Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Watercolor Painting — Step-by-Step Techniques

Want to master watercolor’s beautiful transparency, fluid blends, and rich values? In this free 3-hour workshop, I’ll walk you through the essential skills every beginner needs to paint with confidence. You’ll learn how to layer colors, control water, transition hues, and build values — all while keeping your style loose and expressive.

Whether you’re just starting your watercolor journey or looking to refine your fundamentals, this course is packed with demonstrations, exercises, and tips you can use right away.

What You’ll Learn in This Course

This course is all about giving you the building blocks of strong watercolor painting. Below you will find a breakdown of the key skills covered in the video above along with the demonstration images completed by Robert.

We will start at the very beginning and work our way through intermediate skills and easy to paint subjects such as barns, silverware, simple landscapes, geometric objects, chairs and more.

Transparency & Layering

Discover how to stack wet-in-dry layers to deepen values without muddying your colors. Learn the hallmark quality of watercolor — transparency — and how to build rich colors with wet-on-dry layering. Discover how stacking hues darkens underlying layers for more depth.

Water & Gravity

Learn how pigment naturally blends when tilted, creating beautiful soft transitions. Let watercolor work with you, not against you. We’ll use water flow and gravity to create natural blends and textures without overworking the paper. Understanding watercolor pigments is key to mastering color mixing.

3. Stroke Speed

Understand how painting speed affects texture, brightness, and pigment flow. Understand how brush speed impacts texture — slower strokes cover more, faster strokes leave sparkling paper textures for light effects.

Water to Paint Ratios & Hues

Explore how water changes color value and why some pigments are inherently darker or lighter. Master how adding water lightens color value, and why some hues are naturally darker or lighter.

Hue Transitions

Practice shifting gradually from one color to another by mixing small amounts at a time. See the value of colors will ultimately allow you to create amazing art, like going from beginner to skilled overnight!

Value & Color Challenge

Match colored swatches to grayscale values — a game-changing exercise for seeing values in color. Master how adding water lightens color value, and why some hues are naturally darker or lighter.

Intermediate Watercolor Strategies

Blend beginner skills into more complex subjects using layered techniques. This is easier said than done but have no fear, we are going to practice this quite a bit as we move forward.

Drawing with a Brush

Use your brush like a pen to add expressive, calligraphic marks to your work. Many beginners have had major breakthroughs with this lesson alone! You will love the idea and it immediately adds a layer of interest and depth to your watercolor art.

How to Get the Most Out of This Course

• Work at your own pace — there’s no rush.
• Repeat exercises to reinforce muscle memory.
• Experiment with your own subjects after each lesson.
• Share your work on Pinterest and tag @crafted_by_robert so I can see your progress!

Related Free Courses on Crafted by Robert

• 18-Day Loose Watercolor Challenge
• Watercolor Landscape Painting Workshop
• Loose Acrylic Landscape Painting for Beginners

Materials You’ll Need

Here are the materials I use all the time and have for decades. I only buy from Blick Art but feel free to shop where you prefer.

Recommended Watercolor Materials

• Holbein Professional Watercolor Paints – 8 Essential Hues
  Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Light, Neutral Tint, Burnt Sienna
• Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Paper – 140lb Cold Press
  Buy full sheets and cut into quarter sheets for best value
• Silver Jumbo Wash Brush
  Great coverage, excellent quality for the price
• Princeton Neptune Point Rounds (No. 12 & 6)
  Reliable and affordable detail & wash brushes
• Princeton Neptune Dagger (1/2")
  Versatile size for lines, edges, and detail work
• Masterson Aqua Pro Palette
  Durable, with deep wells for generous mixing space
• Gator Board
  Lightweight, long-lasting painting support board
• Holbein White Gouache
  Optional for highlights and fine details
• Miscellaneous: plastic water containers, paper towels, masking tape

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Beginner Watercolor FAQ

Q: Do I need expensive supplies to start?
No — quality matters, but you can start with a basic set of professional-grade paints and paper. I do highly recommend artist grade paper for this class, Fabriano Artistico 140lb cold press or similar quality papers for best results.

Q: How long does it take to see improvement?
Most students notice better brush control and color choices after 3–5 focused sessions.

Q: Can kids follow along?
Yes! The lessons are beginner-friendly and suitable for any age group.

Q: Will this help with other mediums?
Absolutely. Many of the skills, like value control and color mixing, apply to acrylics and oils.

Q: Do I need drawing skills?
Not at all — in fact, we’ll teach you how to draw directly with your brush.

Mastering watercolor starts with understanding the fundamentals — and the more you practice them, the more freedom you’ll have to express yourself. Whether you stick to exercises or dive into your own projects, these skills will serve you in every painting you create.

Now grab your brushes and start your journey with this free course!