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Getting Started with Watercolours
9 years ago
I was very recently asked by someone what materials I use to do my work, since someone they knew was looking to focus more on traditional art. I gave a quick breakdown of the materials I use and why, and after I sent the note off I realized that the info could be useful to others, so I decided to share it here as well. If you've been thinking that watercolours look interesting, the info in this journal may be useful! It's a direct copy paste from the note so the wording may seem a bit odd, but the info is all there.
"I'll give you a quick breakdown on what I use, and he can take a look at it and see if it interests him. I'll be honest, the startup costs will be a bit high if you've got nothing already, but then again a good digital tablet ain't cheap either so I suppose that's just life, heh. Once you get your good base of supplies, it's pretty cheap to keep going.
I'm actually a watercolour painter. I use a variety of different brands of paint, I can recommend "Winsor and Newton" brand, or "Holbein" brand. Though honestly if he's just getting started, this is one area you can cheap out on. Walmart brand watercolour paints might not be as vivid or go as far, but they're super cheap and function more or less the same, so great for a started to see if they like using them.
You'll need a few decent watercolour brushes. You won't want to cheap out here, and quality brushes can be a little pricey, but the good news is you only need two or three for the vast majority if your work. I use these: http://www.dickblick.com/products/s.....elvet-brushes/
The "Round 10", "Round 4" and "Oval wash, size 3/4" are what I use, and that'll be all you ever need for pretty much every scenario. There are lots of good brands of watercolour brush though, so you guys may want to read around and research, you don't have to just use what I do. Whatever you do, must make sure you get actual watercolour brushes. If you're looking at a brush or a pack of brushes and it claims it can be used for "Oil, Acrylic and Watercolour", don't even touch it. You need a very soft brush that can hold a lot of water for watercolour, and you need stiff brushes for oil and acrylic, so they're lying basically, hah. Make sure to get brushes specifically suited to watercolour. If you're looking at something and you're not sure, feel free to run it by me first and I'll let you know if it looks suitable!
Finally, you'll need some paper. This is one area you absolutely cannot cheap out on. As long as a brush is made with watercolours in mind, you can get by with a pretty cheap brush, and any cheap watercolour paint will do for a stater, but the paper has to be good quality. Cheap paper simply doesn't work the same way good paper does.
I use "Fabriano Artistico" hot press watercolour paper. I've also used "Arches" watercolour paper. Both are very good, but Fabriano is a bit cheaper so I've been running with that lately. The "hot press" I mentioned is a measure of how smooth the paper surface is. From smoothest to roughest there's Hot press, Cold press, and Rough paper. Smoother paper can give a smoother look which I personally like, but it also makes the painting a bit harder to work with as wet paint will dry faster giving you less time to work. I'd recommend he starts with "cold" press paper and gets used to that before deciding if he wants to try the other kinds.
I personally buy large 22 x 30 inch sheets of watercolour paper 40 at a time and cut out individual painting sized pieces from that, but I do this for a living so it makes sense for me to buy in bulk. For someone getting started, I'd recommend something like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/f.....rcolor-blocks/
A watercolour "block". This is basically a pad of paper, but all of it's edges are glued together which keeps the paper held down, which is handy because loose watercolour paper can buckle a bit if you don't stretch it out first. With a block, that's pretty much taken care of for you. I'd go with the 9 x 12 inch size, that's around what I paint at, but he can adjust that up or down depending on what he wants.
So, you're looking at at a pad of paper- on the site I linked you, around 22 bucks for for the 9 x 12 size.
The three brushes I mentioned will run you around 40
And some paint- let's say something like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/r.....tercolor-sets/ The 10 tube set costs around 12 bucks.
Oh, I just remembered you'll also need a palette! Something like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/r.....color-palette/ seems to be 3 dollars. Basically any white, plastic palette with small areas for your paint and large, flat areas for mixing.
As for lining? Any ol' black pen will do. I've used a "sharpie pen" for some time, but if you want artist quality, Micron pens are good and not too expensive. If he wants to do the lines first and the paint over them, just make sure whatever it is is waterproof- but I find that tends to fade the outline a bit so I like to ink after painting. In this case, any old black pen will do. I personally prefer felt tip pens, but he can use whatever he finds comfy.
So, that's a quick rundown on what I use and what it'll cost to get started. You're looking at less than 100 bucks, which is about the best you could hope for starting out with digital too, so hopefully that's not too scary. If you've got any other questions, feel free to send 'em my way!"
"I'll give you a quick breakdown on what I use, and he can take a look at it and see if it interests him. I'll be honest, the startup costs will be a bit high if you've got nothing already, but then again a good digital tablet ain't cheap either so I suppose that's just life, heh. Once you get your good base of supplies, it's pretty cheap to keep going.
I'm actually a watercolour painter. I use a variety of different brands of paint, I can recommend "Winsor and Newton" brand, or "Holbein" brand. Though honestly if he's just getting started, this is one area you can cheap out on. Walmart brand watercolour paints might not be as vivid or go as far, but they're super cheap and function more or less the same, so great for a started to see if they like using them.
