In order to learn how to draw pictures with paints, it is advisable to study at an art school, during which you will acquire skills and techniques for working with paints. You will learn what paints are, the technique of applying color to canvas, etc. You will also learn how to paint on canvas, on fabric. You will learn that they paint on paper only with watercolors and gouache paints, and paint with oil paints on canvas, or rather they don’t draw, but write. Without the ability to select colors, mix them, getting the necessary "color", you will not be able to convey the subtle shades of a landscape or portrait. In addition, there are many types of paints, each of which is suitable for a particular drawing technique. Oil paintings require more diligence and patience than a simple pencil drawing. Paints of a certain color must dry in order to continue applying a new color to the canvas, so sometimes artists paint for months and even years.
This section contains drawings painted by me or sent by you for placement in this section.
WikiHow is a wiki, which means that many of our articles are written by multiple authors. When creating this article, 13 people worked on editing and improving it, including anonymously.
This article is intended for beginners, that is, for those who are going to start learning something new, since any road begins with the first step. Just start and take your time trying to enjoy the process of mastering your drawing skills! Watercolor painting is both enjoyable and a bit challenging. It all depends on your approach. Watercolor is one of the most versatile genres of painting, in which you can paint almost everything: from realistic concrete images to abstraction and impressionism. Beginners are advised not to start with the idea of creating a masterpiece, but with small steps, gradually and slowly.
Before you feel completely comfortable with watercolors, you will have to paint a lot. Don't give up if your first attempts aren't as successful as you'd like. Mastering the technique of watercolor requires a lot of effort and time, but it's worth it!
So, let's begin!
Steps
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Read books and articles on watercolor and try them for new ideas. Watch videos on YouTube and other portals to learn more about watercolor painting techniques. After that, try to draw something that you really like. An interesting type of painting is Sumi-E or Japanese ink painting, which transforms beautifully into watercolor drawings.
- Many instructors begin their courses by teaching the wet-brush-on-wet-paper technique, but it is preferable to start with the most common technique, wet-brush-on-dry paper.
- If you're using quality embossed watercolor paper (such as Arches), don't throw away the sketches or bad paintings you made on it. You can always paint over them again with acrylic or gouache, or use it as a backdrop for a pastel painting. This paper will also look better whatever you draw on it, and if you draw something pretty, your painting will last longer and won't turn yellow.
- Watercolor paints are produced in various forms: in tubes, in the form of a pencil or in cuvettes. There are also watercolor crayons. This article used watercolor from tubes.
- Try to find the type of paper that suits your painting style. Various types of paper have different characteristics. Arches paper is free from most of the disadvantages and is the most versatile, even allowing you to wash off the watercolor image, dry it and reuse it.
- If you are using paint in pans, do not throw them away after the paint runs out. You can always reuse the cuvettes by filling them with paint from tubes, after thoroughly washing them, and you will have the opportunity to fill the cuvettes with your favorite colors, without being guided by the standard sets in which the cuvettes are supplied.
- Do not buy the most expensive paper or natural sable brushes. You can spend a large amount of money on a purchase, but it is not necessary! Quality synthetic brushes, a small palette with good paint (artist paint is better than student paint) and 300g/m² cold-pressed paper is most suitable for beginner artists. Buy a few consumables to start with and gradually buy more as needed.
- Cuvette sets are handy for painting outdoors or on the go. The paints in them are not easy to mix in large volumes, but they are very useful for working with a wet brush on dry paper. For travelling, it is best to choose a medium to large pointed tip brush, which is included in the ditch kits. However, to draw fine details, you will need a smaller brush. For sketching while traveling, studying or lunch breaks, a pocket block of watercolor paper is suitable. Some kits (such as Winsor & Newton) include a water bottle, collapsible palette caps, and so on.
- One of the best manufacturers of watercolor paints is Winsor & Newton. The "Cotman" brand is designed specifically for beginner use. It is cheaper and therefore you can experiment in peace without fear of high costs. "Cotman" accessories from Winsor & Newton are of excellent quality and suitable for students.
- The wet brush on wet paper method also works well before the wet brush on dry paper method within a single painting.
Lay a sheet of thick paper on the table. Draw something very primitive with a simple pencil. For example, square or circle
Apply a small amount of watercolor in any color to the white surface of the palette.
Wet the brush a little. If the brush absorbs too much water, remove it with a cloth or shake it gently.
Drop a little water from the brush onto the paint previously applied to the palette. One or two drops are enough, no more.
