Line and wash is a watercolour technique that combines a line drawing with a watercolour painting. Since a lot of the structure of the painting is established by the line drawing itself, often all that is needed from the paint is a little wash of colour - hence the name, line and wash.
Let me show you the sort of effects you can get with line and wash watercolour techniques - yes, there are videos! 🍿🎥
I’ll also tell you about my favourite pens to use in line and wash paintings and explain why line and wash can be a great watercolour technique for beginners.
Line and Wash Watercolour Technique - Great for Beginners
Line and wash is a rather relaxed way to approach watercolor painting, in my view.
The two media help each other out, each contributing their own strength. For a new watercolour painter, this can be rather helpful.
It gives you the chance to practice laying in colour washes without needing them to tell the whole story of the painting on their own.
A little colour outside the line is perfectly okay.
In fact, I even prefer it that way. 🤔
Line and wash is a technique I often turn to in my sketchbook. It can be particularly helpful if your subject has fine details that can be difficult to render in loose watercolour.
For example, a bicycle - while not impossible in watercolour, of course, is a bit easier to create when you have the fine tip of a pen to employ.
One of my favourite past series is called Blossoms and Bicycles and was created with line and wash in a watercolour sketchbook.
Would you like to see more of my Blossoms and Bicycles series? This link will take you right to it.
Similarly, I sketched my family on a little vacation in one of my small sketchbooks. Being able to include little figures drawn with a pen made it feel far less daunting.
I think there is also something to be said for the repetition that occurs as a natural part of the line and wash process.
You start off with a pencil drawing. nothing too detailed, is my approach. The pencil lines let you place the main elements in the composition. You can draw out your whole scene in pencil. The fact that it is erasable makes it feel a bit easier.
Take care when you erase though. If you are intending to add watercolour to the sketch you will need to avoid damaging the paper for the best results. I choose a kneaded or gum eraser when I want to be as gentle as possible with the paper.
By the way, if you want to know more about my favourite watercolour supplies, I have an entire class all about that. It’s free, and you can sign up here.
The Beginner’s Guide to Watercolour Supplies
Once you are happy with the pencil sketch you then select your pen and go over your final lines with the ink. You can choose whether to add more value (darks and lights) using pen lines, or whether you want to do all that work with the watercolour paint. I talk more about this (and my whole process) in the video at the end of the post.
Once the pen lines are in it is time to erase any of the remaining pencil lines. It is important to do this before you start painting as it is impossible to erase pencil once you have covered it with a layer of paint.
Use the watercolour to add bright splashes of life and colour to your line drawing.
Best Supplies for Line and Wash Watercolour Techniques
You can of course use only the pencil to create the line drawing and put watercolour washes over the top.
I’m not a fan of pencil, but you might be.
The only thing to watch out for is that the pencil doesn't move too much with water. The graphite in a regular pencil is not water soluble per se (but you can buy water soluble graphite).
Even so, the pencil usually smudges into the watercolour wash. I don’t love that, personally. No, I like clean, bright, transparent colour.
For this reason line and wash is usually done with a waterproof ink pen.
You can of course, use a water soluble pen for a line and wash technique - either accidentally or on purpose! (You’ll see what I mean in the video that is coming next … 🤦♀️)
Moody Line and Wash Watercolour Sunflower Demonstration
Here is a line and wash using a watersoluble pen.
The pen I used in the line and wash painting above is a Pilot GTec 2. I was so enjoying using it because it has a crazy fine point on it. Of course, I had forgotten that it was not waterproof!
I decided to press on and complete the painting anyway. In the end, I didn’t mind the moody feel it created. It certainly wasn’t what I had in mind for these bright sunflowers but quite nice, all the same.
Using a water soluble pen creates a different mood altogether but can create a lovely effect.
When I am doing this on purpose, I prefer the effect with a coloured water soluble pen because I find the black can have a dulling effect on the colour. Just like a pencil can, but more so, the black ink creates shades of colours. This can be atmospheric. It’s nice for a change, but I do prefer vibrant colours most of the time.
Let me show you what I mean in this next demonstration.
Line and Wash Watercolour Sunflower Demonstration
Here is the sunflower I painted next, having remembered that I prefer a waterproof pen.
This is a much brighter sunflower painting using the line and wash technique.
In the demonstration above I used my Platinum Carbon Desk Pen. It is one of my favourite drawing tools because it gives you a nice varied line quality. It is a fountain pen but it comes with a cartridge - no mess, no fuss. (If you’ve been around here before, you’ll know that’s pretty much a studio rule for me 😉)
An alternate pen that I recommend is the Uniball Eye. It is a regular old office pen from the office supply store. You really can’t go wrong with this I think. It is inexpensive, waterproof, available in different colours and has a range of fine tips that are robust enough to cope with my occasionally heavy hand. For this reason I rank this pen above many of the ‘artist’ pens, whose expensive tips don’t seem to last for too long in my studio.
If you haven’t given the line and wash technique a try - I highly recommend that you do.
And if you are in the mood to try new things you might want to see this next. It’s a step by step tutorial using the line and wash technique with Brusho.
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