As someone who manly do watercolor I think I can give some suggestions. 1) always swatch the colors 2) you should do limited color palettes. Limited color teaches you about watercolors. You learn to use the water to lighten the paint and make it more saturated as you go. 3) light to dark. You can add more layers with a lighter base. You start off supper saturated (which is fine) but maybe you should start off with a more water downed color and work your way up to saturation. 4) adding pencils to your watercolor is fine especially for smaller details. 5) Finally remember that to lighten you colors it’s with water not white. This is just some stuff I’ve learned from me messing with watercolors for some years. Of course you can ignore this but I do think you can find watercolors fun after some time. Good luck!
I really appreciate you showing when art doesn’t go the way you want it to. Art online is nearly always perfected, understandably, so it was refreshing to see this more realistic journey!
Ok as a "watercolor artist" I FELT THE PAIN BROOOO😭 In the beginning it makes you feel like you're trash... Edit: forgot to say that unlike with most mediums in watercolour the paper can make or break a piece. Try some 100% cotton paper I think it will help with the frustration.
sameeee when i first try watercolors, i watched a bunch of tutorials but for some reason all of them look so horrible, watercolor requires a lot of practice and patients jhdkjfdf. it's been more than a year since I tried watercolor, still haven't mastered it enough
@@marwaqaniaashila3163 same . It's been maybe 2 years I wanna say? And now I have a much better understanding of the medium but I'm still nowhere near where I wanna be
watercolor is not oil or goache, try to add more water than paint and add layers little by little, u can always use a tissue paper to remove the excess, hope this is usefull to you somehow ^^ there are no mistakes!! just happy little accidents~
You'll be fine. As an Artist who loves to paint using Acrylics, it's really hard at first to experiment with Watercolor BUT when you get the right ratio of water and pigment ( and patient about layering) you'll be fine and comfortable afterwards 😊 And some says that Watercolor is one of the hardest mediums so it's normal to be not good at first.
Lol I feel the struggle! I used to hate watercolor at one point. A tip I learned is that you have to approach watercolors opposite from how you would approach acrylic. With acrylic, I was taught that you have to work from darks to highlights. With watercolor, you have to work from highlights to darks. Also build up A LOT of layers. This medium definitely requires patience. I hope this helps! 👍
I reckon this is why I feel about acrylic the way Matthew feels about watercolour😅they're like polar opposites so it takes some serious patience to get your head around it
Using the right paper is so important for watercolours. It will make a lot of the things you're struggling with easier. Plus remember to work in layers. Sometimes you need to just leave the piece be to dry before doing anything else to it. Hope this helps ^^
I do tons of watercolor and would love to share some tips for everyone! 1) it is not a fail to use colored pencils to enhance painting! they help to show texture and style! 2) layers are your best friend! build up to darker values by keep laying and gradually adding more pigment. by layering it will already add a darker tone (think of using the white the white of your paper as your lightest points and the more layers you add the more that paper gets hidden) 3) brushes do count! consider getting more range of brush shapes and sizes; a big mop brush helps with putting down a big glob of color and water on the paper evenly and smaller brushes really help with lining and details. 4) of course, practice! doing simple gradients and practicing with modeling shapes and seeing how light works will help get a better understanding of the media. of course art is what you make of it and as long as you are having fun, than it is never wrong! Thank you Matthew for always staying an inspiration and a reminder to keep working, you really push me to be a better artist. : )
A nice watercolour exercise is to make a monotone painting! No worries about colour mixing and you get to focus on layering, values and preserving the light areas.
yes i am the same way! ive always loved to use watercolors but always wanted to get better at acrylics (yes i am now currently suffering trying to make a presentable piece for my piano teacher) and its been fun but definitely frustrating
i always get confused when artists say that they are shit at something/doing shit at something they are just beginning. that's exactly my confusion from this video...that was pretty amazing to me.
I'm honestly still in such awe that he was able to get a personalized watercolor palette from THE pearfleur, the absolute watercolor queen!!🍐 I'm lovin' that artist support.
This is great! The fruits look awesome and are definitely not cheating :). And failures are part of the process- nothing to be ashamed of. I work with watercolors a lot and what rly helps me out in the process is limiting my palette to a few colors, and having some larger brushes to start off to make large flat washes. Starting off with some large and light washes or lightly defined shapes, letting each layer dry completely, and gradually adding more saturated details has really helped me with cohesiveness and with being patient. Also, making rly large pools of washes in your palette rly helps with getting a flat wash. This is just what has rly helped me. I hope you don't give up and your artwork is amazing :)))
It’s refreshing to see another artist show the stages that don’t always work, whenever trying something new away from the usual go to art supply, it can take more time. Thanks for sharing these ☺️
I’ve been using watercolor for about 6 years now and I still have a love/hate relationship with it. But when you get it right it looks amazing. Sticking with it so worth it
as a watercolor artist myself for years - it's nice to watch someone suffer and figure out the medium that you watched yourself do in the beginning. it's a nice reminder to see how far I have come 12 years later when I started with a Crayola pallet and now doing portraits with winsor and newton.
i was cleaning my room and i realized that Matthew posted a video, i dropped everything, i ran to my bed got comfortable and enjoyed his awsome content
You did a good job and attempt Matthew - please don’t give up on watercolours yet! Big tip: work from the lightest colour/shade and layer, layer, layer up those darker values and colours. You got this! Layering and working from light to dark is KEY in watercolour. If you want to lighten a colour, add more water too - not white. More water = lighter, less water = darker (more pigmented). Please keep practising and I hope you enjoy the process and learn new things along the way and that you find it ✨therapeutic✨and rewarding like I have. It really is a lovely medium once you get past the wth, pulling-your-hair-out, I-don’t-get-this stage lol. Like any medium, practise really does make progress, as I’m sure you know. Also, whoever said using white pen and colour pencils with watercolour is cheating? They are great combinations! Can really add extra texture to your creations too (also I really loved what you did - especially the landscape and fruits. The landscape looked cool and stormy and I loved the hard edges for the clouds you achieved. And your colour choices in the fruits was so vibrant and fun!). Best of luck on your watercolour journey and thank you for another great video! 😁🌿🙌🏼 P.S. I thought I should note to clarify: let your layers dry fully before working on top of them, especially if there is a big contrast in values/shade or colour. If you want to blend, painting while the paper is still wet is good or have it damp at least - although the blending into each other may not be as gradual/smooth. Look into wet on wet and wet on dry techniques for watercolour too to try them out (and even find a preference for one over the other in accordance to your style if you’d like). Enjoy!
