5-Minute Watercolor: Super-Quick Techniques for Amazing Watercolor Painting Paperback – Illustrated, 15 September 2018

By painting from light to dark with watercolor paints, you can capture every detail of how light hits objects and scenery. Learning how to paint by gradually building up color will also help you to develop brush control and gain greater ability to focus on highlights and shadows.

5 ways to paint light to dark

Start with highlights Watercolor paints need to be layered to increase intensity and richness of color gradually. Once a lot of paint is on the paper it becomes difficult to remove. For this reason, it is important to gradually build the color if different values are needed.

Make a value chart Paint a chart that shows how intense colors can get with more layers. Start with one layer of paint and let it dry. Add another layer, leaving some of the first layer visible. Continue until five to six layers have been created or until the most intense and bold amount of color is achieved.

Begin with a base Take the skills learned in the shading chart and apply those to an object. Most watercolor paintings start with a base coat to cover the paper, and over short periods of time additional layers can be added.

Listen to the paper If the watercolor brush starts to pick up parts of the paper, or a thin spot has begun while layering, too much water and pigment have been added. The better quality paper you use, the longer the paper will take to get to this point. Watercolor paper can only handle so much paint and water before its performance starts to suffer.

Easy color swatches While learning the potential of certain colors, it may be helpful to keep a record of which colors have been used to paint a certain piece. For each color and variation, paint a small square on a different sheet of paper that you can return to for future reference.

Left & Center: Samantha Nielsen, Peacock 1 & 2

The first layer of the peacock is not very interesting to begin with, but neither is the first layer of any painting. The base coat is simply for mapping out colors; the layers added on top give it more vibrancy.

Above: Samantha Nielsen, Adding Value

This quick value chart was created by layering the same color on top of itself, one coat at a time. Be sure to leave one section of the original base layer to see how the intensity changes.