Watercolour Drawing

Watercolor painting is a technique that uses paint pigments and a water-based solution. It is popular thanks to its blurred, hazy effect which can't be obtained through other binding elements, such as egg or oil. Gouache is also a watercolour medium but it is noticeably more adhesive and opaque. Watercolor usually takes shape thanks to a faint pencil outline, drawn onto the paper before the paint is applied.

One of the other advantages for watercolor artists is that they can work quickly, using their time efficiently. Pigments spread out across the canvas in a rather unusual way, becoming more concentrated around the edges. This gives watercolor prints the transparent quality they're known for, enhancing the paper's luminosity.

There are several key techniques to watercolor painting, the first of which is called the dry-on-wet technique. For this method, the painting's base is laid out in watercolor and then elaborated on with fewer pigments. There is also the wet-on-wet technique, which involves wetting the paper before the paint is applied in order to achieve greater color saturation.

Watercolor is also easily erasable! Artists working with this medium can rework their watercolor print's by diluting the paint with water again, this time directly on the paper. These are just a few of the reasons for why watercolor is a preferred method for plein-air painters, who set out to represent landscapes and the sky in situ...

Artworks using watercolor are typically carried out on paper, also contributing to why watercolor drawing is so popular. The weight of the paper, its resistance to moisture, the paper's color… all of these aspects play a decisive role in creating the painting's final effect. The type of paper typically used for this artistic technique is made from linen cloths, wood or straw.

Certain artists, such as the illustrator Oga Kazuo from Studio Ghibli, work with wet paper spread across varnished wood, while others prefer to use plexiglas. The result is that the water takes longer to evaporate, producing a very different color effect.

Although water-based paints date back to cave painting, it wasn't until the Renaissance that watercolor painting became commonplace. Art history tells us that oil painting was the most commonly used technique at the time, yet Northern European masters such as Albrecht Dürer chose watercolor to depict landscapes. Venetian painters also gravitated towards this medium for their representations of the city's sublime canals. What could be a better way to portray water than with water-based paints?

Landscape painting is the most popular genre among watercolor artists. Claude Lorrain is an example of this from the 17th century, to be followed by William Turner, Samuel Palmer and Richard Bonington in the 19th century. Many artists chose watercolor painting to express the shades of the sky, ocean waves and expansive fields. In the 20th century, artists such as Vassily Kandinsky, Jean Bazaine and Raoul Dufy elaborated different abstract, watercolor techniques.

Discover Artsper's collection of watercolor paintings, offering some of the most renowned artists such as Paul Jenkins, Walasse Ting, Vittoretti and Philippe Pasqua. If you're curious for more, head over to our unique selection of Chinese ink drawings, charcoal portraits or pastel and chalk portraits...

Collector’s Guide: Collecting Drawings