I hate watercolor

[Junior Mints]

f'ing damnit. I've never been so frusterated in my life...

I tried watercolor once and sucked at it so I just didn't do anymore, but I got this book called "The natural way to paint" by Charles Reid. He has a very unique watercolor style that was more artistic than realistic. Click below to "view this book" on amazon. You can see some of his paintings.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/082303173X/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6050759-1099340#reader-link

In fact it looked kind of easy. I bought some watercolor tubes and gave it a whirl expecting to not be good, at least do SOME things right as seen in the book, and improve over a few weeks/months. What a joke...

After 3 hours i want to slit my wrists. I know this takes practice, but this is so absolutely ridiculous that I dont think i'm going to bother anymore. After 3 hours of constant effort and ending up worse than i started .. fawk. Maybe it's because I had a bad day, but I doubt I'll be any better any other day. It's a shame too, his style really inspires me and I can't even imitate it 1%.

Sorry about complaining, but I'm bored and don't know waht else to do. Definitely nothing artistic today after that..

[qzole]

I looked at the site you linked, he really uses his watercolor very uniqely.
I don't think you should start to try to use watercolor like that yet.
I'd suggest some more realistic paintings, like apples and fuits...ect. You will then have a solid base and you'll apply this style more easily, and if you are still frustrated with the painting, you can eat the fruits :)
And you said you expect to improve in a few weeks/months. And how much did you worked? 3 hours, one painting. Maybe you could be good, but you only tried it twice, you didn't liked it and say you can't do it. If I would say that for my drawings I would be nowhere, but where am I now? well, nowhere...yet, but I'll won't give it up that easily, I want to be good, so I'll be good...in time. I'm a student, and summer holiday has just started, so I'll do some drawing, everyday, and I'm looking forward to improve, but not much, not quickly, and not in 1 painting/drawing.
I suggest go play some action game, sleep, and tomorrow try again! (or today if you feel so!)
And if anyone thinks I'm not right in any of these things, pls say so.

[TripBlue]

Hey man, chill. Watercolor is the hardest medium to work with. qzole is right, you should start off with simplier things. The book is about painting figures, and well, the human figure is hard enough to get right by itself without the complication of watercolors. To help you out, here are some of the tricks that I find useful when I first started (I still suck at it after 3 months btw LOL!!!)

-Use the heaviest paper you can find, if you are not already using it. 200lb, trust me, they soak up everything.

-use a blow dryer when you are done with one layer, remember to never over work or all the colors will mix and you'll get a lot of brown. Walk away and let things dry, before applying another layer.

Well if you are already doing these things, it'll sound like repeative lecture to you, feel free to ignore it. LOL!!! Just don't give up so easily.

Good Luck
:D

[Gr8t100]

Don't give up man, keep at it. Nothing comes without dedication and disciplince. Keep at it.

[Redder]

Maybe I can help you, most of the illustrations I do are done in watercolor.

Foremost learn the essential watercolor techniques (wet on wet, wet on dry, dry on wet, and dry on dry).

As qzole said start out simple and get comfortable with the medium.

Limit your palette to 3-5 colors. As you progress you can add more to your palette.

Always keep your rinse water clean.

The maxium number of layers in watercolor is 4, meaning you can only have four colors on top of each other.

Use a 120lb paper in the start and work your way up to a 300lb paper. By starting with a paper lower in .lbs you learn to control the amount of water you use so the paper doesn't buckle.

Be patient and not hasty or impulsive.

[H.Evans]

I like watercolor :D

[Quicksilver]

Personally I fine that watercolours are a great medium, however, like all paints they need patience. Take note of Redder's advice, they're good. :)

Good luck in future - you never know, you might just fall in love with the media! ^_^