Watercolors and Drawing

           "Can I still learn watercoloring if I can't draw?" I get asked this question a lot and I have seen this question asked on watercolor groups a lot. The answer is simply yes. You don't need to know how to draw just to learn how to watercolor. In this two part post, I will show you how to do that.

          Let me start by asking one question first: Have you tried learning how to draw? If not there are many videos on youtube that can help you with that as well as many great courses online. You can also find amazing courses on Udemy, SkillShare, and Domestika. There are also many amazing books for the people who like to learn that way. Now let us say you tried all that and STILL you can't draw a straight line. This is when you can go through the route I will explain here.

          I CAN'T DRAW. Okay, but that doesn't mean you can stop from learning about watercolors and making art. So how can you do that if you can't draw? It depends on what you are planning to do with that art. 

          If you are doing it for yourself and you are not going to sell your art, then there are people on ETSY who sell line art which you  can trace and use watercolor techniques to color. They give you permission to use it for personal use only and if you share your work online to show friends always link back to the original artist of the line art that you traced and acknowledge their work. Another thing that I use is stamps and stamp sets. There are amazing ones in different shops online.

          If you are planning to sell your art then there are a few things you can do. You can use your own personal photographs that you took and trace those, or you can look for pictures that are free to use commercially online and trace those. Make sure to always document what you did and where you got your elements. Let me give an example. When I look online for pictures to use freely I usually have a picture in my head that I want to draw. I will look for pictures that have the parts that I need. Like I could take the mountain from one picture and add that to the trees that I had taken a picture of personally and liked then add a house from a different picture and so on until my picture is complete. Sometimes not everything works well together and I change things or add or subtract things. When the line art that I traced from different elements looks like the picture in my head then I start using my watercolor techniques to color it. Be extra careful that the things you use are free to use commercially.  This is mostly theory so the next post I will explain a little more with actual practical examples and some of the tools I use to achieve my own art that speaks to me.