What barriers do you feel are holding you back from either getting started with, or building confidence in, watercolor painting? Let me know below, and I can add to my list of upcoming videos!
I tried watercolors numerous times over the years, and never could make more than a muddy colored, wet, mess. Your video caught my eye, and seeing the thumbnail made my heart soar, even tho' I haven't had any watercolors for decades...lol! But, because of you, I may pick up a simple set just to try and see if I can actually create something that isn't "mud." Thank you!!!
I’m so glad that my video may have ignited a little spark in you ❤️ There are a few ways to avoid making mud - perhaps I can do a video on that, if it’s helpful. Also, sometimes it’s helpful to know how to make ‘mud’ because being able to mix up neutral colors from otherwise vibrant paints can be very helpful when you want to balance out your paintings, create shadows, etc.
Great timing! I started out with a $3 children's watercolor a few weeks ago (didn't want to make a big investment) and just bought (almost) this Winsor & Newton set 2 days ago. I got the Flower set with 8 pans and purchased an extra 4 to make it 12 (they didn't have this full set version). Saw this video on my recommendation list and it was just perfect timing. I didn't open my set until now because it was so nice and clean, I was afraid to mess it up :-) I can tell you, coming from a cheap $3 paint set, this makes a HUGE HUGE difference! Not only in the colors but the brush feels completely different on the paint itself. The cheap paint feels like you're stirring a soup, and this one feels like a stew. Thicker. Nicer. Yumm! So I think you can really appreciate this set when you're coming from a really cheap one 🙂 My top of the list worry is mudding up these beautiful colors. I look at some ppl's palette and they look like a bomb exploded. I mix blue with yellow and all of a sudden my yellow pan turned blue and my blue pan turned yellow, and OMG my colors disappeared! So at this point I'm very careful with mixing. I rather mix on the paper then messing up my pans/wells. Anyhow, great timing for me on this video! Very helpful, thank you! BTW, great minds think alike because I use the exact same pencil, too - the blue Graphgear 500 :-)
We have a few things in common then - I also started out by playing with my daughter’s cheap palette quite a few years ago, and gradually dipped my toes further and further into the water. Each upgrade in quality is a huge step in the experience. Keep playing with your W&N - they’ll be great as you start exploring more. I know what you mean about wanting to keep your pans nice and clean for each of the colors. Know that they’re super easy to clean off though. I’m the same with my Daniel Smith palette - if it starts getting dirty I need to clean it off so I can still get the pure colors. Keep having fun!!
What holds me back is not knowing how to draw. Most of my family has this talent but I'm abysmal at it! I used to paint ceramics and have been wanting to get back into some sort of painting. I'm very interested in watercolors, just not confident in my ability to draw anything recognizable!
Hi Kimberley, I understand how you feel. What I do know is that drawing is a skill to learn/practice, just like anything else (including watercolor). There are structured programs you can take, some free, like Draw A Box, that are very good. However, I don’t think that drawing should be a barrier to you for learning watercolor. It depends a little on what you want to paint. Have you tried, or interested in abstract? No drawing needed for that, and I personally love making abstract watercolors. If you want to paint realistic subjects, being able to draw will definitely help, but in the meantime, you could trace the pictures you’d like to paint…? I’ve seen many people do this, even in advanced watercolor classes. Check out some of my other videos - no drawing required :) I’ve also been thinking about adding some drawing content to my RUclips planning, so thanks for this insight!
There are insane number of channels here that teaches you everything you wanna know from how to draw a dog, santa, fish, trees, florals, etc, all the way to perspectives, basic spatial object relationships, how to curve, twist, bend, rotate cylinders, cubes, figuring out how to draw contour lines based on object curvature, etc, it's all available. Basically flowers and petals are all come from basic forms. So if you know how to bend, twist, rotate basic forms like cylinders, cones, pyramids, how to extrude or slice one type of object from another, you can easily apply all this to drawing flowers, petals or whatever else you want and later translate all that into watercolors or whatever medium. There are awesome watercolor artists on RUclips. The really good ones don't need to memorize how to draw, for example, a flower because they know the basic forms, how they curve, twist and bend and they can easily construct a flowery scene. So just take your pick. Videos are available.
I’m still getting used to water control and maintaining consistent, smooth color to prevent cauliflower bursts when I don’t want them. Also - it’s not a big worry, but I have a bit of a fear of composition. I’m talking myself off that ledge daily and just focusing on the drills, practice, and developing muscle memory as much as I can first!
Hi Brea - would it help you to know that composition is just really difficult, with so many aspects to it, that you can spend a lifetime on mastering composition? Hopefully that helps take a little pressure off, if you feel like it’s something you need to be great at. I certainly understand. When I first started painting again, I was surprised at how much I felt like I sucked at composition, and didn’t understand why. I’ve learned to let that go a bit and just accept that I’ll learn little pieces here and there to constantly experiment and improve. And learned to embrace my mediocrity 😆
What barriers do you feel are holding you back from either getting started with, or building confidence in, watercolor painting? Let me know below, and I can add to my list of upcoming videos!
