Learn To Paint A Fish In Water Using Watercolours

Let's practise a few of the water techniques so we know what to expect in our painting. Remember you can always go back to this and practise till you're happy you know how to control the water.

In this stage I'll show you how to draw your outline. It won't take too long, so try and just make sure all your lines are curved and you should be fine :) The fins should have a bit of movement to them too so if you have some wobbly lines, it will actually look great! Don't forget to add the eyes and the moustache too.

Wet-on-wet means that your paper i wet first, and you add colour to it. We want to add a light wash at this stage because our painting requires a lot of layering. Let the water underneath take the paint to wherever it needs to go to allow the watery, colour-filled effect to take place. Try not to put thick paint on, and don't be afraid to leave some gaps so we have a high contrast of light and dark, as well as a mixture of colours. You can use any colours you want, but maybe try and create a limited palette of 2 -3 colours to keep it clean.

Once your first layer is dry - touch it and see if any comes off on your finger, or if it's cold. You'll feel the difference between dry paint and wet paint by temperature. If it's the same temperature as the fish, it's ready for another layer. This time you'll try wet-on-dry which means the paper is dry, and you add wet paint to it. Before the sections dry, you want to clean your brush and try and add the odd droplet of water to it. This will create little lighter holes and will play around with the texture a bit more. It's a really lovely technique. Try not to get frustrated with it at this stage. Often leaving it to do its own thing will help it look nicer so trust the system, and relax.

Stage 4 is a slight break from the background because as this dries we're going to attempt to paint some of the fish flakes in red / orange. This is a wet-on-dry technique and whilst it's wet, you'll add a few more blobs of a darker pigment. Don't over do it on this bit, as we want to leave plenty of white areas to help make our colours pop! Feel free to be loose and free on these blobs, there's no real right or wrong shape to them.

Once your background has dried, we want to try another wet-on-dry layer but this time, instead of adding some blobs of water, we're going to add some slightly thicker paint. Just like we did on the fish flakes! Keep the bigger areas nice and thin in pigment, so that you can see the layer underneath and it will be a stronger contrast for the thicker pigment you're about to put on top.

This fins is a sign that you are close to finishing! For this part, you want to paint in the direction of the fins. Hold your brush a bit like a pen and allow yourself the chance to do the strokes with ease. You'll need a very light pigment for this, the lightest you've done so far so don't be afraid to test it on some scrap paper. I like to make sure my brush isn't overloaded with paint either so if your brush is over-saturated with water and pigment, just dab it on your old rag and you'll be left with a thinner solution.

The final layer!! This brings all the layers and colours together by doing a final attempt and wet-on-wet all over the full water area.  It allows the colours to blend over the slightly harsher edges and the think pigment means it's more of a glow than a statement. Make sure your underneath layer is dry as always before you begin. Once you've completed this, feel free to add any detail you may have missed and have a look to see if you want to work on any more areas?

Once everything has dried, carefully remove the tape. Try and pull this away from you and move slowly just in case it starts to rip. Sometimes tap can have a strong tac and if the paper or tape is damp, it could be more likely to tear. Peel it off, step away from it for a short period of time and come back with fresh eyes. You'll be really proud of what you've done!