What watercolors? Which watercolor is better to choose - domestic or foreign? Composition of different colors

Watercolor painting attracts more and more novice artists. Many of them claim that once you start doing it, it’s difficult to tear yourself away from this fascinating process. In addition, watercolor allows you to quickly achieve a tangible result and see the fruits of your creativity. It has one more feature: experienced artists say that 50% of success in watercolor painting depends on the chosen material: paper, paints, brushes. Let's look at the types of materials and find out which ones should be preferred by a novice artist.

Paper

Paper is one of the most important materials for watercolor painting. How the picture turns out depends on its quality, density, water resistance, and relief. Modern industry produces paper from both wood and textile fibers. Cotton paper is higher quality, but also more expensive. If it consists of 100% cotton, then it is considered to be of the highest quality. There is also a paper composition made from 100% linen, and it is easy to make edits on such paper.

In order for the paper to withstand heavy wetting and not warp, a type with sizing is produced. Particularly high-quality paper is distinguished by the presence of raised markings and watermarks.

Embossed paper is especially suitable for watercolor painting. It is called “grainy” and is divided into three types: coarse, medium and smooth.

Rough grain paper is ideal for large formats, medium grain is optimal for all types of work, smooth grain is for miniatures.

The first rule when purchasing paper for watercolors is that it should not be smooth, but always grainy. Textured paper creates grain.

The thickness of the paper is another important factor that needs to be taken into account. Density is determined by the ratio of mass, which is calculated in grams, to area, which is measured in square meters. The more grams per square meter– the thicker the paper. The thickest paper is 250 g/m2 – 300 g/m2 or more. The thicker the watercolor paper, the better. There is a certain pattern when choosing paper of different formats. The larger the sheet to be used, the denser it should be.

We have compiled for you a list of watercolor papers that, in our opinion, are best suited for watercolors. But there are a large number of varieties of watercolor paper, in gluing, in separate sheets, of different textures.

To review watercolor paper, you need a separate article, but for now our small list that will help you get started:

• Canson Montval watercolor paper is made from 100% high quality cellulose. The paper is suitable for all “wet” techniques: watercolors, gouache, acrylic paint. These properties make this paper especially suitable for beginners;
• Canson Moilin du Roy watercolor paper is made from 100% cotton naturally white. Watercolor pigments on this paper are well preserved and look brighter. Moulin du Roy does not contain acids or bleaches, which ensures its strength and durability;
• Arches watercolor paper, 100% cotton. This paper has three types of surface: hot-molded (Satin), hot-molded paper (Satin), hot-molded paper (Satin). The uniform distribution of fibers makes the paper more resistant to deformation. This allows the watercolor to spread evenly on it. The unique gelatin impregnation technology used on Arches watercolor paper allows it to withstand scraping and best retain the vibrancy of the colors;
• hot pressed watercolor paper. Density – 300 g/m2. Manufactured by Fabriano;
• rough watercolor paper size 56x76 cm. Density 300 g/m2. Manufactured by Saunders, Cotman, Fabriano.

In stores you can purchase paper both in the form of individual sheets and in the form of blocks or notebooks. The advantage of notepads is that you don't need to use a tablet. And individual sheets are most often offered to customers in folders where they are packaged according to a certain size and quantity. The most common sheet sizes are from 20x30 to 40x50.

Brushes

The selection of watercolor brushes also has great importance. It depends on which variety you choose whether the stroke will be somewhat blurry or more clear. Well, the type of stroke depends on your creative task.

The defining features of the classification of watercolor brushes are their shape, size and what kind of bristles they are made of. Brushes are made from both synthetic hair and natural material. For example, you can buy brushes made of marten or squirrel fur. They absorb water well and are very soft. If you wet a squirrel fur brush, even if it is very thick, it will still create a very thin tip. This brush is also great for painting. small parts, and for covering large areas of the painting with paint.
Kolinsky brushes do not take up as much water as squirrel brushes; they are drier, but also more elastic. They have a tougher pile. Working with them, the stroke turns out to be clearer, less blurry and less “wet” than a stroke with a squirrel fur brush.

The brush set should consist of small, large and medium brushes. According to their shape, they are divided into round and flat.

Among the manufacturers of materials for watercolors, brushes are particularly popular:

• German company daVinci. They are varied, they are made the best samples pile. One of the most popular series of brushes from this company are MAESTRO core brushes;
• by Roubloff. These are domestic manufacturers, their brushes are also of high quality.

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Watercolor paints

The variety of watercolor paints is so great that when faced with the choice for your palette, you can even get confused by their number. For the initial palette, it is better to stop at a few of them, and then gradually add other colors.

