5 Watercolour Techniques Every Artist Should Know 
(Beginner to Advanced)
Discover 5 essential watercolour techniques every artist should know. Perfect for beginners and pros looking to refine their watercolour painting skills.
1. Dry Brushing Watercolor Technique
Let’s take a look at the first watercolour technique – dry brushing.
Dry brushing is a fantastic watercolour technique for adding texture and detail to your artwork. It’s particularly effective for creating animal fur, human hair, or the delicate veins of botanical subjects.
Using a thicker paint mix, load up your watercolour brush. Dab off the excess water onto a kitchen towel or a sponge – the key to this as the name suggests is to not have your brush too wet.
Next hold your brush at a 90 degree angle and gently stroke the paper with the bristle tips. This might take some practice but eventually you will get there!
Tip!
To get the best results try mixing it up.
Try different brushes. I find old beat up brushes work the best as their bristles are more splayed out allowing you to achieve the effect easier.
Tip!
In order to get the best out of this technique try the following:
Wait for your first layer to dry completely. Applying paint on top too soon and result is a mess – patience is key!
Paint consistency is important. To achieve the best layers keep your paint more diluted. If you paint too thickly when you go to glaze the first paint layer will lift.
In no time at all will you master these watercolour techniques every artist should know.
2. How to use Watercolour layering techniques
This truly is one of the best watercolor painting tips. Layering, sometimes called glazing, is an essential technique that every watercolour artist must know. It features in nearly every watercolor illustration I can think of, including my own.
You’re also in luck as it is one of the easier ones on this list. It’s fairly self-explanatory, allow your first paint layer to dry then apply another layer of paint over the top.
While it might sound simple it can open up many uses. Take a look at the left hand side of the image. You can see that I have created an orange mix by layering a red paint over a dried yellow wash. This has created a different kind of orange than if I were to mix yellow and red together.
The sample on the right hand side shows Cerulean Blue, not a very strong colour. I have applied the same colour multiple times and it has allowed me to achieve a much stronger tint.
Experiment – try different colour combinations and see what you get!
3. Wet-into-wet technique
The true bread & butter of every watercolour artist! Wet into wet is the essential technique – this is how to master watercolour painting!
I’m going to discuss two different ways of using this.
The first on the left hand side of the image – transitions & gradated washes.
First get your mixes ready – it is crucial to do this first so that you’re ready to go. Next wet the are where will be putting the paint. Make sure the area is nice and satiated but not flooded. Allow the puddle to dry a little, this is where you will have to experiment to find the right timing. Once the area is wet but not too water apply your paint. Start slowly at the edge of the area pushing the paint where you’d like it to go. The wet paper will help your paint spread like fireworks. Add additional colours where you need them.
Control is the challenge, too wet and it will spread to much and you’ll get e big muddy mess, too dry and your paint wont spread and blend. You should be able to see your colours separately as well as areas where they mix and blend together.
The right hand side now.
Paint either clear water or a paint wash where you want to paint. Allow this to dry more than before. You want it so that the paper looks shiny but not wet. This is important!
Once you reach this stage you can add your paint on top.
This technique is for when you want to keep some details and definition but you also want them to blend a little.
Tip!
Water control is everything!
You don’t want it too wet nor do you want it too dry. There will be a lot of factors influencing this including but not limited to: weather, paper thickness, paper texture, paper type and paint consistency.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Tips!
This one requires some experimenting.
Paper – I find this works best on cold pressed watercolour paper. It will work on hot pressed but it wont look as good.
Not every colour is equal. Some colours will not react with the salt, it’s the nature of the beast. Try experimenting with colours to see which ones work best.
Try different kinds of salt. Here I have used regular table salt, try rock salt and see what happens.
4. Using Salt to create watercolour effects
Salt! This is an unusual but fun technique to play around with. This is without a doubt one of the watercolour techniques every artist should know.
By using salt with watercolors you can achieve unique textures within your work.
First you must lay down a watercolour wash with your paint.
Now wait! You need to allow the paint to dry a little first. If you add the salt when the paint is too wet the salt will just dissolve and it will do nothing.
Once the paint is shiny but not soaking you can go ahead and sprinkle a little salt onto the page.
Allow your painting to completely dry. I find this takes at least an hour. Once dry you can rub the salt off of the paper and reveal this really cool effect.
5. Masking!
Have you tried using white watercolour paint before? Did you find that it didn’t work as you expected?
Using white watercolour paint is a bit of a no-no in watercolour painting. Watercolor painting is essentially staining the paper with coloured water. Transparency is what watercolours are about. Adding white to the mix makes them opaque and milky. Not what you really want.
This is one of the essential watercolour techniques every artist should know.
So how to I use white with watercolours? You don’t – instead of paint the white in your illustration is the white of the paper.
You preserve the white of your paper by painting around the parts you want to keep white. This is fine for large areas but for those dainty highlights it can be tricky.
Introducing masking fluid. Masking fluid is a liquid that when dry repels water and with that our watercolour paint.
If you want to keep an area white apply masking fluid to the area. Allow it to dry and you can then go about your painting without worrying about losing those highlights. Once your painting is dry simply rub the maksing fluid away.
Tips!
⚠️ This one is tricky.
🖌️ First off – don’t use your finest watercolour brush for applying masking fluid. You will ruin it! Use an old brush or use a brush made for applying masking fluid.
✨ Get creative – you don’t have to use a brush. You can also use a silicone clay sculpting tool and for those fine lines you can use a tooth pick, just be careful not to push to hard as you will damage the paper.
🧴 Not all masking fluid brands are equal. I like Schmincke’s masking fluid. Some brands smell really bad and are very thick and gloopy, avoid these!
💧 Add water – this is an odd one. Use a small dish such as an egg cup to pour a little masking fluid into. Add a tiny amount of water – and I mean tiny, you don’t need much. This will thin your masking fluid making it easier to spread and handle better too.
📃 Paper – This is super important! Not all paper will accept masking fluid. Some papers will rip and tear if you apply masking fluid or if you use it too thickly. Avoid thin papers under 300gsm. Test, test, test! Try out different papers to see which ones work with masking fluid. Don’t use it on your big painting unless you know the paper can handle it.
Additional Tips & Tricks
While these may be some of the best watercolor painting tips they aren’t the only ones.
I recommend experimenting. We all paint different subjects and in varying styles. One technique might suit one person but be unhelpful for someone else.
Try some more. You wont always get it on the first go, keep going until you find success.
Patience, you might be doing something that isn’t working. It’s important to keep patient and evaluate. Change it up – it could be the paper, the brush or the way you’re doing. Sometimes only a small tweak is needed to get it correct.
Most importantly – have fun! Painting is about creating and have fun with your paints.
Need more? I have also created a video that shows you how to do these techniques. Check out your right hand side.
Still need more? You can find scans of these over on my Patreon page.
You can also find my works over in my Portfolio.