However, the world of your internet has made it quite easy to surf for watercolor painting ideas but let’s accept the fact that not all of them are beginner-friendly. For someone new to the world of painting, it will not be easy to grab the pro ideas lying around and it is always better to take it slow. We understand the needs and requirements of a watercolor enthusiast who is just about to begin their journey. Thus, we have brought to you some of the easy watercolor painting ideas for beginners that would surely save you from the hustle. So, before you get on with your canvas and brushes, take a look once below at our suggestions.
8 Pro Watercolor Painting Tips and Techniques for Beginners
Nobody learns the techniques of easy watercolor painting ideas overnight. One needs practice, and immense experience to do so, and trust us on this, there are millions! Though learning watercolor is not easy, if you come to know certain tips and tricks, then you may nail it faster than anybody else. Check out some of the best and most importantly, the watercolor painting techniques that can help you cover the journey from a beginner to pro real fast.
- Get Varied Brushes- Even if you are not including ample objects in your watercolor painting, you must not take the risk of not getting a variety of brushes. A good starter set should include a flat brush for broad washes and a 10 or 12 round watercolor brush for details.
- Check The Quality Of The Paints- The painting colors that you are going to use must be of good quality. Certain colors seem to separate from its water and using them might do bad to your painting. Student-grade paints are great for practice.
- Know Your Stroke Style- It is important to decide how you are going to wave your brush strokes with the watercolors on the watercolor paper and fill them within the objects. Whether your painting has a streakiness or a texture to it, will also partly depend on your brush stroke style.
- Fix The Transition- Creating a smooth transition, or a gradient wash of color, is a core skill. Whether you are going to move from darker shade to the lighter shade, or vice-versa, everything depends on the type of effect you want in your painting.
- Use Paper Towels- Beginners can always make mistakes. Paper towels are your best friend to gently lift excess water or paint from the paper without smudging your work or leaving unwanted textures.
- Shake Off The Excess- Anything too much is not good, be it the watercolors or the water. So, before you touch your brushes to the paper, give them a nice shake aside so that you do not end up creating color blots on the paper.
- Keep A Check On The Paper- It all ends by summing up to the type of paper you are using. If the watercolor paper you are using is not of good quality (at least 140 lb/300 gsm), it will buckle and warp when wet.
- Apply The Layers- Just applying the watercolors mixed with water once would not help, and you need to go on and on with at least two to three layers. However, it is important to let one layer dry completely before you paint a glaze with another layer of watercolor on it. Otherwise, the pages might get worn out.
Understanding the Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Technique
One of the most fundamental watercolor techniques is the wet-on-wet method. This painting technique involves applying wet paint onto a surface that is already wet with either water or a previous layer of wet paint. This allows the colors to bleed and blend beautifully, creating soft, diffused edges. It’s the perfect way to create backgrounds, skies, and gradients in a watercolor landscape. To try it, simply wet an area of your watercolor paper with clean water, then touch your brush loaded with paint to the wet area and watch the color spread. It’s one of the best ways to create beautiful watercolor effects with minimal effort.
Simple Watercolor Paintings For Beginners
Abstract Watercolor Painting Ideas: A Great Start for Beginners
Can you not settle the set of watercolors that you want to use for your painting? Then, the best thing that you can do is, play with some of them and do abstract art. Just choose the watercolors that you would like to use on the sketch, and splash it your way. At the end of the day, it is your painting, so keep it the way you love it. Are you still wondering what makes an abstract painting count in the list of easy watercolor painting ideas? Abstract arts, no matter how they look, can hardly be judged as the main motive behind such paintings is its thought. Don’t paint with fear; just let the colors flow.
Cactus Watercolor Painting: A Fun and Easy Idea
Do you remember the saying, “Cactus comes easy, flowers don’t”? It seems to be getting true here, especially when you are considering a watercolor painting. For a beginner like you, sketching out the dimensions of a flower and then coloring it keeping the lights and shades in mind is a brainstorming affair. But when it gets replaced by a simple green watercolor cactus, it becomes a task as smooth as butter. The shape of the cactus is such, which hardly calls for much of a fuss, and a beginner can easily pass on with that within a few minutes.
