11 Easy Watercolour Painting Ideas for Beginners
Unlock Your Creativity with Step-by-Step Tutorials
Some beautiful watercolour ideas. Simple, beginner friendly watercolour paintings.
Diving into the world of watercolour painting can be both exhilarating and a bit daunting for beginners. With its beautiful washes and vibrant hues, watercolour art offers a unique medium to express creativity. However, the thought of mastering this fluid form of painting might seem overwhelming at first.
Fear not!
Through my own series of tutorials, I'm here to guide you through some easy watercolour painting ideas designed specifically for beginners.
These projects are not only simple and enjoyable but also serve as a perfect starting point to get acquainted with the basics of watercolour techniques.
Each tutorial is crafted to help you gradually build your confidence and skills in this beautiful art form, ensuring that you have all the support you need to embark on your painting journey.
I hope you get inspired with the following watercolour painting ideas!
Beautiful blended watercolour paint on these easy eucalyptus leaves.
Some Simple Beginner Watercolour Tutorials
Banana - an easy watercolour to paint
Build your watercolour painting skills with this simple banana painting.
This beginner-friendly tutorial is an excellent way to learn an efficient painting method using just two complementary colours.
Throughout this tutorial, you will explore a range of techniques including pre-wetting the paper, mastering the wet-on-wet method, and learning how to blend colours seamlessly into one another. Additionally, you will experience the wet-on-dry technique, discover how to lift highlights from dry paper, and play with varying paint consistencies, a key skill in mastering watercolour painting.
You can complete this tutorial on Patreon or you can buy it as an individual lesson from my online art school and have lifetime access to it.
Seahorse
In this seahorse tutorial, you'll focus on the wet-on-wet technique.
Use your watercolour paints to paint this simple seahorse.
This tutorial covers a range of essential skills and methods, including:
Transferring your drawing onto the paper using graphite
Mixing different colours to achieve the perfect hues
Mastering the wet-on-wet technique to blend colours effortlessly
Applying the wet-on-dry technique for sharper details
Learning how to charge colours for dynamic effects
Enhancing the focal point with detailed focus
Simplifying your subject by not painting every detail you see
Working with a limited palette for coherence and impact
By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a beautiful seahorse painting and a solid foundation in key watercolour techniques.
Feathers
In this feather tutorial, you'll start with basic brush exercises to refine your technique before moving on to the main project. As part of the process, you'll delve into the art of creating watercolour blooms, a technique that lends a unique charm and texture to your work.
Emphasising the wet-on-dry approach, this tutorial ensures precise control over your medium, while a limited palette teaches the value of colour harmony from a selection of carefully chosen hues.
You'll learn to mix a rich, dark colour, essential for adding contrast and depth. This tutorial is tailored to build your confidence and skill in watercolour painting through practical, hands-on experience.
An easy project to paint- some watercolour feathers.
With this fun project we work wet on dry.
Learn how to create watercolour blooms by adding a small amount of extra water to wet paint.
Eucalyptus Leaves
This eucalyptus leaves painting comes to life through a simple triadic colour scheme of red, yellow, and blue, infusing the artwork with freshness and vibrancy.
In this tutorial you'll delve into the wet-on-wet technique, layering colours to create depth, while also incorporating some wet-on-dry work for added texture and detail.
You'll also tackle simple cast shadows, grounding the leaves and enhancing their dimensional feel.
For a simple painting idea, gather some leaves from your garden and paint them.
A simple watercolour painting project of some eucalyptus leaves.
Leaves in Pot
This beginner-friendly tutorial offers a quick and straightforward painting project featuring a simple pot with leaves. It introduces you to a variety of techniques without being too demanding. Throughout the process, you'll explore the wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry methods, practice colour blending, learn how to soften edges, and discover how to leave a lost edge to create depth in your artwork. It's the perfect way to dive into the world of painting while picking up essential skills.
If you'd prefer to buy the tutorial and have lifetime access to it - it's available for purchase here.
A simple still life watercolour painting of some green leaves in a pot.
Learn how to add fine details like veins on leaves.
Paint Flowers
If you love painting flowers I have plenty of easy watercolour flower tutorials you can try.
Pansy
This watercolour painting of a pansy is a good tutorial to help you master wet on wet work.
In this pansy tutorial we take a closer look at the wetness of the paper and how it affects the flow of the paint. We paint the soft grey shadows on first and then we add the pink edges in two layers.
Daffodil
Here is a fairly simple daffodil watercolour painting that you can paint in my tutorial.
After washing yellow all over the daffodil we take a look at the reference photo and locate all the shadow areas and paint them in. Then we turn our attention to the trumpet and bring that to life.
It contains wet on wet and wet on dry work that will help you develop your skills.
A simple daffodil watercolour painting.
A watercolour painting of a simple daffodil.
4 Floral Greeting Cards
A simple way to practice your painting skills is to paint some simple greeting cards. I painted four easy watercolour flowers on greeting cards and made a two part tutorial. In part 1 you will paint a petunia and a white rose.
A watercolour painting of a white rose on a greeting card.
A watercolour painting of a petunia on a greeting card.
In part 2 you will paint a lily and a pink rose.
A watercolour painting of a lily on a greeting card.
A watercolour painting of a pink rose on a greeting card.
Each watercolour painting is fairly quick to paint and not too difficult. You'll use both the wet on wet technique and wet on dry technique.
Watercolour Supplies for Beginners
With all of my painting tutorials I recommend using 100% cotton watercolour paper. I use Arches paper but it's expensive so a 100% cotton paper that is less expensive for beginners is Stonehenge Aqua. I tried it out when I painted some pandas on it. It handles the paint well but it's a fragile paper.
I have recently discovered Jackson's Studio synthetic brushes that I recommend my beginner students buy. They have good snap and they hold their shape well. They are more affordable than the sable brushes I like to use.
You can find them here.
Final Thoughts
I hope these tutorials have sparked your creativity and given you the confidence to explore more with your brush and palette. The beauty of watercolour lies in its blend of unpredictability and control, offering endless possibilities for expression.
Whether you're adding soft shadows to delicate pansies or experimenting with the dynamic flows of colour, each brushstroke is a step towards mastering this exquisite art form. So whatever your painting style, keep practicing, stay curious, and most importantly, enjoy every moment of your creative exploration.
Happy painting!
If you are interested in learning to paint in watercolour, I have over 170 online, voiced over watercolour tutorials for all skill levels.
Original art, prints and merchandise are available to purchase in the shop.
