Watercolor For Beginners | Supplies & Watercolor Techniques for Beginners & Painting the Ocean

Hey guys, since so many of you guys have been requesting it, today I will introduce you to watercolors. We will talk about supplies you will need, different techniques, and we are also going to paint a whole painting, putting the knowledge into practice. There are tons of different methods and techniques, but today we just focus on some of the basics because today's all about exploring, experimenting, and just having fun creating art. I will also give away a whole watercolor set to one lucky winner, so be sure to watch the whole video to find out how to enter. One of the first things you will need is, of course, watercolor paint. Watercolor usually comes in tubes or pans. I usually use watercolor pans because I find they're just so easy to use and great if you're just starting out. Pans that usually come with a palette you can use to mix colors so you don't have to get additional palettes either. If you're new to watercolors, I would recommend getting watercolors that have student's quality instead of cheap supermarket watercolors. If you use cheap paints, you might get disappointed and frustrated because the paint doesn't behave as you want and then you just get discouraged to keep painting. Another thing you will need is paper. When you work with watercolors, it's important to use the right paper to achieve the most beautiful result. You can use any watercolor pad, block, or loose paper with a weight greater than this number or even higher. The heavier the paper, the thicker the paper is, the less likely the paper will curl while painting. There are also different textures of paper that gives you different effects with the paint, hot press, cold press, and rough paper. I would recommend getting a few different types and try it out to see what you prefer. I personally love using watercolor blocks that have a semi-rough surface. The next thing you will need are brushes. There are tons of different brushes that have different effects when you use them, but to start off with watercolors, you actually just need a few. I would recommend getting a flat brush that has a straight edge. This brush is great for applying water to the paper, laying down large areas of even color, and defining precise edges. You will also need a round brush with a pointy tip to make lines and broad strokes, and also a thin, small brush with a pointy tip for detailed and thin lines. But the most important thing is to get good quality brushes that are made for watercolors and that they don't shed into your work. I personally like using synthetic brushes because they don't lose their hair like some other brushes and they will last you for ages. And you will also need two jars of water. One jar is to clean your dirty brushes and the other jar for clean water for painting. If you use dirty water to paint with, you'll get dirty looking paintings. So having two jars helps you keeping your colors clean, bright, and vibrant instead of painting with muddy colors because you're using dirty water all the time. Especially when you use yellow color, you want your brush and your water to be clean. Lastly, you will need tissue paper. Using tissue paper or a paper towel is a great way to wipe off excess paint and water. Now let's talk about the basic techniques you need to know. There are two basic techniques, wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. Both can also be combined. The wet-on-wet technique is when you apply wet paint onto a wet surface, allowing the colors to run together in an unpredictable manner, creating soft edges and diffusing the color. So for the first technique, apply a generous amount of water onto the paper and then load up your wet brush with some paint. Since watercolor is a water-based medium, you need water to activate the paint in order to paint with them. Now when you apply the paint onto the wet paper, the paints start moving and floating around until it dries. While the paint is still wet, you can actually keep working on it and move it around using your brush to work the paint into the paper and to achieve the desired effect. So although watercolors have a mind on their own, you can actually lead the way. Working with watercolors is not only about how to use the paint, but also how to use the water. When you use the wet-on-wet technique, the paint will move to the area that is wet and the more water you use compared to the paint, the lighter the shade will be. But when watercolor dries, it usually gets lighter, so be sure to use a generous amount of paint if you want the paint to look darker and saturated in the end. So there are different methods to use this wet-on-wet technique. You can use this method to create different effects. For example, you can apply some water in the shape of a heart or a circle and apply wet paint starting from the edges. Now you can move the paint around to create a three-dimensional effect by keeping some areas lighter. To intensify the colors, you can go over with more paint and distribute it the same way. The wet-on-wet technique is also great for blending colors because as I mentioned earlier, while the paint is still wet, you can easily move it around and blend different colors into each other. But be sure to not use too much water or the paint might run into areas you don't want the colors to be. I love the fact that with this wet-on-wet technique, you kind of have to let go of being super precise and just let the water and the paint do its magic. Here I painted some flower petals the same way as I created the heart and then applied more wet paint to the center. Now it can just move and blend into the other color, creating a nice, flowy effect. But you can also use this technique to create backgrounds. Apply some water onto the surface using a flat brush and then distribute the wet paint on top. Move the paint from one side to the other to create a flat wash of color. To create a gradient effect, rinse off your brush and then using a clean brush, distribute the lower area that is covered with paint the same way, just moving downwards. Now while the paint is still wet, wrap some tissue paper around a flat, run surface, for example, a pen or a coin. Place it onto the paper and remove it. This way you lift the paint and remove it from the surface. And now if you want, you can add more wet paint around this pattern and let the paint run into each other to create a nice gradient effect. But you can also use just some crumbled up tissue paper and dab it over the paper to remove some wet paint. Now let's use the wet on dry technique. This time we apply wet paint onto a dry surface. Wet on dry offers more control because the colors don't run together. The advantages here are that you can use both colors and be