this is so interesting and also comforting weirdly bc i always question my ability as a creator and i feel so comfortable with watercolor. seeing you struggle is a refreshing reminder that its all a learning process
I hope you're good Matthew, tbh whenever I watch something art related I think of you. I used to watch your videos a lot still do sometimes, you are my comfort UA-camr in general. I hope you plan to return one day here and whatever it is you're doing I'm sure you're enjoying it
As an artist myself I know how that feels to have an off day, but it’s always important to know when to step back and learn from it. Matthew Sorgie is such a talented artist and I always enjoy watching his videos. I really like the realistic aspect he brings to his content.
I love your experimentation! As a watercolor artist myself, I know how difficult it can be to learn to use them. One thing you should learn about is different pigments. Some pigments have heavier particles so they 'granulate' meaning they settle into the grooves of the paper and create a really cool texture. The thing about these colors though is that they don't layer very well, making streaky washes and picking up previous layers. Pigments that don't granulate are much easier to layer. You should also try using 100% cotton paper, it makes all the difference. Don't forget to water down your paints as well. If you try to layer concentrated washes, you'll get a muddy mess. Hope this was helpful!
Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums! Gouache is my #1, but I got my start with it through watercolor. A few recommendations: 1. Get two cups of water! Dip your dirty brush into one and then rinse off the dirty water in the second cup. It's super helpful to keep colors from getting muddy because of dirty water (and it saves you trips to get clean water!) 2. Work in SUPER LIGHT and thin layers. You can always go darker, but it is very difficult to remove watercolors due to the staining properties of the paint. 3. This one is probably a given; but don't shade with black! Shadows have depth and going in with a warm (orange and blue) or cool (purple and yellow) gray will do you much better. 4. It's watercolors, and they're colorful for a reason- use that to your advantage! Use colors in layers to build the shadows instead of using one you've already mixed. It also allows you to make more complex shadows. Good luck with future paintings!
Scrub your mixing areas with baking soda or a toothpaste, it helps with the beading. Then you’ll actually see what concentration of pigment you have with the water. It helps out a lot!
omg pearfleur I love them and their vids so much! the lil palette they gave you is so beautiful ahh :") and don't give up on watercolor (but also don't pressure yourself if you're just not feeling it)!! it definitely takes getting used to getting the right control and sometimes taking a step back is what you need. don't be afraid to use watercolor with colored pencils or other mediums if it feels like cheating. watercolor doesn't need to stand on its own to look beautiful and any opportunity you can take to benefit a piece is a good one. I may not be a watercolor expert but I hope you're encouraged to keep going- love ur art!!
I struggle a lot with water colors as well, here are a few tips that helped me out, a lot • have two separate water jars. Use one jar for cleaning your brushes, and the other to add clean water to your paint to dilute it. • if you are using a watercolor palette, add a little bit of water to your colors and allow them to soak for 5-10 mins to get the most pigment out of the colors. • this one may be obvious but it so important, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD give your paint time to dry COMPLETELY between each layer of paint. Hopes this helps 💜 I hope everyone is have a great day/night♥️♥️(also btw that duck was a d o r a b l e)
This actually inspire me so much. I don't really paint, even tho I do like watching other people painting. Yet all I ever see is people doing it perfectly, or making a mistake and then fix it miraculously. Seeing someone "failing" at first but keep trying and get better step by step, inspire me to do so with my hobbies
I am a watercolor beginner and have had a lot of the same struggles with watercolor, but I have a few tips that might help you! Use very light washes of color (when in doubt, go lighter) and let each one dry in between layers. Start with the highlights and build to shadows, and work with a more limited palette at first (or subjects that don't have more than a few colors) so that you can focus more on developing your values and your colors won't get muddy while you're learning how to manipulate them. Landscapes are difficult for me too, but portraits, facial features, figures and simple still lives are less challenging. And of course, you're not alone, a lot of people find watercolor in particular a really challenging medium.
really appreciate showing the stuff that's "not the best". It looked pretty good to me, plus, always remember that being uncomfortable means that you're growing!
hii!! could you share the name of the paints that you selected for matt's palette? they look amazing! i saw some holbein paints but i would love if you could share the exact colors
I feel really bad matthew... you dont have to beat yourself up because you want everything to look good for us. We like watching you, no matter how the art turns out... i love watching these videos where you apparantly "fail", it really gives me confidence knowing that my favourite artist also gets frustrated and doesnt always create something he likes. Keep doing you😁
Watercolor is definitely a challenging medium. For a long time I hated it. But then I took a few watercolor workshops and got a handle on how it works, and how to use it. It's become one of my favorite mediums. I love to layer colored pencils on top to cute illustrated images. :) This year I want to make friends with acrylics and figure out how to use them! Good luck on your journey with watercolors!
