Watercoloring

In addition to classic watercolor paints whereby the dyes are first dissolved with water similar to watercolors, there are also watercolor wood pencils and felt-tip markers such as the ABT Dual Brush Pen that can be used for watercolor painting. The latter has the advantage that it is not limited to one watercolor technique, but can be used flexibly from project to project. Water-based felt-tip markers are particularly suitable for beginners, as they do not have to be used exclusively for watercoloring and can therefore be used to see whether you enjoy watercoloring or not without any risk.

No two brushes are the same. They are available in various shapes and types. With bristles, synthetic fibres or natural hair. Round or flat. Thick or thin. Long or short.
You should make sure that the brush is suited to watercolour painting. Only then can you guarantee that it will pick up the colour and apply it well. The best thing to do is look at various brush sizes and see which one you get on well with.

Important: never let your brush stand in water otherwise it will lose its curved shape.

For drafting and sketching, you need a pencil first of all. We recommend a medium hardness pencil such as the MONO 100 H. You should also make sure that the pencil is not too sharp so you don’t create grooves in the paper where the colour collects later. To remove the preliminary drawing and correct minor errors, you will also need an eraser. Make sure the eraser can be rubbed on the paper smoothly to avoid damaging it and removing too much colour from your artwork.

If you want to be creative on the go, a water tank brush is just the thing for you. You simply fill it with water and apply light pressure to the tank to get some water on the brush tip. If you don't have a jar of water to rinse the tip, simply press a bit harder and rinse the brush tip that way. 

Tip: If you ever use a bit too much water, make sure you have kitchen towel on hand. You can then dab it off the paper very carefully. The kitchen towel is also ideal for cleaning the brush tip.

If you want to lighten or change your colour before you start the task, you can use a mixing palette. Place the desired colour(s) on it and dilute them or mix colours until you have the desired tone. Then pick them up again with the brush.

A very effective tool for getting particularly subtle colours is the Blending Kit. It’s easy to use: brush the Blending Palette with the brush tip of the ABT Dual Brush Pens. A little paint will collect there and you can pick it up with a brush. If you want the colour to appear particularly subtle, use a little more water; if you want it to look stronger, use a dry brush. You can also work with a Tombow Water Brush or the ABT Dual Brush Pen Blender from the Blending Kit.

When glazing, you apply the paint layer by layer onto the paper. Only once one paint colour is dry do you apply another layer of paint. It takes a lot longer overall and requires some degree of patience, but you retain control of the colour intensity.

Wash painting is the opposite to glazing. The paint needs to be wet. The term originates from the Latin word “lavare” meaning “to wash”. In reference to watercolour paints, it means that you “wash out” the colour. This helps you to achieve wonderful colour mixes such as those you would use for painting a sky.

The term is thus always used when you create a flowing transition between two colours.

An important technique with watercolouring is the play with light and shadow. If you leave some parts of your illustration slightly lighter and add more colour to others, you immediately add more depth to your image. 

Where exactly you need to add a little more colour varies from motif to motif. Simply give it a try! With landscapes such as a mountain range, you can make the back mountains a little lighter, so they retreat further into the background. If you’re only painting a single mountain, the summit can be a little darker.

The best thing about watercolouring is that you can choose your colours freely. Cacti should always be green? Not here! 

Tip: Dry paint is always a little paler than wet paint. 

The same picture created in different colour families conveys a different mood each time, but it never looks wrong.

Watercolour paints can be brilliantly combined with other pens. You can, for example, pre-paint shapes or backgrounds with watercolours and then fill in more details with a pigment ink pen such as the Fudenosuke or MONO drawing pen.