Learn to Paint Depth with Watercolor - Simple Demo

Oct 14, 2025

Tutorial To Learn How To Paint Depth

What Supplies Do I Need for this Watercolor Sky Painting?

I am painting on Saunders Waterford Cold Press 140lb paper, and I have my surface tilted to 35 degrees.

I use a variety of brushes, but mainly stick to a large mop brush, a medium round brush and a smaller synthetic brush with a point. If you want more information about brushes, check out this guide about brushes. If you want to purchase some of the brushes I use, visit my Amazon Affiliate Link.

Here are the list of pigments on my palette:

Burnt Sienna
Cadmium Red
Cadmium Yellow
Medium Cerulean
Blue Cobalt Blue
Cobalt Teal Blue
Cobalt Turquoise
Lavender
Neutral Tint
Payne's Gray
Quinacridone Gold
Raw Sienna
Raw Sienna Light
Raw Umber
Rose Madder Permanent
Ultramarine Blue

Creating Depth - Drawing

Here is my simple drawing I drew before starting my first wash. Feel free to print this off and use it if that is helpful.

Creating Depth - First Wash

In this phase of the painting, I concentrate on the lightest values of the scene and preserving the white of the paper in places I want to do so. This phase should be pretty abstract. Think about the colors you want to shine through the subsequent washes, and consider where you want the lightest, brightest focal points of your painting.

Creating Depth - Second Wash

The second wash is all about finding the large, connected shape and adding the middle value colors. Notice how the lightest values operate under this wash. We want this rich complexity of color and shades.

Creating Depth - Third Wash

The third wash is for the darkest values and the details that really defined our shapes and subjects in the painting.

Watch the Entire Tutorial on YouTube

I hope that you take the time to take in the full video.

It is full of tips and tricks that are much easier to convey via an audio-visual medium. Try your hand at this scene - or a similar water scene you've been wanting to paint - and let me know how it goes!

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