#watercolour tips

[iskotaa]

A ton of delightful little tips in Hayao Miyazaki’s watercolour foldout.

Thanks to Animation Obsessive for sharing the English translation they found.

[gardenstyx]

Watercolour brainrot

my brain needs to chill about watercolours,

this is not a brag at all but I have like 6 different brands of watercolour(mainly use 2 tbh)

Like I try to get every artist I know to try and use watercolours!

Because I've had the luck and luxury to try and test products over maybe 5-6 years that I've used watercolours, I know what's good for beginners and what a good start off (if they have pretty much nothing).

Legit ask me about watercolours-I will TALK AT YOU for ages

[pityroadart]

What are the most important colours in a watercolour case? (Feel free to infodump beyond this question, please)

Hello, that all depends on your subject matter and how you like to paint! Are you going to be painting portraits so need some easy ways to mix a wide range of skin tones? Are you a landscape painter who enjoys having a few convenience greens and browns on their palette? Do you like your paints to granulate, or be easily liftable, or be excellent at glazing/staining? And when will you be using the palette - is it a small travel-sized one where you've got to be quite economical with the paints you choose, or is it a larger palette for use at the studio or at home? Is lightfastness a concern for you?

When I'm building a palette though, I base it around a split-primary palette — so a warm and cool version of each colour. This plus at least one earth colour (burnt sienna or burnt umber) and one convenience neutral (paynes gray or neutral tint) are probably the most important things to have in your watercolour collection in my opinion, especially if you're wanting to focus on colour mixing!

So my basic 8-colour palette would be something like:

cool (greenish) yellow: maybe hansa yellow light, or if like me you're not a big fan of regular yellows, a PY129 (often called green gold or rich green gold) is almost green in masstone but diluted to a lovely and functional cool yellow

warm (orangey) yellow: my favourite would be a quinacridone gold hue - either Schmincke (PR101 + PY150) or Daniel Smith or Roman Szmal (both PY150 + PO48) since they're a slightly earthier but vibrant orangey-yellow, but any warm yellow will do! Other common alternatives are new gamboge, hansa yellow medium, etc

warm (orangey) red: my absolute favourite currently is a PR255 (Daniel Smith pyrrol scarlet or Schmincke vermillion), but other common alternatives include cadmium red light (or cad red light hue), or any slightly orange-leaning red you can get your hands on

cool (purpley) red: a common choice here is a quinacridone rose PR122 or PV19, particularly if you'd be doing botanical painting, but my favourite is a PR254 pyrrol red - a postbox or fire engine red, so not particularly cool, but I really enjoy it with the quin gold in skintone mixes. Another option could be to have a middle red such as this AND a cool pinky-red on your palette.

warm (purpley) blue: the obvious choice for this one is an ultramarine PB29, a colour I think pretty much every watercolourist owns. This is a granulating pigment, but some brands such as Schmincke also offer a less-granulating version (Schmincke ultramarine finest) if you're wanting a smoother colour, or a French ultramarine for heavy granulation. I have both on my palette for different purposes.

cool (greenish) blue: the most common choice is a phthalo blue green shade PB15:3, but I much prefer the slightly cooler phthalo turquoise PB16 (Schmincke helio turquoise) - partly because I enjoy the colour and partly because it neutralises with my warm red PR255 beautifully. If you've gone for a cadmium red light as your warm red, try a cerulean as your cool blue to neutralise and match the cadmium's softness.

brown earth colour: I use this to neutralise with ultramarine and make a beautiful soft black, so my choice would be burnt umber, but burnt sienna works just as well (and is possibly more versatile)! Try and get either of these as a PBr7 pigment if you haven't already, as they tend to have the richest colours and cleanest mixes. Other options could be a quinacridone burnt orange PO48 (which I also have on my palette) , or an Indian/Venetian/English Red PR101, but see which neutralises best with your warm blue. A brown earth is also very useful for mixing darker skin tones, so bear that in mind when choosing.

neutral colour: this is a convenience (multiple-pigment, ready mixed) dark neutral colour that can be used to darken other mixes and in place of black. It's also great for monochromatic studies! Sure you can mix your own with ultramarine and burnt sienna/umber, but I get through a Lot of it so it makes sense for me to have a ready mixed version. Common options are paynes grey (a blue-leaning dark grey), or neutral tint (more neutral of course), but on my main palette I just mixed ultramarine finest and burnt umber together in one well to get my own custom mix. A thing to decide here is if you'd like your neutral dark colour to granulate or not!

These are my personal palette essentials, but everyone is different, so the best thing is to test things out and see what works.