One suggestion may be to use a bigger brush starting off, especially with landscapes, backgrounds, and flat initial washes. That will help get rid of unwanted brush stroke texture showing up when it’s dry. It’s also less work on you because you can cover more area quicker and don’t have to work double-time
Honeslty I really appreciate you including the bit of you struggling, it was really soemthing I felt like me and a lot of other artists needed to see. I related so hard it's just some days you can't get anything good and you end up just colouring over everyhting and getting mad and frustrated at yourself. The imposter syndrome starts to kick in and you really just wanna quit, but everyone gets that way and powering through it you improve like crazy
thank you for sharing a video of the struggles in art. i think online makes everything look perfect and i think it is really important to show the struggles of being a creator 💚
Don’t worry we always have those days! It took me a little while to work with watercolor and that was a lot of crappy watercolor pieces to get to where I am today😊 time is your friend!
ahhh watercolors are my fav medium ! I always try to let each layer dry before starting onto the next one (even tho I’m inpatient haha). there’s actually been times where I paint with a desk fan next to me. also the paint goes wherever the water is placed on your paper. hope these tips help and that you learn to at least like watercolors haha :)
I love watercolor because it’s easy to control, and you can use it to your advantage for many things. Just make sure to have a reference and a good sketch, and go in with light layers if you’re not comfortable with it. I love the duckie 🦆
Matthew, I love you showed your journey with watercolor, even and especially when you struggle. It makes you real. Maybe play more with water to help with the blending and of course, layers. It takes patience for sure.
I have been learning watercolor for roughly a year now and I have the same feelings. The medium intimidated me, it made me question whether I can do art which I've never experienced before with digital and graphite pencils. Up to this day I still feel intimidated but the medium is just so beautiful that I can't resist using it.
this made me laugh because it's seriously SO RELATABLE. working with guache and watercolor leaves me feeling defeated and like shit 90% of the time, thank you so much for showing this side of being an artist. also, I would TOTALLY buy those fruits as stickers, they actually turned out so cute??? like SO cute???
It took me years to figure out how to work with watercolors especially as someone that learned oils first - I found that working with basic washes of color and building up details (wet on dry) worked well for me as it's similar to how oils work
Learning about 100% cotton paper literally changed my experience with watercolours, I used to hate them but using cotton paper just helps me blend so well!!!
I'm a bit of an art novice and just want to say that your videos inspire me so much. I have a hard time with shadows and values, and so watching you work is extremely intriguing. Also I think the use of color especially for the fruit piece is beautiful and I will take that as inspo into my next session tomorrow morning
Thankyou for doing this! I think more people need to see that even amazing artists have mediums they want to try and work on too! I wish more of my non-artist friends would give art a shot because we should all create. Your video will help more people feel the urge to just start! Thanks for always being awesome
Hey! It's so nice to see your process. Watercolor is one of the more tricky mediums definitely and I think even experienced artists have their days when they struggle with it. But I also think it's difficult because it is a bit unpredictable. And by unpredictable I mean that you need a lot of time to get the feel for it, so you can actually 'predict' it more. It takes time and a lot of being ok with the flow. It also is a good challenge to not get stuck with the one result you see in your head - but also to be open where it takes you, it's a medium of being able to adapt. Or at least that's how it feel for me! Don't try to control it too much cz it will only bring more frustration. Hope you'll befriend watercolors soon because their actually really fun! and it's a lot about the water ratio as well.
I think many will appreciate this video so much. It's refreshing to see an artist struggle and embrace it as a learning opportunity, and show it proudly to people. Art isn't always perfect, not even for the pros. Thanks you for this
What really helped me crack the watercolor code was letting myself fail, and go into projects without any expectations. Based on what I saw in the video, we have the same problem of wanting every project to turn out perfectly or magically teach us everything about the medium, when really the most wins come from putting on some relaxing music and going with the flow! As far as the technical side goes, I would take a minute to do the very basics like brush control and techniques (dry brushing, washes, etc) even though they're boring, they can really help you to get a feel for watercolors. I don't know if it was just me, but you might want to try for some better paper that has a little more texture, because it will help you control the paint. Also, starting lighter and waiting until each layer dries will give you a cleaner look, if that's what you're going for. Using pencils, paint markers, and pens is not a bad thing! Especially for hard edges or small details like the fruit, they can rea enhance your work. I don't know if you follow kelogsloops on instagram, but he has some great videos on watercolor and the mental aspect of letting yourself experiment and sometimes fail. Good luck!!!
Thank you so much for your video! Your transparency with your art experience with mediums that aren't as easy for you is honestly encouraging for me! Thanks!
As someone who uses watercolours and felt the PAIN going into using acrylics I can definitely relate to how u feel like it took me a year to be like mutual friends with acrylics ahah... But trust me when u really find your thing with watercolours you will really start to love them Also something that helps me is by working in a lot of layers like working from extremely light like nothing on a page and working up from that! If u ever really get mad at them u could try using coloured pencil with them I normally do this when j feel like everything is blending in or looking muddy I know u used coloured pencils too but thought I'd just be like yh it helps aha :) sorry for the rambles but hope it helps!
This was a great video! Good content doesn’t require an amazing work of art, there’s a lot of value in seeing someone’s learning process. I’m by no means an expert at watercolor, but I’d like to offer some tips I’ve picked up: -Get better paper. The cotton paper snobs are kinda right and it took me a long time to admit that. There are also some good wood pulp papers, but you need to be using something marketed as watercolor paper at the very least. Mixed media paper is too easy to make a dull blotchy mess on. -Wet the whole surface before you do your first layer. The first pass of paint will be pretty light and it doesn’t matter if you didn’t paint within the lines. The orange cloud portion of your first painting sounds like the part you were most happy with, and that’s the part where you wet the paper most beforehand. -it helps to use a bigger brush especially in the beginning. Those small brushes laying down big patches of color can lend to an overworked look. I hope you stick with it! I’m sure it’s frustrating having your level of skill and still feeling like a total beginner with a new medium...
It's so brave of you to put the struggle of not getting something right out there. I think it's safe to say we all go through this. This might just be your most relatable video for me!:) Love your work and keep painting hahaha
I love the fruit!!!!! I see you shining through Matthew!!!! Thanks for sharing your struggle with us, this is so relatable and thank you for reminding us that even successful illustrators have days like us mere mortals!
watercolor is a medium where you just have to trust the process and let the paint do its job :) ive had to learn that the hard way- ive ruined so many paintings because i was rushing, etc. every artist goes through days like this :D
I think drawing something "easy" sometimes is a great idea especially when it is a new medium! I was trying to draw sceneries with oil pastels as my first time ever using them and it was hard so instead I just did some easy trees! and the little win is always encouraging! 😝
I appreciate the fact that you uploaded the video even though not everything went as planed. Everybody has a slump and it's motivating seeing someone struggle, but then find a way to work with it anyway :)).
