Colorful Beginnings: 10 Mistakes to Sidestep on Your Watercolor Journey
Just how is this thing works?
Watercolor – where you paint with water and paints. Perhaps you wished that you were born as a water bender, just like in The Avatar-The Last Airbender. This watery baby can be a little bit tricky if you don’t really know how much water you’re gonna need, color mixing studies, or using low quality watercolor paper. Here are some 10 mistakes that every beginner watercolorist should avoid.
1. Using Too Much or Too Little Water
I really understand that every beginner watercolorist, even I can feel a little bit nervous when it comes to adding water and mixing it with your watercolor paint. Using too small amount of water would make your paints dry, patchy areas, not-so-smooth feeling when you tried to stroke it on your paper. On the flip side, using too much water could make your colors become overly diluted and losing its vibrancy. To avoid this, you should know your own water-to-paint ratios. No, I’m not talking that you should measure your water volume first. One thing you should know that is you have to practice gradually, slowly but sure, until you found your own ratio that suits your desired effect. That way, you’d also learn applying water on your paints consistently.
2. Neglecting Paper Quality
There are tons of watercolor paper brands with variety kinds, be it cold pressed, hot pressed, rough, or cotton-made, cellulose-made, anything. The paper itself ranges from 160 gsm to 300 gsm (there’s also a 600 and 800 gsm option). The gsm or gram-square-meter shows how thick the paper is. The smaller you’d get, then the more it quickly become buckled leading your watercolor become wavy since it couldn’t handle the water itself. I’d say that you should go with investing some good quality watercolor paper, at least 200 gsm would be enough, or you can go with 300 gsm instead. You could use some masking tape to prevent your paper buckled. Although it may a little bit buckled, at least it won’t ended up wrapped or giving wavy texture on your watercolor paper.
3. Composition Neglected
Composition, yeah. When it comes to drawings, paintings, photography, composition is a must. You don’t have to be a Fibonacci to know what’s behind the golden ratio sequence. A composition is a must when you want to make your painting well-balanced and harmonized. You can look it up on google about “Rule of Third” to make your painting balanced. If you’re going to make some thumbnail, use the finest size pencil so you can “hide” it while you’re painting. Consider the color palette and plan your next steps when you’re going to add another layer so you’d happy with your own painting.
4. Overwork!
Who loves to work overtime? At least not me. It’s tiring indeed. That also applied when you overwork your painting. You have a feeling that you should add more detail on this part, or you have to add this color, and bam. Your painting either become dull, muddy, or losing its transparency since you try to overwork on that part. Most of the beginners should know when to stop and let layers dry first before adding more. That said, you should at least plan ahead on how to work on your painting. Let allow its natural transparency accompany you to adventure in your watercolor journey. Patience is the key here.
5. Your Room is Not Light Enough!
Your mother at least said this one, “Don’t read in the dark room!”. That rule is the same when you’re going to paint or drawing. Inadequate lighting could affect your accuracy perceiving color. Let’s just say, you’re painting in a warm-yellow lit room. You’d have hard time to mix a proper color you want, or you’d struggle to add a detail if your room is too dim. Paint in well-lit conditions so you can see colors and values better. Natural light is ideal, but only if it’s still a daytime and not raining or cloudy as well. You can use daylight bulbs to simulate natural light in your room.
6. Skipping Color Mixing
Some beginners might skip this essential part when it comes to color mixing stuff. Although there are no limitation on how much you can add your colors to your painting, mixing your colors randomly could lead your palette into muddy and dull. You don’t have to remember the mixing formula, but at least you should have some spare time to practice color mixing. That way, you could achieve a broder range of shades and tones in your paintings.
7. Drying Time Management
Another beginners mistake should avoid is that they don’t really pay attention to the drying time. Remember: you’re painting using water and of course, it’s wet. That said, patience is the key here. You have to be patient, remain calm, and let the colors beautifully dried before you can go to the next progress. Another life hack is that you could use hairdryer, but it might just seem not that naturally dried. Again, it’s your journey so play whatever you like it.
8. Ignoring Brush Techniques
Watercolor brushes is also considered as watercolorists’ weapon. There are tons of brushes type and you should at least know how to use it. Limiting yourself to only one brush technique can restrict the range of effects in your painting. Although some people might have different style when painting, but beginners should at least know brushes and brush technique as well to continue exploring watercolor.
9. Overlooking Maintenance
Every watercolorist should know how to store their weapons as well, even beginners. Some of beginners tends to “put” their brushes into the water too long. This would make your brushes hair become damaged and it’d affect your brush strokes. Don’t forget to clean your brush after each use and store them properly. Also, storing your watercolor paper properly could prevent its pore from damaged. Some watercolorist put some silica gel in the storage area to absorb excess moisture and preserve the paper quality.
10. Fear of Making Mistakes
One thing that every artist hinder their creative exploration and experimentation is that they are afraid of making errors. You should know that embracing your mistakes while you’re adventuring with watercolors is also a learning opportunity. It’s okay to make mistakes. Who knows that you’d find your own style when you made some mistakes. Enjoy every moment when you’re painting with them.
So, do you still want to be born as a water bender? Perhaps not. You should know that in each colors you have, every strokes you made, and every mistakes are telling you a story. Embrace the unpredictable watercolor and how they’re trying to tell your story. So, dip your brush, splash your colors, and enjoy your watercolor journey. Happy painting!