Basic palette of paints for watercolors:

• cadmium yellow,
• light ocher,
• iron oxide red,
• orange,
• cadmium red (scarlet),
• carmine (kraplak),
• purple,
• green,
• emerald,
• ultramarine,
• bright blue,
• burnt umber.

Watercolor paints High Quality Produced by the company "White Nights". They are produced in three sets: “Leningrad”, “St. Petersburg”. "White Nights".

Among foreign manufacturers, it is worth paying attention to the Van Gogh company.

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Pencil

By using regular pencil sketches are made. Sometimes it obscures shadows. A thin pencil line can be an outline watercolor drawing. HB or B pencils are suitable for sketching. The main thing is to sharpen it.

Palettes

Palettes can be made of plastic or porcelain. Plastic palettes are cheaper, but not very durable. Over time, they absorb color, it becomes difficult to use them and you need to purchase a new one. It is better to use a white porcelain plate. So that the color of the paint does not come as a surprise to you on the sheet, try the paint on paper. It is convenient to squeeze paints from tubes onto the palette. Traces of paint remaining after washing the palette can be easily removed using liquid detergents.

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Eraser

Erasers come in hard and soft types. Hard erasers can damage paper and must be used very carefully. They perfectly erase pencil lines and dried layers of paint. But still, it is better to use them only in case of emergency. Soft erasers damage paper less; they are also used to erase pencil lines.

Klyachki are a type of very soft, easily wrinkled erasers. They can remove tone and remove small stains on paper. In addition to their direct purpose, nags are used to relieve stress; to do this, you just need to crush them in your hands. It helps a lot if suddenly something doesn’t work out the way you would like. You need to take a short break, mash the nag, and everything will be fine.

We hope these small tips will help you learn faster beautiful art watercolors!

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Watercolor(derived from Latin word aqua - water) - adhesive water-soluble paints. Painting done with these paints is also called watercolor.

Features of watercolor

Transparency. This is exceptional important feature these paints. The methods of using watercolor and the excellent results are entirely based on transparency. The reason for this is the smallest pigment particles, which are impossible to see with the naked eye. This is achieved by finely grinding the coloring pigments and their even distribution over the surface. The distance between particles must be sufficient to allow light to pass to the surface and reflected light. White paper, shining through a layer of paint, gives the painting incredible luminosity and shine. The quality of watercolor directly depends on the quality of its components and proportions.

Color palette. The derivative properties of watercolor include changing shades by applying dried layers of paint on top of previous ones. At external simplicity Having said that, it is not at all easy to control color using layers. The master must have a good idea of ​​the result - after all, there will be no opportunity to correct the picture. In watercolor it is difficult to use three primary colors. Therefore, watercolor releases are always “multi-color” (16 colors or more). When mechanically mixing colors, the properties of watercolor are significantly lost, transparency and purity are reduced. However, it is the transparency of watercolor that allows you to expand color palette These colors reach unprecedented proportions.

Color tone, saturation. By layering layers of the same color on top of each other, color saturation is achieved. Unlike gouache, watercolor is not intended for impasto application, as the whole meaning is lost. The properties of watercolor dictate rules to us, the main one of which is the use of a large amount of water, because even the name of watercolor comes from the word “water”.

One of the negative features of watercolor is its low light resistance - the painting is destroyed under the influence of light, simply put, it fades. In addition, due to the large amount of water, the paint film is quite fragile and can be easily destroyed by external physical influences. Ensuring the long-term preservation of such paintings is a non-trivial task.

Watercolor composition

• pigments (fine powders),
• binder - gum arabic, dextrin, cherry or sloe gum,
• plasticizer (glycerin or invert sugar),
• surfactant - ox bile - makes it easy to spread paint on paper, prevents paint from rolling into drops,
• antiseptic - phenol, protects paint from mold.

Types of watercolor

• Artistic watercolor (for paintings)
• Design watercolor

Honey cheap paints are widely available in stores for schoolchildren. And you can really start getting acquainted with watercolors with just such paints. Afterwards, having felt the watercolor, you can switch to professional compositions. In addition, cheap paints can be used in artistic design works and sketches, where the quality of the material does not matter so much. important role, unlike painting.

Containers with watercolors are always small in volume, unlike gouache, since, again, they require more water when used, while gouache can be used without water if the paints are fresh.

Watercolors are produced in tubes (semi-liquid watercolor), in plastic tubes (soft watercolor).

Special paper is also suitable for watercolors. Such sheets do not allow the paint to “roll”, spreading evenly over the surface, and do not allow the paint to “fall through”, holding the paint film on the surface. In addition, the thickness of the paper allows you to keep its shape even when large quantities water. As is known, sheets of paper are subject to deformation when wetted and dried.

