Watercolor painting is fun and meditative but also challenging. Many people say that watercolor is so hard to control. It may take some people years to practice, yet they still struggle with the medium.
However, it doesn’t have to be your case because I will share with you the five common watercolor mistakes that almost every beginner makes. You can learn how to avoid those mistakes to quickly progress in your watercolor journey.
Watercolor supplies matter a lot in watercolor painting. Choosing the wrong paper to start with not only results in low-quality artwork but also prevents you from progressing in your art skills.
When I started my watercolor painting journey, I didn’t know what paper I should buy. I ended up buying the paper that couldn’t handle a lot of water so it warped after I painted. My artwork had a lot of marks and mistakes, and the colors didn’t blend smoothly. I couldn’t practice some techniques because of the limits of the paper. I also got frustrated many times when I couldn’t get the painting effects I wanted.
Below are my paintings done on the lower-quality paper and the higher-quality. You can see that one painting has significantly better effects than the other.
So, what is the right paper for watercolor painting? You will need the paper designed to absorb a large amount of water, especially when you paint many layers. Watercolor paper is thicker than regular copy paper or sketch paper. Experienced watercolor artists usually choose paper that weighs at least 300 gsm or 140 lbs. You can find this number on the packaging of the paper.
In addition, the percentage of cotton in the paper also affects the way the pigments blend and the longevity of your painting. Watercolor paper with 100% cotton is what you should aim for. The paper with less cotton doesn’t last long and its surface might be damaged when you use masking tape to cover the border of the painting or when you lift the pigments (color lifting technique).
There are more notes for choosing the right watercolor paper that you can find in my recent post about watercolor painting supplies.
Watercolor Mistake #2: Using Too Much or Too Little Water
This watercolor mistake is probably the most common mistake that everyone has when they just start using watercolor. Different amounts of water result in different effects on your painting. It will take some time to learn how to control the amount of water when you mix the colors, the water in your brushes, and the water on the paper.
Adding too much water onto the paper will create water puddles, which makes the pigments blend uncontrollably. Too much water in the paint or your brushes will make your painting pale because there are not enough pigments on the paper.
How to fix it when you have too much water on the paper? Use a tissue paper or a dry brush to suck up the water out of the paper. If you have too much water in your paint, simply add more pigments or let the paint dry a bit more. You can use a water-absorbing sponge or cloth to avoid too much water in your brush.
When there is not enough water on the paper (for some watercolor painting techniques) or in your paint, the pigments cannot flow and blend. You will see that the pigments sit still where you painted without traveling on the paper.
If you want to have a gradient effect, you should avoid using too little water. But if you want to have sharp edges or a dry brush effect, it is okay to have less water in your brush or your paint.
To fix it when your brush or paint is too dry, simply add more water.
Watercolor Mistake #3: Not Letting Your Painting Dry Naturally
I have seen many beginners either paint the next layer when the previous layer is still wet or use a hairdryer to hot-dry the paper. This is okay for some types of painting, but it isn’t always a good thing to do.
Remember, the pigments don’t just flow on the surface of the paper but also inside the paper. If you hot-dry the paper, the pigments will not have enough time to blend naturally. This might leave marks on your painting when the pigments are stuck in one place. You might not get a perfect gradient effect if you don’t let your painting dry naturally.
The solution? More patience! Just think about painting with watercolor as a meditation time. You need to be patient and wait for the watercolor to work on its own. Enjoy watching the colors blending on the paper and creating beautiful and unique patterns.
Watercolor Mistake #4: Not Cleaning Your Painting Palette Correctly
After a painting session, we might feel lazy to clean up our mess. Some people might not clean the palette at all and reuse it the next time. When you mix colors on a dirty palette, more likely that the new colors will also have some old pigments stuck on the palette. This will make your painting muddy and less vibrant.
How to avoid this mistake? Make sure you clean the palette at the end of every painting session. Use clean water with soap if possible to get rid of all leftover pigments. Dry watercolors on the palette can be easily reactivated with water. Use a palette made from ceramic or metal instead of plastic, so it’s easier to clean.
Watercolor Mistake #5: Using Too Vibrant Colors
Using the pure paints from the pans or tubes will make your watercolor painting too vibrant and not real. In nature, we will see that the colors tend to be gradient and a mix of colors. An object will have its local color, which is from its material, and the colors from its surrounding environment. You can hardly find anything that has a pure color.
Below are my first and second portrait paintings. I didn’t know how to mix the colors back then, so my paintings looked unrealistic and a bit annoying to my eyes.
To avoid this mistake, try to fix two to three colors on your palette to create a secondary color. It is very useful to learn about color theory and practice mixing colors.
When you get better at coloring, you can mix the colors on the paper without depending on pre-mixed colors on the palette. There are different ways to mix the colors on the paper, which I will share in another post.
The Takeaway
Making mistakes is a good way to learn something new. That’s why we should embrace that practice to just try and make as many mistakes as possible, and learn how to avoid them next time. I hope this blog post has given you some tips to avoid the five common watercolor mistakes that beginners tend to make.
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