Make the most of watercolors with a few simple techniques
To beginning artists, watercolors often seem childish and less sophisticated than other types of paint. However, they remain one of the most challenging media to master. The knowledge of a few techniques helps you to use watercolor paint in a way that enhances its effective qualities while allowing you to master its more difficult challenges. The characteristically fast drying time of watercolors requires careful attention to planning and technique.
Early techniques
The first small, portable watercolor sets of the 16th and 17th centuries provided artists with a way to easily transport paints and work on site. These had a great advantage over oil paints due to their comparative portability and easy water medium. Artists could quickly add a small amount of color and depth to scientific and military sketch artwork. These first techniques were extremely transparent, adding only a hint of color.
Similar techniques found in use today often include a high-quality drawing completed in permanent ink. After the ink dries, light washes painted over in layers create depth and tone. In this technique, artists often let washes run over object lines with only a slight attempt to keep the wash within the ink form. To allow paint colors to blend, paint a second wash color over the first while the first is still wet.
Wash techniques
Beginning in 19th-century England, watercolor painting became a respectable form of media for the fine arts. Prior to this, it remained for the most part a tool for enhancing technical drawings. Wash techniques were refined and to them were added opaque color and line techniques.
Apply solid washes starting at the top of dry paper. Use transparent color and overlap strips of color working from top to bottom. For a wash with a gradient, decide if you want the more opaque tone at the top or bottom. With each new strip of paint, add more paint or water accordingly.
Use a wet-on-wet wash to form muted shapes of color and tone in backgrounds. Wet the paper then use a wet brush to paint muted shapes and forms. Keep both the paper and brush wet where you do not want lines forming. Work quickly and transparently. Paint dries quickly and it is better to layer on transparent washes to gradually darken an area rather than make a mistake with a dark or opaque wash that is impossible to cover.
Detail techniques
A dry brush technique adds detail and texture. Using paint with little water and a dry, small brush, create the details of shapes, lines and texture on top of the washes. Utilize larger, fan-type brushes with this same dry technique to create faint lines by barely touching the brush to the paper in swift strokes. This creates scratch-like marks reminiscent of hair, scratches, ocean spray or grasses.
Other watercolor techniques generally used to a lesser degree include resist work, which refers to applying a wax such as crayon or oil pastel to the paper first, then washing over it with watercolor. The wax resists the watercolor, creating an area where the crayon or pastel work shows. Other techniques include blotting, sponging or splattering to create special effects using soft clothes, sponges or toothbrushes, respectively. Masking, a technique used to create white space or extreme highlights, is used by placing tape, rubber cement or masking fluid over an area to prevent paint from coloring it.