Watercolor painting is most often done with squirrel hair brushes. large rooms(brushes from number 4), but the finalization of details is carried out with brushes of lower numbers. Required condition for a brush when working with watercolors - the ability to retain a large supply of moisture and have a thin drop-shaped tip. Experienced master artists can perform high-quality work with one fifth or even seventh number, down to the smallest details.

Store in a dry, well-ventilated area at a temperature not lower than 0 degrees and not higher than 30 degrees, otherwise the quality will deteriorate significantly and will not be restored.

I think everyone knows very well that watercolors are water-based paints that contain a lot of binding materials, making them bright, clean, transparent, flexible and long-lasting.

At first glance, the choice seems large, especially considering the number of colors - your head is spinning! But in reality, everything is not so difficult. Watercolor comes in the following forms: solid (in tiles), semi-solid or paste (in tubes and ditches), liquid (in bubbles and jars from 29 to 35 ml) and pearlescent. Well, let's look at each of them.

Solid watercolor in tiles

Absolutely any solid watercolor is an economical option and great for beginners. Agree, there is no point in throwing money away on expensive paints, which we will talk about below, if the student is taking up a brush for the first time. These paints are of pretty good quality, as the days of dry paints are long gone.

Where is it used? In addition to children and schoolchildren, it can be used by professionals in painting, creating posters and drawing work, unless of course it is of the highest grade.

Semi-solid watercolor in cuvettes

Semi-solid watercolor paints in cuvettes give bright color tones and fit well on paper. Affordable price, compactness and long shelf life make this type watercolor paints an indispensable tool for every writer. They mix well and give calm color tones.

They can be produced (depending on the manufacturer) in a cardboard or plastic box. Activists who mix paints directly in baths will most likely understand all the advantages of a plastic box. After all cardboard box gets dirty pretty quickly.
This watercolor is convenient for small-scale works and for saving time on mixing.

Paste watercolor in tubes

Well, this is usually a classic painting. If you are working on large format works, then using soft paste watercolor paint in tubes will help you with intensive use. This option is certainly not for budget-conscious people, but the paints do not get dirty with each other.

Judging by the experience of some artists, such paint is applied unevenly to the brush, and the strokes are intermittent. Also, when applying it to the canvas, clumps of paint may form. Therefore, this watercolor is not entirely suitable for the “raw painting” technique.

Any set must contain all the basic colors. It is usually diluted with water in the palette tray, with a tiny drop of semi-liquid paint. It can “live” for decades. And if you're lucky, you'll find them in the store individually.

In general, if you clearly understand what you need them for, then you can take them as a second set. It will be especially useful if you can manipulate the mixing of paints without any problems.

I would also advise you to take a folding plastic palette separately, into which it will be convenient to squeeze out paints.

By the way, when they dry, they can be used as if they were dry. Used cuvettes can be filled in the same way.
Liquid and pearlescent watercolors

As for liquid watercolors, we can say that they can be difficult to find on sale. They are very easy to work with; you can write with them either directly from the container or by diluting them with water. Pros - gorgeous bright color, saturation, many different shades and beautiful combinations. There is a dropper in the small vials on the stopper. It is convenient for accurately maintaining the required proportions.

Where is it used? When working with an airbrush, liquid watercolor is our everything. The same goes for traditional watercolor paintings. Pros use distilled water.

As for pearlescent watercolors, their colored pigments adhere perfectly to the surfaces of wood, fabric, plaster, paper and cardboard.

About the manufacturers

For beginners (as well as experienced) artists, I recommend taking paints from the manufacturers “Sonnet” and “Nevskaya Palitra”. This is the most optimal, especially since the price and quality are correlated. The same can be said about Leningrad.

By the way, the colors of the Sonnet company are much brighter. Very good colors“White Nights”: they are usually written in art schools.

Domestic tests show that White Nights watercolor paints successfully compete and even surpass other manufacturers (Gamma, Luch, Aquacolor and Winsor And Newton).

“Nevskaya Palitra” is just trying, and very quickly, to break into the foreign market.

One thing can be said about the foreign “Winsor And Newton”: very expensive! However, our manufacturers can only envy such convenience. It’s unlikely that something similar will be produced here - a well-thought-out, convenient workplace, spacious boxes - transformers, places for a flask with water, a folding brush, a sponge, a set of several ditches with paints and much more. All that remains is to dream and hope.

Conclusion

So we, perhaps, have become a little familiar with what types of watercolor paints there are. It’s up to you to decide what to choose and who to give your preference to. Experiment and try, the main thing is to pay attention to the lightfastness and transparency of paints when choosing them, since absolutely any paint tends to fade, but with varying degrees of intensity.

As a result, I would like to say that a box of watercolor paints can contain 6,10,12,16,24,36, or even 48 colors. Is it a lot or a little? Here we can answer this: for a professional this can be a lot, since he almost always uses only basic colors. But for convenience, even picky pros can use ready-made tones. A beginner who has not yet learned how to mix colors correctly will also find it useful additional colors, because he won’t be able to do otherwise.

