I have always been asked by so many people at all times whether I can teach them how to draw or paint.
These are from various levels of beginners to intermediate. But in between i get a few requests, which are from people who haven’t painted at all after High School.
Today, in this post, I want to talk about them. And for them.
You see, I have painted from a very early childhood but in an inconsistent manner. Sometimes I take huge breaks from painting due to work as well as time limitations, which I believe are different sides of the same coin.
But one thing I realized in this long span of time is that anyone can paint. Here I am more particularly talking about Watercolors.
I have known people who have actually done that.
So, here for the sake of this post, I am taking the following assumptions:
- You haven’t painted in a while since maybe after school.
- You are basically starting from zero.
- Your immediate plan is not to go for professional painting or gallery exhibits.(if you get an opportunity, it is a bonus, for sure)
MINDSET:
So first of all, let’s set the right mindset. A mindset that will make the starting easier & motivating:
DOING IT FOR THE JOY:
The very basic thing that you need to tell yourself is that you are painting for just the sheer joy of it.
It is extremely important to keep your expectations minimal. But yes, if you don’t derive joy or fulfillment out of the process, then you should definitely re-analyse the whole thing.
NO COMPARISION:
You will have to promise yourself that you will never compare your work with the work of others.
Even at whatever little level I have got, I never compared mine with others.
This principle is universal across all the things in life. You don’t compare yourself with others.
With social media, it is very easy to get carried away by beautiful pieces of Art. But what you should keep in mind is that even they started somewhere years back.
Today your goal is to get started, tomorrow you might even want to go Pro. But as of today, you will just concentrate on getting started first.
OPEN TO START FROM ZERO:
You will have to be open to the idea of starting from zero. There should be no prejudices. Prejudices like “bigger painting is better”, “I cannot paint”, “People will laugh at my work” & so on.
Come on. You are way past that now.
So now that I have set the right mindset, where & how do I start?
For this, you will have to get a few Art supplies(of course).
Start minimally.
But my advice to you is to avoid cheap art supplies.
Your intent now is also to keep yourself motivated. With bad art supplies, you will only bring frustration.
ART SUPPLIES:
The Art Supplies that you will need are:
PAPER:
For paper, I recommend that you start with a Sketchbook or a block of paper.
The main reason being here is that you will want to keep your progress in a chronological manner. With each page of the Sketchbook turned, you should be able to see the tiny improvements that you made.
This sketchbook should be like your personal diary. How personal, that is up to you.
Some don’t like to show their work publicly. That is fine too.
But it should be something where you pour your heart out with colors.
My personal favourite brands are Stillman & Birn, Moleskine & Hahnemuhle. Just make sure to go for the Watercolor Sketchbooks & not the regular ones.
PAINTS:
For paints, I recommend a minimal palette of 6 to 8 colors.
Get a foldable & airtight empty metal palette from Amazon & fill the pans(the tiny cube wells) with pigments. The reason why I advise you to go for a minimal palette is because you will learn the Art of mixing colors & the color harmony.
These sound too technical, but you do not need to keep these in mind.
Just make sure you exercise your brain to mix two colors to get a third.
My personal favourite Watercolor paint brands are Daniel Smith & Winsor and Newton.
BRUSH:
A good brush will give you so much joy & satisfaction when you paint.
One of the good features of a brush should be the ability to hold a good amount of water(paint).
Trust me, you only need one good brush to paint. Get a size that is not too big & at the same time not too small to paint.
For Sketchbook paintings, I love my Rosemary round sable hair brush sized 4 & 7.
OTHER SUPPLIES:
Other supplies include a pencil, an eraser, a jar(the more the water the better) for water, & tissues.
STARTING POINT:
So where should I start?
This of course is the hardest part. But my answer would be “the first page”.
Because as long as you start, your subject will not matter at first. Paint anything. It can be something lying on your table. Maybe something in your kitchen or even your bathroom.
Remember, a good artist is someone who can make everyday things look beautiful.
You do not need a super-professional setup for still life. Draw from life. Draw people around you. Draw your Dog. Draw anything. And over that drawing, paint.
THINGS TO DO:
Now that you have started, what are the things that you need to do to improve with each page of the Sketchbook?
ESSENCE:
Capture the essence of the subject & not necessarily the intricate details. Your idea here is to trick the eyes of the viewer into optical illusion. You are just adding color pigments over a flat surface of the paper to make the eye believe that it is a three dimensional object. See the image of my kid’s shoe that i painted on my sketchbook.
SLOW & STEADY:
Go slow with the layers. Try to finish the whole painting in just three layers max. This will force you into achieving the “capturing of essence” thing, since your brain subconsciously knows the limitation.
MORE DRAWING:
Draw more than you paint. This will help you with so many things that I don’t want to mention & confuse you with technical terms right now. But one thing that you will definitely achieve is “improvement”. With a sound drawing, half the battle is already won.
LIGHT & SHADE:
Learn the play of light & shadow. Let me simplify this with something that you already know. In any object, for every source of light, there is a corresponding shadow in the opposite direction. Your only effort should be to identify the direction of the light. You will eventually figure out the shadow. You see a little observation will make it so much easier.
WASH APPEARS LIGHTER WHEN DRIED:
Watercolors can be a tricky medium. But take this from someone who has been tricked by the medium & overcome too. The strength of color on paper will be less when dried. So you will have to apply your paint accordingly.
What next?
The next step is to improve of course. But how?
CONSISTENCY: Although I am bad at this, I will still ask you to maintain discipline with it. Draw/paint for 15 minutes everyday.
For obvious reasons, the more you paint, the more you progress. Choice of subject for a painting should not be the reason for you to skip your practice.
You can even paint a safety pin & realize that there are so many things in the subject, from shape to light reflection in the surface of the pin.
Sometimes you can also just click a picture of something you think you can paint later on. Make a separate folder of such photos in your phone so that it comes handy when you sit to paint.
ADD TEXT DETAILS: Write small notes in the pages of your paintings. Things like the location, the situation or the subject itself. Trust me, when you look back at those notes, you will find so much relevance & not to mention the joy & satisfaction.
PRACTICE COLOR APPLICATION INSIDE SHAPES: For getting consistent & even wash of paints in the paper, make small boxes on your Sketchbook & practice it. Start from a bigger one to a small one & do that in reverse mode.
COLOR MIXING: Try mixing colors. Start with basic color mixing like Red + Yellow = Orange, Red + Blue = Violet, Yellow + Blue = Green etc. Eventually experiment. This will help you create color harmony as well as avoid muddy colors. You should also go through the color wheel in between. You will find scientific relevance of these mixes.
So, I think I have already overwhelmed you with so many things, but honestly speaking, today all you should focus on is to get started. Rest will follow.
You can also check out my Skillshare classes to go a bit more in-depth if you like.
And yes, please do share your works in the comment section. I promise I will help you with anything you need.
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