A common mistake I see many of the beginners who start with Watercolors do is not using artist grade watercolors. Many people keep asking me in my workshops or Instagram Live sessions if they can start with any non professional or non artist grade colors. Here is why you should NOT DO THAT AT ALL. The problem is, if you use some other student grade watercolor to begin with, then you will NOT get good results no matter how good you paint. Instead you can go for a low cost, affordable set of Watercolors to start with as a beginner, but make sure that you are using ARTIST GRADE Watercolors only. They can be either tubes or pans, that doesn't make much of a difference but it MUST BE ARTIST GRADE. How to check if the colors are artist grade Watercolors? Don't worry much about it. You just need to check if it is mentioned on the pack of those colors that they are artist grade watercolors. That's it. Sounds easy right ? Yes it is ! So, now that you know what you should mainl
Do you also see different Paintings made by various artists and wish to paint like them ? Then what's stopping you ?
Lack of confidence? Lack of ideas? Fear of not doing good? The reason might be anything but don't worry. I will try to help you out a bit on starting your watercolor journey.
Hi, I am Sanika, a self-taught artist. I am practicing watercolors since my childhood and over the years I have got to know many things about using watercolors through my own experiences. I would love to share them with you all so that you can immediately start painting some beautiful paintings without worrying about ruining them.
Also, I am a Skill share Teacher. So, you can take up my class on Skill share about Watercoloring which includes many more details about watercolors along with different painting tutorials. Just tap on sign up and you can sign up for FREE.
MATERIALS
So, firstly the type of material you use is very important while doing watercolors. People say that if you have talent and if you practice a lot, then you can paint great with any type of material, but sadly I will have to disagree to that.
In watercolors, the type of material is very important. Now, this doesn't mean that you need to buy many expensive paints or papers or brushes. You can start with totally pocket friendly priced material when you start. You just need to be careful about certain things while buying your watercolor products.
I will write down all the important things you need to check while buying a particular product, in that way you can just check for that particular thing and buy any brand which gives you a similar product. Which means you can totally choose your range and buy accordingly. So let's see what those particular things are.
This is the most important thing in watercoloring. You must use a watercolor paper only. Don't use any other normal paper, it won't give the same result.
Make sure that your paper is
- 100% cotton
- Acid Free
The gsm of the paper is important as well. A 300 gsm or higher paper is always good for Painting landscapes, seascapes, etc.
Advantages of higher gsm
- Holds more water
- More gsm = more thickness
- Doesn't tear or wrap
Types of Watercolor papers
There are 2 types in which you will get these watercolor papers
hot pressed and cold pressed
Hot Pressed
- Smoother surface
- Good for lettering, brush calligraphy, detailed paintings.
Cold Pressed
- Rough texture
- Good for landscapes, abstract paintings, florals, etc.
Sizes
You get these papers in various sizes like A5, A4, A3, etc. You can either buy a pack of loose sheets or a watercolor pad/book.
What to exactly buy ?
Make sure these details are mentioned on the pack.
- Watercolor Paper
- Acid Free
- 100% Cotton
- 300 gsm or more
- Cold pressed/ Hot pressed as per requirement
Good quality Brands perfect for Beginners at affordable price: Canson, Chitrapat, Brustro
Best quality Brands with a high range: Arches Papers
Affiliate Links for these Papers (soo its easier for you to buy them)
Canson Paper : https://amzn.to/3t3rXch
Brustro Watercolor Sketchbook : https://amzn.to/30jaoIM
BRUSHES
A very common question many people always ask me is 'Which type of brushes should I use?
So, let me tell you 2 major categories of brushes
- Artificial Hair or Synthetic Brushes
- Real Hair or Natural Hair Brushes
Synthetic brushes are made from nylon or polyester while natural are made from animal hair like squirrel hair.
Synthetic brushes are comparatively low priced than the natural hair brushes. Both of them work good. The only major difference is that the natural brushes hold more water than the synthetic ones. Synthetic Brushes are good to use for water based paint mediums.
What to look for ?
- Make sure that the bristles (i.e. hair part) of the brushes is in good condition
- The brush should have a nice pointed tip
- Bristles should not be spread or separated away
Which all types of brushes should you have ?
- You must have one Bigger sized Mop Brush or Flat Brush for your background washes or for giving the first water wash. The size of this brush can be anything in between 16-26 according to your need.
- You must have a set of various sized medium round brushes for painting various parts of the paintings. You can buy some even numbered brushes like 2,4,6,8,10,12,14
- You must have atleast one very small brush for adding the minute details in your paintings. It can be of size 0 or 00 or 000
Good quality Brands perfect for Beginners at affordable price: Camlin Brushes (these are synthetic brushes with brown handle) or Brustro Watercolor Brushes
Best quality Brands with a high range: Escoda, Princeton Brushes.