Other resources:

I have a short (but continually growing) YouTube playlist on palette building that could be useful too, and Kim Crick has a great feature on essential colours on her pigment database here which I find very useful.

I hope this is of at least a little use!

[gbirrd]

Hey, everyone! Have this translated Studio Ghibli guide to watercolours that a classmate sent me.

[linktoo-doodles]

seen a square brush so beautiful you start crying

i got you man [x]

[tearmizu]

A small advice from one artist to another 🎨✨

[pictures-and-things-321]

I have been making some posable insect themed dragon wings. I am planning to make some articulated paper dragon dolls/puppets for stop motion animation purposes. And also because I love derpy little dragons.

The orange and white one is based off a male orange tip butterfly and the other two are based off different species of lantern bugs.

They are made with watercolour paper, watercolour paint, ink and split pins

[starsinthenigth]

★ ( I'm not sure what to put here, side profile practice I guess. (ft Donnie !! )★

👾| NON COLOURED VERSION ↓

[simp-for-long-hair]

please click for better quality

magnolias 🌸✨️

[studywithsilver]

19.02.2024

Didn't study much today, although I should considering orientation for uni is next week. I worked on a watercolour piece I've been doing for the past two weeks while watching the new SKZ-TALKER.

[kimberly-spirits13]

Im doing a minor in fine arts and am having to do a bunch of 300+ classes and I was wondering if any artists have any suggestions on carrying cases or bags that they use to transport art supplies since I think throwing everything into my main backpack is a tragedy waiting to happen.

[pityroadart]

Hi Nic!! What's the thing you most look forward to doing when you're drawing/painting? I've never touched a paintbrush in my life, sorry if that's a super broad question. But say, your eye watercolours- is it trying to reproduce the tones with a limited (at least to a digital artist) palette? The initial drawing stage? Painting in the wispy lashes and brows? It all seems like magic to me!!! 😍

Hello I apologise for the late reply! Race week was busy, and I wanted to give your lovely message the care it deserves (& also I just love talking about watercolours)

That's a hard question! I really enjoy the process as a whole (except when I am complaining about it, which is an important part of the process), especially my eye paintings because they're so intuitive to me by now.

But, a few parts I really enjoy are:

1. Choosing the palette — both the actual paint palette I'll be using (I have so many), and the palette of usually 2-6 actual paint colours I'll be mixing my colours from. I'm a bit of a pigment nerd, so figuring out which paints are gonna have the perfect properties (granulation, staining etc) and mix the colours I want very enjoyable

2. The first wet wash, normally working wet-in-wet (applying diluted paint to already wet paper), where the goal is to simply place your colours in the approximate areas they should be, and let the watercolour work its magic.

Here's a couple WIP shots of my Yuki eye, in both that initial stage and the one I'm about to describe below:

3. Getting the darkest darks in, and all of a sudden, just like magic, it becomes an eye! This is normally the third layer out of an approximate 4, and whilst I try to save the individual brow hairs and lashes until that final stage, I'll often mostly block them in here. An artist I follow on youtube, Arleebean, says often that if you feel your painting is going through the Ugly Stage, you've probably lost your values and need to get the (relatively) darkest darks in to bring it back to balance. It's a rule I live by, and that's what this stage is to me. I also get any freckles/spots/splatters in at this point, which is very fun to do too!

I hosted a watercolour workshop on eye paintings back in 2022 (and have another planned for this year), and here's a step-by-step I made of the first four stages (sketch, wet wash, mid tones, darks) in preparation for that. The final step after that would be, as you mentioned, any fine eyebrow hairs and eyelashes, which I think you can tell it's missing here

4. And possibly the stage I get most excited about, from about the middle of the painting onwards if it seems to be going my way, is posting it in the group chat or on here and watching my fandom friends and mutuals yell about it :)) Big fan of that, even if I am usually terrible at replying to nice comments :')

Here's a selection of older eyes I painted again as workshop examples, all using a limited palette of four colours (quin gold hue, pyrrol red, ultramarine, burnt umber)

+ a selection of more recent eyes:

Thank you so much for the lovely message! I adore your art (& seriously, if you're ever in the mood for an art collab or something, you know where to find me), so I'm glad you enjoy mine too ☀

[mistakeofnature]

WATERCOLOR COMPARISON/REVIEW POST

provided by this dumbass

!!!!PLEASE READ FIRST!!!!

these are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS and you can feel diffrently about these paints and i actually encourage that you voice your own opinions in the comments/reblogs. Same with brands that you yourself recommend. I am restricted in the paint brands i can get my hands on due to my location so i cannot speak for other countries really so i hope by this post may encourage other people to speak out about their favourite brands That being said please reblog this if you found it helpful i wanna help as much people to make an informed purchase since watercolor isnt cheap and it pains my heart when i people loose their money due to buying an overpriced shitty set

!!!!INFO!!!!