You'll need a few decent watercolour brushes. You won't want to cheap out here, and quality brushes can be a little pricey, but the good news is you only need two or three for the vast majority if your work. I use these: http://www.dickblick.com/products/s.....elvet-brushes/
The "Round 10", "Round 4" and "Oval wash, size 3/4" are what I use, and that'll be all you ever need for pretty much every scenario. There are lots of good brands of watercolour brush though, so you guys may want to read around and research, you don't have to just use what I do. Whatever you do, must make sure you get actual watercolour brushes. If you're looking at a brush or a pack of brushes and it claims it can be used for "Oil, Acrylic and Watercolour", don't even touch it. You need a very soft brush that can hold a lot of water for watercolour, and you need stiff brushes for oil and acrylic, so they're lying basically, hah. Make sure to get brushes specifically suited to watercolour. If you're looking at something and you're not sure, feel free to run it by me first and I'll let you know if it looks suitable!
Finally, you'll need some paper. This is one area you absolutely cannot cheap out on. As long as a brush is made with watercolours in mind, you can get by with a pretty cheap brush, and any cheap watercolour paint will do for a stater, but the paper has to be good quality. Cheap paper simply doesn't work the same way good paper does.
I use "Fabriano Artistico" hot press watercolour paper. I've also used "Arches" watercolour paper. Both are very good, but Fabriano is a bit cheaper so I've been running with that lately. The "hot press" I mentioned is a measure of how smooth the paper surface is. From smoothest to roughest there's Hot press, Cold press, and Rough paper. Smoother paper can give a smoother look which I personally like, but it also makes the painting a bit harder to work with as wet paint will dry faster giving you less time to work. I'd recommend he starts with "cold" press paper and gets used to that before deciding if he wants to try the other kinds.
I personally buy large 22 x 30 inch sheets of watercolour paper 40 at a time and cut out individual painting sized pieces from that, but I do this for a living so it makes sense for me to buy in bulk. For someone getting started, I'd recommend something like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/f.....rcolor-blocks/
A watercolour "block". This is basically a pad of paper, but all of it's edges are glued together which keeps the paper held down, which is handy because loose watercolour paper can buckle a bit if you don't stretch it out first. With a block, that's pretty much taken care of for you. I'd go with the 9 x 12 inch size, that's around what I paint at, but he can adjust that up or down depending on what he wants.
So, you're looking at at a pad of paper- on the site I linked you, around 22 bucks for for the 9 x 12 size.
The three brushes I mentioned will run you around 40
And some paint- let's say something like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/r.....tercolor-sets/ The 10 tube set costs around 12 bucks.
Oh, I just remembered you'll also need a palette! Something like this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/r.....color-palette/ seems to be 3 dollars. Basically any white, plastic palette with small areas for your paint and large, flat areas for mixing.
As for lining? Any ol' black pen will do. I've used a "sharpie pen" for some time, but if you want artist quality, Micron pens are good and not too expensive. If he wants to do the lines first and the paint over them, just make sure whatever it is is waterproof- but I find that tends to fade the outline a bit so I like to ink after painting. In this case, any old black pen will do. I personally prefer felt tip pens, but he can use whatever he finds comfy.
So, that's a quick rundown on what I use and what it'll cost to get started. You're looking at less than 100 bucks, which is about the best you could hope for starting out with digital too, so hopefully that's not too scary. If you've got any other questions, feel free to send 'em my way!"
Good luck in your attempts, should you decide to give watercolours a try. :3
To learn with, I figure it's easier just to pick up a small set. Won't be super high quality or lightfast, but absolutely perfect for learning. :P
For anyone who is new to watercolors I would also recommend this book
https://www.amazon.com/Watercolor-A...../dp/0785819436
It contains explanations of many tools that watercolor artists use, from the very simple to more intermediate techniques. This would be really good to have on hand for anyone who is going into it completely blind!
Also didn't realize Dickus Blickus was popular in Canadia. Definitely cheaper than the usual retail chains.
I feel like the brush is a little too important to recommend just anything. If it doesn't hold a decent amount of water but also keep a decent point, it's going to make painting miserable. I should know, I was using crummy brushes for ages and it frustrated me enough that I damn near wanted to give up watercolours entirely. Even what should be very good brushes just weren't doing the job. I recommended the brushes I did simply because I recently bought them myself and finally I feel like I've found brushes that can do the job- painting has been fun again.
It'll cost a bit more, but I think it's worth it to not be held back by brushes that can't hold water or make a point at all.
As for Dick Blick's... it's not, really. I used it because I assumed the folks I was writing for lived there, seems like almost everybody does. But I wouldn't recommend that site to fellow canadians, because import duties and such. :P
Yeah, I don't disagree that using junk supplies is a fast road to frustration. I just remembered trashing a few brushes when first learning..though thinking about it again I think that was mostly while painting RPG figures. So many mangled brush tips while trying to get in all those scale and fur crevices. What were the supposedly good brushes that gave you troubles?
You truly are the best. <3
~Fox
Though, I've learnt to love traditional this way and when my economic situation gets better I'd love to get some good materials.
Saving this in bookmarks <3
I also found a great book: Dreamscapes: Myth & Magic, Creating Cegendary Creatures and Characters in Watercolor. I was able to pick this up at Barns&Noble for about 25 bucks, and it is WELL worth the price of the book. It showcases a lot of techniques to get you started, and the artwork inside is absolutely stunning and inspiring. It's helped me get off the ground and start learning to use watercolor, so I think it would be well worth the expense for other watercolor hopefuls.
Looks like an interesting book, I might have to grab that one myself! I actually have seen very few resources dedicated specifically to watercolour so I'm sure I've got a lot of the foundation stuff to still learn. Might come in handy!