5 Ways to Start a Watercolour Painting
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It can be terrifying—that moment just before you make the first mark on your pristine watercolor paper. Yes, starting a watercolor painting can be scary. But take heart. You've got lots of options.
Let me share five different ways that you can start your next painting. I'm sure we're going to find the one that's right for you.
The Initial Sketching Dilemma
One of the biggest issues that comes up when we talk about starting a watercolor painting is how to approach that initial sketching phase. Now, I'm not talking about that old question of whether you need to learn to draw first before you can start painting—that's a whole separate topic I've covered elsewhere.
What I'm talking about today is the question of whether you should start your painting by sketching with a pencil or not. Don't worry, there's no one right way to do this. There are plenty of ways that you can start your watercolour painting. All we've got to do is experiment until we find the ones that make us feel comfortable enough to actually get on and do the painting.
I have written explanations of all 5 ways to start a watercolour painting detailed below, but there is also a video version! Just in case you would like to see examples of each of the methods. And of course…. because some days reading feels hard.
Method 1: Direct Painting (No Sketching Required!)
Let's start in a very bold fashion. This approach is sometimes called direct painting because we start painting directly—we don't worry about any sketching at all. You don't even have to think about a pencil. This is pretty great if you're one of those people who are impatient to get on with the colorful fun part of splashing in that watercolor paint.
Watercolor gets a bad rap sometimes for being difficult to manage when we're doing this splashing in of colorful paint. But actually, it's really quite accommodating, and you can easily change the colors on your page and mix directly as you go—as long as you understand the way the paints, paper, and water interact.
Direct painting is fun, bold, and immediate. However, the downside is it can be a little difficult to do any sort of erasing. It's not impossible—if you're quick, you can sometimes blot a mark that you wished you hadn't made with your kitchen towel and hopefully remove it to start again. But it tends to be easier if you can just keep going and work with whatever marks appear on your page.
Something simple like a cherry is an ideal subject to try out this method because it's not complicated enough for you to worry too much about a perfect sketch or getting perfect proportions. And as I always say, choosing something organic like fruit means you've given yourself license to make it a little bit wonky and bumpy—it's really not going to matter too much because that's the way things in the natural world tend to be.
Method 2: Wash and Line (Paint First, Draw Later)
As soon as you're dealing with a more complex subject, you're probably going to want a little bit more support. Here's the second approach: start by putting in a big wash of color, really just putting in the main shapes. There's even less pressure to make the subject seem recognizable or well-shaped because you know you're probably going to add a bit of pen drawing when you're done.
I like this approach because it gives you a chance to try and be a little bit brave, but it gives you a safety net knowing that if you need to change some of the lines or add more details or contrast here and there, you'll be able to do it with something other than paint at a later stage.
Once you've finished with that first wash—mapping in those big shapes using a couple of different colors and even putting in the shadows—you might like the painting just as it is. You could leave it there. But if you feel like it's missing a little bit of magic and you could make it stronger, here's what I suggest you do next.
First, make sure it's absolutely dry because we're going to add a bit of pen on top. You don't want to be drawing with your pen on wet paper—that's going to ruin both the paper and the pen most likely. But once it's dry, you're free to use whatever drawing techniques you fancy. You can add line work, and don't worry if your shapes don't really match up. If you're having to draw a line in a slightly different position from the edge of the shape you painted, it really doesn't matter. I think it's quite charming when you have those quirky lines that aren't quite lining up exactly with your painting—it has so much more handmade, expressive charm.
Apart from lines, you can choose to do other things like stippling or hatching marks. You can add any sort of pen work that you like—anything that you think is going to make the image you're creating look better. You're following your heart and doing what looks good to you.
Method 3: Line and Wash (Draw First, Paint Later)
This approach is very similar to the one we just talked about (which we could call "wash and line" since we did it in that order), but you can also start the other way around. You can begin with a bit of drawing using your pen, putting in as much detail as you like, just as we did with the second approach.
This is why I love these methods—they really give you the best of both worlds. You can choose whether you want watercolor to play the starring role and just add a few little refining details with the pen, or you can have the pen doing most of the work and just use the paint for a splash of joyful color at the end.
The thing I find myself doing most often is going back and forth between the watercolor paint and the pen. You can keep doing that provided you're being careful with your pen and not drawing on completely wet paper. You can add more watercolor paint after you've added a few pen details, and then go back and put in a little bit more pen again. It's entirely up to you, and you can keep going through that process until you're satisfied.
This brings me to another question: when is the painting actually finished? I find this process is so fun that you can end up adding a little bit more and a little bit more until you've probably done more than you actually needed to. But as long as you're having fun, that's really the most important thing.
Method 4: Watercolor Pencil Sketching
The fourth approach is for those of us who love a watercolor painting in its more pure form—where we don't see any pencil lines and we're just looking at the beauty of the watercolor paint itself, with all the details coming from the paint.
