Artists who wish to try their hand at painting with watercolor are likely to find the transparency which is a basic characteristic of this medium a difficult to handle especially after having dealt with other artistic mediums which are opaque in nature. Therefore, perusal of a few essential tips prior to embarking on this creative journey would certainly help one not only to attain mastery in handling this medium but deriving satisfaction from the end result as well.
One of the most essential watercolor tips for beginners is that good knowledge and fluency in drawing always helps in producing great paintings. A well planned drawing is thought out by judging the placement of subject on the page and marking out its position with a few basic thumbnail sketches. These are capitalized upon by making a few accurate and simple shapes to which details are added as the artist proceeds. However, the concentration of details may vary from one region of the drawing to another with the maximum being around the main focus of the painting. The only recommendation for mastering this basic requisite is to practice incessantly as it is this practice which would enable the artist to make accurate judgments as regards the proportion of the drawing.
Thumbnail sketches form the basic groundwork for a painting and these could be made from pencil, charcoal or pastel pencil. Since these sketches form the plan of the painting, the artist could break them into a number of different tonal areas so as to be able to position the light and dark areas with accuracy. Some of the different tones which are characteristic of thumbnail sketches are black, dark grey, light grey and white and these are deftly arranged around the center of interest of the painting.
Every painting has a particular theme which serves as the focal point of the painting and in the jargon related to this field it is referred to as the center of interest. Undoubtedly this should be positioned in such a way that it serves as the cynosure of the painting but care should be taken not to place it in the middle whether horizontally or vertically. An ideal location would be to place it at an unequal distance from each side preferably in the horizontal and vertical ratio of 1:2.
One of the most important watercolor tips for beginners involves the appropriate understanding of the color harmony. In this regard, the beginner is advised to limit himself to 2-3 colors in accordance with the subject of the painting. Further guidelines suggest avoiding the use of neutral dark colors and in case foreign colors are being used, they should be spread throughout the painting so as not to appear discordant or incongruent with the rest of color scheme.
Beginners should be particularly careful not to overindulge while painting as an overly done painting tends to appear too tiring to be comprehended and appreciated. Therefore, a balance can be achieved by dotting some areas with details while leaving some others completely plain by contrast.
Incorporating all these watercolor tips for beginners would obviously take time but instead of getting disheartened through mistakes or problems, the novice painter might as well derive confidence from the positive aspects of his work and move on.
