Watercolor Struggles: 10 Things I Wish I Knew SOONER!

That palette tip alone is priceless. I could 't figure out why the colors kept springing back into tiny spots

Science class to me..

She’s so wholesome

Personally I actually use backruns intentionally in my artwork so I actually want it to happen ,but a lot of the time I can't get it 😂🤣

Wow! Thank you ! I’m beginner and this info is a treasure!👍😁

Agree with all 10 tips. However, please know that some animals are KILLED to make natural brushes, & are very expensive. If this bothers you as much as it did me, research before you buy. I personally buy good synthetic brushes.

Great video! Addressed several frustrations I was facing thinking it was me or just how it was.

Thank you Mako

I don't know why I am watching this since I only ever use acrylic 😂 Thanks for teaching me about watercolor!!!

Ph0

quality vs quantity - so true. now I know, 3 good brushes and for the start (to try out) a good quality set of 12 (for colour pros mayby oly 6 ;-D) - probably small tabs and a medium sice paper, that can be cut smaller, for try outs. and after that, when you say, yes, this is what I want. go straight and get the 12-15 most useful colours in tubes, add 3 to 4 different brushes max. and you are done (in the meantime I have learned from real pros, that is what they work with. I mean those kind of artists, that sell watercolour paintings. not illustrators. they might have different needs, I guess)

Nice 👍

But what about the paper? Could You please explain which one is good and which one not? Regards :)

This was extremely helpful. The one point I would disagree with is that synthetic brushes can’t hold water. Also, who uses animal hair anymore? Ew. If you do the research, you’ll probably change your mind about using animal hair when you find out how miserable and mistreated the animals are. It’s just not worth it for me. Synthetic all the way.

great video :) but never ever use natural hair brushes -> endless pain for the animals

Yeaah the struggles of making purple i just experienced it :'(

Great tips!

thank you for the tips!

This was perfect. Thank you. Good info and insight.

Are you my watercolor guardian angel? Because jeez I didn't know these things

I'm kind of baffled anyone needs to mention that you need two jars of water. It's the one thing I was taught as a little kid. Because dirty water will obviously make dirty paint. Well... obviously to me....

so beautiful😍

A fantastic video, makocchino This is fundamental, core stuff, and I wish I could link it to every art teacher mentioned in comments who've failed their students! What you explain is what I've been teaching adults face to face for some years, and seeing their faces as light dawns for them is one of the best feelings in the world.


I hope you get to do some face to face teaching, too - the comments here are great, but to walk step by step with a real-life person, to react with them and share their joy is, for me, unequalled. But having said that, I can only reach a few, and you are reaching far more than I can. Thank you!

warm means more red. cool means more blue.. you cant really have a cool red.

That reality thumbnail looks so good!!!

Highly useful. Thank you.

I am trying to figure what size of watercolour brush to buy! I can’t figure. People say size “12” but it looks so big to me. Just want to invest in 1 or 2 good quality brushes

Some of these i wish i knew LATER because at the moment i cant really afford high quality anything :)) Paint supplies are really expensive where i live, but i'll save up for better brushes and paper. Im also saving for a set of 6 good quality colors, i have a 36 color set (but its definitely not horrible, i can still paint cool vibrant stuff with it) but i'd rather do the mixing myself!

Can you translate your videos to Arabic please ❤❤

so its even more complicated, nice

Thanks so much! Your tips are really helpful!

By the way, what quality watercolor brush you are using? I am struggling between so many choices. Thanks :)

Are there any natural brushes that are cruelty free tho?

Thank you for the tips! Is there a video about the best set for beginners? E.g. transparent, non-staining, non-granulated

Thank you so much, amazing demonstration and techniques just what I've been looking for, for my current project 🙏🏻

Something I just found out (after doing at least 10 paintings on "improper" paper) is that the best paper is made of COTTON and that really impacts the way color spreads!

That was a lot and good to know information for self taught people like me ,thank you so much

Honestly, the biggest thing that changed watercolor for me forever was the color theory part in your book. I went from not being able to recognize warm and cool tone colors and not being able to know what colors make vibrant and what make muddy colors to being able to not only create beautiful range of colors (and even blacks and greys, like I didn't know I could mix a stone grey or a cool black) from my 12-set watercolors but also being able to see a color in a painting and more often than not, correctly deduce the colors that were mixed to get that color. I am eternally grateful to you for that.

I couldn't take my eyes off the artworks behind you (the black and white lady) and the sunflower. They are amazing ! Ver healthy looking plant as well :)

So make up brush could help hold more water too then????

Your video really helped me as was using very poor quality water color paper & very “chalky” cheap water color paint to practice techniques but put water drops on the cheap paper & the water sat on top for 45 minutes 😳 & wondered do they put a bit of plastic coating on the top & back 😢. So decided to try 20 sheets of Arches 100% cotton & a bit better water colors as could do the techniques but was very frustrating and do art for relation not to sell. Tyvm ❤!

I’m a super new beginner, but figured a tip..for plastic palettes, just get some 0000 (means fine or finest) grade steel wool and give it a scrub. Steel wool is useful for your tool drawer, so it’s not a waste of money either.

Hab mir gerade dein Buch gekauft. 🤗 Freu mich so sehr damit zu arbeiten. Yaaay! 💖

1. Diferencias entre rojos, azules y amarillos
2. Revisar las etiquetas: transparentes (mejores para trabajar en capas) / opacos, staining/no staining (levantar el pigmento), pintura granulada que agrega textura, la resistencia de la pintura a la luz
3. Drying stages: pata agregar otro color es mejor qué este completamente mojada o completamente seca
4. La importancia del papel
5. Trabajar en capas
6. Tamaño y material de las brochas
7. Las brochas naturales retienen más agua que las sintéticas
8. Usar 2 recipientes de agua, uno para enjuagar las brochas y otro para usar el agua
9. Plato de cerámica ayuda a mezclar mejor los colores
10. Cualidad es mejor que cantidad

Awesome, thanks!

For one until we have a universal lightfastness test with standards there basically false advertising and marketing..derwent say up to 8 stars and any of 6 is lightfast rubins says five stars and so on

I'm so obsessed with clean colors that I have 3 jars available, 2 regular jars and one with a silicoil inside to clean the brush better. You probably only need 2 though....