Globe Watercolor Painting
Making your painting seem like that of a pro artist is not really tough, and all you need to know are some tricks. Thinking of replicating such watercolor paintings as a beginner, going for a globe would be a great idea to consider. It is much like an easy watercolor still life drawing because there are hardly any dimensions to it, and it’s just a circle! The fact which makes it a part of the easy watercolor painting ideas for beginners is that you get ample scopes to show your creativity with as many colors you want to include.
Autumn Tree Watercolor Painting
Paintings that make you drool over them for the rest of your life – ever came across such paintings? The Autumn Tree Watercolor Painting is one such that can transport you to the world of dreams. What makes it count among the easy watercolor painting ideas is that you just need to use two watercolors, yellow and brown, and that’s all. You can use masking tape to block out the tree trunk and branches before you paint the vibrant autumn leaves. So, even if you do not possess enough knowledge about painting and colors, you can still go along and create a masterpiece.
Simple Watercolor Pebbles Painting
If you’re looking for easy watercolor subjects, try painting watercolor pebbles. This is a fantastic exercise to learn the basics of shading and form without needing complex drawing skills. You can start by drawing simple oval shapes. Use different mixes of grays, browns, and blues to give each pebble a unique look. This is one of the best watercolor projects for understanding how to use water to create light and dark areas on a simple object. It’s a very relaxing painting tutorial to follow, and the finished painting looks great.
Mountains Watercolor Painting
Do you remember the childhood scenery of the mountains and the Sun peeping amidst them? Undoubtedly, that makes everyone go nostalgic. It hardly matters if you are a grown-up now, and want to go back there again with just some slight modifications. No, you definitely do not need to learn the artistic touches to do it, just know how to mix some colors and add contrasts, and it’s done! Whether you prefer a series of green meadows or snowy mountains, if you get the tricks of light and shades, then rest assured, your watercolor landscape painting is going to take the breath away.
Watercolor Illustration Painting
As said previously, paintings, no matter whether they are of the watercolors or the pastel shades, relies on the sole thought process of the individual. Whatever is going on in your mind, just bring it out on the paper, and modify it as you like it to be. It is the best way to transport yourself to somewhere through the illustration, and add your thoughts accordingly. One thing that you must always remember while painting an illustration, is that there aren’t any such restrictions and you have all the freedom in the world. This is a great watercolor painting project to explore your personal style.
Women Portrait Painting
Do you have a neat hand of drawing figures and faces of women? Then, probably portrait painting is your ideal thing to do. The one thing that you must know thoroughly to do such portrait paintings, is the knowledge about the size. First, determine whether you will concentrate only on the face or on the figure of the woman, and depending on that you must decide the colors. Make sure that the colors you put in are bold and contrasting, and have a neat finish to it.
Eye Watercolor Painting
If figure drawings seem to be too tough for you, then why not concentrate on a singular object, and there cannot be an any better option than an eye. You can develop some cool watercolor painting ideas if you keep the eye as the central focus of the painting. In fact, it also allows you to add a lot of colors and great creativity to the painting. It’s a fantastic subject to practice different techniques on a smaller scale.
Lake Watercolor Painting
The lake watercolor painting seems to top the list of easy watercolor paintings for beginners because of its simplicity. The individual definitely does not need to dig in their head and torture their mind to figure out something while doing the painting. Moreover, the choice of colors is quite easy in the case and you need to deal with hues of blues. This is a perfect first watercolor landscape project.
Sunset Watercolor Painting
Talking of watercolor paintings that can soothe your senses and make you drool over them, the sunset watercolor paintings stand apart. Are you wondering what makes it count on the list of easy watercolor paintings? It includes majorly two shades of watercolor, yellow and orange, which are quite easy to understand, and you do not even need to think much about mixing the colors. Even without thinking much, you can create a marvelous piece of art by letting the colors blend on the paper.
Watercolor Birds Painting
Are you a nature lover? Then, why not replicate your love and thoughts on the paper and express the beauty of nature on the paper. You can either draw a scenery and include the birds you want and then fill them with hues of watercolor, or you can also just draw a bird and let the scenery go off if you are not a pro at drawing the scenery. A simple bird silhouette against a sunset wash is a beautiful watercolor idea.
