Technique for water colour pls ......

[yinteck]

i just started to use water color lately . I have some problem on the value
of the color, where should be darker , where should be lighter . When i try to put some part darker , it turn out not the result that i wanted and vice versa . Can anyone help me with this ..

[AmishCommy]

can you post images of what you're having trouble with?

[yinteck]

sorry man, for now i cannot . the problems is when i try to mix the darker color with the light color , it look weird . For instance a red ball. The light is comming from the left ,the right side of the ball should be darker ,right . So when i try to mix the darker red with the lighter red from the left , the color doesnt look right .
I think the problem is i do not really how to mix the color . Any idea that i can improve?? but dont tell my practice ,practice, practice , i want some technique .
PLs:rolleyes:

[AmishCommy]

have you used any other mediums before like oil or acrylic? Are you trying to mimic what they do?

Watercolor is a hard madium to control, the only sure way to figure out how to use it is to slap some color around with some water and see what it does. than repeat a few times to see if it continues to do the same thing.

The other thing you have to remember is that water color is a transparent medium and you have to work light to dark. forinstance if youre making a red ball only usinng the red family of colors, you should take your lightest red and water t down and then throw a light wash down over the ball. go easy on the water, so that when it is still a little damp go in with a more saturated red and repeat with a darker red.

i still don't fully understand what you mean by mixing the dark with the light. are you using white and black watercolor? if so DON'T!!!. black is a pain in the ass color that overpowers every thing. and white is useless, becasue the paper is your white.

Here's an old shot of my pallete with some notes on how i mix color:
http://www.arkadyroytman.com/drop/Sketchbook/tools02.jpg

if i have some time today i'll try to throw together a tutorial with a red ball.

[yinteck]

Sorry , i am not sure what do u mean "you should take your lightest red and water t down and then throw a light wash down over the ball. go easy on the water,.." ,can u explain more detial on that?
I havent use other medium before . If i dont use black or white , can i mix other color with them ?? . One more thing , how do i get the color that i want , is it mixing around with other color to try my luck until i get the color ?:[

[AmishCommy]

go miscommunication!!!

have you had color theory? what color do you want to mix?

I'm really not sure what you're trying to do, what you're mixing and what is not working. can you go in detail about your process and i'll try to figure out what you're doing wrong.

[yinteck]

yeah , i had color theory . my point is if i want frost blue right . with what color should i use ??? is it blue with white ????:[

[glikster]

generally people avoid using pure white and pure black... you could experiment and see if you like it...
How do you mix the colors? Do you try to add the lighter color while the dark color is still wet?
Listen to what AmishCommy has to say, he's a kicking watercolorist!!

[yinteck]

Ok, thanks guys .If i had any problems ill let u guys know . I appreciate that .:wink:

[Sofia Alexandra]

yeah , i had color theory . my point is if i want frost blue right . with what color should i use ??? is it blue with white ????:[No white, as that makes the colour quite dull. Mix the blue you want to use with water until you have the shade you want. I suggest having a seperate paper (the same kind as you're painting on) where you can try the colour until it looks the way you want.

Try to avoid using black and/or white colour as much as you can, they "kill" a painting pretty effectively. For black you mix dark brown and dark blue, and for grey you either mix that with more water or use violet + yellow.

[yinteck]

ok , thanks .:wink: