Try putting a rich stroke of paint on the paper. While it's still wet, add a dab of a different color to it. The last stroke of paint will flow into the previous paint, thereby creating a patch of color with jagged edges.
However, this effect does not occur on every paper. The more absorbent and grainy the paper, the less paint flows over it. And vice versa: on thick and smooth paper, spreading will be maximum. As you gain some experience, using this technique will become easier. It will be possible to control the cutting of paint on the sheet.
Even this simple technique in the initial stages may not give the expected result. If unsuccessful, you can simply wash off the paint and start again. This technique is widely used in the practice of professional artists, both for drawing large objects (water and sky) and for local areas of the picture (flower petals).
The effects created by paint drips are almost impossible to recreate with a brush. This is their uniqueness. For example, to achieve the effect of reflection on a water surface, you can add highly diluted paint or water to previously applied and already dried paint. The fresh paint will begin to spread, thereby forming blurry edges, like a reflection in water with ripples. True, it will take some experience to be able to accurately determine whether the paint has dried on the first layer.
Inventory
Brushes
A watercolor brush must meet the following requirements:
1. absorb and retain water well;
2.be flexible;
3. easy to take the same shape after a smear;
4. when applying long or point strokes, her hairs should not bristle.
Unlike other types of brushes, watercolor brushes have short handles.
Wide flat brush(1), quite tough. 
It allows you to remove or wipe off the paint and makes the job very easy.
Blur brush(3) - a fairly large round soft brush that allows you to process large areas, for example, the background. No brush can also take different shapes well and hold the right amount of paint and water without drying out.
Working brushes - their size depends on the characteristics of the technique. Flat synthetic brush (2), small round synthetic brush (4), small round kolinsky hair brush (5).
Paper
Paper for painting with watercolors should not delaminate when you erase the paint, warp, and paint should not flow down it.
The paper should be white. If you want to use a variety of colors, then white paper will be easier to work with. Colors can change unexpectedly on tinted paper.
The paper must be glued. This means that water will be absorbed relatively slowly. In addition, rapid and strong absorption of water leads to excessive lightening of the paint placed on the paper. Watercolor paper, sold in packs of several A3 sheets, usually suffers from yellowness and poor sizing.
The paper must be thick enough
Grain is like the degree of smoothness of the paper:
1. Fine grain paper is very smooth. This paper is used for work that requires careful transfer of details. On such paper, the stroke encounters almost no obstacles.
2. medium grain paper. This paper is used most often. It is suitable for any work. Albums for watercolors are most often made from this paper.
3. Coarse-grain paper has a slightly rough surface. Has a distinct texture. Typically used for special work. This type of paper is characterized by high density; very often this type of paper is made by hand.
The most common paper for watercolors has a medium grain and a density of 250 g/m²
Thin paper or paper without grain cannot be used, because... This type of paper does not absorb well and warps when wet.
Paints
Have you bought school watercolor paints? This is also an option, but it is better to take professional paints for artists.
“Honey watercolor paints” produced in St. Petersburg are more or less suitable
Watercolor paints are available in plastic baths and in tubes.
Paints in baths require a little more effort when preparing for work: you need to drop a drop of water from the brush into the tray so that the paints get a little wet. It is more convenient to use such paints, because... they are diluted directly in the bath and remain there after painting. In the initial stages, it is recommended to use paints in baths.
Paints in tubes Recommended for those who already have some experience working with watercolors. The artist independently creates a set of paints, guided by his own needs. A ready-made set in tubes with a dozen paints can be recommended to amateur artists.
Number of colors in the set
Sets can contain from 12 to 36 paints, but not all of them will be used. It is absolutely not necessary to have a large number of paints in a set; moreover, it is simply inconvenient. It is advisable to try all possible combinations of paints in order to know which combinations produce dirt and which produce unusual colors not included in the set.
No more than ten of the most commonly used paints are selected for work. Most often, these are blue, cadmium yellow, red and orange, ocher, umber, emerald green, neutral black.
In general, paints are divided into two groups - warm and cold. Warm colors include yellow, orange, red, brown, that is, all colors that basically contain one or another amount of red or yellow. The cold group includes blue, indigo, green, violet, if they are dominated by coldish blue shades. Green, purple, gray and black colors can be either cold or warm, depending on the characteristics of the color scheme and the influence of the environment. The colors blue, yellow, red are basic, the rest, obtained by mixing, are considered derivatives - warm or cold depending on the composition paints Even neutral colors like gray and black contain countless nuances that are sometimes difficult to determine by color quality. If you take a group of warm colors, for example red, and compare them with each other in terms of warm-coldness, then it is noticeable that in this group, in relation to each other, there are colors that are colder and warmer.
For beginners, it is recommended to take: yellow, red, blue and black, each in 2 shades, cold and warm. All other colors are obtained by mixing existing ones.
Of course, painting with watercolors is much more difficult than, for example, with gouache or oil paints. But you can try to make small, transparent and delicate works, and make sure that painting with paints is not so scary, but, on the contrary, extremely pleasant.
Watercolor strokes are usually made transparent without using white. It is assumed that the whitest part of the composition is the color of the sheet of paper.
Watercolor paintings are almost impossible to correct, so try to do everything the first time. You need to start with the simplest compositions and slowly move on to more complex works.
Try just mixing a few colors first and see how they naturally flow into each other.
Wet a small piece of paper with water (just don’t create puddles, the paper should be damp) and brush the paint over the wet surface. Place a small amount of paint on the brush and remove the excess on the edge of a glass of water.
Paint with the tip of the brush, do not press hard on it, lightly, airily.
Have you tried it? The paint should spread beautifully; next to it, make another stroke of another paint and see how they flow onto each other. Do not overwrite or mix more than three colors in one place - you will get dirty stains.
Now let's move on to our colors.
First, draw a sketch of the flowers in pencil.
Let's make the background. Carefully, trying not to dry out the paint (that is, do not let the strokes dry too much so that the boundaries between them are not noticeable and sharp), draw the background. All strokes should flow into each other, no traces of “pencil coloring” should be visible. Use light green, yellow and ocher paint.
Each of us is an artist at heart. Remember the golden moments of childhood, when we enthusiastically painted “scribbles” with paints. The art of painting is the world's greatest secret. With the help of paints and a brush, real miracles appear on canvas. Many people mistakenly believe that they do not have artistic talent. In fact, anyone can learn to paint. How to paint real works of art with watercolors? To do this, you just need to follow simple recommendations.
What do we need?
So, we decided to enter the world of art and become artists. How to paint with watercolors correctly? To do this you will need the following tools:
- paints;
- brushes;
- palette;
- sheets of paper.
You should be very careful when choosing accessories. The final result - a work of art - depends on them.
Choosing paints
How to paint with watercolors yourself? First of all, you need to choose the right paints. There is a huge amount of watercolor paints on the shelves of art stores. Which ones are better to choose?
You shouldn't look at the price category here. High cost is not always a guarantee of quality.
It is better to choose paints made from beeswax. The cover should say “honey”. They have the brightest color.
Paint brushes
Brushes are equally important. Which ones are most suitable for watercolors?
The brush should be soft and pick up paint well. Its tip should be pointed. The bristles of the brush should be well secured to the base. The best option would be brushes made from squirrel wool. Their bristles correspond to the stated parameters.
How many brushes will you need? To paint small parts of the picture, you should purchase a thin brush (number 1 or 2). For the main part - greater thickness (numbers 5-6 or 7).
Palette
The palette serves as a kind of “draft”, a place for mixing paints. Several paints of different colors are applied to the palette and mixed. The result is the desired shade.
You can purchase a ready-made plastic palette. You can also make it yourself. For this, a sheet of thick paper is suitable, which should be folded along the edges.
Choosing paper for watercolors
The process of choosing paper should be treated with special attention. The fact is that watercolor is a translucent paint. It requires a large amount of water during operation. If you draw on plain paper, it can quickly get wet from water. It is better to purchase special paper for watercolors. It is denser and thicker. Its surface is rough. Water particles get stuck on the rough surface of the paper. This prevents spreading.
Let's start drawing
How to paint with watercolors yourself? Having studied the main features of watercolor paint, we know that it requires a large amount of water. The drawing turns out translucent, airy, flying. This effect is formed due to the structure of the paint.
There are 2 main techniques for painting with watercolors:
- Dry technique.
- Wet paper technique.
Everyone has been familiar with the basics of dry technique since childhood: we put paint on a brush and paint. Depending on the type of drawing, you can first draw its outline using a pencil.
To get the desired color, you need to dip the brush in water, then in the desired paint and apply it to the palette. After this, the brush is washed with water and dipped into paint of a different color. The resulting colors are mixed on the palette. The result will be the desired shade.
What is the difference between the technique of painting with watercolors on wet paper? This technique is quite interesting, because... it allows you to create an unusual effect. To do this, before you start drawing, you should thoroughly moisten a sheet of paper with water. While it is still wet, watercolor paint is applied to the wet paper. When mixed with water, it spreads, leaving intricate patterns on the paper.
Let's draw
So, we purchased materials for work. Learned basic drawing techniques. Now you can begin the creative process directly.
How to paint with watercolors for beginners? First, it is recommended to try to study paints. What will it take? Let's look at the main lessons for learning about paints:
- Let's study colors. Take a sheet of watercolor paper. Load your brush with the color you like. Put it on paper. Look at the effect. Now increase the degree of pressure on the brush. Look how the color has changed (it should darken). Now fill the brush with more water and dip it into the paint. Run a wet brush over the paper - the design will be translucent.
- Mix colors. Try mixing several colors. What shades did you get as a result?
- Apply yellow, orange, red colors to the leaf. Study them. What emotions do they evoke? Now apply blue, purple, black colors to the sheet. What sensations arise now?
- We draw from life. Now we need to learn how to display the objects around us. Place an apple in front of you. Study it carefully. Look what color it is. Try drawing it.
Practical work
After learning the basic skills of painting, you can move on to independent work.
We learn to paint the objects around us with watercolors. Look around. What do you see? You can draw a still life. To do this, place several pieces of dishes and any fruit in front of you. Try to draw them.
What else can you paint with watercolors? There are no restrictions here. It all depends on the artist’s imagination. We can draw everything that surrounds us. You can depict your own imaginary world.
You can start learning basic techniques for working with watercolors by painting flowers and trees.
How to draw a flower?
Draw a flower in watercolor yourself:
- Think about what kind of flower you should draw.
- Study its primary colors.
- Using a simple pencil, draw the main outline onto the paper.
- Choose a paint for the background and paint over it.
- After the background has dried, you can begin painting with watercolors.
- Paint the flower with translucent paint.
- After the watercolor has dried, paint the outline with darker paint.
- After the drawing has dried, place accents on the flower. This will give it volume. To place accents, you need to apply several thick strokes along the contour of the flower with contrasting paint. Our drawing is ready.
Painting with watercolors is an easy and very fun activity. Each of us can feel like a real artist, creating entire works of art. You just have to listen to the advice offered.
The natural composition of watercolors is ground pigment with natural adhesives - gum arabic, casein or milk phosphoprotein, dextrin, honey, phenol. The paint is applied with water with a brush on the surface of the paper. This term denotes work performed in this environment. The pigments are usually transparent, but can be made opaque by mixing them with white - in this form the paint is known as gouache.
Watercolor differs from other types of painting in its variety of technical techniques.
Weightless, light paint gives freshness and luminosity to calligraphic strokes, which gives the work an atmosphere and weightlessness. There is one fundamental difference between watercolor and other painting mediums - its transparency.
The artist applies one opaque color to another in oil until the desired result is achieved. Watercolor is a universal drawing medium, as it makes it possible to reproduce all genres, since the water base allows you to obtain unique and unpredictable effects. For an abstract style, random scattered watercolor strokes on wet paper help create a blurry effect.
Northern Renaissance painting
Watercolor paints on paper can melt, spread, and mixtures create a beautiful combination of colors in painting of different styles. 
Working methods
Watercolor is the freest form of painting due to its transparent watery nature. There are certain painting techniques for working with watercolors, but the most popular ones are:
Differential blur
This is the basic way artists work and is achieved by wetting paper in a specific area and applying pigment to the surface from top to bottom. The technique is used for a massive image of the sky, water, meadow and allows you to experiment with different shades. The paper rises almost vertically, and on a damp surface the colors spread in all directions. The technique requires drying naturally.
Glazing
This method is similar to blurring, but requires the use of a pigment that is applied to a dry sheet. The method actually regulates color and tone, ideal colors and transitions. Dry each color separately before applying the next one.
"Wet on Wet"
The "A la Prima" method is a process of wetting the paper before applying pigment. To do this, use a large brush or sponge to evenly distribute the water over a sheet of watercolor paper. The technique creates beautiful blurred shapes and colors, soft shades and paint transitions in the works.
Dry brush technique in painting
"Dry brush"
For painting, use a barely damp, hard brush with a large amount of paint on dry paper. On an uneven surface, a clear, hard, highlighted mark is obtained, with granular effects similar to a pencil drawing. Entire compositions are made in this way, also used to enliven a dull background. 
Washing off
The process of removing paint after application and complete drying. The area that needs to be changed, to deepen the color or add volume, is moistened with water and the paint is blotted with a cloth. The technique creates complex shapes and lines, especially if strips of paper are used to mask areas of removed pigment in the painting.
Impact of water on paint
When the applied watercolor in the drawing dries, you can use a clean wet brush to drip water onto the desired area to obtain the effects of layering, cracking, roundness, and volume.
