We’ve taken the time to put together Shayda’s quick and easy how to use watercolor pencils for beginners tutorial so that you can make your watercolor pencil drawings as extravagant as hers.
Best Watercolor Pencils
Before we start in on Shayda’s easy step tutorial for how to use watercolor pencils, you must first get well-equipped. Here is a quick list of our six favorite sets for your watercolor pencil drawings:
- Cretacolor 72 Aqua Monolith Metal Tin Set
- Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Magnus
- Staedtler Ergosoft Aquarell
- Derwent Watercolour Pencils
- LYRA Aquacolor Watersoluble Crayons
- Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils Premier
Now, let’s get into the good stuff. . .
Easy Watercolor Pencils Tutorials: A Step-By-Step Breakdown
Watercolor pencils are a medium that gives you the beauty of watercolor paint with the control of colored pencils. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s learn the art of watercolor pencils!
First, let’s talk about supplies. In this tutorial, we will use two different sets of watercolor pencils:
The ones on the left can only be found in Switzerland. The pencils on the right are by Staedtler which is one of the fantastic watercolor brands we’ve linked at the top.
Our other supplies are just basic hot-pressed watercolor paper and thick sketchbook paper, a paper towel for blotting, and any paintbrush
Let’s Begin
We’re going to take you through the whole process from Shayla’s first step:
Step 1: Practice shading
Lay some blue shading on your paper the same way you would if you were using a regular crayon or colored pencil.
Add a few different shades and colors to get some practice like so.
Step 2: Add water
Next, you’re going to add the first water. Dampen your brush and gently brush or blob the pencil shadings. The pencil crayon transforms into a beautiful watercolor paint.
You can practice blending the colors. Notice the dark pigment gets a little lighter as soon as the water activates it. You can manipulate the color and shapes how you like.
Step 3: Pencil a design
That’s easy. Most everyone can follow along so far. This is a beginner experimental practice. Now, let’s get a little more intricate. We’re going to start on a new piece.
Open your sketchbook, and use the grey pencil to draw various lines vertically on your paper. Make them various sizes and shades.
Step Four: Draw flowers
Trace those lines lightly in green. Then, add another color of flower petals to the drawing. These should be very loose floral shapes. You can use multiple colors for the flowers. It should look something like this.
Step 5: Add clean water
Now, we realize it looks like a young child could have done this so far, but we promise it is going to look really great once we add water. Remember, keep your drawing simple!
When you’re done, we are going to add clean water to the lines and flowers. Some of the design will become thick and disproportionate, but the important lesson is to learn how the water reacts with the pigment and to better understand how to use watercolor pencils.
As you can see, nothing has to be perfect.
Now, let it dry for about a half-an-hour.
Step 6: Outline in pen
It’s time to really add some depth. Grab a black pen — in the tutorial she uses a Pigma Micron with an 0.5 tip.
Your goal is to trace the general shape that your watercolor pencils left so that there is some definition in your watercolor art. You can make it as little or heavily detailed as you’d like. Whatever is your preference.
To finish, you can add some background flowers and plants in pen to add depth. And, voila!
Learning Watercolor Pencil Art
And there you have it! It’s as easy as 1-2-3. Now, all it takes is practice. As they always say, to become an expert, you need to log at least 10,000 hours into your craft.
We’ve got a long journey ahead of us 🙂
Need more Watercolor Pencil Tutorials?
Are you craving more watercolor tutorials? Take a look at some other beginner’s watercolor classes that go over watercolor techniques and other watercolor basics so you can improve your watercolor art and be well on your way to calling yourself a pro!
