The 5 Essential Watercolor Skills (that completely changed my paintings)

There are no short cuts in reaching your full potential as a watercolor painter. But knowing what areas to focus on can make all the difference.

Today I'm talking about the 5 watercolor skills that helped my paintings the most. At the end I talk about an exciting opportunity for your watercolor learning.

[learntopaintwatercolor]

You can learn more about Watercolor Essentials here:

[Jenesis]

Watercolor is like golf, looks easy but really hard to master without a lot of time, practice, and patience. I didn’t understand why many started from acrylic when I decided to try watercolor. Quickly I found out how hard watercolor could be (just like after I took golf lessons).

[naymette]

5. 01:17 simplification. simplify the edges of the painting, save the most contrast and saturation to the focal area;
4. 03:07 creating depth. the further away the object the less visible the contrast;
3. 04:25 color mixing. grey is more present than we assume, don't use paint directly from the tube;
2. 06:20 watercolor timing. two variables are how wet the paper is and how much paint is there on the brush
1 . 08:17 values. consider turning your scene or photo in black and white during the planning process

[siriusblack]

I can understand what you're saying but my brain and hands are enemies at the moment. I will admit that ive been afraid to paint for the majority of my life. I only started a few months ago and ive learned so many neat things about watercolors.

Everyone, especially the overthinkers, and perfectionists (nyself included)... Don't give up. Actively remind yourselves that art isnt perfect. You'll slowly (or quickly) pick up things here and there, as you continue to practice. Give yourself time, compassion, grace and patience throughout your watercolor journey 💖

[jessiestarts]

His first painting looking better than anything I've ever done. 👁️👄👁️

[hamfranky]

Funny thing about the colors: for me it was the other way around. I had to learn not to be afraid of adding some more saturated colors. I was afraid of ruining the painting with strong color but the end result can be unintentionally drab that way.

[jeff_jones]

You are such a good teacher! Thank you for your generosity and the time and effort that you put into your video lessons.

[peggymccann]

Things I especially appreciate about this video - topics covered (true essentials), pace and clarity of instruction (not rushed, illustration/examples) and the fact that you were so prepared and wasted no time with irrelevant talk. Thank you.

[juliorodrigues]

Outstanding video, a condensed 15-minute master lesson in watercolor.

[citigirl]

Matt, I just discovered your channel. Your #1 tip is by far the most important tip in creating “all” visual art. It really is important whether the work is realistic, abstract, carefully designed shapes on surfaces, or fun exaggerated expressions taken from realistic composed scenes….
It’s so nice to see someone else who gets it and can explain it nice and simply. Terrific gift to students! When I first learned the word “values, ” in my art classes in high school and later in art classes, no one could explain to me how to really see values in real life. After taking years to figure it out, I too share the simplest examples with beginners so they don’t have to waste so much time before they really understand what value means in drawing and painting while observing real life subjects… You made me smile today🥰

[noodledagger]

I've been doing acrylic painting for a while, but recently came into some very generously donated watercolour supplies. Tried to figure it out by myself for a bit but watercolour is such a different skillset! This is exactly the kind of advice I was looking for, and it was explained very clearly complete with visuals - I feel much more confident to have a go at it now, thank you!

[RatusMax]

I am so happy you put this on YT...showing the first painting in your life...People need to know skills aren't born with. They are built off of experience. All this stuff I came to the conclusion over two years also while watching YT videos like your own to push me in the right direction. I recently found out moving from portrait painting to landscapes and cityscapes, I negletcted the hell out of the concept of perspective and composition. In portrait paintings, we usually just get the face and the depth doesn't matter. I thought I was so good at painting. I was painting cityscapes from refrences, and landscapes from references and life just like the portraits. They looked bad at first but started to become decent.

Then I decided "hey let my set up my own scene and use these references to put in grass, buildings, houses, etc." When I did this, the painting looked flat...like no depth whatsoever. The composition was boring and bland. There was no sense of me peering into the world of the painting. Then for some reason I used grid lines from what I learned way back in middle school when I was sick with a virus and had my homework sent to me. Then ...although it still looked like trash...became more believable. So I looked around and found out the fundamentals of art.

Color, Value, Form, Brushwork, Perspective and Composition
I was able to build the first 4 from just portrait painting. But the last 2, I had no sense of it. In fact I had to start again with the simple 3D cube and put it in 1 point. 2 point and 3 point. I am still doing it right now it's been a month and all ive been doing is moving around cubes spheres, trianges around the 3D space I crate on a piece of paper. Until I get that FEEL of 3D and perspective. I can now see a bit more about the space and camera/eye looking in that space. For some reason it helped me understand composition as well.

[MrStevie]

Yes, when you see some one who has mastered anything you gotta realize all the work they have put in to get there.

[savfaithcalhoun]

Please re-paint one of your old paintings, I would love to see how you approach an old painting and make it better! I love your artwork, and you are an amazing teacher. Thank you for taking up space on this platform.

[lam]

I like your first painting. It's stylistically one-of-a-kind expressive and conveys a particular landscape of your psyche.

[StClair]

This list is true. Thanks! And then there is practice, practice, practice because understanding is just the beginning. It's so frustrating when you know what is wrong and you keep doing it anyway! But, also great to see improvement over time.

[SuzetteG]

I am not new to watercolor, but I still enjoyed your video. It went a bit further than most in explaining each of the tips in nice detail. I know this is going to help a great many new and intermediate watercolorists out there. Thanks!

[belluhresto]

Such a valuable video!! Also, the value painting with the snow was stunning! The snow was genuinely so beautiful that I'm in awe you achieved that with watercolors. Thank you!

[NancybelongsJesus]

I could do a whole bible study off of these principles. that’s one reason i love watercolor so much. the opportunity to grow in life skill is endless. thank you! 📖🎨

[Sunny-prqw]

I can see, in the comparison of your old and new, that your drawing got a lot better too. Drawing for me is a real challenge. Good lesson, thanks