Sunflower Watercolor Painting
While painting flowers and doing watercolors on them might be difficult for you, but a Sunflower differs a lot from the rest. The structure of the Sunflower is such that it can be drawn easily, and can be colored with your eyes closed. All you need is a yellow shade and a green one to go with, and the best part, it doesn’t even include the mixing of colors. Without even including a lot of colors, you can create something absolutely scenic with these watercolors.
Rose Watercolor Painting
Are you fond of Pinterest themes and aesthetic elements? Then, you can probably draw a rose and create a romantic vibe around yourself. Though it might seem that drawing a watercolor flower can be really difficult, it is really not so in reality. You can find a free watercolor tutorial online with a step-by-step guide. Coming to the colors, it is effortless in the case of rose and all you need is one red shade, and that’s all. Even if you do not add any other object alongside, it would still look absolutely the best!
Cat Watercolor Painting
You’re not really fond of cats if you do not try to replicate one by using watercolor techniques. You do not need an artist’s talent to create such a watercolor painting, and only your love towards them would be more than enough. Doing watercolor on the sketch of a cat might seem to be a bit tough as far as the texture is concerned, but except for the particular fact, watercolors tend to double up the cuteness and innocence of the pets.
Dog Watercolor Painting
Are you really fond of your dog if you have not yet done your wannabe artist experiments on their sketch? Not really. Once you open Pinterest and surf through the internet, there are loads of such dog watercolor painting ideas that look really cute and cool at the same time. If you have a slight knowledge about the light and shades of watercolor, then it is not a big deal to create some goofy portraits of your favorite dog! It’s a way to create unique watercolor art of your best friend.
More Easy Watercolor Painting Ideas For Beginners
Conclusion
It might be the case that the watercolors weren’t your cup of tea and that you always got a C in it. But who said it can never get you an A? It can. Maybe, all the years, you haven’t really known the best watercolor techniques and tips along with some of our painting tutorials and easy watercolor painting ideas. Nothing might change just overnight, so all you need to do is, keep calm, and have the patience to give certain things, just a try! Don’t be afraid to give it a go.
So, even though you are just a beginner now, once you start with these easy ideas for watercolor painting tutorials, there is nothing much that can really stop you from becoming a popular artist. Now, go back and scroll up, a bit, to finally discover your go-to favorite, yet easy painting idea!
FAQs
Q: What is the best watercolor paper for a beginner?
A: For a beginner, the best watercolor paper is cold-press paper with a weight of at least 140 lb (300 gsm). This thickness prevents the paper from buckling or warping too much when you apply a wash of color. It has a slight texture that is very forgiving and great for learning basic watercolor techniques.
Q: How do I start with color mixing if I only have primary colors?
A: Starting with primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) is a great way to learn the basics of the color wheel. You can mix red and yellow to make orange, yellow and blue to make green, and blue and red to make purple. Experiment on a scrap piece of watercolor paper to see how different ratios create different shades.
Q: What are some good, simple watercolor projects to build my painting skills?
A: Some great beginner watercolor projects include painting simple shapes like watercolor pebbles, trying a loose watercolor flower, or creating a simple sunset wash. These easy watercolor ideas help you practice fundamental painting techniques like layering, blending, and controlling the amount of water on your brush without being overwhelming.
Q: What does it mean to paint a glaze in watercolor?
A: To paint a glaze means to apply a thin, transparent layer of watercolor paint over a layer that has already dried completely. This is a fundamental technique for building up rich color and depth in your watercolor paintings. Each glaze modifies the color underneath it, allowing for subtle and beautiful effects.
Q: Can I use techniques from acrylic painting with watercolors?
A: While both are water-based paints, their techniques are quite different. Acrylic painting is often opaque and forgiving, allowing you to paint over mistakes. Watercolor is transparent, so you typically work from light to dark and can’t easily cover up darker layers. It’s best to learn the specific watercolor techniques to get the most out of the medium.