Affiliate Links for these Papers (soo its easier for you to buy them)
Camel Round brush Set : https://amzn.to/3lnwweG
Camel Flat brush Set : https://amzn.to/3lmUcA5
Brustro mixed hair brushes combo : https://amzn.to/2OYz9Yu
Escoda Signature Brush Set : https://amzn.to/38Q7W0Z
WATERCOLOR PAINTS
While buying watercolor paints, the most important thing you should check is whether they are Artist Grade Watercolors. Make sure to buy only Artist Grade Watercolors. The other watercolors which are usually student grade give very poor results.
Different Types
1. Pans or Cakes
I personally prefer usually pans or cake colors a lot due to various reasons
- Easy to use
- Easy to carry anywhere
- Rich pigments
- Compact
Tip: Before using cakes or pans, just drop in a few drops of water on your colors. This will help in activating the colors and you will get a nice rich pigmented hue while painting.
Good quality Brands perfect for Beginners at affordable price: Camlin Artist Grade Watercolor cakes
Best quality Brands with a high range: whites Nights, Sennelier.
Affiliate Links for these Colors (soo its easier for you to buy them)
White Nights 24 Shades Pans Set : https://amzn.to/3bVfpOw
White Nights 24 Shades Pans Set : https://amzn.to/3bUdQ3f
White Nights 12 Shades Pans Set : https://amzn.to/3eInwzE
Daniel Smith 15 Shades Pan Set : https://amzn.to/2Nt6IBu
Sennelier 24 Shades Pan Set : https://amzn.to/3cBrQxU
2. Watercolor Tubes
Tubes also have rich pigmented shades. They work great but you will need to remove your color continuously while painting and will need a separate palette for that. If you don't close the lids of your tubes properly, there are chances that your color will dry up completely.
Good quality Brands perfect for Beginners at affordable price: Brustro Artist Grade Watercolor Tubes
Affiliate Links for these Papers (soo its easier for you to buy them)
Brustro 24 Shades Tubes : https://amzn.to/3qVziJs
Brustro 12 Shades Tubes : https://amzn.to/3lsKWu3
Sennelier Aquarelle 12 Shades Tubes : https://amzn.to/3cDHhFX
3. Converting tubes to Pans
This is the best part. You can actually buy tube colors and buy some empty pan sets which are available. Then you can remove your tube colors in those pans and let it set for a day. After this you can use the pans normally for watercoloring.
Good quality Brands perfect for Beginners at affordable price: Brustro Artist Grade Watercolor Tubes and Brustro Empty Pan Set.
Affiliate Links for these Papers (soo its easier for you to buy them)
Empty Pan Set 12 Pans : https://amzn.to/3ln8UXy
Empty Pan Set 24 Pans : https://amzn.to/30RLznC
Empty Pan Set 48 Pans : https://amzn.to/3eVEDOi
WATER CONTAINERS
This is another important thing you should always do. While Painting, always keep two jars or cups half filled with clean water. They can be of any material (glass, acrylic, plastic, etc)
Always when you want to wash your brush, use one container only and then use the other container with clean water to load your brush with clean water again. In this way, when you will add water to your color for painting, the shade of the color will not change due to dirty or muddy colored water.
So, keep one container for cleaning the brush and other one to load your brush with clean water for painting.
TISSUE PAPER
One more thing you must keep handy while painting. I paint with my right hand, so I always have a tissue in my left hand. It helps me quickly clean my brush, or to dab off the excess water off my brush.
Sometimes if you color to an area by mistake, you can just press the tissue paper on that area to lift up the color immediately and the color will be gone. So, having a tissue handy while painting always helps
Affiliate Links for these Papers (soo its easier for you to buy them)
TAPES
Its always a good practice to tape you paper on all the four sides before you start painting. You can remove the tap at the end when the painting has dried up completely.
Why to tape the paper?
- Keeps the paper steady
- Gives a nice clean border to the finished painting
- Reduce the chance of paper getting wrapped or curved due to water
Type of tapes
The best tape to use for this is a normal masking tape which you will get in any stationary or hardware store. You get these masking tapes in different thicknesses from half inch to 1,2,3 inches. You can buy them according to your thickness requirements.
Apart form that you can use a washy tape or a scotch tape as well. It's just that the tape should not be too sticky. Otherwise it will tear the paper when you try to take it off.
Affiliate Links for these Papers (soo its easier for you to buy them)
Tip: If you find that your tape is too sticky, then stick it on a rough cloth or napkin or any other similar surface first. Then remove it and apply it on your painting sheet. This will help in reducing the stickiness of the tape and it won't tear your paper off when you remove it after painting. .
So, this is all about the different types of watercoloring materials which you can buy before you start painting with watercolors. I hope this helped you. If you want to know more about this, reach out to me on my Instagram @artyvibesbysanika. You can also watch my Skillshare class on 'Beginners Guide to Watercolors' for more information. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel 'Arty Vibes by Sanika' for some quick watercolor tutorials.
Will be taking about different Tips n Techniques of Watercoloring in my next blog. So stay tuned for that.
Thank you for your time. Have a nice day :)
Comments
Post a Comment