With their delicate textures and soft colours, there’s no doubt about why watercolours are the most popular painting medium. But as any artist will tell you, getting started with painting isn’t as simple as buying the right kit – there are techniques to practise, mistakes to make, and skills to perfect. In the brand-new Beginner’s Guide to Watercolours, we’ll delve into everything you need to know to get started with painting in watercolour, from the different types of paint out there and what brushes to add to your arsenal, to how to create unique blending effects and capture accurate texture. As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect – so get painting!
Welcome to Beginner’s Guide to WATERCOLOURS
Paint & Draw Beginner's Guide to Watercolours
Tools
Essential kit for watercolour • This guide from Lancelot Richardson introduces common watercolour materials, explains what they are and gives suggestions for building your own watercolour kit
Picking your paints • Watercolours can come in a variety of different forms that make them suitable for many working styles
Brush up on brushes • Brushes are an essential element of your kit. This guide introduces some common brush types and what they are useful for
Paper choices • The surface we work on plays a pivotal role in the process and end result of our artwork
Stretching watercolour paper
Additional tools • While paint, brushes and paper are the core of our kit, other equipment can be useful or open up avenues to experimentation
Clean your brushes • Watercolour brushes are more delicate than brushes designed for acrylic and oils, and should be treated accordingly, explains Rob Lunn
Skills
How to paint with watercolours paints • Watercolour painting can be tricky to master, but can produce wonderful results. Brynn Metheney walks you through the basics, with some expert tips
Use masks in your watercolour art • Kelly McKernan demystifies the process in preserving your paper with masking materials
Colour theory for watercolour • Lancelot Richardson introduces the fundamentals of colour theory, and shows how it can be applied to a watercolour painting process
Depict a complementary colour beach sunset • The blues and oranges of this evocative sunset scene show how complementary colours can be used to create a striking image
Portraits in watercolour • This portrait demonstration shows an analogous colour scheme at work and looks at mixing warm neutral skin tones
Projects
Simplify painting with a strong composition • Margaret Merry demonstrates how to use watercolour to capture the charm of a summer garden, with its ephemeral light, shade and colour
Capture a winter farm • Using his unique '5 Cs of Painting', Robert Newcombe demonstrates how to paint a snow scene in watercolour from a sketch
Working freely in watercolour • Jem Bowden used photos, plus a large helping of artistic licence and traditional techniques, to create a harmonious, impressionistic landscape
Paint beautiful blooms with wet-in-wet watercolour • Hazel Soan demonstrates how this technique can simplify a colourful array of flowers
Make spontaneous bees and butterflies • Kate Osborne reveals the secret to creating unique art with wet-in-wet watercolour, gouache and unusual printing techniques
Tips to paint a mischievous hare! • Hannah Dale is known globally for her beautiful wildlife illustrations. Here she shares her process for bringing a hare on the run to life
Paint your family in watercolours • Sue Sareen shares her methods for drawing and painting children using watercolour
Emotive portraits in watercolour • Find out how to paint expressive portraits with Stephie Butler, using shape...