Learning to Paint with Watercolor,Urban Sketching, Supplies & Resources

Back in March I attended a Pinot Palette painting class with my friend- The Drowsy Reader. We both enjoyed painting and the paintings we took home but we really did not enjoy the experience with our instructor who was treating the class like a stand up night and got visibly upset when you don't laugh at their jokes. We both kind of realized that for the cost of one night at Pinot Palette or Painting with a Twist we can probably start painting on our own and learn through Youtube, Skillshare, etc.

We both started I think with acrylic because it was probably the cheapest and really forgiving in terms of starting over and mixing colors but then we both kind of  ventured into watercolor and as of the day I'm writing this my gouache palette arrived which is very exciting. Even though we got into painting at the same time, I think we have our own interests and things that we like to paint. My friend subscribed to and enjoy Let's Make Art while  I found that the styles I really enjoy are Urban Sketching and Watercolor Sketching.

Growing up I was pretty artistic and took piano and singing lessons. In high school I was in theater and picked up crotcheting as a hobby but I've always been terrible at drawing, painting, sketching, etc. What I enjoy about sketching and painting other than the fact that I have a friend to enjoy it with is just the ability to shut out everything else and just focus on what I'm creating. I don't think a younger me would post any of the things I've created but now I don't think that I necessarily have to create perfect drawings that I can enjoy and appreciate. 

Urban Sketching in particular fascinates me. I really love architecture and especially growing up in Philadelphia where there's a lot of unique and historic buildings. I'm in particular fond of interesting looking doors. In terms of watercolor sketching what I generally do is sketch what I want to draw with a pencil and then do the watercolor and then finish it off with a fine liner. 

Although I also do acryllic, for the purpose of today's post I will mostly focus on what I've recently been doing so I'll share resources first and then supplies.

For Sketching/Urban Sketching, I purchased 2 books based on the recommendation of a channel on Youtube called Sketch with Teoh. They are both available on Amazon. The first is Drawing Perspective: How to see it and how to apply it by Matthew Brehm which also has a 32 page workbook. The second book is part of the 5-Minute Sketching Series by Liz Steel and I obviously picked up the Architecture one. His channel was the most useful in terms of getting started and stripping down architecture so that I don't get overwhelmed with all the details. Since I never took a formal art class basic things like perspective just escapes me so his video on using grids to estimate perspective was really useful. 

For Watercolor, Let's Make Art website & youtube channel have free videos you can follow along without purchasing their products. There's also some free templates but if you do subscribe to a box, you get all the supplies you need to create 4 paintings per month. For watercolor techniques I follow Makoccino. I've been a subscriber for years just because I find her videos so soothing but now I can actually practice some of the techniques she shares on her channel. 

For inspirations, I follow a few artist on Instagram and a couple of hashtags like #urbansketching or #watercolorsketch. I am trying not to inundate myself with so many Youtube channels or IG accounts because I think personally for me it gets more overwhelming than actually being useful.

Supplies 

XL Canson Mix Media 98 lb/160 g - the paper does warp (wavy) if you use too much water. My earlier pages were significantly more wavy than my more recent pages so I think I'm getting better at how much water to use. For anyone starting with watercolor definitely look for paper that are at least 140 lb. 

Strathmore Watercolor Postcards is so much fun to use and I've been using these to make cards. I originally got these instead of a notebook because I saw people using these postcards with their Koi Water Colors set while painting out and about and I thought it was really neat. Have I traveled outside of my house with them? absolutely not. The postcards utilizes a 140 lb cold pressed paper that should hold up to watercolor and gouache. 

Butcher Tray from A.C. Moore because the tray that comes with the Sakura Field Pocket is too small for larger piece. I ended up with the butcher tray more for convenience. I would probably personally prefer a ceramic container that have different wells so that I the colors don't run into each other. 

For the most part I just use regular pencil but the MUJI Low Gravity Mechanical Pencil is really great for writing and quick sketching. They have a nice grip and weight to them that makes it comfortable to use. 

Faber-Castell Art Eraser Dust Free allows you to erase work and balls up instead of breaking off into little flakes of dusts. I struggled with this quiet a lot and it gets quiet frustrating when you see flakes of erasers in your finished watercolor work. 

I have been using the Pigma Micron Archival Ink for years to just write and use in my bullet journal. I haven't tried any other fine liners that I particularly like so for now I'm sticking to the Microns. I have them in all sizes and colors but I prefer the 01 (0.25 mm)  

Sakura Koi Water Colors Poket Field Sketch Box is a really convenient way to try watercolor. It's also pretty affordable and comes with a water brush in medium. 

The final item I actually haven't tried beyond swatching them but it is the HIMI Gouache set. Just based on the swatches and a quick drawing carrots I did I think I'm really going to enjoy mixing watercolor and Goauche. 

As you can see, my supply list is missing brushes. So the Sakura Koi Pocket Field kit comes with a water brush in Medium which I have a love/hate relationship with. Other than that, I do have brushes but I ommited it from the list because everyone will have different preferences. Again I'm not a professional so I don't even have super fancy brushes that I can tell you is life changing. I do have my preferences in terms of the length of the handle, the weight of the brush and a couple of other things that are specific to my liking and you might like things that are the complete opposite from me.  What I will say is that acryllic is forgiving with the type of brushes but you do want to invest a little bit on your watercolor. Instead of buying a $5 mixed media brushes type of grab bag, maybe get the 3 for $10 ones or wait till there's coupons for A.C. Moore or Michaels.

That's about it for my experience getting started with watercolor sketching. Let me know if you have any tips or advice. As always, thanks for reading.

Until next time,
Jessica