How to Swatch Watercolors + Why It's Important

12/2/2018

*This post contains affiliate links. I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you. These commissions help me keep this site up and running, in order for me to keep providing helpful and inspiring art content. :)

What's the actual reason behind swatching watercolor paint (aside from the satisfaction of laying pretty colors down on paper)? What specific things should we be looking for when testing out a new watercolor paint set, besides differences in color? What are the different variables that may affect watercolors' behavior and their final appearance?

In this blog post, I'm going to explain the most important characteristics that you should start taking note of when it comes to watercolor paint. By understanding these different aspects and how they vary from pigment to pigment, you'll be able to make more informed choices when it comes to picking your color palettes/schemes for your paintings, which will make everything go a lot smoother.

I'll also walk you through my own personal method for swatching out a new paint set and share why I like testing my paints on two different types of paper.

It's very useful to explore a new paint set before actually attempting to create a painting with it. This is especially the case when it comes to watercolors, as this painting medium's inherent characteristics make it tricky to use.

For one, watercolors are translucent, which means we can't simply cover up our mistakes like we can when working with acrylics or oils. Secondly, due to their water-soluble properties, they tend to have a mind of their own. Finally (and something that was very hard for me to wrap my head around in the beginning), behaviors and effects can vary greatly from pigment to pigment, even within a set manufactured by the same company.

There are also many external factors that can affect our watercolor painting process and the final outcome of a piece, such as how clean our water is, what kind of paper is used, and even the temperature of the room we're working in!

Always remember that, as artists, we have to learn to embrace the exploration process. It may seem like a waste of time and resources when we're just starting out, but these smaller studies give us confidence and allow us to find ourselves as artists, so that we're then able to create more effective finalized works.

If you're a beginner just starting out with watercolors, I highly recommend checking out my blog post titled 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting With Watercolors. By understanding these ten ideas and applying them in your painting, you'll be able to progress your watercolor skills much quicker and waste less supplies in the process.

Let's get to the swatching!

If you enjoy this video, subscribe to my YouTube channel! I publish a brand new video every-single-Friday with art tips, drawing/painting tutorials and encouragement for aspiring artists.

There is no right or wrong way to test out a new watercolor paint set. The whole point of swatching and testing out colors is for you, the artist, to have a better understanding of different color behaviors. This way, you'll be able to select the colors you like best depending on the particular subject you paint, your personal techniques and the overall effects you're going for.

If you're just starting out and haven't found your style, no problem! As your artistic journey progresses, you'll discover your own way of working and the specific paint qualities that are important for you. Later on, you'll be able to modify your swatching process to whatever fits you best and perhaps leave out aspects that aren't as important.

Watercolor Paint Characteristics

a) Mass tones
A color's mass tone tells us what it looks like when it's straight out of the tube and at its fullest saturation. Basically, it's the color at its purest and undiluted self.
-This is usually the first rectangle I fill in below the hue's name and I make sure to use the least amount of water possible.

b) Staining qualities
A color's staining quality refers to how difficult it is to remove from the paper when lifting, scrubbing or attempting to reactivate it once it's dry.
-To test this out, I like lifting paint from a small section of my Masstone square/rectangle when it's still wet with either a rag or a paintbrush. I also like coming back to my color swatch once it's dried completely to see if any color can be lifted or reactivated because I personally use this technique a lot in my work. There are some pigments that are known for being extremely staining, such as Prussian Blue, and others that lift up quite easily.

c) Opacity
A color's opacity tells us how opaque or transparent it is. Usually, you're looking for transparency when it comes to watercolors, as this is the quality that gives paintings created with this medium their distinctive glow.
-For faster swatches, I like drawing a couple of ink lines in this square/rectangle (allow them to dry completely) and painting over them with each color to see if there is any chalky residue left behind.
-Another option is painting a couple of lines or shapes with a different color (a different color from the one you're testing) and seeing how much the subsequent layer of color allows the bottom to shine through.

