How to learn watercolor illustration?

Watercolor painting is not only an artistic style, but also widely used in books, magazines, advertisements, animations and other fields because of its transparency, watery charm, smoothness, elegance, and ability to express artistic conception. And because of the simple and convenient nature of watercolor painting materials, it coincides with the timeliness of commercial illustrations that pursue efficiency. It is well known that watercolor is difficult. If you want to become a professional watercolor illustrator with professional qualities, you need a systematic and comprehensive learning process to realize your dream. Let's take a look at becoming a professional watercolor illustrator. Let’s explore the path!

First preparation of materials (from Zhihu Qi Nana):

Paper

When you paint watercolors, you can save money on paints and pens. Only paper can be used. Want good quality. The quality of paper can directly affect your painting experience and fun. Let you take many unnecessary detours. You can buy ready-made 4-opening, or you can buy the largest opening from an art supply store and cut it into small pieces for painting. Watercolor paint? Marley watercolor

Many foreign forums have given it good reviews. The price/performance ratio is the highest. After painting for a while, if you have more requirements for colors, you can try watercolors from Windsor, Smith, Daniel Smith and other brands (of course there are many others, so I won’t give examples one by one). Many watercolors are divided into student level and artist level. The advice is not to rush to buy more and better colors. Being familiar with and able to make good use of the limited colors on hand will give you a better understanding of the use and mixing of colors. More colors just make the choice more difficult.

Brushes

So many brushes are really dazzling! It is necessary to remind novices that if they have just started painting and have limited funds, just buying a No. 6 round-head brush with mink hair is enough. When buying, pay attention to the fact that the tip of the brush must be able to form a sharp point when wet. You can buy No. 2 and No. 4 as needed. For extremely detailed paintings, you can also consider numbers 0-1.

Fiber brushes

It does not absorb as much water as mink hair, so it is suitable for painting with less blurring. When drawing small illustrations, use fiber pens, which use less water and are easier to control, making it easier to draw details. I have used Windsor's student series pen set and I personally think it is very easy to use.

Sable brush

The most commonly used brush in watercolor is the sable brush. It absorbs enough water and feels good to the touch. Of course, there are squirrel hair and other types of hair, but they are not as useful as mink hair. Just find a handy brush and start drawing.

Color palette box

Rag

Bucket

Second learning process:

Week 1: Geometric still life

Week 2: Monochrome Watercolor Still Life

Week 3: Simple Still Life Watercolor

Week 4: Combined Still Life Watercolor

Week 5: Flower Still Life Watercolor

Week 6: Watercolor landscape sketching and creation

Week 7: Watercolor landscape copy

Week 8: Watercolor landscape sketch