Watercolor Fun!
In my recent interview with Dan Wood, I mention why I love watercolor and tips to get into watercolor. I think it would be fun to share examples of various styles of watercolor sketches for anyone who would like to try out watercolor. Watercolor has the reputation of being an intimidating medium. While it may take time to learn to create a full watercolor painting, the best way to get familiar with watercolor is to have fun and start with sketching. Below are some examples:
Use watercolor to add color to your pencil sketches.
When I first pick up watercolor, I learn from studying Hayao Miyazaki's concept art and storyboard. I love the simplicity and directness of how a single layer of watercolor added to the sketches and enhanced the atmosphere in the panels. The technique is simple and easy. It's direct, but the result is very satisfying.
Mix mediums with non non water soluble pen
Sketch with non water soluble pen or ink and then add watercolor to enhance the drawing is fun and make the drawing a lot more polished and completed. Many regular office writing pen are non water soluble. One of my all time favorite is Uni-ball Vision. It’s just an everyday pen you can get from any office supply store. It’s cheap and fun to use. The top right drawing is drawn with an Uni-ball.
Watercolor sketches with water soluble ink
Once you feel more comfortable sketching with watercolor, you can start trying to sketch with watercolor and then apply a layer of water-soluble ink. This technique allows you to play with multi-layering, while not too worry about the details. The added ink line could bring the loose watercolor sketches together and make the sketches feel completed and polished.
Use pure watercolor for sketching could also be a fun way to create impressionist style drawing (Top left). Watercolor is a very dynamic mediums. The more you play with the medium, you will discover your own style and habits with the medium.
Lastly, if you are interested in my full interview with Dan Wood, here is the link:
If you would like to share your watercolor painting techniques or have an art topic you would like me to share in the future, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment.
Happy painting and sketching!
