5 Ways to Get Better at Watercolour
Here are my top 5 best tried and tested tricks!
1. USE GOOD QUALITY PAPER
Good paper is VERY IMPORTANT, I would say it is the most important aspect of watercolour. It is crucial that you get it right at the beginning because it would speed up your progress by a lot. If you’re gonna splurge on watercolour materials, I would say go for the paper. I highly recommend 100% cotton paper , it is the only paper I use for all my work now.
2. LEARN COLOUR THEORY
I have a blog about colour theory and why it is important to understand what is colour theory and how you can use it to your advantage. In short, this knowledge will help you make smarter colour choices and wow everyone - in a good way.
3. USE A LIMITED COLOUR PALETTE
While you may be tempted to use 20 different colours on your artwork, try sticking to a limited palette of maybe 5 - 6. It will make your work look more cohesive because there are lesser colours to pull the viewer’s attention away.
4. TAKE NOTE OF HARD LINES / WATERCOLOUR BLOOMS
Watercolor blooms are fine if you intentionally create them or you just love having that organic texture and detail there, but if that’s not the aesthetic you’re going for then be very careful with how much water your brush is loading up. You want just enough to wet your brush but not too much as to drip water back into the semi dried paint. Doing that will result in watercolour blooms.
As for hard lines, just remember to go back to your paper and lightly scrub it out and blend the colours together to prevent any hard lines from forming.
5. UNDERSTAND COLOUR VALUES
Colour values are basically how dark or light a colour is, it will help you develop a better understanding of the colours you have and make you a better artist. I wrote a blog about it here!
Lastly the most important thing is to practice! Now that you’re armed with all these knowledge, it’s time to get started on your daily/weekly watercolour practice!
