Learn These Steps to the Watercolor Painting Process

May 06, 2024

Whether you’re rendering a landscape, creating a nocturne, or painting a portrait, you need a concrete plan. Before you pick up your brush and mix your paints, let’s go through each step of the watercolor painting process.

No matter what scene I am working on, I paint my watercolors in three washes with a straight-forward goal for each phase. Keep reading to learn more!

How Do I Make a Painting in 3 Steps?

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Painting a watercolor in three steps might sound too simple.

It’s not simple. But it’s digestible, and having a step-by-step structure to refer back to as you paint takes some of the pressure off. It gives you guidelines to follow and gives you the freedom to hone in on other aspects of painting. With this framework in place to support you, you’ll watch your artistry improve.

Divide the Painting Process up into in Values

The first thing to understand about the three-step painting process is that the steps are broken down according to the values you are painting.

I work from light to dark in my paintings. And in each successive wash of the painting process, I work to convey darker values. So, before we move forward, let’s define those two bolded terms.

What is Value?

Value is simply how light or dark something is. While it’s not a difficult concept to understand, it presents a challenge practically. You have to learn to see values and know at which point in your painting to apply them. This is what we’ll cover today.

This three-step plan will help you gain confidence and skill in portraying a range of values on the page.

What’s a Watercolor Wash?

A watercolor wash is simply a layer of paint that you apply to your watercolor paper.

You have four different types of washes that you can experiment with:

Flat - a smooth application of paint with no visible brush marks
Gradient - a wash that progresses from light to dark
Variegated - a transition from one color to another
Wet into wet - a wash painted on a wet surface, allowing for pigments to mix

Okay, so now that we have those terms defined, let’s move into the three-step painting process I use in nearly every watercolor scene I paint.

Lay the Lightest Values in the First Wash

So let's review stage one: my first wash. At this point, I'm thinking light and soft, wet into wet painting.

So first, I wet down both sides of my paper. This gives me time to think through the individual colors and light values around the scene and gives me the soft edges I want.

Then I look at my reference photo or the scene in front of me and identify the lightest values around the scene. I’m thinking about my 1-3 values. I’m also preserving the white of the paper in spots where I want that bright white. Whether it’s a lighted area, a glint of light, or a reflection, sometimes I need that stark white.

I paint these light values onto my wet piece of paper, allowing for that beautiful color mixing that watercolor is so good for. Then I let the wash dry.

Find the Middle Value, Connected Shape in the Second Wash

Now I'm ready for phase two: painting the middle values of the scene. I’m looking at the large shapes of the scene, identifying the middle values (4-7 on the scale). I paint from a wet edge and work my way methodically around the scene, trying to paint in a connected way.

Painting in this way brings a unified shape to the painting, which is much more pleasing to the eye than having separate, disconnected shapes that compete with one another. When you can learn to see that large shape, your paintings are going to become a lot stronger.

Now, admittedly, this is the most challenging part of the painting process, so here are a couple strategies for painting this middle shape:

Squint at your painting. Removing information and simplifying your scene by blurring it a little with your eye can help you see that larger shape better.
Premix as many colors as you can. This is a good idea because it frees up valuable time to work on the edge of the shape before it dries up. A larger palette where you can mix colors helps with this too.

Add the Darks and Details in the Third Wash

So once we are done with that large middle value, connected shape, we move into painting the darks (8-10 on the value scale).

These darker colors and details tend to get all the credit in the painting. During this stage, objects come into focus, the light really shines, and we start to feel like we’ve made something nice.

But remember, it’s the work that you've done in the first two stages that make this last stage shine. It may come together in the end, but it’s the full range of values you’ve worked so hard to convey that make these darks pop.

The darks and details you get to paint now create little separations and definition. They provide the contrast we need into the scene. The light appears, and it's quite the payoff to see the whole scene come together in the end.

Learn More Detailed Watercolor Painting Process Tips in My Course

The cornerstone of my online course, Watercolor Essentials, is understanding how to see values and how to translate that knowledge into your paintings. It’s designed to help you make the kinds of strides that I have seen in my own painting practice.

This course will teach you five essential watercolor skills that will help you paint any scene in a dynamic, powerful, and expressive way. If you're looking for the next step toward painting high-quality watercolor paintings, check it out!