Only two videos into discovering you, and already a fan. By all means, work towards growing your watercolor painting prowess, but also remember that mixed media is awesome too. No rules in art.
In my experience using watercolour, I'd say you might find it a bit easier if you let the layers of paint dry a little bit before adding a new colour because you risk the colours mixing together in an unexpected way like in the landscape painting. If its damp and not fully dry you can always blend the edges between the colours together a bit to blend the colours together or you also have the option of letting everything dry completely and giving a flat wash of watercolour to change the colours a bit! In my opinion, going light to dark is better. If you go too dark, getting the white back is near impossible. Masking fluid can help to block out areas that you want to keep really white too though. If not, don't be scared to go in with colour pencil or a white marker. A lot of people do it! Good luck with watercolour Matthew! :) I hope you end up enjoying it!
I really hate working with acrylic paint, its so hard to get in small details and you need SO MUCH paint for it to not show the brushstrokes! I love watercolor tho and its really cool to see you try it :)
There's some great advice in the comments, so I'll add this: * picking up excess paint or fading out those watercolor edges with a damp brush was a game changer for me! I got this tip from Aaron Blaises videos, when he did watercolor on an ink drawing of a bison if I remember correctly. * make swatches helps to get to know your paint, but also making value scales will be helpful. * a limited palette is actually less overwhelming. There are a lot of "convenience colors" that you can easily mix, when you know your paints. * draw a circle and try to color that circle with watercolor as evenly as you can. Warning, frustration possible. * Decide on your method. Are you going for the loosy goosy wet-in-wet, with pigments blooming? Or do you want to have more control and go wet-on-dry. If the latter: let the layers dry in between! If you have no patience for this: a hairdryer can help. * Paper can handle only so much, especially the paper in sketchbooks. Watercolor paper can take much more. But once you see that paper pilling, it only goes downhill from there. Hope this helps!
i've recently starting using colored pencils on top of my watercolor illustrations and absolutely love the turn out, it gives those details that sometimes watercolor can't give by itself
okay but i have so much respect for you for putting this out even when you didn’t feel like the work you did was good enough. if it were me i probably would’ve stopped recording and retook everything until i thought it was perfect :,,) major props to you!!
heyy, so a tip for water color painting is that is always looks worse and as you add detail it will get better. for me to help with colors i always have a little piece of paper next to me to test the color to see if it looks good. remember YOU CANT GO LIGHTER. and a small brush like a really fine one helps a lot! ps i love your art and you always inspire me with your art( im actually bussy with a paintin rn)
i loved this video! the honesty in your vid was really nice to watch and i can definitely say all artists can relate to this slump of not feeling like we’re good enough, but we just have to remember that we have to make a lot of ugly art before we figure out what makes our art good
i feel you so much 😣. i just try watercolor a few times for a couple months ago, and god.. i hate it. i really do. felt really bad about myself. But then i saw this video, thank you Matthew! your struggle at this medium making me realized, i'm not insane (?) haha😸. but i really like the effect of watercolor that pretty much can't get anywhere else. Again, thanks for the video Matthew! you're really awesome! keep up the hard work! much love❤❤
As soon who paints with a lot of watercolor, my best tip is to COMBINE media. In tend to use watercolor always alongside pens, color pencil, markers, etc. I think depending on what you want to go for, wether that is something more free form that’s where you can limit yourself to watercolor, if you want something with more structure pens and graphite are a great pair for watercolor. :)
I think you did pretty good for the first piece. There are so many different things that can affect a watercolor piece. Water, paper, texture of your watercolors. Don’t give up. You just need to find the combination that works for you.
I totally feel you! I shifted from oil and acrylic to watercolor late last year and I swear, watercolor can smell fear. Haha. My first few works were barf worthy.🤣 The challenge is real, humbling but really enjoyable.
As someone who manly do watercolor I think I can give some suggestions.
1) always swatch the colors
2) you should do limited color palettes. Limited color teaches you about watercolors. You learn to use the water to lighten the paint and make it more saturated as you go.
3) light to dark. You can add more layers with a lighter base. You start off supper saturated (which is fine) but maybe you should start off with a more water downed color and work your way up to saturation.
4) adding pencils to your watercolor is fine especially for smaller details.
5) Finally remember that to lighten you colors it’s with water not white.
This is just some stuff I’ve learned from me messing with watercolors for some years. Of course you can ignore this but I do think you can find watercolors fun after some time. Good luck!
THIS!! COMMENT!! this is really useful advice^^^ especially the swatching, it'll really save you sometimes
You are so kind to take the time to write all this and be so supportive - good vibes to you
@@Engelhafen oh thank you. I just wanted to spread advice cause I personally find watercolor a fun and relaxing medium
I use watercolors too and this comment has literally the best advices ever
thank youuu
I really appreciate you showing when art doesn’t go the way you want it to. Art online is nearly always perfected, understandably, so it was refreshing to see this more realistic journey!
I agree!!!
Squarespace: So do you want us to-
Matthew: *Thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video.*
LMAO
LOL XD
Honestly get that coin King, here for it!!👍😂💰
LMAO literally made me wheeze
“Dude, suckin' at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.” ― Jake the Dog
wise words
Anyone else actually really love the crazy fruit study he did??
Omg i love your youtube videos they're amazing sorry fan girl moment over yeah i thought the crazy fruit study was cool.
@@cassiet6171 omg thanks !!
your watercolor fail looks like my watercolor successes 😭
same lmao!
Oop kinda true tho 😂😂
Ok as a "watercolor artist" I FELT THE PAIN BROOOO😭 In the beginning it makes you feel like you're trash...
