Ink & Watercolor Painting Tutorial

Materials Required

You can find links to ALL of the supplies that I recommend for each of these items in my SUPPLY GUIDE 🙌🏻 Check it out!

• Reference Photo - I recommend using one of your own, if possible. That reduces any issues with not giving photographers credit for their work. Architecture is super fun to do, especially with some greenery!

• Waterproof pen

• Sketching pencil - You can use a graphite pencil or I really like using colored pencils. It stands out less under the paint, and if it does show through, it fits in better.

• Watercolor paper

• Watercolor paints & Palette

• Artist’s/Painters Tape

• Kneaded Erasers

• Water Cup

• Paper Towels

Before Starting

• Be sure to have your paints in your palette and ready to use! I usually only ever painted with them after they’ve dried in my palette, but you’re welcome to use them wet too.

• ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS TEST YOUR PEN AGAINST WATER!!! Even if you bought the ones from the links I referenced, I would hate for you to draw your entire painting, and then go to put down paint and have the whole thing smear… it’s just not worth it. If for some reason the pens you bought don’t work, then you can return them and try another brand. Save yourself the misery. I’ve ruined paintings this way, and it’s such a shame. We don’t want tears while painting, right? 

• Make sure your water cup is free of dirty water and paint on the rim/bottom. This can affect the color of your paints.

Good Techniques to Understand

Good Techniques to Understand

Wet on Wet

This is when you’re painting on a part of your paper that is still wet, either from just water or a watercolor mixture. If any part of your paper is shiny, that means that it is still wet, and therefore will bleed any color if you put more on top of it. This can create a beautiful effect if you’re going for softer edges. I use this technique a lot when painting clouds and soft florals.

Wet on Dry

This is when your previous layer of paint is dry, and then you add wet paint on top of it. This is the most common technique I use. Typically, you won’t smear the paint underneath when using watercolor as long as you don’t overwork the paper. Some paints “lift” better than others depending on the brand/color, but good paints won’t lift without you “working” the paint some with water.

PRO TIP: DRAW LIGHTLY

Nothing’s worse than going to erase and having your strokes be so deeply embedded into the paper that you can’t get them to go away. If you draw lightly, then you can move things around and pivot at any moment if you need to. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been thinking things were going really well and then reached a point where I just wanted to erase the whole thing and start over!! And I’ve had times where that was possible, and also times where it wasn’t because I had drawn my lines too dark. Just save yourself the hassle and start out light. The dark lines will be taken care of with the pen!!

How To

1. Sketch out your painting in pencil before you draw it in pen. It’s absolutely essential to make sure that you get the proper proportions at least somewhat sketched out for yourself… Otherwise, you may make a certain roof too small, or a door too big… I’ve kicked myself many times even just drawing in pencil because I pressed too hard and wasn’t able to erase my lines very well.

2. Go over your drawing with your waterproof pen. This step can be so helpful, especially if watercolor painting makes you nervous because it almost gives you more of a coloring book feel, which I personally think is less intimidating. It gives you clear defined spaces to try and keep your colors.

   • I encourage you to try and not outline every single thing in pen! It can add a really nice effect to have some spaces without a perfect outline, especially when it comes to greenery.

3. Start Painting!

   • Remember that if you have nice cotton paper, you can do lots and lots of layers to get the desired affects you’re looking for. If you work the paper too much, it will start to come up and get a little “gummy,” but if you have nice paper like Arches, or any 100% cotton paper, you should be able to do quite a few layers before running into that issue. So don’t be afraid to do a lighter layer if you’re feeling terrified about putting color down. Sometimes I’ll even just paint an area with water and then drop my watercolors into the water that’s there so I don’t throw color down to quickly and regret it.

   • Pay attention to where cool and warm tones should be placed. You can see on my painting of Notre Dame that the left sides of the building generally will have a yellow, orange, or pink hue to them. Those are all warm tones. Giving those colors a little bit of emphasis can create an illusion of sunlight hitting the building. On the right sides of the building, you can see purples, greens, and blues. These colors can always be used to create shadows. I recommend steering clear of black watercolor for shadows unless you’re really wanting something to be a stark black color. Blacks can muddy up your colors, whereas if you use a dark purple, blue, and red combination, you can get a really nice, rich, dark color that stays much prettier.

4. Once you have your painting done, share it on social media using the hashtag #adriaadamsco and tag me so I can see your beautiful work and share it to my stories! I’d love to support you in all of your efforts to become more comfortable with watercolor painting. Best of luck, and please reach out in the comments if you have any questions.