Because of that, you probably want to do a little bit of sketching first (unless you're a really confident direct painter). One thing you can do if you want to make sure that the pencil lines disappear and just become part of the painting is to choose a watercolor pencil for your sketching.
Watercolor pencils come in a huge range of colors, so you can actually do your sketches using the various colored pencils that coordinate best with your subject. Don't forget that as soon as you start painting over those watercolor pencil marks, the marks are going to dissolve completely into the paint you've added. They'll just mix and mingle with the colors.
For that reason, you want to choose your colors quite carefully. You could choose colors that coordinate with whatever you're painting, or you could choose a very pale neutral color—something like a buff or perhaps a pale gray. That might dull down your colors a little, so it wouldn't be my first choice because I'm all about vibrant color.
The reason we chose watercolor pencils in the first place is because they're going to disappear. That's actually a big downside to this approach too, because it means you're only going to see your sketch until you make your first brush marks. As soon as you do that, your whole sketch disappears.
Sometimes this isn't really what you want because one of the beauties of watercolor paint is that it's transparent. Very often you'll see people working in layers. You might draw your whole composition—your lovely landscape sketch, for example—and then start by putting down the first washes (the distant sky and maybe a nice wash for the background grasses in the foreground). If you've used a pencil that's not a watercolor pencil, you'll be able to still see your sketch underneath, which means once that dries, you can carry on painting on top and still see your sketch. That isn't going to work with a watercolor pencil.
Method 5: Minimal Pencil Sketching (My Personal Favorite)
The fifth approach is my personal favorite way to start a watercolor painting. I do like to do a pencil sketch, but I like to skip all the details. My favorite way to paint is in a very loose, expressive fashion, and I find that really tricky to do if you start with a very tight, detailed sketch.
What I like to do is use my pencil just to record the biggest shapes and get them in the right spot in the composition—make sure I've got the proportions and angles mapped out using the barest minimum of pencil lines.
I like my watercolor painting to be something of an adventure, a collaboration with the paint. It's fun to be able to work with whatever happens on the page—a bit of a metaphor for life, I suppose, rather than trying to force and control everything. But as much as I'm up for adventure, I don't really want a blind adventure. So I do like a tiny little bit of structure guiding me along the way.
All I need is a few of those big shapes mapped in so that I make sure I get the heads of my flowers in the right spot and lined up with the vase (or jug, in this case). What I'm looking for is just enough guidance to make me feel comfortable enough to get started, but not so much structure as to steal the joy and spontaneity out of the painting.
Because I'm doing very little sketching, it's really easy for me to hide the pencil lines in my finished painting. Now, is that important? Are visible pencil lines okay in a finished watercolor painting? Well, that's another topic I've covered in detail elsewhere.
Which Method Should You Choose?
Now that we've covered all five approaches, you might be wondering which one is right for you. The truth is, the best method depends on your personality, experience level, and what you're trying to achieve with your painting.
Choose Direct Painting (Method 1) if:
You're impatient to get to the fun, colorful part
You enjoy spontaneity and don't mind working with "happy accidents"
You're painting simple subjects like fruits, flowers, or abstract shapes
You want to focus purely on color and brushwork without getting caught up in details
Choose Wash and Line (Method 2) if:
You like the freedom of loose painting but want a safety net
You enjoy the combination of painting and drawing techniques
You're working on slightly more complex subjects that might need some definition
You want the option to add as much or as little detail as you feel like
Choose Line and Wash (Method 3) if:
You feel more confident when you have some structure to start with
You enjoy the process of building up a painting in layers
You like having control over the composition from the beginning
You're working on subjects where getting the proportions right matters
Choose Watercolor Pencil Sketching (Method 4) if:
You want the security of a sketch but prefer a "pure" watercolor look
You're comfortable losing your sketch lines as you paint
You enjoy the way watercolor pencils blend and dissolve into the paint
You're painting subjects with colors that coordinate well with available pencil colors
Choose Minimal Pencil Sketching (Method 5) if:
You want just enough structure to feel confident but not constrained
You enjoy loose, expressive painting styles
You like the idea of collaborating with the paint rather than controlling it completely
You want to easily hide any pencil marks in your finished painting
Remember, you don't have to stick to just one method forever. Part of the joy of watercolor painting is experimenting with different approaches. You might find that certain subjects call for certain methods, or that your mood on any given day influences which approach feels right.
Finding Your Perfect Starting Point
The beauty of having all these different approaches is that you can experiment with each one and discover which feels most comfortable for you. Some days you might feel bold enough for direct painting, other days you might want the security of a light pencil sketch. There's no wrong choice—only what feels right for your painting journey.
Start with the method that appeals to you most, and don't be afraid to try the others as you gain confidence. Each approach will teach you something different about watercolor painting, and you'll likely find yourself naturally gravitating toward the ones that suit your style and temperament.
Remember, the goal is to feel comfortable enough to actually start painting. Once you find the method that gives you that confidence, you'll be well on your way to creating beautiful watercolor art.
Happy painting!
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