Edit: forgot to say that unlike with most mediums in watercolour the paper can make or break a piece. Try some 100% cotton paper I think it will help with the frustration.
sameeee when i first try watercolors, i watched a bunch of tutorials but for some reason all of them look so horrible, watercolor requires a lot of practice and patients jhdkjfdf. it's been more than a year since I tried watercolor, still haven't mastered it enough
@@marwaqaniaashila3163 same . It's been maybe 2 years I wanna say? And now I have a much better understanding of the medium but I'm still nowhere near where I wanna be
watercolor is not oil or goache, try to add more water than paint and add layers little by little, u can always use a tissue paper to remove the excess, hope this is usefull to you somehow ^^ there are no mistakes!! just happy little accidents~
Jb 🥺
Love your content man we can all agree when mathew sorgie uploads your day goes📈❤️❤️❤️❤️👍
Literally my highlight of the week 💛
Remember that as artists we have more failures than successes and failing is ok and all just part of the process.
Seeing matthew sorgie struggling is rare. But feels good to know that struggle is there at every point of your life. Aint it ❤️
You'll be fine. As an Artist who loves to paint using Acrylics, it's really hard at first to experiment with Watercolor BUT when you get the right ratio of water and pigment ( and patient about layering) you'll be fine and comfortable afterwards 😊
And some says that Watercolor is one of the hardest mediums so it's normal to be not good at first.
Lol I feel the struggle! I used to hate watercolor at one point. A tip I learned is that you have to approach watercolors opposite from how you would approach acrylic. With acrylic, I was taught that you have to work from darks to highlights. With watercolor, you have to work from highlights to darks. Also build up A LOT of layers. This medium definitely requires patience. I hope this helps! 👍
I reckon this is why I feel about acrylic the way Matthew feels about watercolour😅they're like polar opposites so it takes some serious patience to get your head around it
Using the right paper is so important for watercolours. It will make a lot of the things you're struggling with easier. Plus remember to work in layers. Sometimes you need to just leave the piece be to dry before doing anything else to it. Hope this helps ^^
I do tons of watercolor and would love to share some tips for everyone!
1) it is not a fail to use colored pencils to enhance painting! they help to show texture and style!
2) layers are your best friend! build up to darker values by keep laying and gradually adding more pigment. by layering it will already add a darker tone (think of using the white the white of your paper as your lightest points and the more layers you add the more that paper gets hidden)
3) brushes do count! consider getting more range of brush shapes and sizes; a big mop brush helps with putting down a big glob of color and water on the paper evenly and smaller brushes really help with lining and details.
4) of course, practice! doing simple gradients and practicing with modeling shapes and seeing how light works will help get a better understanding of the media.
of course art is what you make of it and as long as you are having fun, than it is never wrong! Thank you Matthew for always staying an inspiration and a reminder to keep working, you really push me to be a better artist. : )
yes it's 4am and yes I'm binge watching all his videos
WHY IS THIS ME
not being able to do anything and just draw a rubber ducky is such a mood
A nice watercolour exercise is to make a monotone painting! No worries about colour mixing and you get to focus on layering, values and preserving the light areas.
There is always such a learning curve with watercolors. I’m the complete opposite. Opaque mediums terrify me and I applaud your acrylic work 👏👏👏
yes i am the same way! ive always loved to use watercolors but always wanted to get better at acrylics (yes i am now currently suffering trying to make a presentable piece for my piano teacher) and its been fun but definitely frustrating
i always get confused when artists say that they are shit at something/doing shit at something they are just beginning.
that's exactly my confusion from this video...that was pretty amazing to me.
watercolor is one of my favorite mediums! you can create a variety of different effects and it’s so fun to use!
I'm honestly still in such awe that he was able to get a personalized watercolor palette from THE pearfleur, the absolute watercolor queen!!🍐 I'm lovin' that artist support.
Okay, but this video was so realistic to what making art is actually like!! Thank you for sharing this with us! :D
Matthew: says his watercolor doodles were TRASH
All of us: *that’s the best thing ive ever seen*
Btw your such an inspiration 🥺
Not me yelling at my computer, "You're starting with midtones. You can't do that with watercolor!"
BRO SAME
the number one tip I’ve heard IS TO LAYER. so building up slowly until you get your colour and colour intensity. LOVE YOUUU. thanks for sharing this
This is great! The fruits look awesome and are definitely not cheating :). And failures are part of the process- nothing to be ashamed of.
I work with watercolors a lot and what rly helps me out in the process is limiting my palette to a few colors, and having some larger brushes to start off to make large flat washes. Starting off with some large and light washes or lightly defined shapes, letting each layer dry completely, and gradually adding more saturated details has really helped me with cohesiveness and with being patient. Also, making rly large pools of washes in your palette rly helps with getting a flat wash. This is just what has rly helped me. I hope you don't give up and your artwork is amazing :)))
Appreciate the honesty about the struggle, growth isn't linear and it's easy to forget that sometimes.
It’s refreshing to see another artist show the stages that don’t always work, whenever trying something new away from the usual go to art supply, it can take more time. Thanks for sharing these ☺️
I’ve been using watercolor for about 6 years now and I still have a love/hate relationship with it. But when you get it right it looks amazing. Sticking with it so worth it
as a watercolor artist myself for years - it's nice to watch someone suffer and figure out the medium that you watched yourself do in the beginning. it's a nice reminder to see how far I have come 12 years later when I started with a Crayola pallet and now doing portraits with winsor and newton.
i was cleaning my room and i realized that Matthew posted a video, i dropped everything, i ran to my bed got comfortable and enjoyed his awsome content
100% cotton watercolor paper. You need it. Especially if you like wet on wet washes. Stillman and bern sketchbooks are great but only for light washes
Was just about to say this , he needs to try an Etchr sketchbook or handbook travelogue journal for sure !
You did a good job and attempt Matthew - please don’t give up on watercolours yet!