d) Level of dispersion
A color's level of dispersion refers to how easily it expands and/or intermixes with other colors when dropping on damp paper. A high level of dispersion means a paint color expands quickly and intermixes a lot with colors around it. A low level of dispersion means it mostly stays in place.
-For faster swatches, I like simply wetting this square/rectangle with clean water and dropping the color in in several different places to see how fast it expands.
-Another option is dropping a different color in first and then placing the specific hue you're testing out to see how much it expands/intermixes. I do recommend preparing a larger square/rectangle for swatching if you want to test this out. Because I don't do a ton of wet-on-wet work myself, this isn't I take too much time doing. However, if you do a lot of landscapes or even abstracts, it may be very useful for you to spend time testing out this particular one for your different colors!

e) Granulation
A color's granulation level can be identified by laying down a flat wash, allowing it to dry completely, and observing how even and uniform it looks after. Pigments that have a high level of granulation separate from their binder when mixed with water and tend to settle into the texture of the paper it is placed on. This leads to white dots and a patchy look in some areas. *A high level of granulation isn't inherently bad, as it can be used to create great effects in areas that require them. Many artists use highly granulating paints to their advantage!
-I don't usually create a separate square/rectangle to test out granulation, but come back to observe this later on after my paint has fully dried and settled into the paper in all my sections.

f) Permanence
A color's permanence refers to how resistant it is when exposed to light. In other words, how quickly does it start to fade out? Usually, manufacturers include this information somewhere within the packaging of the product with the following codes: AA (Extremely Permanent), A (Permanent), B (Moderately Durable) or C (Fugitive).
-I don't usually create a separate square/rectangle to test out permanence, but come back to observe how much the color has faded out a few months later.

g) How do colors react on different types of papers?
I usually like seeing how different pigments react on at least a couple of different types of watercolor paper because I know how much of a difference the right paper can make!
-For the swatching of this particular Winsor and Newton set, I used both higher quality Arches watercolor paper, as well as cheaper Canson paper. Both of these were 140 lb. Cold Press papers, but the Arches had much more of a texture to it. Another option could be testing your paint out on both Cold Press and Hot Press papers.

Check out my blog post/YouTube video Watercolor Supplies for Beginners + Things You Should Know. In it, I explain everything you have to know about watercolor paper and demystify a lot of common thoughts beginners have in relation to watercolor supplies.

Swatching Outcome and My Conclusions

Swatching out Winsor and Newton paint set on Arches 140 lb. Cold-Press watercolor paper. This photo has not been manipulated in any way.

Swatching out Winsor and Newton paint set on Canson 140 lb. Cold-Press watercolor paper. This photo has not been manipulated in any way.

The colors included in this Winsor and Newton 12-piece tube set are:
Cadmium Yellow Hue
Cadmium Red Pale Hue
Alizarin Crimson
Ultramarine Blue
Cerulean Blue
Prussian Blue
Viridian Green
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Ivory Black
Chinese White

I enjoyed testing out this Winsor and Newton watercolor tube set and look forward to painting a piece with it. Even though this brand's Cotman line is described as being their affordable/student grade option, this particular tube set offers an excellent color payoff, contains a good amount of paint and is quite comfortable to work with. The paint's texture is just thick enough when squeezed out of the tube and onto the paint-mixing palette. Each tube contains 8 ml of paint and the manufacturer has included relevant information on its packaging such as each color's level of Permanence and Pigment Code.

A few things I noticed in regards to the differences between the swatches created on the two different watercolor papers:
a) Overall, the colors painted on the Arches paper are more vibrant than how they appear on the Canson paper.
b) The degree of this varies from pigment to pigment, but I was able to lift up more paint from the Canson paper, especially once the paint had dried. This probably has to do with the fact that the 100% cotton Arches paper absorbs the pigment a lot more effectively.
c) Wet-on-wet effects were much more beautiful on the Arches paper, which allowed them to disperse a lot more fluidly and gradually. On the Canson paper, the paint pooled in certain areas and left a patchy effect.
d) All colors, except for the Chinese white are completely transparent (which is a good thing). Transparent watercolors allow bottom layers to shine through and give paintings a unique glow. If you zoom into the ink lines below the Chinese white swatch, they appear to have a bit of a chalkiness over them.

