It is important for an artist to master watercolor techniques. Water-color brings refinement and beauty to your artwork. Usually, beginners face difficulty in using watercolors as it is a tricky medium. Here we shall discuss a few tips to master the watercolor technique because it is an extremely versatile medium.
Variety if brushes:
There are range of brushes you can use. Your choice of brush depends on the nature and size of the work. Brushes come in different sizes. It is recommended to use a small brush to start.
Quality paints:
It is important to invest in quality watercolors because there are watercolors in the market which degrade over time and possess poor quality. It is recommended to buy the watercolors from different brands and assess the quality of each color. You can also blend a variety of colors in a palette.
Dry vs. Wet:
Dry and wet are the two important factors associated with watercolors. Darkness or saturation of painting depends on the amount of water you use in color. Explore both dry and wet medium and assess which works best for you.
Light to dark:
It is recommended to always color from light to dark. It is the most important watercolor technique. When you move from light to dark, the light part should remain the same tone throughout the work. This is a tough and time taking task, but the results are worth trying for. This technique leads to a beautiful pattern.
Paper towels:
It is important to keep water towels with you while using watercolors. Watercolors are used for correcting the mistake or redirecting the paint. It acts as an eraser for watercolors.
Splatter:
Splatter watercolor is a very interesting technique use to spread the watercolors over the surface. You can imply this technique by holding the paintbrush between the thumb and middle fingers. Using your index finger, pull back on the bristles and let them snap forward. This technique produces intense and beautiful results. Splattering the watercolors brings energy to your painting. It usually helps suggest water spray or floating dust.
Bleeding of colors:
The blooming watercolor technique is implied for the bleeding of colors with each other. If you want to bleed colors, add a good amount of water to color in your brush, and apply it to the paper. Just after doing this, add water to the desired color in brush and apply it to the same paper where you applied previously. Allow both colors to get dry. You will notice the desired mix pattern in the form of a gradient.
Right texture:
Experiment with every pattern for obtaining a nice texture. You can do this by practicing. You can practice dry, wet, light, and heavy strokes on rough paper. You will obtain amazing texture by doing this. You will also know that it is not hard to achieve the right texture.
Pull in color:
When you apply a dry, more saturated stroke, you can pull from that stroke with just water. This watercolor technique is a great way to show form and indicate a light source or edge. Apply a stroke using very little water and more pigment. Before the stroke is dry, take a moderately wet brush and pull the color out from the darker stroke. You can pull the color quite far, depending on how dry that initial stroke is.
Layers of colors:
Watercolor is the best medium if you want to apply layers of colors. Watercolor is a thin medium because of water, so apply the colors gradually. First, apply one color to the paper and allow it to dry. Then apply the next shade of color. You will observe the overlapping of colors with a fresh and attractive tone.
Scumbling:
Scumbling is a watercolor technique used by oil painters to create soft tones of light and colors. It is a technique in which you layer the colors indirectly to create and portray a softer tone. It is recommended to be very careful while adding the water so that blending remains smooth and the tone remains soft.
Lift the color:
While watercolor, there often comes a situation when you want to erase a certain color. You can lift the color by erasing it with a finger or a clean tissue paper. This is often done in case of a mistake.
Use of salt:
The texture holds the primary importance in watercolor. You can add salt to create a texture because salt crystals readily absorb water leaving behind a unique texture. Put the salt on the paint while it is still dry. You can apply this technique to painting natural surfaces like rocks or tree bark.
You can apply all the watercolor techniques in calligraphy and create the best Arabic calligraphy in your own style because doing calligraphy with watercolors is a unique thing.