Big tip: work from the lightest colour/shade and layer, layer, layer up those darker values and colours. You got this! Layering and working from light to dark is KEY in watercolour. If you want to lighten a colour, add more water too - not white. More water = lighter, less water = darker (more pigmented). Please keep practising and I hope you enjoy the process and learn new things along the way and that you find it ✨therapeutic✨and rewarding like I have. It really is a lovely medium once you get past the wth, pulling-your-hair-out, I-don’t-get-this stage lol. Like any medium, practise really does make progress, as I’m sure you know. Also, whoever said using white pen and colour pencils with watercolour is cheating? They are great combinations! Can really add extra texture to your creations too (also I really loved what you did - especially the landscape and fruits. The landscape looked cool and stormy and I loved the hard edges for the clouds you achieved. And your colour choices in the fruits was so vibrant and fun!). Best of luck on your watercolour journey and thank you for another great video! 😁🌿🙌🏼
P.S. I thought I should note to clarify: let your layers dry fully before working on top of them, especially if there is a big contrast in values/shade or colour. If you want to blend, painting while the paper is still wet is good or have it damp at least - although the blending into each other may not be as gradual/smooth. Look into wet on wet and wet on dry techniques for watercolour too to try them out (and even find a preference for one over the other in accordance to your style if you’d like). Enjoy!
this is so interesting and also comforting weirdly bc i always question my ability as a creator and i feel so comfortable with watercolor. seeing you struggle is a refreshing reminder that its all a learning process
I hope you're good Matthew, tbh whenever I watch something art related I think of you. I used to watch your videos a lot still do sometimes, you are my comfort UA-camr in general. I hope you plan to return one day here and whatever it is you're doing I'm sure you're enjoying it
As an artist myself I know how that feels to have an off day, but it’s always important to know when to step back and learn from it. Matthew Sorgie is such a talented artist and I always enjoy watching his videos. I really like the realistic aspect he brings to his content.
I love your experimentation! As a watercolor artist myself, I know how difficult it can be to learn to use them. One thing you should learn about is different pigments. Some pigments have heavier particles so they 'granulate' meaning they settle into the grooves of the paper and create a really cool texture. The thing about these colors though is that they don't layer very well, making streaky washes and picking up previous layers. Pigments that don't granulate are much easier to layer. You should also try using 100% cotton paper, it makes all the difference. Don't forget to water down your paints as well. If you try to layer concentrated washes, you'll get a muddy mess. Hope this was helpful!
Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums! Gouache is my #1, but I got my start with it through watercolor. A few recommendations:
1. Get two cups of water! Dip your dirty brush into one and then rinse off the dirty water in the second cup. It's super helpful to keep colors from getting muddy because of dirty water (and it saves you trips to get clean water!)
2. Work in SUPER LIGHT and thin layers. You can always go darker, but it is very difficult to remove watercolors due to the staining properties of the paint.
3. This one is probably a given; but don't shade with black! Shadows have depth and going in with a warm (orange and blue) or cool (purple and yellow) gray will do you much better.
4. It's watercolors, and they're colorful for a reason- use that to your advantage! Use colors in layers to build the shadows instead of using one you've already mixed. It also allows you to make more complex shadows.
Good luck with future paintings!
Scrub your mixing areas with baking soda or a toothpaste, it helps with the beading. Then you’ll actually see what concentration of pigment you have with the water. It helps out a lot!
omg pearfleur I love them and their vids so much! the lil palette they gave you is so beautiful ahh :")
and don't give up on watercolor (but also don't pressure yourself if you're just not feeling it)!! it definitely takes getting used to getting the right control and sometimes taking a step back is what you need. don't be afraid to use watercolor with colored pencils or other mediums if it feels like cheating. watercolor doesn't need to stand on its own to look beautiful and any opportunity you can take to benefit a piece is a good one. I may not be a watercolor expert but I hope you're encouraged to keep going- love ur art!!
I struggle a lot with water colors as well, here are a few tips that helped me out, a lot
• have two separate water jars. Use one jar for cleaning your brushes, and the other to add clean water to your paint to dilute it.
• if you are using a watercolor palette, add a little bit of water to your colors and allow them to soak for 5-10 mins to get the most pigment out of the colors.
• this one may be obvious but it so important, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD give your paint time to dry COMPLETELY between each layer of paint. Hopes this helps 💜 I hope everyone is have a great day/night♥️♥️(also btw that duck was
a d o r a b l e)
This actually inspire me so much. I don't really paint, even tho I do like watching other people painting. Yet all I ever see is people doing it perfectly, or making a mistake and then fix it miraculously. Seeing someone "failing" at first but keep trying and get better step by step, inspire me to do so with my hobbies
I am a watercolor beginner and have had a lot of the same struggles with watercolor, but I have a few tips that might help you! Use very light washes of color (when in doubt, go lighter) and let each one dry in between layers. Start with the highlights and build to shadows, and work with a more limited palette at first (or subjects that don't have more than a few colors) so that you can focus more on developing your values and your colors won't get muddy while you're learning how to manipulate them. Landscapes are difficult for me too, but portraits, facial features, figures and simple still lives are less challenging. And of course, you're not alone, a lot of people find watercolor in particular a really challenging medium.
I've been waiting...and here you are!
really appreciate showing the stuff that's "not the best". It looked pretty good to me, plus, always remember that being uncomfortable means that you're growing!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Ooh watercolor expert in da comments
queen
hii!! could you share the name of the paints that you selected for matt's palette? they look amazing! i saw some holbein paints but i would love if you could share the exact colors
can't believe my fav youtuber made a lil cameo in this vid :))
I feel really bad matthew... you dont have to beat yourself up because you want everything to look good for us. We like watching you, no matter how the art turns out... i love watching these videos where you apparantly "fail", it really gives me confidence knowing that my favourite artist also gets frustrated and doesnt always create something he likes. Keep doing you😁
Watercolor is definitely a challenging medium. For a long time I hated it. But then I took a few watercolor workshops and got a handle on how it works, and how to use it. It's become one of my favorite mediums. I love to layer colored pencils on top to cute illustrated images. :) This year I want to make friends with acrylics and figure out how to use them! Good luck on your journey with watercolors!