Watercolor Supplies Used:

*I buy most of my art supplies online through ConsumerCrafts or Amazon. Both of them are excellent options for finding great supplies at accessible prices. Click on images below to learn more about each product.

Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Set: 12 pieces

Arches Watercolor Paper Pad: 10 X 14 inches

Canson XL Watercolor Paper Pad: 11 X 15 inches

Royal and Langnickel Zen All Media Long Handle Round Brush, Size 6

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10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting with Watercolors

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What I Learned With My First Inktober

11/2/2018

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*This post contains affiliate links. I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.
These commissions help me keep this site up and running, in order for me to keep providing helpful and inspiring art content. :)

Welcome back, fellow artists!

I'm very excited to share that I made it through my first time participating in the Inktober drawing challenge!

In today's blog post, I'll be sharing my last time lapse compilation of Inktober sketches, as well as things I learned by having pushed myself through it. Though the drawings I'll be sharing were created specifically for Inktober, most of the information I'll be including throughout the post (and video) can relate to any type of daily art challenge.

There's no question that being able to produce a new piece every-single-day for an entire month (no matter how small), is extremely difficult. However, there's a ton to learn from participating in art challenges like this one, as they allow us to improve not only our cold-technical skills (drawing, shading techniques, etc.) and our time-management abilities, but also test us mentally in many ways.

This is why I made the decision to finally take on Inktober this year!

If you visited my blog or YouTube channel at any point throughout October, you're probably aware that I've been sharing time lapses for every-single-one of my Inktober sketches! I've also talked about a variety of topics pertaining to it.

Make sure to check out my past Inktober blog posts and find the rest of my time lapses over at my YouTube channel:

5 Tips to Make it Through Inktober and How I'm Going About It
My Inktober Supplies and Time-lapses for Sketches 6-11
Inktober Sketches 19-25 + Reviewing My Supplies

Inktober sketch for prompt: Double by Erika Lancaster

Inktober sketch for prompt: Gift by Erika Lancaster

Inktober sketch for prompt: Jolt by Erika Lancaster

Inktober sketch for prompt: Slice by Erika Lancaster

Inktober sketch for prompt: Stretch by Erika Lancaster

Inktober sketch for prompt: Thunder by Erika Lancaster

If you enjoy this video, I highly recommend subscribing to my YouTube channel. I publish a new one every-single-week sharing art tips, drawing/painting tutorials and encouragement for beginner/intermediate artists! :)

What I Learned from Inktober

Technical Aspects

1. Stay present/mindful while you're creating art

I noticed pretty quickly as I was starting with Inktober, that when I was tired and/or my mind was just not in the art-making process, my drawings turned out much sloppier. I either went overboard with my mark-making, which led to certain areas appearing very flat or I created too much of a texture where I wasn't intending to.

Now I know that, no matter how small a sketch or study I'm working on, I have to do my best to stay present (whether it be 5 minutes or an hour). If I'm too tired or unable to concentrate, I'll consider resting and getting back to work the following day, or take a break to do something else that will allow me to de-stress before getting back into it.

2. Take it slow and respect the process

With this, I don't necessarily mean to force yourself to lay down each line or brush stroke super slowly if this isn't your thing. Personally, I love working at a faster pace and leaving some sort of expression, rawness and imperfection in most of my work.

What I mean with taking it slow is learning to enjoy the different phases of creation (brainstorming, preparation, preliminary sketch, developing marks/colors/values, etc.) and acknowledging each as an essential part of the process. I realized this halfway through the challenge. Whenever I skipped a phase, my piece didn't turn out as well as it could have.

With a daily challenge like this one in which I had limited time, many of these phases were done simultaneously with other tasks, but I made a point to go through them, nonetheless.

Mental Aspects

1. Practice increases confidence (and speed)

The only way to really improve your self-confidence with any particular activity is practicing it and experiencing it first-handedly on a continuous basis. The more you do something, the more skilled you become, which makes you more comfortable doing it, which translates into doing things better and faster.

