Watercolor Painting: 5 Small Tips I picked up as a beginner

Hi peeps,

Today let's talk about Watercolor Painting.

Watercolor painting - when I hear these words I typically think of water and colors mixing in a beautiful harmony to create a more beautiful result. 

When did I start?

I was a complete mess when it came to painting and I was already struggling with acrylic painting because I didn't have a steading hand. So at that time I mostly refrained from painting and pencil sketched instead.

Then I tried watercolor painting for the first time, with the same watercolor palette I still use till this day. It's probably been about 2 years since then but it feels like I've been watercolor painting for even longer.

How often do I paint?

I make watercolor pieces when I have the time, but life happens so not much time is still available. But I will post below the last recent pieces I completed this year.

Do I use a specific brush?

I use a variety of brushes actually. I have a couple of monte marte watercolor brushes, and I use a few acrylic brushes too. There is one specific watercolor brush I use which is the one where you fill water at the bottom of the brush (which is detachable). Sort of hard to explain, so I'll leave a picture here.

(specific watercolor brush)                                             (other paintbrushes I use)

Now time for some tips that I've picked up from my beginner experience with watercolors so far.

Here are 5 tips that I hope help you:

1. This is one which we all figure out right away - The less water you use the more darker the color appears.

2. There is watercolor paper specific for watercolor painting, however you are not limited to using watercolor paper. I've used a few other types but they have to be thick so your paper doesn't tear.

3. When watercolor painting, you don't have to only use watercolors. 

When using papers other than watercolor paper, I usually used used a color pencils after to add in-depth shading and more tones. 

I enjoyed doing this a lot, especially when I didn't have alcohol markers. But I do have alcohol markers now (even if they're low quality), so I don't use this process as much. 

I've also used watercolors and ballpoint pens,  but I'm just terrible at creating art with pens in general so it wasn't such a fun experience for me (but it might be for you).

4. This doesn't work all the time, but sometimes it does. When I make a mistake with a piece, I usually just add more water until the color has extremely faded. 

On the times when it doesn't I just usually figure out a way to incorporate the mistake into the piece without looking like a mistake. 

5. Outlining. I used a black pen for a while although it worked, it still didn't feel right for me. At the time I was scared to use black because making a mistake with it would be impossible for me so handle, so I refrained from it. It wasn't until I was tired of the results the pen brought me, that I forced myself to use the black watercolor and outline. Best decision I made! 

My point is don't be afraid to use new colors, especially mixing colors. Just trust the process. I've made good mixes of watercolors, but only after countless failures. 

This is about all I could think of right now, but if I have anymore tips, I'll make another post.

I hope this helped a little, and like I said before: if there are any type of posts you'd like to see, or questions that you want me to answer then comment below.

Thanks guys, and see you in the next one.