I feel like watercolour is the only medium I don’t suck at. But after looking at this video I’m having second thoughts 😬
One suggestion may be to use a bigger brush starting off, especially with landscapes, backgrounds, and flat initial washes. That will help get rid of unwanted brush stroke texture showing up when it’s dry. It’s also less work on you because you can cover more area quicker and don’t have to work double-time
I really love the way the fruits turned out- I think combining the media worked really well!
Your videos always calm me. Always makes my day better
Honeslty I really appreciate you including the bit of you struggling, it was really soemthing I felt like me and a lot of other artists needed to see. I related so hard it's just some days you can't get anything good and you end up just colouring over everyhting and getting mad and frustrated at yourself. The imposter syndrome starts to kick in and you really just wanna quit, but everyone gets that way and powering through it you improve like crazy
thank you for sharing a video of the struggles in art. i think online makes everything look perfect and i think it is really important to show the struggles of being a creator 💚
I love that you are sharing the realities of being an artist and being honest!
How Matthew feels about watercolors is how I feel about gouache...and acrylic... Oh and the duck? Always a win in my book😌 Thanks for the video!!
Don’t worry we always have those days! It took me a little while to work with watercolor and that was a lot of crappy watercolor pieces to get to where I am today😊 time is your friend!
ahhh watercolors are my fav medium ! I always try to let each layer dry before starting onto the next one (even tho I’m inpatient haha). there’s actually been times where I paint with a desk fan next to me. also the paint goes wherever the water is placed on your paper. hope these tips help and that you learn to at least like watercolors haha :)
Yip.. drying time is critical. I am very guily of not leting layers dry.
Watercolors is not about realism, it's more about feelings. Light strokes, unfinished lines, watery layers. You did a great job btw!
I love watercolor because it’s easy to control, and you can use it to your advantage for many things. Just make sure to have a reference and a good sketch, and go in with light layers if you’re not comfortable with it. I love the duckie 🦆
Matthew, I love you showed your journey with watercolor, even and especially when you struggle. It makes you real. Maybe play more with water to help with the blending and of course, layers. It takes patience for sure.
I have been learning watercolor for roughly a year now and I have the same feelings. The medium intimidated me, it made me question whether I can do art which I've never experienced before with digital and graphite pencils. Up to this day I still feel intimidated but the medium is just so beautiful that I can't resist using it.
And my Saturday is now so much better :)
this made me laugh because it's seriously SO RELATABLE. working with guache and watercolor leaves me feeling defeated and like shit 90% of the time, thank you so much for showing this side of being an artist. also, I would TOTALLY buy those fruits as stickers, they actually turned out so cute??? like SO cute???
It took me years to figure out how to work with watercolors especially as someone that learned oils first - I found that working with basic washes of color and building up details (wet on dry) worked well for me as it's similar to how oils work
Learning about 100% cotton paper literally changed my experience with watercolours, I used to hate them but using cotton paper just helps me blend so well!!!
I'm a bit of an art novice and just want to say that your videos inspire me so much. I have a hard time with shadows and values, and so watching you work is extremely intriguing. Also I think the use of color especially for the fruit piece is beautiful and I will take that as inspo into my next session tomorrow morning
Thankyou for doing this!
I think more people need to see that even amazing artists have mediums they want to try and work on too!
I wish more of my non-artist friends would give art a shot because we should all create. Your video will help more people feel the urge to just start! Thanks for always being awesome
Hey! It's so nice to see your process. Watercolor is one of the more tricky mediums definitely and I think even experienced artists have their days when they struggle with it. But I also think it's difficult because it is a bit unpredictable. And by unpredictable I mean that you need a lot of time to get the feel for it, so you can actually 'predict' it more. It takes time and a lot of being ok with the flow. It also is a good challenge to not get stuck with the one result you see in your head - but also to be open where it takes you, it's a medium of being able to adapt. Or at least that's how it feel for me! Don't try to control it too much cz it will only bring more frustration. Hope you'll befriend watercolors soon because their actually really fun! and it's a lot about the water ratio as well.
I think many will appreciate this video so much. It's refreshing to see an artist struggle and embrace it as a learning opportunity, and show it proudly to people. Art isn't always perfect, not even for the pros. Thanks you for this
What really helped me crack the watercolor code was letting myself fail, and go into projects without any expectations. Based on what I saw in the video, we have the same problem of wanting every project to turn out perfectly or magically teach us everything about the medium, when really the most wins come from putting on some relaxing music and going with the flow! As far as the technical side goes, I would take a minute to do the very basics like brush control and techniques (dry brushing, washes, etc) even though they're boring, they can really help you to get a feel for watercolors. I don't know if it was just me, but you might want to try for some better paper that has a little more texture, because it will help you control the paint. Also, starting lighter and waiting until each layer dries will give you a cleaner look, if that's what you're going for. Using pencils, paint markers, and pens is not a bad thing! Especially for hard edges or small details like the fruit, they can rea enhance your work. I don't know if you follow kelogsloops on instagram, but he has some great videos on watercolor and the mental aspect of letting yourself experiment and sometimes fail. Good luck!!!
Thank you so much for your video! Your transparency with your art experience with mediums that aren't as easy for you is honestly encouraging for me! Thanks!
As someone who uses watercolours and felt the PAIN going into using acrylics I can definitely relate to how u feel like it took me a year to be like mutual friends with acrylics ahah... But trust me when u really find your thing with watercolours you will really start to love them
Also something that helps me is by working in a lot of layers like working from extremely light like nothing on a page and working up from that!
If u ever really get mad at them u could try using coloured pencil with them I normally do this when j feel like everything is blending in or looking muddy I know u used coloured pencils too but thought I'd just be like yh it helps aha :) sorry for the rambles but hope it helps!
This was a great video! Good content doesn’t require an amazing work of art, there’s a lot of value in seeing someone’s learning process. I’m by no means an expert at watercolor, but I’d like to offer some tips I’ve picked up:
-Get better paper. The cotton paper snobs are kinda right and it took me a long time to admit that. There are also some good wood pulp papers, but you need to be using something marketed as watercolor paper at the very least. Mixed media paper is too easy to make a dull blotchy mess on.