I had previous experience drawing with pen and ink, and have even shared different tutorials on mark-making and shading techniques both here at my blog, as well as over at my YouTube channel, which I highly recommend you check out:

Guide to Shading Techniques: Hatching, Cross-Hatching, Scribbling and Others
Pen and Ink Sketching: 6 Shading Techniques
Shading a Hand Using Pen and Ink

However, I had never drawn with pen and ink as continuously as this drawing challenge pushed me to. By the end of the month, I was creating my sketches a lot faster than in the beginning. I was also able to tell when I was making a mistake quicker, which enabled me to stop in my tracks and succeed at making them less noticeable.

2. Creativity is a muscle that gets stronger with consistent use

I'm sure you've heard this saying about creativity being a muscle before, but there's really nothing like participating in a daily challenge to really understand what pushing our creative limits every-single-day for a long(ish) period of time can do for us.

At the beginning, I really struggled to come up with the ideas behind my drawings. I was also really unsure about what arrangement/composition would look best and took a long time to decide these things. By the end of the month my ideas came to me a lot faster and I was able to visualize more visually-pleasing compositions quicker. I knew whether an idea would work or not right off the bat and, if I thought it wouldn't, I moved on to thinking of a new one.

**3. Persistence and determination are essential in order to reach any meaningful goal**

In my blog post titled Time Management for Artists: My Secrets for Staying Consistently Productive, I explain how important it is to get to know ourselves so that we can truly come to a conclusion about what we want in life. This is the only way, really, that we can set meaningful goals so that we can then work towards them consistently.

Many of us are able to set those goals initially, but we fail at sticking to what we have to do because we lack motivation or life simply gets in the way.

It has been through gaining clarity on what I want in life and sheer persistence, that I've been able to get to where I am today. I think I owe my completion of Inktober to this basic understanding. I knew that participating in this challenge would be difficult, but that it would help me progress my skills further, faster. This is important for me at this point in my life, and I honored my decision by sticking with it.

4. Chasing perfection is counterproductive

Perfection is probably the biggest enemy of creativity. It cripples us as artists and stops us from producing the work we need to create in order to keep moving forward. Getting something done, no matter how small (or flawed) is better than not doing it at all.

In art, exploration and learning to embrace the process is incredibly important. Even more important, I would say, than creating a finalized masterpiece. Once I learned this, my skills progressed a lot faster. Perfection is overrated.

Something I've come to realize is that constantly chasing perfection has a lot to do with an innate fear of not being enough and having to prove to the world, in some way, that we are. You don't have anything to prove to anyone but yourself, and what matters is to strive for progress, not perfection.

Life is way to short to let our fears stop us from doing the things we want to do in life. It is usually the people who are able to acknowledge their fears and move on despite them that succeed in achieving their goals.

5. Staying flexible is a must

Life is unpredictable. We can plan as much as we want to, but things will always come up and we have to be okay with shifting things around. As someone that thrives on routine, I'm still learning to be okay with modifying my schedules and specific things I had planned.

It's perfectly okay to take a break if you feel you need to (I did this a couple of times myself throughout the month). However, keep your priorities in check and get back to it as soon as you're able to.

There are two main ways that I stayed flexible throughout Inktober. For one, I had to accept that I would have to move my sketching to a different time of the day because things came up that I had to prioritize, or certain tasks simply took longer than expected. Sometimes I had to accept the fact that I would have to work on my Inktober sketch at the end of a long day of work.

Another way that I stayed flexible was with my supplies. The pages of the original Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook I planned on using ran out about 3/4's of my way through Inktober (I talk more about the specificities of my Inktober suppliesin this blog post).

Initially, I thought it would hold all of my sketches, but my heavy application of ink made it necessary for me to skip pages in between each piece. I had to make due with what I had on hand and be okay with using another sketchbook that didn't exactly match the characteristics I was looking for with this project. I accepted it and moved on.

6. Always focus on the good

There are two ways in which I applied this throughout Inktober: throughout the creation process and whilst analyzing my finished pieces.

If you've been following my Inktober work, you're probably already aware that I decided to go with following the official prompts this year. There were honestly some prompts that weren't inspiring for me at all and I struggled to think of a good idea for my piece. However, in these situations, I decided to focus on what I could enjoy and what could go well. Even if I wasn't smitten with my idea, I set out to use the opportunity to improve my cross hatching/line work, etc.

