MeredithDillman on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/meredithdillman/art/watercolor-basic-techniques-108662384MeredithDillman

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watercolor basic techniques

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This wasn't meant to be a tutorial (but it became one), hence the drawing is not great and her head doesn't look attached. I get questions often so I hope it is somewhat helpful. I doodled something because I was having problems with my paper and wanted to test out a new pad. Of course there's more techniques I didn't cover (but I have a book on that coming out in March :))

1. Skin Colors used - burnt sienna, magenta, burnt umber, purple, rose dore

2. Dry on Dry - This means letting the first layer of color dry before adding more and results in crisp lines. This technique is good for details. If you do this your colors will not mix.

3. Wet on Wet - Adding more color while the first layer is still wet. Makes in soft edges but too much water can cause "blooms". This is good for backgrounds or your early layers of paint or if you want your colors to mix.

4. Lifting Out - Using wet brush or clean water over an area that is already painted with a darker color. This works best if your first layer is still wet and probably varies by how absorbant your paper is.

5. Hard Edges - This is what what painting dry on dry will generally look like.

6. Blended Edges -Edges of color blended with clean water.

7. Bloom -Too much water makes it dry like this if you are not careful while trying to paint a completely smooth area.

8. Glazing - using one color over another dry color instead of mixing first.

9. Used white paint for highlights on one side of her face and some of the hair. This is more of a preference since leaving the paper white in small areas can be difficult.

Old walkthrough by me: [link]

Some watercolor tutorials by other people:
Practical Colors Tutorial by leftyfro [link]
Watercolor tutorial by Elvenstar - 1 [link] and 2 [link]
Watercolor Tutorial by Mirrew [link]

Of course there are a lot more out there is you search DA.
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