The word "watercolors" sends a shiver down most people's spine. Why? I don't know. Many consider watercolor a hard medium to master but this isn't true. Yes, it can be tricky but only when you don't know what you're doing. I have been painting in watercolors for many years now and have found it very rewarding and in fact preferred using them to oils (Which I tried first). My first few attempts were pretty bad because I wanted a quick result without any study or effort. After some study though and lots of PRACTICE I believe I've achieved a good level of proficiency and have sold a number of paintings and prints.

Here then are a few tips to get started:

1. Firstly, materials make a difference. The higher quality they are the better. But, and this is a big but, you don't need THE most expensive materials for a decent result.
Paper does need to be proper watercolor paper. Smooth or rough it matters not but if it's cheap paper the paint is soaked up as soon as it is applied and you can't then do anything with it.
For brushes you do not need twenty of the finest pure sable ones that money can buy. In fact you could just get one No. 6 sable/synthetic blend brush to start you off and build up from there.
Paints can either be in tubes or pans (hard blocks). These come in artist quality, student quality or "ungraded". A small set of student quality paints is a good place to start (these usually come. You don't need hundreds of colors because through careful mixing you can obtain a very wide range.

2. To start painting, take your paper and tape it to a board as the paper tends to bend when wet. You can do things like stretching it but to be honest it's a lot of messing around for a beginner and if you get the thicker paper it's not necessary. Have a big pot of fresh water and the rest of your materials to hand. Now before you do anything else ensure the board with the paper on it is tilted at an angle towards you (30 degrees or thereabouts). This is VITAL as the paint runs towards you and so dries at the top first.

3. Now you're ready to start. Wet the brush and get some paint on it and away you go. The more water, the lighter the color. the less water, the stronger the color. When painting an object start at the top of it and work down, towards you so it dries evenly. If you want to paint a particular thing you can draw it out before hand but to begin with I'd just play around and get familiar with how the paint acts . Try doing different things. Wet paint on dry paint. Wet paint on wet paint. Basically experiment.

Now, I won't pretend that's all there is to it. There's a lot more to know. I suggest reading books or if you can attend a class. But overall, have fun and be willing to make mistakes and throw away paper. Good luck!

Learn more about this author, Peter Tomblin.
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