To be perfectly honest there were several sketches that I didn't like very much, either because the idea just wasn't that great, or because I feel the execution was sloppy. Nonetheless, I decided to take it easy, pat myself on the back for getting the work done for the day, and always focused on the good.

There are always things that go well, no matter how much more our mistakes stick out to us. Being able to recognize both possible areas of improvement as well as our strengths is essential for us to improve our skills and find our artistic style.

My Inktober Supplies:

Thanks so much for checking out this blog post! Did you participate in Inktober this year? If not, are you planning to in 2019? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below! :)

How I Left My Job and Became an Artistpreneur

Pen and Ink Sketching: 6 Shading Techniques

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Inktober Sketches 19-25 + Reviewing My Supplies

10/24/2018

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*This post contains affiliate links. I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.
These commissions help me keep this site up and running, in order for me to keep providing helpful and inspiring art content. :)

Hey, there!

In today's blog post/YouTube video, I'll be sharing Inktober sketches 19-25, as well as a review of the supplies I've been using throughout this challenge. I wanted to really put these products to the test and have a good amount of experience with them before I actually expressed any opinions.

I have released several blog posts sharing tips and tutorials about pen and ink drawing that I highly recommend you check out if you haven't already (two very popular ones are this one and this one). In past YouTube videos, I've shared how much I enjoy using this drawing medium and why I think it's so effective at helping us progress our artistic skills.

All this said, I had never used pen and ink as consistently as I have with this drawing challenge. I committed to participating in Inktober this year because I knew that creating a new piece every-single-day for an entire month would lead to amazing growth in a short period of time. The challenge would help me not only exercise my creativity continuously and gain confidence in my pen and ink technique, but would also test my time-management skills and even more mental/personal aspects.

Over at my YouTube channel, I've shared all of my Inktober sketch time lapses so far:
1. Time lapses 1-5 + A Bit About My Thoughts and Process
2. Time lapses 6-11 + How I Come Up With the Ideas Behind My Sketches
3. Time lapses 12-18 + My Struggles So Far

*The video included in this post is my fourth compilation of sketch time lapses and I'm closing this Inktober series with a last video including my final drawings, as well as a bit about what I've learned. Make sure to subscribe to my channel and stay tuned for the last compilation of sketches coming up next Friday (Nov. 2)!

My Inktober Supplies

I knew since before starting the challenge, that I wanted to make a careful selection of supplies and stick with them throughout the entire month. This way, I would be able to come up with solid opinions about them.

All of my supplies were acquired online through either Amazon or ConsumerCrafts.com, which are both excellent online options to find quality art supplies at great prices.

1. Leuchtturm1917 Sketchbook

This was my first time using a Leuchtturm sketchbook and I really enjoyed it, especially in combination with drawing pens and ink. These sketchbooks are definitely on the more expensive side, but I'm really glad I invested in one and decided to use it for this drawing challenge!

The sketchbook is 15 x 21 cms. in size and is made up of 96 pure white 180 g/m drawing paper that is quite smooth. I love that the sketchbook includes two bookmarks and an elastic to keep it safely closed. These characteristics make the sketchbook perfect to take out for drawing in plein air or coffeeshops.

I had a couple of different sketchbooks to pick from laying around that I could go for, but I went for this one for two main reasons:
a) I knew that I wanted some areas of my Inktober sketches to have thick applications of ink and the thickness of its pages would allow for this.
b) The pure/brilliant white of its pages would really allow my black ink lines/shapes to contrast and pop out!

Though I find this sketchbook amazing for drawing purposes, I wouldn't recommend it for sketching with watercolors, as its paper is too smooth and I don't think it would hold/absorb water very well. I think it would, however, work pretty well for gouache and even acrylics.

It's always a smart idea to give thought to what kinds of mediums you're planning on using in your sketchbooks before making a decision about which one to buy.

2. Staedtler Pigment Liners

I've had this set of drawing pens for a while and I've always used them interchangeably with my Micron pens. I think these two brands/products are pretty close in terms of quality and price, and produce almost the same results. I will continue buying Staedtler drawing pens for the time being, as I found throughout this challenge that I really enjoy them.

