Modern Watercolor Techniques: Beginner's Level

Welcome to Modern Watercolor Techniques for Beginners with Ana Victoria! Here you will learn both basic watercolor techniques and fun new ways to use your paints mixed with other mediums and house hold supplies, such as salt and bleach. I will give you an in depth look into my favorite art supplies and how to use them properly. Watercolor can be intimidading, but I promise I will make it easy and fun with these tips and tricks. You will be amazed with the results you can obtain with my simple direction!

Your final class project includes painting a magical watercolor space texture!

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Class Outline

• Working with watercolors. In these hands-on art lessons, you’ll learn unique watercolor techniques that will make your work fresh, easy, and fun. With Ana’s guidance, you’ll learn how to use paints, develop your creative style, and make interesting textures with household supplies. Watercolor painting for beginners can feel intimidating, but even if you’ve never picked up a paintbrush, Ana’s class will help you make beautiful works of art.
• Using correct supplies. Ana will walk you through all of the tools you’ll need to create your own watercolor paintings, and will include her suggestions for types of paper, paints, brushes, erasers, and pallets you should use when getting started. She will talk about paper brands, size, weight, and texture, and why different paper grades work well for different types of projects. You’ll also learn the costs of a variety of paints – from the low end of the market to more sophisticated brands – and the types that Ana suggests you use as you move through her watercolor lessons and beyond.
• Using white ink. Ana’s technique involves painting with white and black ink over her watercolors, and she will recommend some of her favorite ink brands and explain why they work well when you want to add extra visual interest or define details.
• Creating transparencies. You’ll learn how to take a single watercolor and create up to five hues by adding different amounts of water to your color concentrate. You’ll follow along as Ana shows you concrete exercises that you can use when you want to practice creating more or less opacity with your paints, or simply want to become more familiar with how they interact.
• Painting gradient colors. Ana will explain how to play with water and paint saturation levels, and will show you an easy way to gradually create depth of color. You’ll practice transitioning between watery and concentrated color washes, between two colors, and even three colors, to give you maximum control over your toolkit.
• Practicing pulse and precision. To give you more creative confidence, Ana will show you different ways to practice straight and controlled lines, circles and curves, thin brushstrokes and thick ones. You will work freehand, trusting your own artistic “pulse” to develop your muscle memory and improve your creative output.
• Working with monochrome. You’ll use your newly developed creative skills to fill a pencil drawing with multiple values of the same color. Ana will also share her secrets for keeping your image lines precise as you work and how to create extra dimensionality where you need it most.
• Experimenting with paint. Once you’ve mastered your own paints, Ana will show you fun ways to experiment with mixed media, including household supplies like salt and bleach, to create interesting reactions and unique designs.
• Painting a jellyfish. You will apply all that you have learned to a new activity, painting gorgeous, colorful jellyfish. Ana will walk you through her artistic thought process as she paints alongside you, expressing detail, texture, movement, and line.
• Painting a galaxy. For a final class project, Ana will show you how to paint a universe or galaxy, and introduce you to fun color fill and splatter techniques that you can apply to other landscapes and underwater images.