Watercolour Paints - Beginners Guide
Paints come in either pans (small tablets of colour) or tubes. Either are suitable, pans are more portable, tubes make it easier to mix a lot of paint for larger paintings. Avoid children's sets - the round tablets in these contain mostly chalky filler and very little colour so they give a pale washed out colour which fades a lot as they dry.
Watercolour paints come in two qualities - student and artists. Student colours are more reasonably priced and quite sufficient for beginners. Artist colours contain more, higher quality pigment and do produce a better result, but they are priced at 2 to 5 times as much as the student quality equivalent.
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Converse Unisex Converse Unisex Adults Converse Adults Unisex Converse Adults Converse Adults Unisex Unisex What colours do I need?
The easiest way to get some paints to to purchase a small set of pans or tubes. You do not need one with lots and lots of colours - six to ten will suffice as you will be able to mix any other colours from these. The colours in the box will usually cover all your needs to begin.
If you decide to purchase your own selection here is a suggested palette:
If you decide to purchase your own selection here is a suggested palette:
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Extremely Permanent
Transparent |
Extremely Permanent
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Ultramarine Blue
Permanent
Transparent Unisex Converse Adults Converse Unisex Unisex Unisex Converse Unisex Adults Converse Adults Converse Adults Granulating |
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Permanent
Semi-Transparent |
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Permanent
Opaque Granulating/Staining |
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Cadmium Yellow
Permanent
Opaque Staining |
Extremely Permanent
Semi-Transparent Granulating |
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Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Permanent
Transparent Staining Unisex Converse Adults Unisex Converse Converse Adults Unisex Converse Unisex Unisex Adults Adults Converse |
Adults Adults Unisex Unisex Unisex Unisex Adults Converse Converse Converse Adults Converse Converse Unisex |
Beneath the swatches shown above I have added some extra information about the characteristics of the colours. Note these apply to artist colours – student colours may use different pigments with different characteristics. The key characteristics are summarized below:
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- Transparency - transparent, semi transparent, opaque – transparent colours allow the light to shine through them the most and are less likely to produce dull mixtures
- Unisex Unisex Unisex Converse Converse Adults Converse Adults Adults Adults Unisex Unisex Converse Converse Adults Unisex Converse Adults Unisex Converse Converse Unisex Unisex Converse Adults Converse Adults Unisex Granulation – a granulating pigment will form clumps of colour in the pores of the paper rather than a flat even wash. This can be used to great effect with some forethought and practice
- Staining – some pigments will bind strongly to the paper – this is known as staining. This is means that the paint can not be lifted of by rewetting it. Depending on what you wish to do this may be or may not be advantageous.
- Permanence - it is important to avoid pigments that fade if you want your painting to hang on the wall and not disappear as the colours react to the bleaching of UV light. The colourfastness of a colour will be indicated on the tube or packaging of artists colours. Most modern colours are reasonably lightfast, older traditional organic pigments and also fluorescent colours are often highly fugitive and fade in weeks or months.