The four-pack of drawing pens that I have includes .1, .3, .5, and .7 millimeter points. The majority of my Inktober sketches were created using only the .3 and .5 points. I find the four pack includes a perfect variety of point thicknesses and don't think I would personally need anything smaller or larger.

The ink in the Staedtler Pigment Liners is waterproof, bleed-proof, smudge-proof and fade resistant, which leads me to think they would be perfect for use in combination with watercolors. The lines created by these drawing pens are also very crisp and dark.

Lastly, the ink in these pens also lasts a very long time. Even though I used them every-single-day for 31 days (and pretty roughly-I might add), they never started drying out.

3. Speedball Drawing & Calligraphy India Ink

I acquired this little 2 ounce tub of black ink a while back for exploratory purposes and I'm very glad I had it on hand for this Inktober! It allowed me to create the flat black geometric background shapes that I decided would be the unifying aspect of my drawings prior to starting.

This Speedball drawing/calligraphy ink is a rich black and a bit on the thick side. However, it can be diluted to create a variety of values and a runnier texture. I used a small, angled, soft-bristled brush to apply it onto my paper and the wash always came out quite even. I never noticed any granulation, even in areas where I applied the ink thickly.

I also loved the fact that it washes off from skin pretty easily and that it has no overpowering odor to it. Lastly, the shape of its bottle is genius, as the bottom of it is wider than the top and makes it more stable. This avoids it from tipping over and creating a huge mess!

That's it in terms of my Inktober supplies for 2018! I hope that you found this blog post/YouTube video helpful and inspiring! :)

Essential Self-Care Tips for Artists and Creatives

Why Sketchbooks are Essential Tools for Artists and Usage Tips

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My Inktober Supplies and Time-lapses for Sketches 6-11

10/15/2018

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My Inktober Supplies and Sketch Time lapses

Guide to Shading Techniques: Hatching, Cross hatching, Scribbling and Others

Sketch for Inktober prompt: Precious by Erika Lancaster

Sketch for Inktober prompt: Flowing by Erika Lancaster

Sketch for Inktober prompt: Exhausted by Erika Lancaster

Sketch for Inktober prompt: Drooling by Erika Lancaster

Sketch for Inktober prompt: Cruel by Erika Lancaster

Sketch for Inktober prompt: Star by Erika Lancaster

My Inktober Supplies

Here are the supplies I'm using for all of my Inktober sketches this year. I buy a lot of my art supplies through Amazon myself and, because I really enjoy sketching with pen and ink, I already had them in my arsenal!

That's it for today! I hope that you enjoyed this post/video!

I'd love to know in the comments section below which Inktober prompt has been your favorite so far. If you haven't been able to participate, are you planning to next year?

Cheers, friends!

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5 Common Watercolor Painting Mistakes and How to Fix Them

8/1/2018

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Common Watercolor Mistakes and How to Fix Them

*This post contains affiliate links. I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.
These commissions help me keep this site up and running, in order for me to keep providing helpful and inspiring art content. :)

Do you feel like you're constantly fighting against your supplies when painting with watercolors? Feel like a failure after every single little mistake you make throughout your painting process? Do you frequently end up frustrated with yourself and end up throwing away more paintings than you actually keep?

When using watercolors, we cannot just simply cover up our mistakes with a new layer of paint. This artistic medium requires us to be much more mindful and delicate, even, right from the start of the painting process.

I use several different kinds of paint for my own work and when I make the switch to watercolors, it helps me to remember that I'm using this medium's transparency, in combination with the whiteness of my paper, to produce a wide range of values. I am not covering up my substrate and layering paint, as I would with oils or acrylics, but using my paper in itself as my lightest value. This is what's going to help create watercolors' distinctive "glowing" effect.

There's WAY more of a chance that you'll produce a great watercolor painting if you do, at least, a bit of planning before starting, and are able to remain patient throughout the process. It's also essential that you are aware of this medium's characteristics and have practiced basic exercises before jumping into a more complex subject.

I highly recommend reading my blog post titled 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting With Watercolors if you're a beginner just starting out!