In any case, this is individual, but remember that each paint has its own qualities of light fastness and, which is very important for watercolors - hiding power!

Dear readers, in this article we will tell you about watercolor painting, its composition, types, painting techniques and innovations in the field of painting with this material.

Characteristics of painting using watercolors

Watercolor is painting using water-soluble transparent paints.

Its properties are airiness, lightness, subtle color transitions.

Watercolor technique combines features of graphics and painting. From graphics, watercolor took the key role of paper and the absence of a relief stroke; from painting, it borrowed the construction of forms and space with color, the presence of multiple tones.

Basically, watercolors are used to paint on paper. While working, you have to moisten it with water very often. The characteristic blurry stroke can only form on wet paper. Exist different ways its wetting. The paper can be stretched onto a special frame and then moistened. It is also laid out on wet flannel or glass. The degree of wetting directly depends on the desired result. Often artists use other methods.

To ensure that the water is completely absorbed into the paper, it is recommended to leave small puddles on its surface. Thanks to this, various effects can be achieved.

Watercolor composition

Watercolor paint consists of a coloring binder pigment (dextrin and gum arabic), a plasticizer (invert sugar and glycerin) and various additives. Without using a plasticizer, the paint would quickly become brittle and dry out. By adding an antiseptic substance - phenol - the appearance of mold is prevented. Another extremely important additive that is added to prevent paint from beading is ox bile.

Types of watercolor paints

There are two types of watercolor paints: “school” and “art”.

School watercolor paints Professional watercolor paints

School paints are significantly inferior to art paints in terms of dispersion, even layer, possibility of glazing and light fastness. But the most important thing is to be able to use them. A true master can create a masterpiece using the most common school paints.

New: watercolor pencils

Recently on sale watercolor pencils. You can draw with these pencils in two ways: first, paint the desired area, and then blur it with water, or wet the paper and then draw with pencils. Thanks to the second method, you can achieve a more saturated and vibrant color.

Watercolor paint consists of pigment and water-soluble glue (binder). Gum arabic is used as a binder in watercolors, but in cheap paints it can be replaced with dextrin, cherry glue, etc. Additionally, in the production of watercolor paint, a plasticizer (glycerin, honey, molasses) is added for the elasticity of the film, preservatives (antiseptics) against mold and a wetting agent (ox bile) for uniform application to the surface.

TYPES OF WATER COLOR PAINTS

Semi-solid in cuvettes

This is dry paint, initially poured in liquid form into small rectangles, which are packaged in sets or sold individually. The standard cuvette volume is approximately 2.5 ml, but “half-pans” are also sold, which are convenient for sketching outside the home. Most often, such watercolor paints are used in small formats (it is difficult to “pull out” the required volume of paint from dry cuvettes ).

The inside of the set lid is most often used as a palette. If the box is plastic, the paint may eat into it, but in metal ones with enamel, it will not.

(SAINT PETERSBURG, LENINGRAD, LADOGA)
• Watercolor paints TALENS ARTCREATION

Soft in tubes

Practically - liquid paint. The most important difference between its properties and watercolors in cuvettes is saturated color and brightness. Well suited for fillings and large formats, also from a cost-saving point of view. As a rule, during work, watercolors are squeezed out of tubes into empty cuvettes, which are placed in a palette box. When the work is finished, excess paint remains in the ditches. The palette box closes. Even if the paints dry out a little, they are sprayed with water and they are ready for use again. The most popular brush for working with tube paint on large formats is the soft flute.

Liquid “watercolor”

It is not watercolor in its composition. First of all, because it is made not from pigments, but from dyes. It would be more correct to call it non-waterproof ink, which has the properties inherent in watercolor. Good for illustrations and sketches.

Briefly, the following aids can be identified:

Which allow you to make your own paints using pigment and binder.

To reduce the surface tension of water, which allows you to apply paint more evenly, eliminating thickening of the paint or changes in its color.

Masking is the temporary hiding of elements that should not be exposed to paint.

Various pastes and gels for increasing the pastiness of paint and creating decorative reliefs, increasing gloss or shine, to create a metallic effect and many others.

With this primer you can prime any surface (canvas, wood, paper), after which you can work on them with watercolors.

PAPER FOR WATER COLOR PAINTS

It is believed that in watercolor painting the quality of the paper is of primary importance. Even high-quality paint on poor paper will not be able to demonstrate all the beauty of its shades and excellent properties. For watercolor paper, composition and sizing are of paramount importance. Sizing provides watercolor paper with minimal absorbency and strength when working in a wet state.

Inspirational watercolor works Yulia Barminova