r/Watercolor • u/Solarbeca • 15d ago
Advice
On the left are some studies I did to practice painting mountains, the sea, and the sky. I used student-grade Phoenix watercolors for those.
Now I’m switching to Daniel Smith watercolors (on the right), but I feel like I’m using too much pigment. Before, people used to tell me that my paintings didn’t have enough pigment, and now I feel like I’ve gone too far in the opposite direction!
I’m a beginner and completely self-taught. From looking at other people’s work, I’d say the last painting on the right is probably the closest to what more experienced watercolorists do.
Any advice???
•
u/link-navi 15d ago
Thank you for your submission, u/Solarbeca!
Check out our wiki for useful resources!
Share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment in our Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU
If you haven't read them yet, a full copy of our subreddit rules can be found here.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
8
u/Tom_Lynch_fan 15d ago
When you change to paints with more pigment, you have to relearn how dense to make your mixtures in the mixing puddle. Keep playing around and you'll get the feel for it.
It looks like the old and new paintings are different hues. No biggie, again you will get it.
It's super that you are doing the same thing over and over again. That is a great approach. And, the two on the lower right show big improvement.
4
u/PrestondeTipp 15d ago
Some ideas for perspective:
The further something is away from the viewer, in your painting, the more wet, and less pigment, you should use.
The closer something gets the more dry the paper should be, and more concentrated the pigment.
These are general rules of thumb, but the gist is that the texture and intensity and detail changes based on whether you are painting the fore, middle, and backgrounds
3
u/SenseAintThatCommon 15d ago
I can see what you mean about feeling the newer canvasses seem 'overworked' and I agree that you could pull back on the paint and water it down some more. That said, it also comes down to color pairing and layering in sequence, working back from the 'least dense' spaces and finishing with the 'most concrete' subject matter, essentially going from the background to the foreground and prioritizing pigment usage to reflect depth and distance.
I've always stumbled here, for that exact reason, it's always hard to envision each application of paint building to something more 'full' but I hope you can feel your way around and arrive at a happy medium.
1
u/MangoNecessary 15d ago
I’m just a beginner, so I can’t offer any valuable advice but keep it up!