Glaze
This is a method of applying multiple layers of watercolor from a light tone at the base to a darker shade on top. Watercolor is applied with transparent, thin strokes after the previous layer of work has dried. The result is a three-dimensional image where the colors do not mix, but complement each other and allow you to see the border of each layer.
Batik fabric painting technique
Author Natalia Shevchenko
scratching
By scratching or removing some areas of the painted dry surface, lighter areas of the same tone are created.
Disguise
If you want to keep some areas white during the work, use a reserve, that is, cover the necessary areas with a mask of paraffin or wax, which, after the work has completely dried, I remove with a brush or roll into a ball with your hands.
Addition
Adding another color to the wet area of the painting allows it to merge and branch out, creating interesting illusions. The method produces interesting and vibrant color gradations that cannot be achieved by mixing pigment on a palette.
Famous artists
Some famous artists working with watercolors often used similar effects in their works:
Impasto painting technique
Watercolorists learned to take advantage of the unexpected results of painting. The greatest masters of painting practiced spontaneity. Artists improvised to effectively harness the power of watercolor.
English School
The classical painting technique was perfected in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries:
Watercolor is a tradition that has its own chronicle in history. Prehistoric man used pigments mixed with water for rock paintings and applied them with fingers, sticks and bones. The ancient Egyptians used water-based paints to decorate the walls of temples and tombs and created the first designs on papyrus.
Sfumato painting technique
Eastern school
In the Far and Middle East, the first watercolor schools had an individual style - Chinese and Japanese masters of painting on silk and exquisite handmade rice paper. Their art was filled with literary allusion and calligraphy. But the basic image remained a typically contemplative landscape, which became a central aspect of the watercolor tradition in subsequent centuries. In India and Persia, opaque gouaches were used for religious images.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, European monks used tempera to paint manuscripts—books were considered the most important form of art and the equivalent of easel painting. The monks copied holy texts by hand on sheets of parchment made from sheepskin and calfskin. Sometimes entire pages were decorated with elaborate flourishes and symbolic images.
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Watercolor is often called the most naughty, capricious paint. It is difficult to work with, difficult to store, unpredictable and requires maximum concentration from the artist. But those who managed to conquer and tame it know the secret of creating truly amazing works, looking at which you ask the only question: “Who did they sell their soul to in order to paint like that?”
website invites you to the gallery of truly atmospheric, bright and talented works. This is exactly the kind of contemporary art that is not ashamed to confess its love.
The emotional realism of Steve Hanks
The faces of people in most of the artist’s paintings are darkened or turned to the side. This is done to express emotions and to allow the body to “speak.” “I have always tried to show the world only positive moments in life. I hope that my work brings joy, peace and comfort to the viewer's life,” says Hanks.
Rainy watercolor by Lin Ching Che
The talented artist Lin Ching-Che is 27 years old. He is inspired by autumn rain. Cloudy city streets do not make a guy feel melancholy and despondent, but rather make him want to pick up a brush. Lin Ching Che paints in watercolors. With colorful water it glorifies the rainy beauty of megacities.
The boiling fantasy of Arush Votsmush
Under the pseudonym Arush Votsmush hides a talented artist from Sevastopol, Alexander Shumtsov. The artist says about his paintings: “I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone with my works. First of all, I enjoy it. This is a pure creativity drug. Or a clean life - without doping. Just a miracle."
The charm of Paris in the works of Thierry Duval
Paris-born artist Thierry Duval has traveled extensively. Hence the presence of entire series of paintings based on “geographical characteristics.” Nevertheless, Paris was and remains the author’s favorite place. The lion's share of works is dedicated specifically to the city of lovers. He has his own technique of layering watercolors, which allows him to create paintings with almost hyper-realistic detail.
Evening Calm by Joseph Zbukvic
Today, Croatian-born Australian Joseph Zbukvic is considered one of the pillars of watercolor painting throughout the world. The artist fell in love with watercolor literally from the first stroke; he was struck by the untamed nature and individuality of this technique.
Secrets of the East through the eyes of Myo Vin Ong
The artist Myoe Win Aung dedicated all his work to his native Burma, its everyday life and holidays, lay people and monks, towns and cities. This world is calm, dressed in gentle colors, mysterious and slightly thoughtful, like the smile of Buddha.
Incredible watercolor by Joe Francis Dowden
English artist Joe Francis Dowden paints hyper-realistic watercolors. And he believes that everyone can do this, you just need to know the secrets of the technique. The secret of his inspiration is extremely simple: “Throw away your watercolor textbooks and get lost in a real forest.”