Dip the brush into the paint with water formed on the palette and pick up a small amount of paint. Next, paint over the geometric figure drawn on a piece of paper. If the paint is too thick and doesn't smudge, dip the brush in water and try again. Keep experimenting with different amounts of water and paint in the mixture until you get the right consistency. If you want light dry shades with a "dry brush" effect, then you need less water. If you want juiciness and brightness, then, accordingly, more, etc. Completely paint over the geometric figure drawn on paper.
Let the drawing dry.
Take a piece of watercolor paper and secure it to your drawing board with a piece of duct tape. Use a large brush or sponge to dampen the entire surface of the paper sheet. After that, try applying a few strokes of watercolor paint. various colors. See what results are obtained with different degrees of paper moisture when applying ink of various colors.
If you use too damp paper, you can get a very smooth and light color. Paint of different colors is mixed on paper, allowing you to get new shades. Try applying a blue stripe next to a yellow or gold stripe on wet paper, and then a red stripe. You will see how the colors are mixed, creating uniform color transitions.
Try letting the test pattern dry until the sheen is gone and the paper is still damp. Now the applied stripes will still have soft edges, but will become a little more defined. After the paint is completely dry, add details with a damp brush on dry paper.
To begin with, try to depict a very simple subject that can be multi-colored. Mix some sky blue paint. Draw a sketch of the hills and the tree. First paint them with a wet brush on wet paper. After that start adding some big details with a wet brush. Finally, when the paper is completely dry, add the smallest details with a wet brush on dry paper. That is, the larger the parts, the more wet the paper should be.
You can determine that the paper is completely dry by its temperature, which can be checked by holding the back of your hand over the paper, but without touching it. The leaf should not be cold. In order to acquire the skill of determining the temperature in this way, you will need to practice a little. But this is necessary, since any touch can lead to damage to the pattern and the appearance of grease stains from the skin of the palms on its surface. Do not remove the adhesive tape until the paper is completely dry. The tape helps keep the paper from curling, keeping it even and flat, eliminating unevenness caused by changes in humidity and ink exposure.
You can use ready-made watercolor blocks in which all four sides of the paper are glued like the top edge in a notebook. It is a little more expensive, but very convenient for a beginner.
Try applying light paint to the surface of the paper, and before the paint dries, sprinkle salt on it. You will get interesting effects that can be used to paint landscapes with snowflakes in the sky or lichen on the rocks.
Try drawing on paper in white or wax pencil, or with the tip of a candle to see how the lines appear when watercolor is applied to them.
Try cutting shapes out of sticky masking tape and painting over the resulting stencil to get a specific outline. Everything that is sealed with screen film will remain unpainted.
Always start your watercolor painting by painting in the darker areas and outlining the lighter areas. Isolate or mask everything that should remain white. Get used to the "negative image" as this will also help you get more accurate outlines of objects than if you draw them first and then stroke them with the background. Try starting your image of the cup with its surroundings and background behind the handle, leaving the details of the cup itself for last. You will feel a big difference in image accuracy!
Try applying the "glazing" technique. Once the watercolor is completely dry, mix in a small amount of paint in a contrasting shade and quickly paint over the area. This will change the color, and if you did it right, won't blur the image. Light golden paint applied by glazing on the illuminated areas of the landscape can make the sunlight much more expressive.
Master class "Drawing for the little ones."
Shatokhina Rita Vyacheslavovna, teacher of additional education, MBU DO "Dom children's creativity Kalininsk, Saratov Region”.
This master class is intended for teachers of additional education, educators of preschool educational institutions. The master class will also be of interest to young artists from 4 years old and their parents.
Purpose: this master class is a small drawing course for the smallest, which shows how to draw with geometric shapes.
Target: creating conditions for obtaining drawing skills.
Tasks: teach your child how to draw familiar images using geometric shapes;
to instill skills to work accurately with paints and a brush;
develop creative imagination and fine motor skills of the hand.
Young children come to classes in my association, but they really want to draw. From the experience of working with children, I realized that it is easier for them to draw with geometric shapes. Children draw according to my show, in stages. When starting a lesson, I never tell the children what we are going to draw today. From experience I know that they are so interesting. In the process, they guess who they are drawing, and it gives them a lot of joy. And everyone's drawings are different.
Drawing master class for children "Snail"
Prepare: A4 landscape sheet, watercolor paints, brushes of different sizes, a jar of water and a napkin.
Before starting to draw, I tell the children that the paints are sleeping and they need to be awakened, gently stroking them with a brush, we will wake up the yellow paint first and start painting.