All this said, it's important to know that you don't have to get frustrated with yourself and throw away a painting EVERY-SINGLE-TIME you've made a mistake! If you're mistake is small (which it should be if you're staying focused throughout the process), there most likely WILL be a way to make it less noticeable. There are also specific things you can do to avoid these mistakes in the first place!

In today's post, I'll be sharing five common watercolor painting mistakes and what I personally do to fix them or avoid them altogether. By making use of these tips and tricks, you'll end up with a painting that is going to have way more positives than negatives. For the time-lapse video included in this post, I painted a subject that I knew would be extra challenging for me and would allow me to demonstrate how I approach my mistakes on a real project.

Though I knew that my painting wasn't going to be "perfect" when that first mistake happened, I was determined to push through, and I'm happy I did. I learned a lot from it and will apply this knowledge in future paintings.

Watercolor Cougar by Erika Lancaster. Schmincke watercolors on Fabriano 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Art supplies used for this watercolor painting:

Five Ways to Avoid or Fix Watercolor Mistakes

It's important to understand that no mistake will be completely erased with any of these techniques. What you're trying to do is make them less noticeable, so that they don't distract from the great areas of your painting!

Mistake #1: Accidentally covering up your lightest areas (whites)

How to avoid this:
Make sure that you take time to plan and decide how you'll be protecting your lightest areas before starting with the painting process. You can do this by either creating a "map" for yourself (drawing small shapes around these areas using a pencil) and very carefully working around them as you're painting.

If you're painting a very complex subject with very small areas you want to protect, I recommend using masking fluid, as I did to protect the whiskers of this cougar.

To learn everything you need to know about using masking fluid with watercolors, visit my blog post titled Using Masking Fluid with Watercolors: Everything You Need to Know.

How to fix it:
Use the lifting technique to remove some of the pigment from your paper. If your paint is still wet, simply take your rag or paper towel and gently blot your paper with up and down motions (not sideways as this will damage the paper).

If your paint is already dry, no problem! As long as you're using decent quality watercolor paint, they CAN be reactivated by re-wetting them! All you have to do is rinse your brush well, remove excess water from its bristles and do gentle circular scrubbing motions in the area. Don't go back in with too much water, though, and stay mindful about not damaging your paper.

Remember that the more wet your paper is, the more fragile it is! So once you've removed all you can, just let it go and allow the area to dry.

*It's important to know that different colors are going to have different staining qualities on your paper, and that the quality/type of paper you're using will affect the outcome of this technique.

*Also, the thicker the paper you're working on, the more scrubbing and lifting it will allow without you damaging it. These techniques won't work well if you're using lightweight paper. I love working on paper thats 140 lbs. and up!

Mistake #2: Laying down too much dark paint in the beginning stages or creating flat/stark looking shapes or lines

How to avoid this:
Remember that a good watercolor piece requires patience! Take your painting ONE-STEP-AT-A-TIME and always start with light, translucent values and work your way towards the darks in layers. Look at your reference and add your darkest values only where you actually see them (usually these spaces are small and have variation in them).

Generally speaking, you want to keep even your darkest values somewhat transparent, and keep obvious lines or tiny shapes only for the areas where your subject really calls for it.

How to fix it:
Went a bit crazy laying down way too heavily pigmented paint mixture in a larger area (or sooner) than intended? Don't fret! Use the lifting technique described in the previous point using your rag to gently blot the area while it's still wet or use your clean, damp brush to do some scrubbing. Be gentle while you remove as much pigment as possible and allow to dry before attempting to do anything else in that area.

You can also use the pulling/spreading technique in order to dissipate the concentrated pigment into a larger area. Of course, you don't want to spread that pigment into areas that are meant to be white or affect other colors you've already placed, so be careful!

I've found, dissipating that stark line or edge into a gradient really helps remove that flatness that we've mistakenly created. Do what you can and leave it. Move on to work on other areas of your painting. Later on, when the area is completely dry, you can go back in and make any overworked areas less noticeable by adding more paint carefully and playing around with values/washes.