- this is based after usage on both very good watercolor paper (100% cotton 300g/m^2) AND a "decent" sketchbook (sakura/talens sketchbooks, which arent made for watercolor)

TO THE ACTUAL COMPARISON/REVIEW

1. WINSOR AND NEWTON - COTMAN (+one professional) Personally i feel like its one of the best options available for beginners and more advanced artists. Here where i live its one of the most easily available watercolors and i consider it the "safest" option It can be rather expensive with one half pan costing around 2.8~ euros and 8ml tubes going for around 4.8~ euros but i can assure you that they come a long way like most watercolors (and you can often find them cheaper) POINTS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT IF YOU BUY (PTTIAIYB) - you dont need to buy a full set unless it really comes out cheaper and you plan on using the full range of colors - i recomment buying tubes instead of halfpans if you are on a budget and want to take this seriously. it will get you far more paint especially if you manage to find them on sale. YOU CAN BUY HALF PANS SEPARATELY - if you dont have a box dont worry! make one yourself and tape the halfpans inside it with something like nano tape 2. RENESANS - EXTRA FINE WATERCOLOR This one is a mixed bag for me. The value is amazing as they cost ~1.3 euro per pan and are very pigmented but they are mostly only available in poland and are rather thick. I would say they are person specific and you should give them a try if you can PTTIAIYB - INTENSE AND EF ARE NOT THE SAME PAINTS there are no tubes for EF. only pans 3. SAKURA - KOI WATERCOLOR

if you have no other watercolor supplies and you plan on taking your set places this is a great place to start imo. you get everything you really need and its really nice. the watercolor can be a little grainy at times compared to COTMAN for example but its still very good Its a very good student grade watercolor if youre just starting out! (they will fade in sun after some time as they are not as lightfast as the brands above from my research) PTTIAIYB - if you finish a color refills are hard to get and are more expensive than what its worth. try finding a nice tubed paint that is similar instead :) 4. NEVSKAYA PALITRA - SONNET These are great paints in my opinion, very smooth and nice to paint with and you get a lot of paint in the set. They are student grade and some colors will fade after a year in the sun PTTIAIYB - these paints are russian and i know some people would rather not buy any russian products at all due to world events. from what i gathered the best substitudes for them are Ukrainian ROSA watercolors and paul rubens student grade colors [i was not aware of either of these existance before buying the SONNET watercolors] - no refills available from what i gathered 5. KURETAKE - GANSAI TAMBI Personally i dont vibe with these at all. they are hard to work with, they are weirdly glossy and come out patchy on less luxurious paper which i know is a pain to get cheaply. they arent very cheap either! >:[ but they are definetely special compared to other paints! if you like them maybe give me some tips! PTTIAIYB - only available in pans BUT you can buy them separately - pans are VERY BIG. might be hard and inconvenient if you 6. DERWENT - INKTENSE

I have the biggest love-hate relationship with these ever. On one hand they are something way diffrent than what any other watercolor can offer, they have some colors not available in other sets and are generally weird af BUT ON THE OTHER they are very hard to work with and dont really hold up on the promises made mostly the "pernament when dry" claim That is kinda bullshit ngl. even my swatches which have been drying for like 6 months at this point still lift up from the paper IMO unless you REALLY want them and get yourself educated on them DO NOT BUY. Especially if youre just starting out PTTIAIYB - get educated on pros and cons - technically NOT watercolor (rolls eyes)

That was the last set of better watercolor i own heres a picture of all of the sets mentioned and how they look in action! (scanned and in picture)

GUIDE ON HOW TO READ

spread test

blend test

test to see how easily it reactivates with the layers below

on top of pen and pencil

eraser test

and then little faces painted with the watercolors

IF YOURE READING THIS

know that watercolor is not for everyone and you might not like it, but in some cases if you dont have the correct supplies you might get discouraged early :( please dont give up but also dont force yourself to do something you dont want to (i for example will not pick up a pastel ever lol) no matter on what art level you are your art is special so feel free to share your watercolor paintings and thoughts on paints that you use in the reblogs i will try my best to see all of them :) Have a great day and have fun creating Mistake of nature

[eggotheleggo]

New watercolor painting I did! I’m not the best at faces yet, but I am practicing! Feel free to give me some tips!

[that-unknown-thing]

Art

I remember why I loved art even though it doesn’t look good it was still fun.

I suggest pen art and water colours, that way you can’t be too caught up with the little mistakes and just go with it. It was refreshing and frustrating not being able to erase things, but being able to accept them instead and made the fit in.