Watercolor paintings are widely known for their soft, light quality. There isn’t much line work in watercolor, giving it an ethereal and gentle look.
Though a lot of watercolor paintings work in light, pastel tones, some of the best watercolor paintings know when to add dark, intense hues to create contrast.
So, how can you paint watercolors to be dark? To create dark watercolor paintings, try layering primary colors, adding your dark colors from the beginning, using paint directly from the tube, or incorporating a watercolor pencil sketch underneath.
We also recommend testing swatches of your paint with more or less wash prior to beginning your artwork. This will give you a sense of how much water to use for each particular color on your specific paper.
In this article, we’ll describe each of these tips in detail and how they can help your painting. We’ll also explore how you can create vibrant watercolor paintings on black paper, giving your painting a unique and eye-catching look.
Types Of Watercolor Paints
The most important thing to know about types of watercolor paints is to go for artist-grade only.
From your time in school, you’re probably familiar with that classic 8-color tray of watercolor paints you can get at nearly any store. These are intended for beginners to use in order to become familiar with the basics of watercolors.
When searching for the right type of watercolor paint, always purchase artist-grade. There is far more pigment and far less binder in artist-grade paints. They may cost more money, but they are well worth the price.
Compared to any school or craft watercolor paints, artist-grade paints will give you deeper, more vibrant hues every time.
Another consideration to remember when purchasing watercolor paints is whether you want transparent or opaque. Transparent paints are nice for light colors, but will take away any vibrancy from dark colors.
If you want to enhance your painting with deep, intense colors, use opaque watercolor paints. These offer higher pigment and will give you a much richer color.
Watercolor Pencils
An option to really enhance the colors of your watercolor painting is to use watercolor pencils instead.
While watercolor paints are created with a water-based binder, watercolor pencils are created with an oil-based or waxy type of binder. This causes them to react differently when mixed with water.
To use a watercolor pencil, sketch your design on the paper first. Add water using a paint brush or sponge and watch the colors blend together, giving you the same soft look as watercolor paints but with more definition and vibrancy.
Keep in mind that when you layer colors with watercolor pencils, the painting can get muddy quickly. Only layer a few colors at a time to avoid ruining the colors and design of your artwork.
Quality Of Watercolor Paper
Another factor to consider when working to create a darker watercolor painting is the quality of your paper.
One of the methods for creating a dark watercolor painting relies on adding several layers of paint. With each layer of paint, you’re adding more water to the paper.
Even though watercolor paper is designed for this, if you’re using cheap or flimsy paper, you’ll wear a hole right through to the other side.
If you’re going to create a full sheet painting, we recommend getting a paper of 280lb (600gsm) weight to fully support all the watercolor paints you’ll need to use to gain vibrancy with your colors.
Always make sure your watercolor is acid-free, too. If your paper isn’t acid-free, it will become yellow over time, changing the colors that you worked so hard to create. It can also become brittle, taking away from the softness of your art.
Tips For Darker Watercolor Painting
1. Layering Primary Colors
One of the best tips for creating a dark watercolor painting is to layer, layer, layer.
It can be helpful to start with a yellow first, then add blues and reds to achieve the color you want. Starting with the lighter color first can help balance out your painting as you work towards a darker hue.
When using the layering method, be sure to let each layer dry completely before adding the next. When you paint over a layer, be gentle with the brush so as not to disturb the layer underneath.
2. Use Paint Directly From The Tube
This method is obviously only applicable for those using watercolor paints from the tube and not pan paints, but we still think it’s worth discussing because of the vibrancy you can achieve.
Rather than mixing the tube paint on a separate surface with water and then painting it onto your paper, try applying a small dab of paint directly from the tube onto your paper, then use the brush to smooth it out into the shape you want.
By not diluting the paint with water, you’re keeping the colors that much more vibrant. Because these are still watercolor paints, it’s good to make sure the brush is damp when applying, but the tube paints are already wet enough to be painted in this way.
3. Use Dark Colors At The Beginning
A classic watercolor method is to start with light and medium value colors, then add the dark value colors at the end of the painting. This is a common strategy, but one that can leave the painting feeling out of balance in the end.
Instead, we recommend adding your dark colors into your painting from the very beginning. This helps you build the whole painting with the entire color spectrum in mind, from your lightest to your darkest values.
As you create your artwork, you’ll get a better view of what it will look like in the end if you start off by maintaining your color balance from the very beginning.
It’s like bookends holding up either side of a stack of books. You need both sides to keep the whole stack from falling out of place.
When you start with your lights and your darks, all your other colors will inevitably fit somewhere in the middle, creating a more cohesive picture.
4. Incorporate Watercolor Pencils
We mentioned watercolor pencils earlier as a way to create your art, but they can also be a helpful tool in helping your watercolor paints stand out.
The best way to use watercolor pencils with a painting is to create a base sketch first. Be sure to use similar colors to what your paints will be, adding as much or as little color to your base sketch as you want.
Once you’ve drawn and filled in your base sketch with the watercolor pencils, paint over it with your watercolor paints as usual. You’ll see that the base sketch gave a deeper pigmentation to the paints added on top.
Just as with the watercolor paints, we recommend using artist-grade watercolor pencils for best results.
Paint Test Swatches
No matter what method you choose to help your dark watercolors pop, we highly recommend doing test swatches first.
The best way to test your paints is to use the same type paints and paper you’ll be using for your artwork, and paint small swatches using more water with each go.
This will give you an idea of how much water to use, and how diluted your colors will be as you add more water. Make a note of how much water you used with each go so that when the test swatches dry, you know the right amount of water to use for the color you want.
Painting On Black Paper
Although watercolor is traditionally seen done on white or light-colored paper, it’s also possible to create vibrant watercolor paintings on black paper.
The first tip to painting on black paper is to ensure that it’s still watercolor paper. This is vital, as watercolor paper is designed to take the many layers of wet paint and not fall apart.
Next, make sure you have a good set of opaque, artist-grade watercolor paints. This set of pan paints from Paul Rubens is a great choice for those working with black paper.
Once you’ve got good quality watercolor paper and a nice set of opaque, artist-grade paints, you’re ready to go! The most important aspect of painting on black paper is having the right tools to do it.
If you try using transparent or low quality paints on black paper, they’ll just absorb into the paper and you won’t see the colors at all.
Make sure not to get your brush too wet when painting on black watercolor paper. This can cause that same issue of having the colors absorb too much into the paper and dry really light.
Try adding a drop of water into each paint square and mixing individually to avoid color transfer. Once the paint is wet, grab your paintbrush and dip into the paint, then put it to the paper!
You might be surprised by how vibrant watercolor can be on black paper.
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