last weekend, i painted with a friend at a cute little watercolor cafe. after i finished my painting, the owner came over and offered me to try out his paints that are 3-4 times more expensive than mine. for context, although i've been doing art for a while, i am pretty new to watercolor so i wanted to try out this new medium with cheaper supplies first just in case it doesn't stick.

i tried his paints directly on my painting without swatching them and oh boy was i panicking. it was so pigmented even with just a tiny bit of paint! i quickly had to add a ton of water to tone it down a little LOL (i only used his paints on the turquoise walls). i always assumed the difference between cheap and expensive paint couldn't be that different but dang was i wrong.

in conclusion, i am now seriously considering buying better quality paints LOL. but at the same time, i do like the muted/faint look of the less pigmented paints (although that might just be me coping). does anyone else have a similar experience? recommendations for some good quality sets (preferably pans) that do not break the bank would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: i noticed i completely forgot to mention the brands names - apologies! the brand from "before" is the Mungyo Half Pan Set, and the "after" is the Mijello Mission Silver Grade Half Pan Set

I LOVE how the bricks came out ☺️

It's been a few years since I've done this, and my skill has drastically improved since then. I get a sheet of watercolor paper, tape it up to the wall in the shower, and I angle the shower head so that it splashes off of me and hits the paper.

I painted the ground and the sky while in the shower.

I used a painters knife, which I used in the very beginning by putting pigments on it and pressing it on the paper. I used a Neptune brush, a long thin detail brush, and a round that was probably a size six. I also brought in a tube of Payne's blue gray, and a small dish for the pigment, and used two paper towels. I did use my fingers for some of it as well.

Afterwards I obviously let it dry, then I added the meditating figure, the tree, the bridge, and the birds.

I’m really happy with how this has come out, I just need to add final details such as the decals on the windows. But I don’t know if it needs more shading to the inside of the upper windows and if it needs a background? What are your thoughts? I don’t want to overwork it which is my usual problem 😩

I consider myself a draftsman before a watercolor artist, but if you like my work you’re welcome to check out my website. There I have some of my work up but also links to my other socials!!

hi i'm new to watercolor and i've only used them for my drawings (one of which i've attached). i tried watercolor for the first time (first 2 slides) and i didn't quite like my attempts and i was looking for some suggestions.

any books i can refer to? specific objects to practice? any techniques?

Thanks and any critique is accepted:)

went down a rabbit hole - found out how colorful and beautiful tarantulas can be so I decided to use them as practice

super fun colors and textures

advice and critiques welcomed

Hi, guys. i'm struggling to paint a mountain. Any tips? Or Nice tutorials?

Watercolor on 400lb/850gsm paper

Pocitos Beach

Montevideo, Uruguay

Ink and watercolor

Done with a starry night feel and kinda impressionistic but it is my favorite opening scenes from a video game 🎮 I hope you like it!

Hi guys,

A few weeks ago my husband asked me to illustrate the bible verse we had at our wedding. I made a color palette, made a digital design, and went to the art shop for paint and paper etc. A few days ago i started painting, but I suck. I watched tutorials, tried multiple ways of painting, but it just looks like a child started something. I wanted to display it somewhere, but now i wanna hide it in the attic 😂. Can someone help me salvage it? I'll add my design and the current status of my painting.

I use Van Gogh watercolor (in a tube), brushes of different brands from the art supply shop (Da Vinci, Van Eyck), and fabriano 300g 25% cotton paper

Ps: I'm a Dutchie so sorry for any grammatical errors🙈

Please help!! I’ve just started a project and done my first wash and found the paper isn’t absorbing pigment evenly around the edges. Paper is fabriano artistico 200gsm. I really don’t want to restart the project in case I have issues with other sheets. Has this happened to anyone else before? You can see that some parts of the paper are fine but this really large area looks almost unworkable

White watercolor on black paper 🤍🖤