How to fix the common mistake that beginner watercolour painters often make with shadows.

If your paintings are ending up looking lifeless and flat then it’s almost certain that it’s because your shadows need improvement.

I’m going to show you a quick and easy fix to paint shadows like an expert and give your paintings the magic of depth, contrast and light.

Saunders Waterford, white, rough 300g paper.

[nifty]

Oh my word! I would never have thought painting the shadow colour first would be so effective. When you first painted the purple I thought how is that going to look remotely lemon like. Final result is pretty amazing. Thank you 😊

[jamesyoungquist]

Thanks, cool technique! Painting shadows with complementary colors does have biological inspiration: Our eyes are less color sensitive in low light, and the complement color desaturates as well as darken. The main object also picks up bounce light from the environment, so flesh tones in green fields have that additional green + red --> gray effect

[caiocesar]

That's Amazing! As a beginner myself that has been told that watercolor should be painted from light to dark, this just broke my mind! Thanks so much for the video!

[JohannaSchmidt-ve]

This video was incredibly helpful. By demonstrating what newer painter typically do and how to do it differently made all the difference. Thank you for walking us through this step by step. I felt like I was in an art class.

[Kate-spvxvzz]

This is one of the most useful tutorials I have ever seen. (And I have watched a *lot* of them.)

Thank you!!

[rebeccasmith]

Ridiculous! Amazing! I just… I’m speechless! The result is incredible but it really is actually beginner-friendly. I’m so excited to try this out, thank you!

[TimothyFourTen]

Aw very nice! Thank you! I appreciate being shown an unrealistic shadow painting style next to the more realistic style. It really is very helpful.

[datnastysalad]

This is something that I have gotten used to when doing digital art! By separating the steps of the basic shadows and base colors, its so much easier to approch. Cool to see how it translates to traditional art!

[ndrgerg]

Thank you so much for explaining so clearly the process of applying the paint! So many youtubers assume that the viewer already knows how difficult the wet-in-wet technique can be for beginners, and I'm glad to see this video relate to watercolor newbies so well!

[ashleywright]

I have mastered blending quite well, but never would’ve thought to do shadowing first! Wow! TYSM for this terrific tutorial! ❤

[Lozbinator]

This is one of the most informative and useful videos I've watched, thank you very much!

[lukericketts]

This is an amazing tutorial, thank you so simple, I struggle with blending shadows

[GWAIHIRKV]

I think this video will grow your channel more than any previous. Thank you. It made me subscribe and I don’t paint!

[sweethomes]

Excellent explanations and techniques 😊

[kennyiklei]

Thank you very much. Very useful and informative. I’m new to painting and I’ve learned a lot from you in this video.

[triciabennetts]

Brilliant technique - Thankyou so much for sharing!😊

[juliebarfoot]

What a fantastic video. As a beginner I have scrolled so many channels trying to understand watercolours, and by far this is the best 13 mins I’ve ever watched. Immediately subscribed, initially a bit intimidated by your thumbnails (beautiful paintings ) but on watching some, your such a good teacher! Actually exited again to get my paints out 🥰

[EA-rntx]

Amazing! Learned a lot. Thank you <3

[ainestewart]

That is so great and puts me in mind of one of my favourite painters,
Vermeer. Thank you so much!

[osoreo]

Wowowow every time I use watercolor “dark to light” is drilled into my head—never would’ve thought to do this!