12 Tips for Beginners: How to Get Started with Watercolor Painting

Watercolor is fascinating, but it can seem a little intimidating to beginners. There’s no need to be afraid, though. We’ve put together 12 tips to help you get started painting with confidence. This list of 12 helpful tips is designed to help you overcome your fear and boldly pick up a brush.

Don’t Overdo It When Buying Paints

You really don’t need every color available to start painting with the watercolor technique. However, your collection should include a few quality basic paints. The type you choose, paints in tubes or regular watercolors, is entirely up to you, but make sure you have red, yellow, blue, and black.

A travel watercolor set can be especially useful for beginners, as it likely includes all the basic paints you need. Browse our selection of watercolors.

Choose Quality Brushes

If you’re just starting out with watercolor, you don’t need many brushes, just a few good ones. A round brush is essential, but you can do more with a basic brush set that includes small, medium, and large round brushes, one medium flat brush, and one pointed brush.

Use Special Watercolor Paper

When it comes to watercolor, we don’t recommend using just any paper. If you try painting on regular printer paper or craft paper, we promise you won’t have much fun. The paints won’t bind well, and the paper will simply tear. Watercolor paper is specially designed to absorb larger amounts of water.

Don't Forget to Use a Palette

If you dream of mixing your own paints like the great artists, a palette will become an essential tool. You can buy a watercolor palette with small separate wells for mixing different paints, or use a flat, smooth surface, such as an old board or plate. Either way, choose something larger than you think you'll need, because you don't want your carefully mixed paints to start blending together.

Clean Water and Scrap Paper Are the Most Important Tools

Although they may often be overlooked, plain clean water and scrap paper are basic but often underrated supplies. As you may remember from school, a container of clean water helps you achieve lighter shades or simply rinse your brush between paints. Be sure to change the water often so it doesn't become cloudy with paint and affect the shades and intensity of the paints in your work.

Use scraps of old paper to test the shade and consistency before applying the paint to your work surface. A small piece of special paper for watercolors is best, but in principle, any paper can serve this purpose. Just keep in mind that it probably won't dry at the same rate or in the same way as your finished work.

Prepare Your Space

To enjoy the painting process in peace, have all the supplies you need on your work surface: brushes, paints, a palette, water for mixing, a paper towel for drying brushes, and a piece of scrap paper for testing paints. Make sure everything is within reach but not in your way, especially near your painting hand, so you don't accidentally knock anything over while you work.

Start with a Sketch

Before you start painting, lightly sketch your composition directly on the paper with a pencil. You can make the sketch on a separate sheet of paper to use as a guide, or draw a light sketch directly on the paper you'll be working on using a regular pencil.

Mix More Paint Than You Think You'll Need

You don't want to run out of paint when you're working on the last detail of a painting in a particular shade. Plus, it's very hard to mix the exact watercolor shade again, so it's always better to prepare enough paint.

Embrace the “Bleeding”

Watercolor naturally bleeds, spreading uncontrollably when fresh paint is applied too close to another color. We agree, sometimes it doesn't look good, but it can also be an opportunity to create beautiful accidental shading effects. If you're worried about paints blending into each other as you work, let each one dry completely before applying the next.

Masking Fluid Is Your Friend

Watercolor is one of the techniques known for being difficult to control. Watercolors tend to spread into areas of a painting where they're not wanted. Your best defense is special masking fluid, which blocks off all the areas you don't want painted. Let the fluid dry, apply the paints and let them dry too, then peel off the masking fluid to reveal completely clean paper underneath. It's a great helper.

Don't Be Afraid of Mistakes

As with any new skill, things sometimes go wrong because of inexperience or inadequate information. Whether you've applied the wrong paint, the paint has “bled” in a way you don't like, or you've accidentally made a mark on the paper, don't panic! These mistakes can often be fixed with special art supplies or simply incorporated into the painting as another original detail in your artwork.

Have Fun!

Painting should above all be a joy. Don't be afraid to experiment and try new things. Practice is the best teacher. Try new things and learn from your mistakes. There's only one right way to learn to paint well with watercolors: do it often! Simply enjoy the process.

Read More on Our Blog

• How much do you really know about watercolor technique?
• Can you paint with watercolors on canvas?
• Do you know what color theory is, and what a color wheel is?