Learn How To Paint With Watercolor 101

by Anna Sok
Published: November 21, 2017
Updated: December 15, 2023

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Learn how to paint in watercolour for beginners — You Can Save Me To Pinterest!

I remember the time when I have been asking myself that question a lot, “How To Paint With Watercolors?”

And so after doing some research, I decided to try painting with them myself! It was so much fun!!!! 🙂

Because I did all the research myself and experimented with watercolors on my own – I decided it would be nice to have a post that contains all the information I gathered around the topic – to share with you guys!

So, if you are a beginner, and are curious to start on your own – let me walk you through this quick painting with watercolor 101 guide on how you can start too: from which supplies to use to what basic techniques you should explore! 🙂

It all starts with your supplies!

So, let me walk you through what you need:

Watercolor Art Supplies

Watercolor Paints

Lower on this page I will insert a video of me painting with watercolors using Mungyo Watercolor Paints.

They have great colors and are a tiny bit expensive because the quality is very professional!

I bought them at a local art store, but you can check them out for yourself on Amazon.

You can also go with other popular options, such as:

Winsor & Newton, which are widely known for their quality product.

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Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Paint Set, Complete Pocket Set, 16 Half Pan w/ Brush, Eraser, Mixing Palette

Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours are a range of water colours that are made to our high quality standards but costs are kept to an economical level by replacing some of the more costly pigments with less expensive alternatives.
Cotman Water Colours possess good transparency, excellent tinting strength and good working properties.
This water colour set contains a pocket brush, a kneaded eraser, and 16 Cotman Water Colour half pans.
Colours include Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Red Pale Hue, Cadmium Red Deep Hue, Alizarin Crimson Hue, Purple Lake, Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue Hue, Turquoise, Viridian Hue, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Payne's Gray, Chinese White.

These paints are in a semi-professional level one can say.

They are not the cheap 5$ paints that will not listen to you, but they are also not the 300$ highly professional paints (which you most probably don’t need right now. But if you want them, you can always search some up on Amazon!).

Winsor & Newton replace some of the costly pigments with more affordable ones to keep the high quality and stay affordable 🙂

I personally love them!

If you are looking for something even more affordable, I would suggest going with the Koi which are more affordable, but I still find that they work very well! 🙂

Sakura XNCW-18N, 18 Assorted Watercolors Field Sketch Set with Brush

Koi water colors field sketch set with brush
Half pan watercolors, formulated to blend easily and create and endless range of colors
A refillable koi water brush to transport and store water
A small, sleek design that fits into shirt or jacket pockets, perfect for painting on-the-go
The kit is lightweight and affordable

Brushes

If you want to read about all sorts of brushes, how to pick one that is affordable and good quality here is an article for you: 10 Best Affordable Watercolor Brushes in 2018 – where I go into details about every brush.

I won’t go into much detail here since this post is not about supplies, but rather to tell you everything in short about how to paint in watercolors (and with what supplies!)

Some quality brushes I can Suggest are Artify Professional Watercolor Brushes!

Just so you know, brushes are an investment!

A long time ago I thought that all the brushes are the same and any will do, and I had to pay for my mistakes!

Cheap brushes have bristles that are poorly connected to the handle, and therefore they come out and end up on your art piece! Not only does it look ugly, but it is also very annoying…

You can also check out this list that has a couple more great brush sets that I recommend!

Watercolor Paper

Watercolor also requires a specific type of paper.

Paper has to weight more in order for it to work well with watercolor. The more it weight – the better it absorbs water without smushing together or creating unwanted bumps!

Here are the top 3 watercolor paper pads that I use and recommend: Check out the links below to read more about them!

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Canson XL Series Watercolor Pad, Heavyweight White...

Sale

Pentalic 5" x 8" Aqua Journal, Watercolor, 48...

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Strathmore 300 Series Watercolor Paper Pad, Tape...

Pallet, Tissue Paper and Water Cup

Any plastic pallet will do, but if you are buying a good quality watercolors set you are most probably going to have one in the box (the tiny squares and rectangles surrounding the watercolors)

Tissue paper or a rug are needed in case you drop too much water on your paper, or put too much paint and want to tone it down. It’s a very simple but useful tool!

And the water cup is pretty self-explanatory 😉

Learn How To Paint With Watercolors 101

Opacity

Now let’s get into some technical details! Because you are working with watercolors, you need to practice how to properly use “opacity” in your pieces. With watercolors it is pretty simple since the more water you add to your paint – the less opaque it will become!

I would suggest taking a sheet of good watercolor paper and trying to add more and less water, so you can begin feeling the paint.

Note: visit the FREEBIES page for some awesome stuff I have prepared for you! 🙂

Blending

If you are like me and you work a lot in digital or oil painting, you will soon begin to wonder “How do I blend in Watercolor?”. And the answer to it is pretty simple – practice!

The technical aspect of it is:

Imagine a circle “O”. You first paint it in one color – for example, light red. Then, if you want to create a realistic shadow at the bottom of it – pick a darker red and cover the part of the shape you want in shadow. Now, clean your brush, water it down and go over the line that separated the two colors. And that’s it! Because watercolor paints react to water – the two edges will blend together 🙂 Simple, right?

Reverse Painting

I’m so used to oil painting that my brain works like this: fill up shapes in base color, add shadows and light at the end.

Well, painting in watercolors is the opposite! Your whites – are your canvas! Therefore, you DON’T TOUCH THEM!!!! Which means that you have to begin with them (by knowing where the lightest parts of your art will be) and then you go into base colors and shadows!

It’s a totally different process, but with just a little bit of practice, it will become second nature to you 🙂

I also like to add some highlights at the end with my favorite white gel pen!

You can check my process out in the video I made last year 🙂

Mixing Colors

There are a couple of ways of mixing paints in watercolor! WARNING: please do not put paint on your brush and then go to a different color cube and try to mix it there! You will ruin the original color! You have spaces on sides and a pallet that are made specifically for color mixing 🙂

Let’s say that you want to create a unique dark green color and you decide to mix a yellow, a blue and a bit of black to achieve it! To do that, dip your brush in clean water and grab a little bit of yellow to put on your pallet. Clean the brush. Kepp a bit of water and grab some blue to put close to the yellow on your pallet. Clean the brush. Keep a bit of water and add a touch of black close to the two and only then mix them together in one! Then make adjustments as needed.

There you go, you mixed yourself a nice unique color! 🙂

A different approach would be to put watered down yellow color on the paper, and while it’s still wet add some blue to it. Or you can put a layer of yellow, let it dry and then paint low opacity blue on top.

Play around with all the different options out there and find a way that feels the most natural to you 🙂

Final Words:

So there you go! This is the end of “Learn How To Paint With Watercolors 101”.

Here is a list of other articles you might want to take a look at:

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Thank you for reading!

Good luck on Your Art Path,

Your Art Bud ?

Anna Sok

Anna Sok is an illustrator and a blogger. In 2020, she graduated from OCAD University with a BA in Design / Illustration. In 2017, Anna started a blog for artists, youartartpath.com, which she continues to run today. Anna Sok is an illustrator and a blogger. In 2020, she graduated from OCAD University with a BA in Design / Illustration. In 2017, Anna started a blog for artists, youartartpath.com, which she continues to run today. Anna loves all things creative - drawing, painting, art history, coloring books, digital art, illustration, 3D sculpting, 2D animation, writing, and singing. She doesn't have the time to fit all her hobbies into one month, let alone a single day! Above all, Anna loves trying new things and sharing her knowledge and ideas with others.