Watercolour painting for beginners: The ultimate online course

Watercolour paper

Unlike traditional paper such as printer paper, watercolour paper has a different paper thickness and surface texture. You can usually buy the paper in the form of a watercolour block. The thicker the painting surface you choose, the better it can absorb water and consequently does not curl. For beginners, cold-pressed paper with a thickness of at least 300g/m² is best. This information can be found on the cover sheet of the watercolour block.

Watercolour paints

You can also buy watercolour paints in sets. These usually contain the most important basic colours, which are well suited for beginners. The colours are available either in small tubes, boxes, or as liquid form.

Watercolour pencils

They look like conventional colouring pencils, but these special watercolour pencils are also water colourable. The drawn sketches can be easily painted with a wet brush, which creates beautiful effects.

Watercolour brush pens

You can use these brush pens like normal felt pens or for hand lettering. The special feature of this product is that they are also water colourable and are therefore ideal for painting or drawing watercolour pictures.

Watercolour graphite pencils

These graphite pencils are designed especially for watercolour painting. They are ideal for sketching watercolour pictures because the colour can be easily overpainted with water afterwards. Shadows in watercolour paintings can also be created with the help of these pencils.

Paint brushes and water brushes

There are different types and sizes of watercolour paint brushes: flat and round brushes, as well as different thicknesses. It's best to get a few different models for a variety of styles. Round brushes in size 8 are ideal if you want to draw large areas or flower patterns. Smaller, round brushes in size 2 are suitable for drawing fine details and elements.

Water brushes are the perfect choice for on-the-go: fill them with water and you're ready to go. You will also need 1 or 2 water containers and a paper towel.

Paint palette

Paint palettes are needed to mix the different paint colours. You can mix the paint as like in the individual predefined areas. After you are done, you wash out the palette and can then reuse it as often as you like.

All-in-One sets for beginners

The All-in-One watercolour sets are the perfect starting equipment for beginners. They contain not only the watercolour pencils or brush pens in assorted colours, but also drawing pencils, water brushes and erasers.

Mistake #1: Wrong paper

Many beginners use the wrong paper when they start watercolour painting. The most common mistake that is made: not using a special watercolour paper. Watercolour paper has a very high component of cotton for a reason. It makes it very absorbent, not only for water but also the mixed colours. Conventional printer paper, for example, curls a lot when it gets wet. So not only do the colours melt, but the picture ends up looking distorted when the paper dries.

Mistake #2: Wrong paint brush

There are round and flat watercolour brushes for watercolour painting. Beginners often use paint brushes that are too small because they lack the necessary confidence. However, if you use a brush that is too small, you will need more brushstrokes for your painting and the work will quickly look overworked. A size 8 paint brush is best for beginners: you can use it to paint many different shapes, as well as finer and coarser strokes. A flat brush is best for painting backgrounds. For the smallest details you ideally use a round brush in size 2.

Mistake #3: Dirty water

You will quickly notice the first time you try and paint with watercolours: the water discolours relatively quickly. If you also use many colours in succession, it will soon look very similar to a muddy puddle. Therefore, make sure to change the water regularly so that the colour pigments on the watercolour paper continue to show to their advantage.

Mistake #4: Too much water

It often happens that beginners use too much water when painting in watercolour. If the brush is too wet and the mixing ratio of water to colour is not right, the paper will curl very strongly. This leads to unwanted water edgesand outlines around the colour area.

Mistake #5: Too little water

On the other hand, you can also make the mistake of painting with too little water: there is the so-called "dry brush effect" that you can use specifically. To paint beautiful transitions and colour gradients, however, you should use the right amount of water. If you make a mistake and the colour is too dry or dark, you can easily fix it by dipping the brush in water and squeezing it out in the brush cloth. Now you can simply soak up the excess paint on the paper with the brush.

Mistake #6: Colour bleeding

A mistake that happens often with impatient artists: the first layer of paint is not yet dry, and you continue painting with another colour. The result: the colours mix and run into each other. In so-called "colour bleeding" you then have no clear edges on your painting. Layering the colours always works better once the paint is dry.

Mistake #7: Unwanted paint splashes

If you accidentally drop the brush onto the painting and unwanted splashes appear, you can remove them quickly and easily: by washing the brush in clean water and letting a drop of the clean water drip onto the watercolour paper. The paint will dissolve, and you can remove the splashes with a kitchen towel. However, it is important to let the paper dry completely before you continue drawing!

Mistake #8: Too dark underdrawings

Sometimes it happens that you have drawn your sketch with the pencil too dark. If you want to erase it afterwards, you unfortunately also remove the watercolour. You can avoid this mistake by making the preliminary sketches with a water colourable coloured pencil in light grey. This preliminary drawing is blended in combination with water and can hardly be seen afterwards.

Mistake #9: Perfectionism

The picture is finished, but you are still not satisfied? Sometimes beginners make the mistake of always wanting to change something to improve the artwork. Unfortunately, it then happens that it does not become more beautiful but appears overworked.

In the end, look at your painting favourably, even if you are not 100% satisfied. Trial and error are part of the process - if you made mistakes in this painting, you can learn from them and they won't happen again in the next one.