Need Help with Technique!

2520 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by tricky raven, Aug 13, 2013

Colletteseline

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2013

Hello all,
I am new to watercolor and needing a bit of help on how to work it. I have always loved watercolor, especially combined with ink. I'm having a hard time getting the look that most good watercolor paintings have, that free flowing, running on the page look. Experienced painters always say, "just do what feels RIGHT." But that never works, you have to know the rules in order to break them. SO.
My biggest question is this:"How do you get that "watery" look, yet keep the color you're using very dark. For instance, if I wanted to paint something pure black on my watercolor, but still want the stroke to look watery, how do I do so without diluting the color? I can't seem to find a happy medium. I'll either put too much water and then it turns more gray than black, or not enough in order to keep the color true and the stroke won't look as "flowing" as I would like it to.

I've posted a few links to what I'm talking about. It's not just black I have trouble with, but any color that I need to appear dark. How do I do THIS:

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George924

· #3 · Jul 23, 2013

Hi Colletteseline, Great to have you here on the forums...My first thoughts on what you are wanting to achieve is to learn color theory, why certain colors work together and why others do not. Also, I would suggest learning about composition and design and how the piece flows when looked at.

The way I do most of my WC paintings with the ink drawings is to draw out the ink first...I usually work on hot press illustration board when using this method.

I then will scan the ink drawing and then play around with color pencil on smaller printed paper to see what the color scheme I am looking for.

After I find the colors I find to suit the piece I begin working the hot press board with very loose and watered down pigment...the hot press board holds the water nicely and does not buckle much when water is applied. Using a hair dryer to speed the process up I then start to work the paint a little more saturated with the color to achieve the look I am after.

But to really know how to start working watercolor is by doing it and getting the feel of how you work the paint...although I would suggest watered down pigment to start because it is a whole lot easier starting light and progressing to the darker finished hi-comp piece you are looking for. Save the details for the end and really make the piece fulminate...

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