We draw a bun in the center of the sheet, gradually unwinding the brush, and then draw an arc with brown paint.
We turn the arc into a loop.
We draw horns and paint over.
We decorate the house of the snail.
We draw eyes, a mouth of a snail. Next, the children themselves come up with and decorate the background of the picture: where is the snail?
Children's work:
Drawing master class for children "Turtle".
We draw a “kolobok” in the center of the sheet with yellow paint, draw 4 loops with brown paint.
The fifth loop is drawn larger in size, we paint over all the loops.
We draw eyes-circles, from the beginning with white paint, then black.
Decorate the turtle shell. The child can come up with his own pattern.
Drawing master class for children "Fish"
We draw a “bun” with yellow paint, draw arcs: from above and below, it looks like an eye.
We draw a fish tail-triangle. Then decorate the fish with red paint. draw by applying a brush: mouth, fins.
We draw scales, decorate the tail.
We "print" with a brush: draw pebbles and water, draw lines with green algae paint.
We draw the eyes of the fish with black paint. Black paint likes to play pranks, so we are especially careful with it.
"Winter meadow".
We take a leaf blue color, A4 format. We draw koloboks with white paint. We draw lines, draw snowdrifts.
With brown paint we draw a trunk and twigs of trees, hands, eyes, a mouth and a broom for a snowman.
We decorate the picture with snowflakes. We decorate the snowman: we draw a bucket on the head and a scarf. Children complete the drawing, decorate.
In the same way, one can draw autumn forest, only initially the koloboks will be yellow, orange and green, and the leaf fall, we draw by applying a brush, we print. Works of children:
Drawing master class for children "Hedgehog".
We draw a "bun" with brown paint.
Draw a triangle nose.
Child's work.
We draw a clearing for a hedgehog, children fantasize.
Child work:
Drawing master class for children "Frog".
We take a blue sheet, A4 format. We draw in the center of the "bun" with green paint.
We draw one more "kolobok", and on top two "bridges".
We draw paws for a frog, we draw the attention of children that the paws of a frog differ in their structure, which helps the frog to jump well and hold on even on the most slippery surface.
We draw a frog mouth, eyes. We decorate the picture, having previously talked with the children: where does the frog live?
Drawing master class for children "Cockerel".
We draw a large bun-torso, a smaller bun - the head. We connect them with smooth lines, we get a neck.
We draw a cock legs-triangles and a tail, lines-arcs.
With red paint we draw a cockerel scallop (bridges), beak and beard, apply a brush.
Looking at the paintings of famous artists, you involuntarily admire their creativity, the ability to depict the world around us in bright colors. Each of us can also try to master the art of drawing and make this hobby our favorite pastime. Here are beautiful drawings gouache for beginners, they will allow you to test your talent in painting and master the technique of drawing with paints.
To master the gouache painting technique for beginners, you must have for work:
- A set of gouache paints of twelve colors.
- Paper.
- A pair of flat hog bristle brushes.
- Palette and dishes with water.
The aroma of gouache paints is familiar to everyone since childhood. How to draw with gouache is not difficult to understand, the technique of such drawing is quite simple. It is necessary to draw, starting with a sketch of a drawing with a pencil.
A palette knife is used to apply paint and mix it. With it, you can apply paint with even strokes.
From an early age, we draw in gouache in the album a simple, unpretentious landscape. But, you can draw patterns, flowers, mountains, and even city buildings with such paints. For beginners, working with gouache is just an ideal option.
Drawing a sketch with a pencil, you can avoid mistakes and do the job neatly. If you smear and mix paints directly on the canvas, you will get just dirt in the picture. Therefore, you can add a little water to gouache and it will turn into watercolor.
To learn how to learn how to draw beautifully with gouache, you need to get acquainted with the step-by-step technique. This technique lies in the fact that in the course of drawing gouache is applied only horizontally.
First of all, let's draw the dark fragments of the picture, and only then we depict the highlights with a light color. As a result, we get desired color without traces of dirt.
Gouache painting techniques
Among famous artists gouache painting techniques are common as follows:
- A wet layer of paint on a layer that has not yet dried. In this case, the paint lays down tightly and dries for a long time. This method is more suitable for watercolor painting.
- With a dry brush, gouache paints are applied to the dried layer.
- With the help of a sponge, a textured picture is created. This technique is ideal when we paint an autumn landscape, it is easy to depict the bright colors of golden autumn.
- A beginner will cheer up and help overcome the excitement of the technique of splashing paint on the canvas. It is enough to moisten the brush in paint and spray gouache on paper or canvas. It turns out a bright and beautiful painting. Be sure to learn this method of applying paint, which helps to train your hand.
