Foundational Techniques for Watercolor

Name: Foundational Techniques for Watercolor
Rating: 4.1 (116 reviews)

Learn how to create fresh and vibrant watercolor paintings

Created byShizue Takahashi

Last updated 12/2021

English

What you'll learn

Learn techniques used to create fresh and vibrant pictures.
Knowledge on how to mix and match colors
Painting hard and soft edges in watercolor
Understand the order of applying colors
Understand how to use the whiteness of the page to create highlights
Learn how to create a warm mood
How to experiment and have fun with watercolor painting
Paint with more confidence

Course content

3 sections • 8 lectures • 31m total length

Introduction1:30
Learn to translate three-dimensional subjects into transparency, delicateness, subtlety, and clear watercolor color, avoiding muddy tones and building skill by using a cat study.

Setup2:00
Learn a practical watercolor setup: fix the paper with masking tape, keep colors separate in five wells, and mix each color with water gradually.
Brushes1:02
Explore two watercolor brushes, a flat and a round brush, including a sable round brush that holds water well, while synthetic brushes dry quickly and prevent long lines.
Colors0:30
Use a focused watercolor palette featuring yellow ochre, opera rose, alizarin crimson, French ultramarine blue, indigo, and dark green. See how these colors combine to create cohesive tonal effects.

Light colors4:12
Learn watercolor technique for painting cats by building from lighter to darker colors, using paper whiteness as the lightest value and mixing yellow ochre with opera rose.
Medium colors6:33
Master watercolor color mixing and technique by testing blends with ultramarine blue, opera rose, and yellow ochre, applying on wet paper and lifting with tissue to control edges.
Dark colors15:24
Explore creating deep, dark colors in watercolor by mixing ultramarine blue, indigo, and arizonian crimson, avoiding black to preserve harmony and depth in a tabby cat.
Conclusion0:28
Keep practicing watercolor and keep at it until you get what you want. Feel free to ask questions, and enjoy your painting journey.

Requirements

A watercolor paint set
A paint brush
A palette with wells for mixing paints with water
A4 or Letter size sheet of watercolor paper
tissue paper
water

Description

Do you want to create powerful and vibrant watercolor paintings? I will show you!

I have been painting watercolor since I was a child and for the past 20 year I have been teaching students of all levels. The primary reason I see people struggle with it is because they mix too many colors together, producing dull and muddy pictures. With watercolor, less is more. Brightness comes from the whiteness of the paper, and to preserve it you must use nice clear colors sparingly and effectively.

In this course I will show you easy step-by-step techniques for mixing colors, directing water and paint and creating textures. By the end of this short course you will be able to convey a sense of transparency, delicacy and subtlety. We will go over these techniques in real time as you see me paint a picture of my cat from start to finish, explaining each step along the way. These techniques can be applied to any other living creatures too.

As well as learning from the lecture materials, I will reply to all messages and will give feedback for any of your artwork in order to help you improve!

All of my videos have captions. Enjoy!

Who this course is for:

Anyone who wants to learn how to paint with watercolor

Foundational Techniques for Watercolor

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction1 lecture • 2min

Introduction and setup3 lectures • 4min

Watercolor Painting4 lectures • 27min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: