Thank you so much, especially drawing advice which reminds me one of my previous art teacher's words. She said that after some point tracing may become drawing on my own. I guess it is related to muscle memory. I bought cheap and expensive materials but couldn't use the expensive ones. Then I said to my self "You already bought it! Why not using when you are still alive and have the ability to paint?" So, I am using them and it changed the way I paint, also the enjoy I am getting from it. And yes, other hobbies cost more.
I totally agree with projecting images. Years ago, I bought an Artograph projector. One of the best investments I ever made! Art is about your finished painting, not how much you struggled to get there. I disagree about materials, though. It's true that bargain basement inferior materials make good painting impossible. At the same time, the difference between decent mid grade materials in insanely expensive materials has less to do with painting quality and more to do with archival quality (eg. will these colors fade in 50 years, or 200) The vast majority of people reading this are doing art that may no event be around 20 years from now, long before even cheap pigments fade. Good brushes, though, are an excellent investment that lasts for decades!
This just goes to show how different advice is about watercolours, because I recently heard another artist saying using bright vibrant colours was unrealistic, and advised against doing that. I think art should be whatever you want it to be. I mean, look at Salvador Dali's art, it's not at all realistic, but it's both expensive and popular.
Absolutely! Art is like ice cream. Everyone has different tastes and favorites. I wouldn’t get upset at someone because they had a different favorite flavor of art style. 😊
I feel art is subjective. It means different things to different people. One type or style is not better or worse than another. It is art. Expression. Want to paint a purple tree? Do it!.
@@alisonhendry2928I agree. I love realism, but I also love comics, and all sorts of cartoons that aren’t very realistic at all. Art is like food. We can enjoy a lot of different flavors. And just because it tastes good to me doesn’t mean it tastes good to my friends. I say create in the style that inspires your creative soul 😊
I think using bright colors can be risky, but using muted colors risks being boring. There is also a tendency among beginners to use paint straight out of the tube without really seeing what they are trying to paint. In the end, the right colors are the ones that work to make an interesting satisfying painting.
@@ZannerBatman We need to practice and develop our own individual style. Its like handwriting, our styles should be and will be different as we evolve independently paint along in our art journey. What we painted as lids is totally different , even my own art work was a very different couple of years back. We start developing likeing for a particular art , we are inclined to certain styles by famous artists. In doing so we should completely immerse ourselves, explore and experiment, we end up with distinct styles just as a signature.
After years of painting with oils after retirement I decided to give watercolor another shot. Always have been fascinated by the transparency. Two years in and it's been quite a learning process. Two totally different concepts. Still all in all, a learning opportunity.
I’m so glad you have stuck through with it over the last two years. I love oils and now I also love watercolor. Those are two of my favorite mediums. Do you post your art anywhere? I would love to support you.
I totally agree with the paper issues as it took me a while to figure it out. Once I changed to arches and fabriano I realized all my hard work was making a difference. But the second big mistake I made and had to learn was the watercolor paint does have as much as a difference as the paper! When I went from student grade to Daniel smith it blew my mind and I will never go back.
Excellent advice. I love to teach beginners and try to debunk some of the myths that were taught to me and I have since learned were hooey. I was lucky to have my first instructor talk about fixing “ mistakes” super early in the game as I too was told it was impossible to change things and unforgiving etc. before I found the right teachers. Good paper!!!! Number one important thing especially for detailed colourful realism. You really got these myths debunked right! Can’t stop cheering here 🎉.
Yes, the myth is "no second chances" with watercolor. Actually you almost always get 1 1/2, maybe even two chances. Even if you totally screw up, you can flip the paper and paint on the other side (if you're using 300# paper) or use it for tests & experimentation.
Watercolor is surprisingly easy to fix. I never use masking fluid or white paint, as I almost never leave any white paper unpainted. But when you mic watercolor you (almost) don’t have to worry about how light or dark your color is - you adjust it with water on the go. For me using opaque media where you have to mix in white is very tricky.
I was about to give up on watercolor and then I got some decent paper and paints. It was unbelievable how much of a difference they made and they really didn't cost that much. Ultimately, really cheap supplies will cost more because you'll end up throwing them out. PS - If you haven't done it already, a video about fixing watercolor mistakes would be amazing.
I have always loved watercolors and realism is my style too. I never thought it was just for kids, I always thought it was a very difficult and demanding art form. I adore the whole process.
@@Pencilshark no, not yet. I left FB a few years back in protest and now they are messing with my info. If I ever get back on I’ll let you know. I used to post there a lot.
Good points. I especially appreciate advice not to use low-quality materials at first: they are actually much harder to manage, as well as not giving the best results. But, re: "drab": perhaps the artist is not _trying_ to reproduce hyper-saturated cheezy photography, and instead is interested in _realistic_ color. (Look at the world around you.)
Thanks Maletu. 🤜🤛 I agree, every painting doesn’t have to be rich in color to look beautiful and realistic. I plan to do a deer in the woods on a foggy day, so I won’t be using vivid colors.
Ok I’m almost done with a video on what to look for in a reference photo in general. And then I’ll work on what kind of photos are good for watercolor.
Yes, yes, yes. With materials, "you can't get there from here' if you start with materials that don't have the right properties. Some washes and effects you cannot get with some papers and some brushes. A good artist can work with anything but if you are trying a specific technique you need the specific materials - not the cheapest paper, brushes and watercolors. I love the bright and brilliant watercolors, and using transparent effects. Good video, thanks.
I would definitely love a video on how to best pick reference photos. Thanks for this video! Definitely disagree when people say start with cheap materials. But it is expensive and if your not sure your going to stick with it it can be tough to dish out a decent amount of money for something you may not stay with. But that's with any craft . Have a great day
I just finished and posted the video on picking reference photos in general and I’m working on a video about picking reference photos specifically for watercolor. And then I’ll get to the fixing mistakes. Is there any particular mistake you were interested in learning about?
@@PencilsharkI have an unusual one for you. How would you approach applying calligraphy to a finished watercolour painting? Having spent months practising, and finally feeling confident enough to go ahead and write the requested poem onto a commissioned artwork, my heart sank as I watched the ink begin to bleed and spread, thus ruining my painting. It has been a massive learning curve for me, but not sure how to approach it now. My original intention was to do the painting, then have a printer sort the poem. However, I worried that the printing process might have disturbed/smudged my artwork. I then thought of spraying it with a fixative, but thought that might affect the printing process, and that might itself smudge. So I decided to learn calligraphy, so that I could hand write the poem onto my painting. At least I would be able to say that it's 100% my own handiwork lol. I don't understand why it bled, when I had experienced no such bleeding with all my practice pieces. I can only imagine the watercolours on the paper, somehow affected the paper. That painting is ruined. I decided to use it to trial painting PH Martin's Bleedproof over the area of the poem, and yes, after it had dried, I was able to write without the ink bleeding. But the effect of the Bleedproof is not what I was wanting for my finished piece. I am going to have to start all over again, just not sure how to approach it now, as having a pale yellow (New Gamboge) background is key to the subject of the artwork. I would be very interested to hear how you would approach such a work?
@@PencilsharkThank you for replying to my question. I don't think that's going to be the solution in this case, as the actual area of the poem, although large enough to be legible, the lettering size isn't large enough to allow for sketching then filling in. I haven't been able to find a waterproof ink suitable for a fountain pen, so it looks like I am going to have to learn how to use a dip pen instead 🙈.
I've been watercoloring 6 years now and I started with QoR because of tgeir brightness. I love them. And paper took me a year to figure out. Here's a tip. I 100% agree spend your money here 1st. Get 100% cotton paper. To have more surfaces cut tge paper smaller. I buy arches 140lb cold press and cut it in quarters. It makes 48 postcards. That's a lot of painting surfaces. I paint daily.. if you paint on both sides that's 96 painting surfaces. So it's cost effective. Also. I learn new things every single time I paint. Tgey are easy to do hard to master but I love my journey and love this about them. Means I can continue to grow for a lifetime. Oh and one last thing start with professional grade. Don't buy student grade uou know you will upgrade any way. Start with a set and learn color theory. Fill in holes with open stock later. Buy tubes. Fill your own pans. You'll like it better and learn more. And use quality synthetic brushes no need to kill squirls to paint and now days they are just as good.
Totally agree 🤜🤛 I’ve done the same thing of cutting the quality paper down to small pieces of paper so I got more painting surfaces 😊 thank you for sharing your insights! I love it.
I am so glad that you have posted about this, I paint realism also and I have painted in acrylic, watercolour and oils and you would never know which is which, unless you get really close up
In order to do a really great flat wash and no warped paper, learn how to stretch your paper! I do NOT understand why that process is skipped or avoided by so many people! Even watercolor blocks tend to have some amount of paper expansion which makes the paint pool in certain spots so you can’t get an even and beautiful flat or gradient wash! And, I swear by Arches watercolor paper. Once I switched to it I could layer very well. Lower grade papers you can overwork your paintings too easily.
Loved the myth busting! I do have to slightly disagee about the paper. I am a beginning artist, never really drawn or painted except for the odd doddle. I got the cheapest of cheap watercolour paper and mediocre w/c paint while I was learning. I happily put pencil and paint brush on my crappy paper. I learnt through practice the different strokes each brush could make, what affect how I hold the brush or pencil has etc etc. Then I wanted to do layering, lifting, etc soon discovered not going to happen on cheap pulp very well. So I got cotton paper not top range and yes it is so much easier and nicer to work with, and I have improved immensely. But I would never use cotton just to see what happens if I press hard then ease the pressure etc, etc. I learnt flat washes on cheap, cheap pulp, that was hard but now they are a breeze for me on cotton. I feel if you are a total newbie to paint and pencil use the cheapest of cheap watercolour paper play have fun, while learning and developing your muscle memory. And then when you say to yourself I am not improving or why won't this work grab the cotton.
I'd recommend Dr. Ph. Martin's Bleedproof White Fine Art Paint for the "opaque white" paint! I learned this when I visited San Diego and talked to artists while they were hanging a show. It's been a godsend for me.
I once heard it said, if your goal is absolute realiism, take a kodachrome. Paintings shouldn't look like photographs. Two different complimentary art forms.
I agree. I love realism, but I want to bring something more than what the photograph offers. Maybe it’s adding something that wasn’t there or increasing the intensity of colors or only getting hyper realistic on one object so that the viewers eye is mostly focused on that object. I also like the idea of making people feel like it’s real, but getting close to it and seeing the paint strokes or fingerprints in the graphite.
I just love watercolor. Personally in my opinion the uniqueness of the characteristics of watercolor is exactly what attracts me. Love how other mediums can not do what watercolor can do. Love the surreal effects that the paint will do on its own. The colors are simply amazing, and the blending of the colors and watermarks with in a painting are so enjoyable High quality paint offers much more vibrant colors. Love Daniel Smith with so many options and have recently been exploring some of the iridescent, primatec and even the pre blended combos. Etsy has some interesting small batch watercolors. I have found some holographic watercolors that I will be playing with to capture light on my dragonflies wings. Each artist and each person looking at art has their own likes and dislikes. For me painting a subject that is identifiable but not an exact relic is what I strive for. Love when there are suggestions or gaps that my eye and imagination must fill in.. When I want exact details I pull out my camera
Those artists who say that are usually not able to paint realism, which requires skill and impeccable technique, both of which are achievable with a lot of practice and hard work, but they can be asked to put in the time so they throw this around to shame artists who paint in realism. We see what they're doing and it's sad.
Great video, thanks for the insights. Myself, i find wood pulp papers, (the not cotton stuff) DOES have its valid uses. I find it is a very good surface for color swatching colors and color mixing tests. Pulp paper is also VERY good for doing linear brush drawing practice of things that require lots of repetitive practice, like human or animal anatomy. It's much cheaper to do a lot of that line work practice on cheap paper, if you aren't requiring the high quality wet in wet effects cotton paper provides. It can also be really good for more graphic design type work with gouache, where the color comes out in flat shapes rather than soft renderings of form. Also for font designs and word art, that requieres flat even color. Just my two cents.
@@lornacy no it’s not different. Some watercolor paper is 100% cotton paper, some watercolor paper is 100% wood pulp, but some watercolor paper is a mixture of 50% wood pulp and 50% cotton.
You forget a very important moment as to why kids are introduced mostly to watercolours: watercolours can be cleaned up / washed easily. Oils are really difficult to get off the fabric and acrylics dry pretty much forever. Guache looks more messy and tempera is not as widely available.
What a wonderful surprise!! Thank you so much for using one of my watercolors and sharing my name in this video!! 😊 I really appreciate it!! -- I wanted to say that I agree with all your points, especially on the importance of using good quality 100% cotton watercolor paper. I personally use Cold Pressed, either 140 Lbs or 300 Lbs. My favorite paper is Arches. It allows me to overlap many layers to get luminous darks and intense hues. I place my paper down on a hard board and tape it all around its perimeter with artists tape. It really helps to keep the paper flat while working on it. 😉
@@Pencilshark LOL, You made MY day!! Thank you sooo much for your kindness. Your work is beautiful and the content you share is very useful for people trying to start painting watercolors. Precise and to the point. Nice relaxed pace. Very pleasant to watch. 😉
Great information. Still, I can say that my experience with paper is a little different. Bad quality paper gets you nowhere, that's true. You see how fast you improve with good supplies. But using the most expensive cotton paper didn't get the most from me, especially at the beginning. I think it's because I'm too conscious of the price of the paper that I'm too concerned about the results. So, I happened to cross paths with Bee Co. paper, a very affordable jumbo block that I purchased in Walmart, and for the price I paid it's quite good. This is the only cellulose paper that I'd recommend for practice. I couldn't care less if the results are horrible, so I keep practicing and practicing. That paper behaves pretty good for what I paint, which is mostly botanicals. I wish they offer hot pressed. I've learned a lot and now I feel more confident using cotton paper. It's different going from cold pressed cellulose to hot pressed cotton, but it works for me, I think, at a psychological level 😅 Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
I agree. I can imagine a lot of paintings that don’t have a lot of vivid color, and I wouldn’t call them drab. I’d only call paintings drab if the artist meant to capture a scene that’s vivid in color but they used too much water to paint ratio so it dried drab looking in comparison to what the were trying to to capture. A deer in a field with fog can be so beautiful without vivid colors and I wouldn’t consider it drab. If you post your artwork anywhere, I’d love to support you.😊
I'm pretty by "drab" he means cheap watercolors with very little pigment. Even the brightest color in a cheap set will look washed out once it dries. And because they're full of fillers, layering usually turns them into mud. Add to that cheap cellulose paper and you're in for a drab disaster 😂
Thank you for watching! If these two videos don’t answer your question please ask me again, and I’ll try my best to answer it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wYStfvIVDCA.htmlfeature=shared and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LoDfXH_OP9s.htmlfeature=shared
Thank you for watching 😊 I just posted a video on picking a good reference photo in general. I’m working on another video about how to find a good reference specifically for watercolor.
During art exhibits I used to think my watercolor paintings are inferior to the acrylic or oil painting counterparts as my paintings look too pale while the acrylic paintings looks so vibrant and solid. Seeing your artworks showed that it is possible to achieve realistic yet colorful paintings using watercolors. Thanks for sharing!
Funnily I only found out yesterday that the quality paper makes a big difference after trying t get to grips with water colour for over a year ! ..I had given up because I liked one small painting out of about 100 🤔😁so I am about to order some good quality paper ..Thankyou
I'm going into college this september for the first time, I haven't done a lot of art in my life but I signed up for an art n design course and all I can say is thank you so much for the advice. Within a couple weeks I've improved so much.
Macy thank you for making my day 😊 I hope you get a fantastic teacher that encourages you. If not, let me know and I’ll try my best to help you continue to grow as an artist. My top tip: Art mistakes are necessary to improve. So don’t avoid them, learn from them. Have a wonderful day!
A professional set of watercolors in a split primary set is a great place for beginners to start. I love W&N Professional paints, but there are many great brands of professional paints. Other really good brands are DaVinci (US), Roman Schmalz (EU), Holbein (Japan), Schmincke (Germany), Sennelier (France), Michael Harding (EU). The countries in parenthesis are where they are easiest to find and/or manufactured, but most can be ordered online globally. Good quality student grade paints are made by Winsor & Newton (Cotman), Grumbacher (Academy), and Daler Rowney (Aquafine). Generally they are lower pigment loads or less expensive pigments, but otherwise the same formula as their professional paints. Turner (Japan?) is decent (have a lot of their paints), but you need to know what you're getting. They're closer to traditional Japanese paints, don't move much. QoR (Golden Artist Colors, US) are quite popular, but move a LOT (like seriously explosive across the wet page), maybe too much for beginners, would recommend for intermediate and advance painters, not beginners, hard to control. M Graham (US) is also quite popular, but these have honey in them so they can stay sticky if you live in a humid environment. A Gallo (Italy) also honey in them, pans only, very expensive, many rare pigments available, for advance artists and collectors. Paints with honey never really completely dry in pans so are not suitable for most travel palettes.
I picked up my watercolors after 20+ years during the pandemic shutdown. Really enjoying them, although I play in many media. I also like making scale miniatures. By day, I teach technical theatre.
I think it's more, you can paint realistically with watercolors if you tried. I can't believe people think that way (haha) they've never tried it then!
When I was a kid. An art teacher led me to believe it’s impossible to control watercolors and do realism. She told me to avoid it. So I did for many years. I’m so glad I ran into an artist who told me, “if you can master watercolor, you can master anything!” Challenge accepted.
I think that anybody who says that probably has a very narrow idea of the techniques that one "should" use with water color. If, for example, they think that you should always use soft brushes, always dilute your paints (to an extreme degree), always paint wet on wet paper, because that is the "appropriate" way to use water color, then they may be correct.
@@brucetidwell7715 Hi, Bruce - what I'm liking about watercolor is that there really are no limitations at all! You can certainly paint the way people say is 'right', but you're missing out on all the fun.
@@freshspiritworks4535 Exactly! I call my style 'Mixed Water based media." I use water color, aquarelle pencils (water soluble colored pencils), gouache, water based markers. Then I have regular paint brushes in different shapes, but I also have different shaped sponges, calligraphy pens, Rapidograph pens, and even some makeup brushes. Every new tool makes new things possible.
@@brucetidwell7715 ohhh, Bruce - you have a great time! I have all the same things and enjoy every one! I also picked up aquapasto (interesting - still playing around with it) and watercolor ground (especially QoR light dimensional watercolor ground - whole new layer of fun! I started using watercolors for the 100 painting a day project and I sure learned a lot - not sure I can go back to acrylics now. This is so much more fun! Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
I've been painting with watercolors for 50 years! That's right since I was 10- selling art since I was 11--and it is a great and classic medium that frankly, with new tools like WC gesso that turns wood into paper, ( Daniel Smith and others) iridescent and luminous colors, pfff-- you can do soo much!
Thanks for this video! I had not heard about opaque white water color or aqua boards. I get very good results from white gouache. I don't even try to mask small reflections and things anymore. I just plan on over painting them and I like that look better, anyway. I have a full set of guouache paints, though, and don't mind using both in a painting, but I may try the opaque water color, as well. I have no affiliation at all, but I highly recommend Arteza art supplies. I went to art school and I know the value of quality materials but I don't sell my work and can only afford to spend so much. When I decided to get into watercolor media, I reached out to a hos,t whose YT channel is devoted to reviewing art supplies, for a quality affordable option and he recommended Arteza. They have a full range of art supplies but they primarily sell on their website. I think they have some things at Michael's now. The only drawback is that currently they don't sell open stock so you can't replace individual items.
@@Pencilshark The only mark against them is that their pigments are not all archival quality, but I don't expect my work to matter a hundred years from now, anyway. One thing I really like, though, is that their color pallet is standardized across their products so I have sets watercolors, gouache, water color markers, aquarelle pencils, and wax color pencils, in matching color pallets. I get really cool effects doing mixed media works.
Great insights. That realism was off the hook, so cool to see. I completely concur on the professional paper. I started off with PRANG and quality 100% cotton paper. It made all the difference in me staying in the medium. I did try a cellulose blend once and the results were okay, but so much better on cotton. I always tell folks beginning, splurge on quality paper, along with a decent brush. I know doing that got me further than anything else. More tips and tricks please, enjoyed your insights and sharing. Great job on those bright pieces too, capturing light is so hard for me.
I like hot press paper too. It's fun to try different papers. I've got several cold press papers and a few hot press ones to use. I've also been trying different paints. I've found that pans act different than tube paint and watercolor pencils are also fun to use and can give you more control to produce fine details.