Of course, we can't paint a picture without the right brush. It is advisable to choose brushes made of nylon, goat or pig hair.
On the video: how to beautifully draw the sky with gouache.
Types of gouache
Gouache is suitable for drawing on cardboard, paper, canvas and other surfaces. But not every gouache has such universal properties. Consider the main types of such paints:
- Suitable for application on surfaces intended for painting only. It is absorbed into the material and allows you to apply a second layer, making the colors in the picture more saturated and bright.
- It has a more saturated pigment and bright coloring abilities. They decorate with her theatrical scenery. Children's gouache contains PVA glue in its composition, so it dries quickly. It is convenient to work with such gouache on plywood, ceramics or canvas. But acrylic paint fits perfectly on any surface, and after drying it is not washed off and does not lose its original color.
- Fluorescent gouache. Amazing in its properties and quality. Under the influence of ultraviolet rays, it glows. The color is too bright, which gives the drawing a special beauty.
A step-by-step method helps to comprehend the basics of gouache drawing even for children. Such lessons will allow you to master this wonderful art and learn how to draw in a certain sequence, choose the right colors to reflect the real beauty of nature, representatives of the flora and fauna on canvas.
It is necessary to create pictures of nature, like drawings on any other topic, from a pencil sketch. The easiest way to draw is to start at the top of the canvas or paper. As a rule, the sky is at the top, which is painted blue along the pencil contours.
Clouds are painted with whitewash, brushing white highlights across the blue sky.
The mountains are depicted in brown colors, and the vegetation in green tones. The trees below are depicted in lighter or darker green gouache. The main thing is that the colors in the picture look like in reality. Paints can be mixed directly on the sheet, periodically changing the water. For the image of fine lines, you need to choose the right brush.
When using gouache, you must adhere to the following tips:
- You can buy gouache in tubes or in jars, everyone chooses the most convenient packaging for themselves.
- The colors you need to choose are those that will be needed to work on the picture.
- Samples need to be done on the palette, only picking up the right color, transfer it to the canvas.
- If the paint cracks, a little gum arabic is added to it and mixed thoroughly.
- To apply the next layer, you need to wait until the previous one dries.
- It is advisable to cover the picture with varnish after drying.
Having comprehended the technique of drawing, you can achieve success in artistic creativity. Moving step by step, from simple to complex, novice artists gradually master the technique of gouache painting. Below are video tutorials, the task of which is to help depict the selected plot on the canvas as accurately as possible. This step-by-step approach allows you to quickly learn how to work with paints such as gouache.
Gouache drawing lessons for beginners (2 videos)
More ideas for drawings (27 photos)
Drawing with paints is not only very interesting, but also informative. The landscape, executed in different techniques, calms, gives positive emotions and instills in the artist a sense of beauty.
From our lesson you will learn how to draw a landscape in stages and what is required for this.
Landscape
Painting in watercolor or gouache provides a wide range of landscapes.
For example, one of the most impressive subjects for drawing is mountains. They can be both smooth, similar to a mountain range, and sharp. By depicting mountains, you have the opportunity to show the contrast between sky and earth, high plains and slopes.
Another significant point is the weather. It is very exciting to draw winter mountains: you can “play” with shadow and light, with different shades and reflections on white snow. Ultramarine, yellowish, turquoise, ocher or burgundy - all this is quite appropriate on the snow cover. The main thing is to choose the right color scheme.
No less interesting for novice artists will be a summer landscape depicting mountains. Picturesque and beautiful: warm shades of grass or cold colors on pine branches, a riot of greenery and colors. At the same time, you do not need to carefully draw them - the bolder and freer the brush lies in your hand, the easier and more relaxed the picture will be.
Important: a landscape is not only nature, but also a certain atmosphere, in the creation of which we put our mood and emotions.
Where does the landscape begin?
Any drawing must begin with a layout on a paper sheet. Make the sky smaller than the earth or vice versa. Please note that these parts do not have to be the same.
If you are drawing mountains, then be sure to think about which peak will become higher and which one will become low. You should not depict the same mountains, although this happens in reality. It is best to make them different compositionally, which will add some dynamics to your drawing.
Pay special attention to objects located in the foreground - what is closest to the artist, that is, to you. The foreground is always drawn more diligently and in more detail than the background.
And now let's try to draw a mountain landscape with gouache.
