- 1). Use round brushes for large washes only. Round brushers are thicker, softer and rounder. They soak up the most paint and water and spread it across the paper the fastest. Using a round brush for detail work will cause the paint to mix.
- 2). Use flat brushes for detail work. Flat brushes are tightly strung and flat, with straight edges. Lines and details are achieved best with a flat brush, which also helps the painter avoid unwanted mixing.
- 3). Use watercolor paper, rather than construction paper or other generic paper supplies. Make sure the paper has a weight of #140 or higher to prevent the paper from dampening and crumbling, causing paints to leak into each other.
- 4). Squirt your colors out onto a palette or makeshift palette, such as a white paper plate. Give each color plenty of room so they don't mix on the palette.
- 5). Set up two jars of fresh, clear water for painting. One is used strictly to wet your brush and remove the current color. The other is used strictly to wet the brush while painting to achieve specific effects. Remember which is which.
- 6). Fill jars with bottled water. If you're unsure about the content of your tap water, be aware that certain chemicals and minerals can increase the solubility and flow of the paint, causing them to run and mix more easily on paper. Using bottled water ensures that the flow is normal.
- 7). Lay a clipboard on a flat work surface, such as an even tabletop. Clip your paper to the board. This ensures that gravity isn't working against you as it would on a stand-up easel.
- 8). Practice different strokes on a piece of scrap paper. Watercolor technique asks you to wet your brush more or less before painting to produce different types of strokes. Start by barely wetting your brush, dipping it into a color and producing a horizontal stroke across the paper. Slowly wet your brush more and more using the same color and compare the differences.
- 9). Sketch out a model of your painting with a pencil. Paint a rough draft over the sketch, wetting the colors as much as you think is necessary. Let the painting dry. Make written notes about where you wet the brush too much or too little. Circle where the colors are dripping or mixing.
- 10
Start your real draft on a new sheet of #140 paper. Use your rough draft as a guide. If you sense that you've wetted the brush too much on a certain stroke, dab at the source of the leak with the edge of a paper towel to stop it.
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