Watercolor Lesson #2 - Techniques
Basic Watercolor Techniques Every Watercolor Artist Should Know
Masking Fluid/ Liquid Frisket/ Rubber cement –
Any area you wish to stay the white of the paper, dab this on with a brush in the areas you wish. (Use a single brush SOLELY for this purpose. It will ruin your brush for painting – a trick to keep the brush from getting completely ruined = put soap in your brush before you dip it in the masking fluid, it will rinse almost all of the way clean)
Flat wash –
Take a large square brush and fill it with the color you wish to use. Simply refill your brush each time you make a new stroke.
Gradient wash –
Again mix the color you wish, except, this time use a lighter tone/slightly more water each time you paint a new line. The gradient will usually smooth itself out as it dries.
Color Glazing –
Use a new hue each time you add a new layer. The previous layer will show through and create an interesting effect or color mixture. Just remember to let each layer dry before you add something new.
Wet-on-Wet –
Lightly dampen your entire sheet of paper and paint. It will create soft edges and allow for the colors to merge and flow together.
*This results in very nice effects for beginning a piece. If you wish for any whites, light areas or details to remain in the image, use masking fluid/rubber cement before you wet down the page so that these areas stay the white of the paper. However, you have to know when you have reached a good stopping point.
Wet-on-Dry –
Here the paper is dry and the brush is adding water and color. It results in clean, crisp lines and defined shapes.
Dry Brush –
use very little water in your brush. This technique is more affected by a textured paper and will leave rougher edges to the shapes you paint.
Lifting –
Using a Kleenex, paper towel, sponge or clean brush you can lift wet watercolor from the paper, leaving lighter/white impressions where the tools have pulled the pigment away. (great for creating clouds or placing highlights in areas that a wash has covered up)
If you want to lift color from an area that is dry, simply use a wet, clean brush or dampen the area with a spray bottle. Then lightly rub the color away. Be careful though to not damage the paper.
Now, On to the fun stuff.
With watercolor there’s a million different ways to achieve different effects and textures.
Splattering & Spraying –
Use a hard bristle brush or old toothbrush and put a light amount of wet watercolor pigment on the edges, then flick the brush and to create a splatter effect. Be sure to cover the areas you don’t want effected with scrap paper or masking fluid.
Scraping, Scratching and Stamping –
Use a sharp edge of the back of a brush, an old card, etc and scratch lightly into wet paint. The paint will fill the divet and create a darker line of color. You can also squeegee paint away from areas to lighten them and even take and dip a sponge or paper towel into wet paint and stamp textures into your painting.
Backwash Technique-
Create a wash of one or multiple colors. Then take clean, clear water and splatter or paint into the wet wash as it dries. The new water will cause the paint to flow away from that area, leaving interesting textures.
Salt –
Sprinkle salt over an area of wet paint and it will have the same effect as the backwashing technique, except it leaves a snowflake-like texture in the drying paint.Use smaller or larger crystals to make slightly different effects.
Hydrogen Peroxide/Alcohol –
Again, this will have the same idea but leave a textured effect resembling bubbles or oil drops
Texture created by papers or other media –
Use anything from plastic wrap to tissue paper to grass and stones, by letting them sit on the drying watercolor, they will cause a hills and valley- type texture throughout by pushing the pigment and water away from certain areas. Can achieve very interesting results. The above image is from plastic wrap.
Now, this was only the basics. Definitely do more research and practice as much as possible! Watercolor is an extremely interesting medium if you have the patience and interest to try it.
Again, if you would like more instruction, this is a very good beginner website if you wish to learn more -
http://www.watercolorpainting.com/index.htm