@@Pencilshark my comment just refuses to go through today lol. I apologize if you get several random comments from me. Hot Press is Fluid 100. Cold press is Baohong 300 G/M
You're rocking that Yoda t-Shirt🙂. As for number 5, I'm not sure if I've heard it before. I've often heard the "rule" that you should definitely buy art materials of the best quality when starting out, because anything else spoils the fun of painting, which makes the hurdle of trying out watercolour painting particularly high. At least I didn't hear that when I started, otherwise it would probably have taken years before I tried watercolour. The range between bad and the best material is huge, and as long as it's in the upper range of quality, you're fine for most of the usage scenarios. Immediately following this is the 100% cotton, which says that all papers that are not completely made of cotton are not of much use for watercolours. It has something to do with your own style as to which paper is more suitable. The colour on cotton paper usually cannot be easily removed, for example clouds. Somehow you managed to make your 4 small watercolour paintings look like coloured pencil paintings when you don't look at them up close. 🙂 This slightly streaky in the round areas and this is a bit of fluffy graininess in the background like coloured pencil on pastelmat or other sanded paper.
Thank you 😊 I just finished a video about what to look for in a reference photo in general and will post it tomorrow (Sunday). And I will make a video about what to look for in a reference photo specifically for watercolors. Thanks you for watching!
@@Pencilshark I am far from an expert, but I do feel like you can get watercolor to work for you if you can figure out how and that’s what I loved about this video!
I think we should buy what we can afford and therefore in my experience I disagree about buying 100% cotton cold pressed watercolor paper as a beginner unless money is no object, only because when I was a beginner, if I had bought 100% cotton cold pressed watercolor paper, the price of the paper would have inhibited me from liberally using the paper. After approximately a three decade break from watercolor painting I started as a beginner and like the other poster said I also bought the Bee Co. cellulose cold pressed watercolor paper for watercolor exercises. It was great to not worry about the cost of the paper and just have fun. As I became more confident and realized that I want to spend more time watercolor painting, I then transitioned to mixed cotton-cellulose paper and 100% cotton watercolor paper, buying cold and hot pressed paper. Interesting video, thank you.
You’re welcome! I’ll probably make a video in the future on what to do if you can’t afford the high end 100% paper. But if money is not a concern, I’d encourage people to get it, and then cut the paper into four smaller pieces so they can get more paintings out of it. That’s what I did with my first pad of 100% cotton paper. Do you post your art anywhere? I love to support you.
I paint mostly on "expensive paper" but my kids have cheap paper - when I started I was using it and it was.. harder. However now that I have understanding of things I find I can actually paint on it reasonably as long as I keep its.. caveats, in mind. Mostly that the paint stays on the surface and does not "tint" the paper so it is very easily reactivated with successive layers. Thats fine, one layer. I still enjoy it and sometimes its fun to paint like this. I've never heard anyone recommend cheap paper, myth 5 and youtube are chalk and cheese. Almost everyone recommends good paper, literally what the video does lol. If cheap comes up it is for baohong student, which is pretty good but not arches level. Baohong artist is also cheap, if you don't need super wide. A 10m*30cm roll is often available from aliexpress for 50AUD. 3 square meters of paper for $50 is pretty good.
9x12 pad with 12 sheets of cold pressed Arches = $20; Set of 12 Cotman watercolors = $ 23; Set of Princeton brushes with two rounds, a flat, and a liner = $ 28; Bottle of masking fluid = $8. Total = $80 bucks give or take. Pretty much everything you need to get started for less a 100 bucks and you're starting off on the right foot. Save yourself lots of frustration by using good quality materials and watercolor will be a pleasure. Later, as you run out of each individual color, substitute for a tube of professional watercolor without having to break the bank. I know artists who never stopped using Cotman and their work is amazing, that's how good the quality is.
One hundred percent watercolour cotton paper makes the biggest difference. You can get very good results with most of student level paint if you aren't willing to jump into $20 per tube, but proper cotton watercolour paper is the must. I would suggest not to buy any blends (25% or 50%); they have higher price comparatively to cellulose paper but almost no benefits of cotton.
Great video. I'm a huge fan of JM Turner. He used gouache very often in his works. I love my M. Graham white gouache but now you've got me curious about the Titanium White Opaque. LOL Thank you. I've been in a painting funk lately and this helped me regain a bit of a spark. Oh, and BTW awesome paintings!! That seascape with the rocks was gorgeous! (Seascapes are my thing. LOL) Have a great week!
I iron my paintings on the back side (put a piece of clean paper under the painted side). That flattens the painting out nicely. Doesn't always get rid of every buckle, but does take care of most of them. Thanks for a great video and I subscribed.