very precise. It's great if you want to create sharp details, outlining something, and just for coloring specific areas. But you can also just use a wet brush on a dry surface. So for this technique, use a clean, wet brush and gently brush over the dried paint. This way you activate the paint again that you can now remove by using a clean, dry brush or tissue paper. This lifting technique is great for subtle effects that I will show you later in more detail, but also for just removing mistakes, even if the paint has dried. Since watercolor is a rather translucent medium, it's all about layering paint. This way you not only intensify colors, make the painting more three-dimensional, but you can also create different effects. If you go back to the example I showed you for the background, you can create more circles by loading up your brush with wet paint. Now both colors will overlap and create this fun pattern revealing a new color. Okay, these were just a few tips and tricks I wanted to share with you for now. Now let's actually paint something using these techniques. If you use single sheets for painting, you can tape down the paper to your table using artist tape or washi tape as an alternative. This way you prevent the paper from curling and buckling. But since I'm using a watercolor block, I just use the tape to create a frame around the painting so we don't paint all the way to the edges. Usually when you paint with watercolors, the rule is to paint from light to dark. This way you can paint in layers and create more dimension. And this is what we are going to do now. Let's start by applying a generous amount of water to the paper using a flat brush. Another rule is not to use too many pigments at once or otherwise you can create just a muddy color you don't want. So using two or three different colors will be enough. In this case, I'm going to make some blue and green paint together and apply them around the edges using the wet on wet technique. You can either mix the pigments on a separate mixing palette or on the palette your watercolor comes with or you can mix the paint directly on the paper and use the paint straight from the pan. As you can see, I used way too much water here. That's why I'm going to remove some of the water by using tissue paper. Now while the paper is still wet, we can go over with another layer of paint but now using much less water to intensify the color and make it darker. This time we're going to focus on the upper left and bottom right corner. On the right, I'm just dabbing on the wet paint and make it run into the layer below. But for the left corner, I apply the paint by creating lines like that so there's a small gap in between the lines and this is going to create the reflection in the water. Be sure to not use too much water or everything will just run into each other way too much. I love watercolor because you cannot completely control it. You just have to let go sometimes and hope for the best. Now let's add another color on top starting at one corner. Here I'm using the green pigment straight from the pan that I loaded up on my wet brush and then I added a dark blue color right on top to intensify the colors. We want to achieve a dark blue color that is slightly green. Now let's add another layer of paint onto the upper corner the same way as we did in the beginning. Load up your brush with some blue paint and then create lines. Then rinse off the brush a little bit and go over the wet areas again to create brighter lines. If the areas get too dark or you use too much water, you can always use a tissue paper and remove some of the wet paint. And now we can go back and repeat the step using blue colored paint again but with less water. As I always say, creating art should be fun. We are getting too caught up with making everything perfect that we just get frustrated in the end and watercolor is just a great way to let go of everything. Watercolor is super forgiving and even if you think you messed something up, you can always go over areas again, remove something, add something on top or just leave it how it is and be surprised that it actually looks great as well even though you wanted to make it differently. After creating another layer of dark paint on top, I went over with a wet brush using just a tiny amount of pigments to add another light layer in the middle of both corners. While the paint is still wet, you can use other techniques I showed you in the beginning. You can lift some of the colors by using a tissue that is wrapped around the end of a brush or a pen and just create dots or lines. Or if the paint is already dry, you can reactivate it with a wet clean brush and remove it with a tissue or a dry brush. I chose to paint the ocean because you can really just experiment and have fun with it without using five million different colors and without creating super small details. Now, as soon as the surface has dried completely, we can use the wet on dry technique. Here, you want to use a thin brush and pigments straight from the pen using little water to get the darkest shade you can get. You can also add more details and create plants just by adding wavy lines. Since I wasn't really happy with the layout of the painting, I decided to darken some of the areas with a bit of blue and green colored paint, creating an oval shape. For this step, I used a round brush and just applied the paint similar as we did in the upper left corner. Now, let's add some more details to our painting. With the lifting technique I showed you in the beginning, we can now create sun rays that shine through the water on the right side. For this step, I'm using a tissue paper and just carefully remove the wet paint by wiping it off downwards. If the paint has already dried, you can reactivate it with a clean wet brush. Do this until the paint got brighter and then we can react some of the water by creating thin lines on top using a light blue color. This way it looks a lot more natural now. To create thin sun rays, you can just flip your flat brush and use only the thin edge. Add more details if you want and let the painting dry. And now we can remove the tape to reveal the complete painting. If you want to learn more about watercolor techniques, I have another two watercolor videos linked in the description box, so check them out if you're interested to learn more techniques. And if you want to learn how to win the watercolor palette, all you need to do is like this video and comment down below what things you enjoyed painting. I hope you liked this video and found it helpful. If so, be sure to give this video a thumbs up to support this channel and don't forget to subscribe for new art and DIY videos in the future. Thank you so much for watching, guys. Have a wonderful day and I will see you next week. Bye.