How to Improve Your Watercolor Skills Online

The defining quality of watercolor is transparency: light areas are usually left as white paper rather than painted with light paint. That is why it pays to plan the light parts in advance and to know a few basic techniques. Below are those techniques, how to study online and how watercolor fits into our course.

Basic Techniques

• Wet-on-wet. Paint is picked up with a wet brush and laid onto damp or wet paper, so colors spread and blend softly.
• Wet-on-dry. Paint goes onto dry paper, and the edges of the stroke stay crisp.
• Dry brush. A brush with very little water leaves a broken stroke that shows the texture of the paper.
• Layering. Transparent layers go one over another once the layer below has dried, which deepens the color.
• Lifting. A brush, sponge or cloth takes paint off damp or dry paper to create a highlight or fix a mistake; some pigments stain the paper and will not lift completely.
• Salt. Coarse salt sprinkled on a stroke that is damp but no longer wet leaves a mottled texture.

For dense, opaque color, artists use gouache, often called opaque watercolor.

How to Study Online

• Point the camera at the paper. Make sure the teacher can see both the sheet and the palette: in watercolor, a lot depends on how much water is on the brush.
• Light. Work in even daylight or under a lamp that does not distort color.
• Short exercises between lessons. Color gradients, flat washes, the same subject painted both wet-on-wet and on dry paper; at the beginning, our course recommends practicing at home every day.
• Keep your work in one folder. It shows how your hand is changing and gives you something to discuss in class.

Watercolor in Our Course

Students in our Painting course work with a range of materials: according to the teacher profiles on the course page, lessons use gouache, watercolor, pastel and oil. Lessons are one-on-one and last 45 minutes; painting calls for two or three brushes in assorted widths, a palette and a jar of water. Instead of exams, students show their work at exhibitions and competitions, such as the international online competition ChildOpenArt. Other useful materials are covered in How to Choose Materials for Academic Drawing.

How to Get Started

In our painting course, students learn to work confidently with brushes, paints and other materials, study the basics of color theory, try different styles and find their own, and finished work can be shown at exhibitions and competitions. Lessons are open to students from age 5. A trial lesson costs $8: it is individual and lasts 45 minutes. More about the course is on the Painting page.