The magic of ballet from Liu Yi
The watercolors of this Chinese artist can easily be called art about art. After all, his favorite theme is images of people who are directly related to him - for example, ballerinas or classical musicians. The way they are presented in the paintings is peculiar: people seem to emerge from a thin haze, emotional and very characteristic. To some extent, they echo the images of ballerinas by the French artist Edgar Degas.
With watercolors you can paint anything - from a realistic portrait to imaginary alien worlds. Many people think watercolor is a complex artistic tool. But all you really need to learn how to paint with watercolors is to just start. We have selected 11 tips for you, thanks to which you will become 11 steps closer to understanding the art of watercolor drawing.
1. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty!
If you've never drawn before, it's time to get started. Open the album, create interesting textures and stains with watercolors so as not to freeze in front of a white sheet of paper. Start from them in search of a plot. Color pages can be bright and exciting or create a calm, melancholic mood. Color or texture may suggest the next step - or maybe you're itching to paint without it.
Illustration from the book “The World of Watercolors”.
2. Find your watercolor paper
The result of the work largely depends on the quality of the watercolor paper. Go to a bookstore and select 5-10 different sheets of watercolor paper to try out. Be sure to make notes on each sheet (type, weight of paper and results of working with it). A suitable paper weight for beginners is 300 g/m2, some professionals prefer 600 g/m2. There are other types of watercolor paper, such as NOT paper and rough texture paper, or cold pressed paper.
3. Use professional paints
Even novice artists should purchase professional watercolor paints. Unlike cheap analogues, artistic paints lay beautifully and spread on paper.
“I prefer tubes rather than pans: firstly, you don’t have to wait for the paint to soften and become workable, and secondly, it’s easier to create rich, dark mixtures with tube paint.”Billy Showell
It is true that artist paints are more expensive, but they will also last longer. They dilute better and therefore are not used up so quickly.
Advice. Try new paints and other art materials as often as possible. Experiment. Don't become a hostage to one habit
4. Observe and consider before you take up the brush
Before drawing, study the structure of the object. Look at it as if you were seeing it for the first time, look carefully, take notes, sketches, get familiar with textures and details that you have never paid attention to. For example, observe the spiral arrangement of the leaves or the whorls along the veins of the stem.
You get double benefits from drawing plants - first you meditate while looking at it, and then you get real pleasure from drawing. Isn't it wonderful? @miftvorchestvo
Try to mentally break down what you see into its components. Select the main shapes. See how they overlap each other. Imagine the landscape as a stage set. Pay attention to what is closest and what is further away.
5. Learn to mix paints
Try mixing colors to get an idea of what shades you can achieve with your paint set. Mix two colors first, then add a third to them. Experiment!
You will love creating such beautiful colors and variations of shades and tones, the number of them is almost inexhaustible.
Focus on yourself. You can make either very realistic drawings or very non-trivial ones. Your task is to collect paints whose properties you will know, which will allow you to create the desired shades with a guaranteed good result.
By mixing pure pigments, you can create cool, warm or grayish variations of the same color. Illustration from the book “Song of Colors”
6. Start with sparing expression
If you make pencil sketches or sketches, you can diversify your watercolor drawings by adding accents. You don't have to color the entire page; sometimes a few well-placed brush strokes create the most powerful effect.
Careless dotted watercolor strokes in sketches are the signature style of Felix Scheinberger. Illustration from the book “Watercolor Sketching”
7. Use liquid primer for watercolors
Liquid primer for watercolors is applied to the paper before starting work and allows you to easily remove dried paint if necessary. This is especially important when working with intense or persistent pigments: you don’t have to worry about “staining” the paper in the area of highlights. Before using it, practice in a sketchbook, as the surface for drawing will be quite slippery.
To remove paint from those areas where it was not needed (you accidentally went beyond the edges or you need to create highlights), simply wash off the paint with a clean, dampened brush or sponge.
8. Learn the art of glazing
Artists call glazing a technique for obtaining deep iridescent colors by applying translucent paints on top of the main one. The glazing technique is an excellent way to convey the finest color gamut. The paints are applied very delicately, layer by layer, and after drying the details of the last layer are worked out.
Illustration from the book “Song of Colors”
9. Dry brush technique
This technique can be used to draw animal fur or small hairs on fruits such as kiwi.
Apply paint to the brush and remove excess with a napkin. Straighten the brush hairs. Apply paint to a dry surface previously painted in the background color. Work in small strokes in one direction, imitating hairs on the surface.
Kiwi using dry brush technique. Illustration from the book