Landscape in gouache in stages: draw mountains
Stage 1
Take a special A3 drawing paper and make a preliminary sketch, mixing white and blue gouache, paint over the sky. While it is “not dry”, paint clouds with white gouache, making circular movements with a brush to get a mixture of colors. The use of such a technique will make the sky cloudy and a little fantastic. 
Stage 2
We turn to the image of the mountains. Mix white gouache with blue, add a little purple and completely paint over the mountains. Mix the same color with whitewash and immediately paint over the parts of the mountains that are located in the light. In order not to disturb the aerial perspective at the base of the mountains, make the color light.
Now the fun part! Do you want to learn how to draw a landscape in stages for beginners in a variety of ways? Then let's draw snow-capped mountains.
Stage 3
Scoop up white with a palette knife and lightly pressing until the paint is dry, make cuts on the mountain with the tip of this palette knife. Paint over shadow areas in the same way, only with a bluish tint of gouache.
Important: do not use a large amount of gouache and do not mix it with water - the paint should be thick. Practice first on a separate sheet of paper and only then start drawing. 
Stage 4
Mix white with blue gouache, and then walk at the foot of the mountains with smooth strokes.
Stage 5
Now mix blue paint with green paint and draw a forest. Add ocher or other shades of yellow and green for a forest look. Use the same colors to paint the ground.
stage 6
Draw a lake by mixing white and blue gouache and add some green. 
Stage 7
Final step. Again, mix the blue and green paint, and then, making large strokes, paint over the future bushes. 
Stage 8
Using light shades of ocher and greens, complete the image of the bushes. 
Landscape watercolor in stages: draw a sunset
Next, we will look at how to paint a sunset using watercolor. All that is required in this case is watercolor and watercolor paper. Shall we start?
Stage 1
Without making a preliminary sketch and slightly wetting the sheet with water, proceed to writing the sky. To do this, take blue, purple, pink and Orange color watercolors. Clouds can be drawn the way you like, mixing colors and creating unusual transitions. 
Stage 2
Before the paint is dry, mark more dark color distant plan - it should be different from the sky. And a little closer to yourself, using a dark purple shade, make the plan even darker. Draw also a small fluffy tree and leave the work to dry completely. 
Stage 3
Using a dark purple hue, draw a tree trunk, adding burgundy blotches in some places. Paint over the ground with the same color to make it as similar as possible to the roots of a tree.
Then, with a thin brush, slowly draw tree branches, different in width and length: thick and thin, long and short. In the background, make the branches a little lighter, and darker in the foreground. 
Ready! You yourself painted a colorful and very beautiful sunset.
There are many techniques for painting a landscape with paints. But if you are a beginner artist, then step by step drawing it will be easier with gouache. It is easy to use: it does not have a specific smell, it is easily mixed with water and washed off. Any brush is suitable for working with gouache, but it is best to give preference to ponies or synthetics.
This technique is also suitable for beginners because, having made a mistake, it will be easy to correct it by painting over with another layer of paint. In addition, the next layer applied to the dried pigment will not mix with the previous one. The main difference between gouache and acrylic oil paints- she can draw more freely, without fear of making a mistake.
It does not matter how you draw parts of the picture - all at once or separately. For example, you can first paint over the ground and sky with gouache, and then paint the foreground, trees and clouds.
Note: to speed up the work, apply paint to objects immediately, without leaving "for later". Agree, it is much easier to do everything in one step, and not wait for the picture to “dry”.
This version of landscape painting is no less interesting and is also quite suitable for novice artists. You can easily master the watercolor technique if you know some tricks and important rules.
- Drawing with watercolors is, first of all, working with layers. The paint is translucent, which means that mixing of each new layer with the past cannot be avoided.
- Mistakes are excluded - that's what anyone who picks up a watercolor needs to know.
— The key to success is thick paper. The rough special surface perfectly absorbs watercolor paint and guarantees a good effect.
- Close objects must be painted over bright colors, everything else should be mixed with water and pale. Unlike oils, acrylics or gouache, watercolors are written “liquid”.
- For watercolors, it is best to use brushes with natural squirrel or pony hair.
And, of course, do not forget that painting a landscape with paints in several stages is a rather difficult task for a novice artist. Many questions arise here: how to arrange everything on a sheet, how to get a certain color, how to highlight this or that object, etc. Answers come only with experience.
The best advice that can be given to all beginners in painting is more practice - draw the most ordinary subjects. Remember that the sooner you realize that realism is directly dependent on highlighting some details and creating contrast, the sooner everything will work out.
So what is a landscape? This is a good training for any artist, which does not allow you to get away from main topic images and at the same time gives freedom of imagination.
