the images with literary allusions and calligraphy.

In the 18-19 centuries in England, a classical technique was developed, which absorbed all the most important, interesting, allowing you to achieve amazing results with the help of watercolors. Watercolors were used in the washing technique to convey light reflections from the paper surface onto the canvas.

For centuries, artists themselves have prepared water-soluble paints for themselves, keeping unique recipes a secret. In watercolor painting, the surface on which the artist works also plays an important role. Canvas texture is also an obvious and important factor in the work of true professionals. The texture of the surface of the paper changes under the layers of paint, the slippery smoothness of pastels, under the imposition of collages. All these changes must be felt, caught as if they are a continuation of the artist himself, and sent in the right direction.

Drawing helps to open your inner world, get away from the gray everyday life, calm down and relax. Watercolor paints are considered one of the available materials.

Watercolor is based on the use of water-soluble paints, has characteristic features, having mastered which, you can freely work on creating watercolor paintings, paint nature, and make portraits.

First, you need to choose the right toolkit, brushes should be made of natural materials, of different diameters and shapes. Next, you need to purchase special watercolor paper, thicker than ordinary drawing sheets.

And also stock up with consumables:

• plastic palette;
• pieces of fabric;
• a container for water;
• paper tape;
• pencils for sketches.

To decorate unusual masterpieces, you also need to prepare a toothbrush, a porous sponge and white gouache. Any non-absorbent materials can be taken as a palette. And for ease of use, you can take a special tablet on which you need to fix a sheet of paper dipped in water under a tap.

It is important to choose the right paper for the design. Watercolors love water, but paper doesn't. She walks in waves, warps. And instead of a picture, a wrinkled blot turns out.

Therefore, special thick paper for watercolors will be what you need, both for a beginner and for a professional! No need to take ordinary printer sheets, thin and with a density of 80 grams per square meter.

For beginners, the weight of the paper should be 200 grams per square meter. Although there is paper with a density of 600 grams per square meter, but this is already material for more experienced artists.

You can choose the type of watercolor paper with a pronounced rough surface, cold pressing. Or a smooth embossed blank, "eggshell". In the first step, you can buy different types of paper and try which one will be the best for you.

Before you start drawing, you need to complete at least an initial online course on watercolor painting, see how to mix paints, how to apply them to the canvas, how to correct flaws.

If you already know everything, have picked up a complete set for painting with watercolors, then you can proceed to the practical part. We start lessons in watercolor painting.

Lesson 1 on watercolor painting - drawing under watercolors!

Drawing under watercolor: choose a still life, for a start it is better to be uncomplicated. It should contain 2-3 items.

Making a drawing. Take a T-TM pencil for this (so as not to leave excess graphite on the paper), well sharpened so as not to damage the top layer of the paper and have a complete overview of the work. While working, hold the pencil in your hand at a slight angle relative to the plane of the paper, at about 5-10 degrees no more, we work only with the tip.

Attention! It is not at all necessary to make a drawing under a watercolor every time. When it is not difficult for you to visually notice all future tonal transitions, it will be enough to only slightly outline the objects.

On the sheet, mark the boundaries of the still life, the place of each object. Barely noticeable, without pressure, you draw outlines of objects with construction elements. All construction lines should be barely visible.

Now you need to separate the light from the shadow with a light stroke, the bed in the shape of a stroke. Start hatching from a break in the shape, where the light passes into a semitone, and continue hatching towards the shadows. This is important to determine the place of shadow and light, and to capture the distribution of halftones in shape.

Watercolor Lesson 2 - Color Sketch!

Round brushes should be used. Large numbers can fill large areas, with smaller numbers you can work out the details. Three or four are universal for the aspiring artist.

We take a quarter of the album sheet, attach it to the easel and get to work.

In this sketch, we will define the color scheme of our composition. It contains different objects, one of them will be dominant. All other items (spots) will be built according to the rank of the dominant one, from which we will start. Mix the color of the main subject and fill in our dominant.

There must be a connection between all the objects in the picture. They will be one whole composition. Solving the shadows in the composition will be the next step. How the shadows will behave needs to be studied in more detail.

To create an abstract background with overflows, you need to moisten the selected area with a cloth or sponge, applying the selected colors with a wide brush, so that their edges touch and the colors mix independently.

Note: if the palette is saturated with paint, then we take a clean leaf, transfer part of the batch to it and continue working.

To create effective lines, you need to use the "free brush" technique, take a thin tool, for example, a knife, closer to the base, and then start moving the brush across the paper, turning in the desired direction. This makes the lines very realistic and unique.

1. Washing, a general background is made on a uniform covering of paper - sky, grass, road.
2. Stretching, from bright color to white.
3. Technique "dry", drying each applied layer before the next.
4. "Wet", paints are applied to a sheet of paper pre-moistened with water, giving bizarre transitions.

After you have decided on the color scheme of the composition, we attach the finished sketch to the upper corner of the easel, take a washcloth or wet sponge and moisten the paper. This is done in order to wash off the remaining grease from the paper, then the paint will not roll off.
After that we fill in the shadows, define the light, work out the main halftones according to the drawing, where each of them will have its place.

Comment: you need to work with watercolors delicately, no more than three strokes in one place, otherwise the paper will not shine through (which is the beauty of the watercolor work itself).

At first, set yourself an example of doing watercolor painting. You need to paint in watercolors in daylight. It is not worth striving to finish the work in a short time, if the limit of imposition of strokes is exhausted, it is advisable to leave everything as it is - do not rush to "spoil the paper".

To erase dry watercolor, you need to do it with a damp brush, dabbing the contents off the paper. It is advisable to make fewer mistakes so that the work is of better quality.