In my country blocks 100% cotton paper are very expensive, but if you buy a big paper sheet it is not too much expensive like buy the block and you can cut it, i like fabriano and arches cold press and always cut it in a5 format.
Some good points here, though I respectfully disagree on part of point 5. He says to get quality 100% cotton cold-press paper. Whilst that is good advice, I'd say it's not exactly the only good option. 100% cotton hot-press is also good, it has a smoother texture and paints behave a little differently on it. Some of the wood pulp papers are also pretty good, so long as you get thick paper, paper thickness is measured in GSM (grams per square meter) you want a bare minimum of 160gsm to work with watercolour, 300gsm is the recommended thickness. Generally with all art products you are best getting the highest quality products you can afford, I agree in so far as the cheap kids starter kits can be off-putting.
@@Pencilshark yeah 👍 just google whole roll. I think that’s what the shops buy it in and they cut it up. It’s abit of pain to cut up as it curls up. Once you wet the back it straightens out
Hullo, I am a watercolor artist and I believe that you have hit very good points about working with watercolors! I have seen some astonishing paintings done with questionable materials, BUT the artists creating them were very accomplished people and they have the knowledge of how to make the lower quality supplies work for them! You don’t just pick up any medium and create wonderful art, everything takes time to master. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Please take care and enjoy your day!
I'm picking up watercolor after more than 20 years having put it down. I now do travel journaling that requires watercolors because acrylic and oil aren't reasonable. So, now I'm back to learning watercolor. The loose stuff I get. I also use a Razor pen because it's water soluble so you can get some awesome darks and shadows with just water. Crisp outlines with a soft shade. That water-soluble pen is awesome. Just know it's on the blue side. I have to agree with you on the cost. I tried experimenting on mixed media paper and it was s@#%. I even tried on cheap watercolor paper and it was better, but not great Now, i have 140lb hot pressed (I like the smoother paper than cold pressed provides) If you are wanting to produce really great images with transparency and minute details, buy professional paper. I know it's spendy, but doesn't have to be as expensive as Arches. There are more papers available. Get what you can afford of either the hot or cold pressed. Good paper makes all the difference.
Great advice, and beautiful work that you produce. I just got into art 2 years ago, after neglecting it for 18 years previously. I like using watercolor for animal paintings. I used to use colored pencils but it was very time consuming and rough for my wrists. I still learn watercolor but enjoy working with them a lot. I also add some colored pencils or gouache on top.
Thank you! 😊 I’m happy you got back into art again. I also stopped using colored pencils as much because of how time consuming they are. Do you post your art anywhere?
@@Pencilshark unfortunately I am not posting anything online. I am not good enough yet and my work is not as good as yours. But maybe eventually I will get there 🤞🏻 Good luck to you
Buy the 100% cold press watercolor paper and good quality paint--Winsor and Newton Cotman and Daler-Rowney Aquafine (for example) are good starter paints.
I dont think all of these are common myths - not that Ive come across, as an art teacher in australia. Kids dont use watercolours - primary schools may use thin acrylic in washes, to save money, and poster paints for kids are water-based, but not really comparable to true watercolour paints. Also, watercolours have been used for literally hundreds of years for capturing the most realistic works possible, in botanical illustrations. You can also get good quality paper than isnt top priced cold-pressed too - its not one extreme or the other. I agree good quality paper makes a big difference though.
Eventually I might make a video on that. If you come from a drawing background like me, watercolor pencils can be a nice transition to watercolor painting. They remind you of colored pencils, but when you use the brushes another world of possibilities opens up. You can make beautiful art with them.
I'd say that quality watercolour pencils are good for doing an underlying base outline drawing as it will just dissolve into your painting you can play with this to bring a little tonal shade or shadow. They're also great for adding details later in, lay them fairly thick and use a fine brush. I don't find them brilliant for doing a whole painting with. As with point 5, honestly, cheap watercolour pencils can be hard to work with and resist dissolving and mixing with water, they also have pretty low pigment levels. If you're looking at watercolour pencils get a smaller pack of good ones first (I recommend Derwent, Faber-Castell or Caran D'Ache's Artist Quality lines). Take this as experience of someone who tried Derwent Academy watercolour pencils as my introduction to them, don't repeat that mistake.