Mistake #3: Bleeding colors

How to avoid this:
It's really essential for you to know the different effects that watercolors allow and when to use different techniques. I wouldn't recommend moving onto a complex piece if you haven't practiced simple exercises that will allow you to know your medium's characteristics.

If you want to know more about the essential watercolor techniques you should be aware of and specific exercises that you should definitely try before moving on to painting specific subjects, I highly recommend checking out my free Watercolor for the Total Beginner Mini-Course.

Essentially, when you place a paint mixture on a previously wetted paper, it will expand/bleed/intermix. This is referred to as the wet-on-wet technique and will lead to a blurred-out effect that you, most likely, do not want in some areas of your painting.

Before starting with your painting process, give thought to what areas you want blurred out, and which you want more definition in. The more defined you want an area, the more important it is for you to wait for the previous layer of paint to dry before applying more paint on top!

How to fix this:
Gently blot your paper with your paper towel immediately when this intermixing starts happening in order to prevent it from expanding more. Allow it to dry completely. If the mistake is small and the color left behind is faint, chances are you will be able to add more definition to the area with subsequent layers once it's dry.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com. Click on image to visit original site.

Mistake #4: Creating muddy colors

How to avoid this:
The very best thing you can do in order to avoid muddy colors to begin with, is to take time to test and experiment how the pigments you're planning to use mix together. Before starting to paint, give thought to the color palette needed for your composition. Pinpoint the exact colors you will be using, and keep your palette limited (3-5 colors usually works for me).

I cannot paint without my scrap piece of watercolor paper beside me that allows me to CONSTANTLY test out color mixtures and transparencies throughout the process.

Know and understand the Color Wheel and the relationships between colors. Explore Analogous and Complementary colors, and decide how you want to approach deepening color values and creating shadow effects. Take time to do exercises before even attempting to paint a complex subject or else you'll end up frustrating yourself more than you need to!

In the third class of my free Watercolor for the Total Beginner Mini-Course, I walk you through several color mixing exercises, which you'll find extremely useful!

*Don't mix more than 3 different colors together, unless you know what you're doing.

How to fix this:
If you've mistakenly laid down a muddy color on your paper, try to absorb what you can while it's still wet and allow the area to dry. There are some cases in which adding a light wash of a brighter color on top, will make the mistake less noticeable.

Mistake #5: Overworking or damaging your watercolor paper

How to avoid this:
If you're anything like me and you enjoy using techniques like scrubbing, lifting and layering, buy decent quality thick paper (140 lbs. and up). I personally cannot work on thin, flimsy paper! It drives me nuts!

However, even when using thick, quality paper, it's essential to learn when to STOP and allow your paper to dry. The more experience you gain, the faster you'll be able to recognize when your paper needs time to recoup!

In the video included here, you'll notice I jump around A LOT. If I do something I don't like, I absorb/lift what I can, and leave it. I work somewhere else and come back to that area to fix it later. I do not obsess over imperfections and move on with the process.

How to fix this:
Damaged paper simply cannot be fixed (unless you want to cut that part off). Of all the mistakes mentioned in this post, this is probably the deadliest, so stay mindful throughout the process so it never gets to this point.

Try not to get to obsessive over your mistakes, take a learning experience for what it is, and move on with the work you can do.

To finish up this post, I want to encourage you to not get frustrated over small mistakes. There is a certain beauty behind imperfection, and what you should be striving for with each piece is progress. Trying to chase perfection with every single drawing or painting you create is probably going to end up hindering you and not allowing you to move forward as fast as you could.

Thanks so much for reading!

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Hey, there! Thanks so much for dropping by!

Today I'll be sharing a time-lapse video demonstrating the usual process I go through when painting more of an editorial-style illustration with no background. This painting was created as part of the August calendar design I'm about to send out to my wonderful newsletter subscribers!

Though this video isn't a tutorial, I am sharing some news I'm SUPER excited about and that you may be interested in if you're a beginner/intermediate artist looking to improve your skills, find your artistic voice and gain the confidence you need to start putting your work out there!

If you'd like to check out a couple of my more informative watercolor blog posts/videos,
I recommend these:
How to Paint a Watercolor Landscape
10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting with Watercolors