I tried watercolors numerous times over the years, and never could make more than a muddy colored, wet, mess.
Your video caught my eye, and seeing the thumbnail made my heart soar, even tho' I haven't had any watercolors for decades...lol!
But, because of you, I may pick up a simple set just to try and see if I can actually create something that isn't "mud." Thank you!!!
I’m so glad that my video may have ignited a little spark in you ❤️
There are a few ways to avoid making mud - perhaps I can do a video on that, if it’s helpful. Also, sometimes it’s helpful to know how to make ‘mud’ because being able to mix up neutral colors from otherwise vibrant paints can be very helpful when you want to balance out your paintings, create shadows, etc.
Great timing! I started out with a $3 children's watercolor a few weeks ago (didn't want to make a big investment) and just bought (almost) this Winsor & Newton set 2 days ago. I got the Flower set with 8 pans and purchased an extra 4 to make it 12 (they didn't have this full set version). Saw this video on my recommendation list and it was just perfect timing. I didn't open my set until now because it was so nice and clean, I was afraid to mess it up :-)
I can tell you, coming from a cheap $3 paint set, this makes a HUGE HUGE difference! Not only in the colors but the brush feels completely different on the paint itself. The cheap paint feels like you're stirring a soup, and this one feels like a stew. Thicker. Nicer. Yumm! So I think you can really appreciate this set when you're coming from a really cheap one 🙂
My top of the list worry is mudding up these beautiful colors. I look at some ppl's palette and they look like a bomb exploded. I mix blue with yellow and all of a sudden my yellow pan turned blue and my blue pan turned yellow, and OMG my colors disappeared! So at this point I'm very careful with mixing. I rather mix on the paper then messing up my pans/wells.
Anyhow, great timing for me on this video! Very helpful, thank you! BTW, great minds think alike because I use the exact same pencil, too - the blue Graphgear 500 :-)
We have a few things in common then - I also started out by playing with my daughter’s cheap palette quite a few years ago, and gradually dipped my toes further and further into the water. Each upgrade in quality is a huge step in the experience. Keep playing with your W&N - they’ll be great as you start exploring more.
I know what you mean about wanting to keep your pans nice and clean for each of the colors. Know that they’re super easy to clean off though. I’m the same with my Daniel Smith palette - if it starts getting dirty I need to clean it off so I can still get the pure colors.
Keep having fun!!
What holds me back is not knowing how to draw. Most of my family has this talent but I'm abysmal at it! I used to paint ceramics and have been wanting to get back into some sort of painting. I'm very interested in watercolors, just not confident in my ability to draw anything recognizable!
Hi Kimberley, I understand how you feel. What I do know is that drawing is a skill to learn/practice, just like anything else (including watercolor). There are structured programs you can take, some free, like Draw A Box, that are very good.
However, I don’t think that drawing should be a barrier to you for learning watercolor. It depends a little on what you want to paint. Have you tried, or interested in abstract? No drawing needed for that, and I personally love making abstract watercolors.
If you want to paint realistic subjects, being able to draw will definitely help, but in the meantime, you could trace the pictures you’d like to paint…? I’ve seen many people do this, even in advanced watercolor classes. Check out some of my other videos - no drawing required :)
I’ve also been thinking about adding some drawing content to my RUclips planning, so thanks for this insight!
There are insane number of channels here that teaches you everything you wanna know from how to draw a dog, santa, fish, trees, florals, etc, all the way to perspectives, basic spatial object relationships, how to curve, twist, bend, rotate cylinders, cubes, figuring out how to draw contour lines based on object curvature, etc, it's all available. Basically flowers and petals are all come from basic forms. So if you know how to bend, twist, rotate basic forms like cylinders, cones, pyramids, how to extrude or slice one type of object from another, you can easily apply all this to drawing flowers, petals or whatever else you want and later translate all that into watercolors or whatever medium. There are awesome watercolor artists on RUclips. The really good ones don't need to memorize how to draw, for example, a flower because they know the basic forms, how they curve, twist and bend and they can easily construct a flowery scene. So just take your pick. Videos are available.
I’m still getting used to water control and maintaining consistent, smooth color to prevent cauliflower bursts when I don’t want them. Also - it’s not a big worry, but I have a bit of a fear of composition. I’m talking myself off that ledge daily and just focusing on the drills, practice, and developing muscle memory as much as I can first!
Hi Brea - would it help you to know that composition is just really difficult, with so many aspects to it, that you can spend a lifetime on mastering composition? Hopefully that helps take a little pressure off, if you feel like it’s something you need to be great at. I certainly understand. When I first started painting again, I was surprised at how much I felt like I sucked at composition, and didn’t understand why. I’ve learned to let that go a bit and just accept that I’ll learn little pieces here and there to constantly experiment and improve. And learned to embrace my mediocrity 😆
Votre pinceau pour les lavis (wash) me semble trop petit.
Yes, ideally I’d do a wash with a larger brush, but was trying to demo with limited supplies.