Please explain. I looked it up and I’m not finding anything helpful. The closest thing I found that was helpful was this quote, “realistic" (usually related to visual appearance) distinguishes itself from "realist" art that concerns subject matter”.
@@Pencilshark Realism was an artistic movement that emerged in France in the 1840s, around the 1848 Revolution. Realism rejected Romanticism, and painting beautiful subjects ,kings and queens , nobility , which had dominated French literature and art since the early 19th century. It also rejected emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement. Instead, it sought to portray real and typical contemporary and ordinary people , peasants and situations with truth and accuracy, and not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life like sadness and difficulties of life . Realism as an art movement was led by Gustave Courbet in France. It spread across Europe and was influential for the rest of the world of artists for many years to come. On the other hand "realistic" works are more related to visual appearance of any subject to appear as a photograph as a tighter painting style in and super details. It became popular after invention of photography and realists tried to make fine details so painting looks like photograph or better than photograph ie hyperrealistic. Realistic art is not a movement. So realism is an art movement wherewhereas realistic paintings is a painting style. check out this video on the realism movement ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dK4qBSJwDq8.htmlsi=7kKGPdDg7ONrRiKV
I believe so, because watercolor doesn't use toxic solvents like oil paints do. Watercolors are made of pigments and binders, and most are non-toxic and safe for children and adults. They do make some special oil paints that are water based and less toxic but I haven’t tried them.
Beginners need to practice and they can't practice with only 15 sheets of paper. You can do watercolor on cellulose paper that's 300 gsm and stretch the paper so it won't buckle like that. You won't be able to do numerous layers but you can definitely create beautiful work. Some amazing watercolor artists are working on cellulose paper. It all depends on your art style. I'm over people with money telling everybody to buy expensive supplies. That's a myth and y'all need to stop. An artist creates art. Use whatever you have and paint. That expensive sheet of paper is going to eventually end up in the same landfill as the cheap sheet of paper - 99.9% of all art created ends up in a landfill eventually - so just create art.
One thing I did that helped was cut the 15 sheets of good paper into four smaller postcards size paper. So I had 60 pieces to work with and I even used the backside of them too. For me I want to enjoy the process of painting and some cheap paper I tried was no fun at all. But everyone has their own preferences. Everyone has their own favorite flavor of ice cream and favorite paper to work with and I can’t get upset about either. It is what it is, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Thanks for watching and adding your perspective 😊
1:00 So what you're telling us is that because it was sold for an obscene amount of money to an obscenely rich and equally tasteless idiot, that THAT is qualifies it as being art?
Some people have been discouraged from using watercolor because they’ve been told, “you can’t make money off watercolor. If you want to make money you have to switch to oils or acrylics”. But my point is, watercolor can be just as valuable as oils and acrylics.
1:16 Avoir pris cet exemple est complètement con car il s'agit justement d'une démonstration faite par Matthiew White ( @learntopaintwatercolor ) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ceG20icCtD8.html avec les aquarelles pour enfants ! Matthiew White est un très bon aquarelliste ! Et beaucoup d'aquarellistes reconnus peignent avec des couleurs grises comme Dan Marshall, Joseph Zbukvic, etc. dont vous n'atteignez vraiment pas le niveau ! Soit dit en passant, vos aquarelles sont sur-saturées, agressives, pas du tout agréables à regarder ! Votre style est très scolaire.
People like different flavors of ice cream and people have different tastes in art. The world is beautiful in all of its diversity. From the grey elephant, to the vivid colors of a sunset, it’s all wonderful. Thanks for watching and sharing your opinion.
@@Pencilshark Vous n'avez pas pris la peine de répondre sur votre grossière erreur d'avoir sélectionné l'exemple de Matthiew White qui est un infiniment meilleur aquarelliste que vous !
@@AGcristal There is nothing wrong with you having your opinion. My opinion is, we artists should encourage each other and not fight each other. There are already plenty of critics in this world. We artists need to support each other and not tear each other down. I hope you have a wonderful day.
@@Pencilshark Vous êtes un clown ! Vous prétendez qu'il faut s'encourager les uns les autres et vous prenez une aquarelle de Matthiew White pour dire qu'il ne faut pas faire ça. Vous auriez dû déjà créditer la vidéo dans laquelle vous avez volé l'aquarelle de Matthiew pour faire votre propre vidéo ! Honteux ! Je vais d'ailleurs le prévenir.
