In this blog post, I’m going to share with you the top 12 mistakes or struggles beginner watercolor artists go through. And I want to start by saying that these mistakes or struggles are what any level of artist goes through, even myself, so if you struggle with any of these you’re not alone!

And before I get into these 12 mistakes, I do have a free beginner watercolor class and watercolor challenges linked below in the description that I invite you to check out, especially if you’d like to improve your watercolor quickly.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing many supplies that I use, so I will list the supplies in this video below for you. Let’s get into these 12 struggles!

Warping paper is one of the biggest struggles for beginners. The cause of warping paper is using either paper not made for watercolor or low quality watercolor paper. Another cause can be not taping your paper down onto a surface.

You can fix warping paper by choosing a good quality watercolor paper. In my opinion, watercolor paper is the most important supply. If you’re only able to invest in one good quality watercolor supply right now, I’d suggest it to be paper. Good quality paper is 100% cotton and at least 140 lbs.

If your paper is under 140lbs, you can stretch your paper. I’ll link a video in the description on how to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsCJqJvls6E ).

Another way to fix warping paper is taping down the edges with masking tape or painter’s tape. You can also use washi tape but I find that it doesn’t stay taped down. You can also use a watercolor block instead of a pad. Watercolor blocks have edges that are glued so you don’t have to tape your paper down.

My painting drying too fast is one of my biggest struggles especially if I use the wet in wet method. This is because I’m a slow painter. But there are some other reasons this can happen. The first is not mixing enough water into your paint. The less water you mix in, the quicker your paint will dry.

Another reason is using low quality paper. I’ve found that if I use low quality paper, my painting dries very fast. With good quality paper, I have enough time to blend or work a large area before it starts drying.

Ways to combat this is to use high quality paper that is 100% cotton and at least 140lbs. Another way is to premix your watercolor paint. Plan out the colors you want to use and mix them first, then start painting. That way you don’t have to mix colors in the middle of painting, and then have your painting dry by the time you're done mixing.

If your watercolor paint isn’t vibrant or is chalky, it’s because your paint may be low quality. To fix this issue, you’ll want to try out another watercolor paint brand and perhaps one that is higher quality. I recommend trying Daniel Smith. They are high quality and there’s a starter set of tube paints that is perfect for beginners and not too expensive.

An issue many watercolor artists encounter is weird texture in their painting. This could be what is called the cauliflower effect. This effect happens when wet paint seeps into paint that has started to dry in your painting. To fix this, be sure to wait until your painting is fully dry before adding more paint. If this has happened to your painting and you want to fix it, you could try to lift up the paint with a wet brush or paper towel. You could also try lifting up paint with a magic eraser. But sometimes this effect is really pretty and many artists intentionally do this, so I wouldn’t say it’s a mistake necessarily unless you intentionally don’t want the effect in your painting.

One of the biggest struggles I have with watercolor painting is painting my first layer too dark. Many artists, especially beginners, struggle with this! This happens because there isn’t enough water mixed into the paint. The more water you mix into your paint, the lighter the color will be. So it’s always best to start your first layer very light by mixing a lot of water into your paint. If you really struggle with this, you could practice a transparency exercise. I have a video for this linked in the description below (https://youtu.be/bFVDtkt7-Sw ).

If you have harsh edges in your watercolor painting, this could be because of a few causes. The first cause could be you’re using too much water. This is especially true if you’re using the wet in wet technique and water is puddling in areas. The other cause could be that you’re only painting one layer. I find that by painting a second layer on top of harsh edges in my painting, I can help smooth them out and make them look softer. To do this well, I use the wet on dry method and blend the wet paint into the dry paint using a clean, damp brush.

So the ways to fix harsh looking edges is to paint at least 2 layers (the second layer using wet on dry method), and by soaking up excess water or puddles with a cloth or paper towel.

When I transitioned from oil paint to watercolor, my paint drying fast was one of my biggest frustrations and struggles. I didn’t have much time to work an area like I wanted or to blend. I’ve found that this was because I wasn’t using enough water in my paint or I was using low quality watercolor paper.

To have your painting dry slower, you’ll want to use a higher quality paper like Arches or Fabriano. Make sure it’s 100% cotton and at least 140lbs. You could also mix more water into your paint. The less water, the faster your paint will dry.

While bleeding colors in your painting can be a fun and beautiful technique, sometimes it’s not intentional. The first cause of colors bleeding together is not waiting for your paint to fully dry before adding another layer of paint. The second cause can be painting next to a section that isn’t dry yet.

