Starting Watercolors can be lots of fun but at the same time pretty intimidating too. As beginners, we have always wanted to improve our watercolor skills & take it to the next level. But most of the time we are faced with disappointments.
From what i have noticed is that due to our busy schedules, we are unable to give the required time to this amazingly wild medium.
But as Jim Harmer from Income School once said in one of his Youtube videos that “if you think tomorrow’s gonna be a less busy day & i will start working, then you are never gonna do it”
So what do you think can be done to beat our busy schedule & still be able to improve our watercolor skills by leaps & bounds and produce extraordinary results?
Well, i have found some amazing ways to do so & hence would love to share them with you here in this post:
Start a small sketchbook:
I have always stressed on the idea of keeping a sketchbook. This applies both to beginner as well as professional advance level artists. It keeps your observing power sharp, which is very much needed for a quick reacting medium like watercolor. When you maintain a sketchbook, you can paint or sketch(or a mixture of both) the day to day scenes/objects, which otherwise you wouldn’t have done on a bigger painting. You know the limitation of the space & hence a certain level of focus is achieved, which makes it even more engaging, interesting & most importantly a learning experience. You will notice a good difference in your tonal values in your works. On the better side of course. Your drawing skills also improve significantly.
Also Read : 10 reasons to keep a Watercolor Sketchbook
Paint using only the 3 primary colors:
Challenge yourself with the task of painting for a certain period(say 1 month) only with the 3 primary colors-blue, red & yellow. You will learn so much color mixing in this simple palette. But challenging is not enough. You have to stick till the last.
Paint live
This is perhaps the most obvious thing to say, but its worth saying again & again that, painting from live objects or scene as reference is the most effective way of learning or practicing perspective, tonal values, etc. You learn to create the actual colors of nature. And trust me, there is nothing more vivid than Mother Nature.
Sketch daily
This is in continuation with the first tip mentioned above i.e “starting a small sketchbook”. Make the habit of sketching daily. Figure out ways to achieve a certain goal of daily sketching. You can dedicate 15-20 minutes of your morning routine daily for sketching. Or maybe again take up a challenge to fill a sketchbook with live sketch studies within a week or maybe a month depending on the availability of time. Many artists sketch in their day to day activities like while travelling on public transport, or while waiting at the airport or maybe during lunch hours at your workplace. There are plenty of ways to do so right? The only thing you need is your determination to do so. And i am sure you will do it.
Try(challenge yourself) painting with only a single brush:
Minimal sketch/painting kits make you focus on the skills more than the other lesser important things. Try this. It works. Try painting with one single brush, be it round or flat or whatever. Just one single brush. Your brush strokes, accuracy and in general, a signature style will evolve. I did my paintings for quite sometime with an Escoda Optimo Travel Brush No 8. This really helped me gain better control over the watercolor medium as a whole.
I hope these tips would make you determined to improve your Watercolor skills in an impressive amount of time.
Please feel free to checkout the other posts on the blog & don’t forget to share it with your friends if you like it.
Also Read: 7 mistakes Watercolor beginners make
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