It is also important to learn how to stretch the tablet, because it will be preferable to create canvases on a stretched tablet. This is necessary because when painting with watercolors, a lot of water is used - which very much warps the paper after drying.

On a stretched tablet, the work will look solid and the sheet of paper after cutting from the tablet will be perfectly flat. You can show such work at an exhibition or even sell.

Conclusion!

In every business you need to be assertive and try to do it properly! Take your time, choose the right colors, harmonize them with each other and embody your fantasies on canvases.

We wish you talented execution and good luck in your work!

Hello everyone! You very much asked me to publish watercolor painting lessons, and I thought for a long time where to find suitable material, because this topic is not new, and there is already a lot of different information on the Internet, so I decided not to invent, but to use the materials of foreign authors. This article is the first, but far from the last. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful!

This article covers the basics you need to know to get started with watercolor painting. However, if you keep scratching your head after reading, then please feel free to ask questions in the comments! I will answer you with pleasure!

Before I started writing this article, I decided to do a little research on the internet on painting. watercolor for beginners... Thus, I reasoned, I would not miss a single moment, and I would write the best post. But God right ... I've been painting with watercolors my whole life, and the information I found on Google overwhelmed me. After three overwhelming articles that were overwhelming, I threw up my hands and decided that I would show you how I, personally, work with watercolors - and the adjective to my watercolor approach is “simple”.

Tools and materials

First, I want to tell you about the materials and tools that you need. Of course, the most obvious tool will be the watercolor set.

I prefer the Greenleaf & Blueberry set. It's a little pricey, but I love it! However, if you're just starting out, you don't need to invest in expensive kits.

Advice from the site:

Go to your nearest art store and buy an art set of watercolor paints that suits you for the price, as long as it is not for children 😉

If you live in a remote place where it is difficult to find such a product, then you can order a set through an online store. So that you can navigate the cost, I throw off examples of sets that are easy to find in our country:

Finally, you will need clean water and cloth(I'm using an old dinner napkin) or paper towel to blot the brush.

Any dish will work, I use an old mug.

Transparency of watercolor

The great thing about watercolor painting is that you have complete control over the opacity of the paint. Watch how one color can change depending on the ratio of water to paint on the brush!

The picture on the left shows what a stroke looks like when there is a lot of water and a little paint. The illustration in the middle shows a more equal ratio of water to paint. The picture on the right has more paint than water.

You might be thinking, "This is all good, but how can I control this water / paint ratio?" Before you do anything, apply a drop or two of water directly to the cuvette you plan to use. This will moisturize the paint and make it ready for use. Then, you can do one of two things:

1. Use a palette
You can take a palette and mix three different shades of the same color on it. For the first color, use a brush to apply about eight drops of water into the indentation. Then, dip the still wet brush into the already dampened watercolor, and transfer the color to the palette.

Apply about five drops of water to the second well. Again, dip the still wet brush in watercolor and transfer the color to the water. Be sure to shake with a brush so that all the paint comes off it! If this new color is very similar to your first, add more paint.

For the darkest shade, you just work directly with the paint from the ditch, the shade should be very saturated.

2. We work directly from the watercolor set
You can use the concentration of water on the brush to control the shade of the paint. If you want a very light shade, dampen your brush well with water and touch the tip of the brush to the paint. If, when transferring to paper, you find that the paint concentration is too high, dip the brush in water again and apply this water directly to the paint on the paper. The color will become more transparent! For medium tones, you will still be painting with a wet brush, but using more paint. For darker tones, I blot the brush with a napkin (it will still be wet, but not saturated) and then take paint straight from the set.

Mixing

The reason we studied transparency is blending and overlaying colors. With different shades of the same color, you can make any look real. I'm going to show you how to turn a circle into a ball using watercolor blending and opacity:

1. First, draw a circle in the lightest shade.

2. Suppose the light is in the upper right part as shown in the picture. Accordingly, the shadow will be in the lower left corner of the circle. To start painting the shadow, use your medium shade with the brush. Draw the shadow as if it "hugs" the crescent-shaped circle, like this:

3. You can see that there is now a definite separation between the shadow and the highlights. To get rid of this difference and create a smooth transition, you need to mix colors together - it's an easy task when painting with watercolors! To mix, immerse the brush in water to rinse off any remaining paint from the brush. Dry the brush to make sure all the paint is gone, then wet the bristles of the brush again with water. Then, place the brush on the separation between the shadow and the highlight and drag in the middle shade with water, it will blur. Soon, you won't be able to tell where the middle hue and light ends and where the shadow begins!

4. Now it's time to add a dark shadow to the bottom of the circle. Apply a darker shade around the bottom of the sphere as in the photo.

5. Mix the dark shade just like you did with the medium shade, and voila!

6. You can add a drop shadow if you like. To do this, draw a thin line on the opposite side of the light below the sphere, like this:

Then, you need to draw out the color with a brush soaked in water until it disappears.

You may find it easier to understand the concept of blending / shading if you watch the video:

If you want to practice more mixing and shaping, I would recommend painting these shapes in different colors:

You could make the sphere green, the cube blue, and so on. Drawing shapes like these helps you figure out how to make things look three-dimensional. Yes, it can be a little boring ... but so rewarding!

Mixing watercolors

To mix watercolors, you definitely need a palette, whether built into your kit or standalone. The color mixing process is simple: you need to apply one color to the palette, and then add another color. Mix them together and you have a new color!

If you have a small selection of colors in a set, knowledge of mixing will come in very handy. There are many sources that tell you what colors to mix together to achieve the desired result.

If your mixed color dries up in your palette, don't worry. You can re-wet it and it will be as good as new no matter the amount of time that has passed.