-Wet the whole surface before you do your first layer. The first pass of paint will be pretty light and it doesn’t matter if you didn’t paint within the lines. The orange cloud portion of your first painting sounds like the part you were most happy with, and that’s the part where you wet the paper most beforehand.
-it helps to use a bigger brush especially in the beginning. Those small brushes laying down big patches of color can lend to an overworked look.
I hope you stick with it! I’m sure it’s frustrating having your level of skill and still feeling like a total beginner with a new medium...
It's so brave of you to put the struggle of not getting something right out there. I think it's safe to say we all go through this. This might just be your most relatable video for me!:)
Love your work and keep painting hahaha
Thank you for sharing this, it actually helped a LOT!! Everyone has these kind of days, this for sure was a friendly reminder of that.
I love the fruit!!!!! I see you shining through Matthew!!!! Thanks for sharing your struggle with us, this is so relatable and thank you for reminding us that even successful illustrators have days like us mere mortals!
watercolor is a medium where you just have to trust the process and let the paint do its job :) ive had to learn that the hard way- ive ruined so many paintings because i was rushing, etc. every artist goes through days like this :D
I think drawing something "easy" sometimes is a great idea especially when it is a new medium! I was trying to draw sceneries with oil pastels as my first time ever using them and it was hard so instead I just did some easy trees! and the little win is always encouraging! 😝
I am literally soo glad u uploaded this video, it really made me feel that I am not alone who really struggles sometimes while using new media
I appreciate the fact that you uploaded the video even though not everything went as planed. Everybody has a slump and it's motivating seeing someone struggle, but then find a way to work with it anyway :)).
oh my gawwwd....I can relate with you on 'I wanna make something beautiful today!' Also me, "I suck!!!" :D watercolors are tricky man!!!!
Only two videos into discovering you, and already a fan. By all means, work towards growing your watercolor painting prowess, but also remember that mixed media is awesome too. No rules in art.
I've had many many Watercolor Fails, but I've had many many Wins!! I learn from the fails and celebrate my wins.
In my experience using watercolour, I'd say you might find it a bit easier if you let the layers of paint dry a little bit before adding a new colour because you risk the colours mixing together in an unexpected way like in the landscape painting. If its damp and not fully dry you can always blend the edges between the colours together a bit to blend the colours together or you also have the option of letting everything dry completely and giving a flat wash of watercolour to change the colours a bit! In my opinion, going light to dark is better. If you go too dark, getting the white back is near impossible. Masking fluid can help to block out areas that you want to keep really white too though. If not, don't be scared to go in with colour pencil or a white marker. A lot of people do it!
Good luck with watercolour Matthew! :) I hope you end up enjoying it!
I really hate working with acrylic paint, its so hard to get in small details and you need SO MUCH paint for it to not show the brushstrokes! I love watercolor tho and its really cool to see you try it :)
There's some great advice in the comments, so I'll add this:
* picking up excess paint or fading out those watercolor edges with a damp brush was a game changer for me! I got this tip from Aaron Blaises videos, when he did watercolor on an ink drawing of a bison if I remember correctly.
* make swatches helps to get to know your paint, but also making value scales will be helpful.
* a limited palette is actually less overwhelming. There are a lot of "convenience colors" that you can easily mix, when you know your paints.
* draw a circle and try to color that circle with watercolor as evenly as you can. Warning, frustration possible.
* Decide on your method. Are you going for the loosy goosy wet-in-wet, with pigments blooming? Or do you want to have more control and go wet-on-dry. If the latter: let the layers dry in between! If you have no patience for this: a hairdryer can help.
* Paper can handle only so much, especially the paper in sketchbooks. Watercolor paper can take much more. But once you see that paper pilling, it only goes downhill from there.
Hope this helps!
i've recently starting using colored pencils on top of my watercolor illustrations and absolutely love the turn out, it gives those details that sometimes watercolor can't give by itself
Can you PLEASE make an outfit tour or whateva cuz you have hands down the best style ever😩
okay but i have so much respect for you for putting this out even when you didn’t feel like the work you did was good enough. if it were me i probably would’ve stopped recording and retook everything until i thought it was perfect :,,) major props to you!!
heyy, so a tip for water color painting is that is always looks worse and as you add detail it will get better. for me to help with colors i always have a little piece of paper next to me to test the color to see if it looks good. remember YOU CANT GO LIGHTER. and a small brush like a really fine one helps a lot! ps i love your art and you always inspire me with your art( im actually bussy with a paintin rn)
i loved this video! the honesty in your vid was really nice to watch and i can definitely say all artists can relate to this slump of not feeling like we’re good enough, but we just have to remember that we have to make a lot of ugly art before we figure out what makes our art good
i feel you so much 😣. i just try watercolor a few times for a couple months ago, and god.. i hate it. i really do. felt really bad about myself. But then i saw this video, thank you Matthew! your struggle at this medium making me realized, i'm not insane (?) haha😸.
but i really like the effect of watercolor that pretty much can't get anywhere else. Again, thanks for the video Matthew! you're really awesome! keep up the hard work! much love❤❤
As soon who paints with a lot of watercolor, my best tip is to COMBINE media. In tend to use watercolor always alongside pens, color pencil, markers, etc. I think depending on what you want to go for, wether that is something more free form that’s where you can limit yourself to watercolor, if you want something with more structure pens and graphite are a great pair for watercolor. :)
Thanks for showing what we all go thru trying to conquer watercolor!!
literally watching this while making a failed watercolor piece myself, this video is just what I needed
Gouache and watercolors is really fun to work with together. I usually like do do a flat wash with watercolors then go in with gouache.
I think you did pretty good for the first piece. There are so many different things that can affect a watercolor piece. Water, paper, texture of your watercolors. Don’t give up. You just need to find the combination that works for you.
I totally feel you! I shifted from oil and acrylic to watercolor late last year and I swear, watercolor can smell fear. Haha. My first few works were barf worthy.🤣 The challenge is real, humbling but really enjoyable.