To fix this issue, wait patiently for your paint to fully dry or use a hair dryer if you’re impatient like me! Another way to fix this is to not paint next to a section that is still wet. I do this a lot when I paint petals in a flower or leaves.

One of the things that I still struggle with today are my pencil lines showing underneath my paint! This happens from using a pencil that is too dark or using graphite transfer paper. Some artists use ink with their watercolor, so this may be intentional for some, but for others it can be frustrating.

The way to combat this is to first erase dark pencil lines before painting. Once you start painting, it can be hard to erase pencil lines or nearly impossible. If you do paint over your dark pencil lines and still want to erase them, you could try a magic eraser, just keep in mind the eraser may lift up the paint.

I also found that when I use graphite transfer paper, the lines are nearly impossible to erase. So I use a magic eraser to erase those lines.

One of my favorite ways to prevent pencil lines underneath my paint is to use watercolor pencils! This allows me to draw or outline my painting enough for me to see my lines, but I also end up not having any pencil lines in the finished piece. I use Faber Castell pencils and love them.

When I first started painting, my paintings were so colorful and vibrant. I liked that at first but I wanted to start painting nature and to use more natural looking colors. This is one of the biggest struggles or mistakes beginners make if they want to paint realistic nature. This happens when someone uses paint right from the pan or tube and doesn't mix colors.

To have more natural looking colors in your nature art, you’ll want to learn to mix colors. But have patience with yourself, color mixing takes lots of practice to not just mix but to really see all the different colors to mix from your reference.

There are some simple ways to help with this. One is to start desaturating your vibrant colors by mixing in the complimentary color. For example, if you want to desaturate a green, mix in some red. For blue, mix in some orange, and so forth.

Another simple way to fix this is to purchase a paint set that has more natural looking colors that you’d like. I especially like the Decadent Pies and Woodlands pan sets from Art Philosophy and my Agallo pan set for nature art.

Choosing the right colors for your painting is a big struggle for many artists. When I started painting, I thought I needed all the colors. But the truth is you don’t! It’s best to work from a limited palette so that your painting can look balanced and cohesive.

When I use many colors, I always feel like something is off with my painting. My most favorite paintings are when I used a limited palette.

It’s also best to choose colors that give contrast and work together such as complimentary colors and both very dark and very light colors.

Here are some ways to work on this struggle. First choose a paint set where the colors in it are specifically made to all go together. A good example of this are the pan sets from Art Philosophy such as Decadent Pies, Woodlands, Essence, and so forth.

Another way to work on this is to plan ahead of time and be intentional with the colors you use. I usually spend at least 20 minutes before painting to plan out the colors I should use. I try to use 3 main colors and a few complimentary colors to go with them. One color is usually very dark - but that’s just my style and what I like.

One last way to work on this struggle is to use complimentary colors or a color wheel. Let’s say you have a lot of green in your painting, add some red. If that’s too Christmasy for you, pink or purple looks great with green.

And to the final watercolor struggle or mistake…

Many watercolor artists, especially beginners, struggle with not preserving the white of their paper. For most, the white of the paper is the white in the painting. The causes of this mistake could be not planning ahead of time what will be white in the painting or painting the first layer too dark.

To combat this struggle, plan ahead your painting before you begin. You don’t have to plan out the whole painting, but you should have a general idea on what will be white or the lightest areas in your painting. For me, I outline my whole painting first and think about where my lightest areas will be.

Another way to combat this is to paint your first layer very, very light by mixing a lot of water into your paint. Starting your first layer very light is super important for watercolor painting.

You could also use masking fluid to block off areas of your painting that you want to be white. I have a video on this linked in the description (https://youtu.be/372TXWIjvG8 )

Now there is an exception. Sometimes I don’t preserve the white of my paper and instead use white gouache. I do this when painting fur (but I keep the white part of the fur very light), highlights in animal eyes, or small details in animals and insects that are white such as the white spots in a Monarch butterfly. The white gouache I use is from Winsor and Newton and I love it! I’ll link it below.

Share in the comments below, what is your biggest watercolor struggle or mistake you make? Also feel free to share any tips you have, let’s help each other!

If you want to improve your watercolor art quickly, I have some watercolor challenges you may like! The challenges I offer are: butterflies, birds, and woodland animals. I’ll link to them in the description. I also have a free beginner class and hundreds of other videos and tutorials on my channel you may like!

Thanks so much for watching and I’ll see you in another blog post.

♡ SUPPLIES USED ♡

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